Thomas Cooley Students

[FreddyPharkas]

Contrastly, working in a smaller firm, for example, you’re gonna get to go to court, do depositions, write motions, write memos, interview witnesses, perform trials – the “exciting” stuff. 

...

Give ‘em hell – and tell ‘em Thomas McIntyre Cooley sent ya!

Cooley:  Contrastly Your Honor! 
Judge:  Wha? [reeling in his/her mind, is that a word?]
Cooley:  d**mn it all! Contrastly!!!  My client... ahhh...Contrastly! Constrastly Contrastly!

lol.

Seriously though, I hear cooley might jump above Y in the rankings this year. Be on the lookout for those SCRAPPY, GRITTY cooley grads who WON THE WAR AGAINST ATTRITION.

[Flashman]

I had heard Cooley groups students into sections based on their gpa/lsat ratio...in other words...it puts all the students with scholarships together so that the majority of them lose their scholarships. True?

Also, how are there only 11k grads when Cooley graduates well over 1k now every year? Are they not counting the part-time students that makeup the majority of their student base?

Uh, no.  Every incoming class is broken into a section or two, and not by any scholarship criteria.  There are breakdowns of what the attrition rate is for different LSAT scores and college gpas, and by far, the lowest scores and grades have the highest attrition rate, as you would expect.  Once you get into the 75% or 100% scholarship level, the odds of you failing out of Cooley or not passing the bar are in the single digits.

As to your second question, Cooley has only been around since 1972 or so, and up until the late 90's was not nearly as large as it is now.  So it is reasonable that there are only 11k grads by now.  Also, my graduating class in May of '07 had 336 grads, and it was the largest class of the year by far. My guess is that there are about 600-700 graduates a year, and that's fairly recent that the classes have been getting that big.

[OkinawanLawyer]

Tell you what, people will hate, people will be grateful....the basic point is where are you?  I was accepted to a few schools.  I found out about Cooley's negatives AFTER I applied.  By and large, my undergrad was not the best, but mine was for reasons not related to screwing up in class.  Death of my Fiance pretty much screwed up my head, especially when it happened the sunday before school started.

I am/was a Banker and for the last 8 or 11 years, I have made well over $100k.  so money doesnt really motivate me like it might the t1 grad that everyone is talking about.  Its the task at hand.  Since I accepted Cooley and decided to go, I have been looking more and more at the negatives.  If it gets insane, meaning, the schools is not deserving of me and my money, then I will Transfer!  Those of you that do go to the t1 school that wants to hate, feel free.  But understand that most people that I have met that have gone to Ivy league schools couldnt look up without swallowing their tongues or drowning on their spit! 

I dont plan on working in the US anyways, and I have money, so my skills are what im worried about.  If someone could say something constructive about the actual education offered being terrible, then ill listen, but all I hear is people that either never went there, never made it, or loved it.     and of the first two, all i hear is you wont get a job, or your money will be low.   nothing about "Im a KILLER in the RING!!"    so since all i hear is whining, i think it will be ok.

if the average GPA is 2.3 and the class sizes are high in L1...then i would assume that the best place would be among those that are keeping the avg high..n'est pas?

so for those of you giving positives...thanks...ill be there in lansing this may08.

you never know until you try, and if you dont try, you'll fail, and if you fail, you no different than where you are now anyways...right?     SO DONT FAIL!


simple as that!

majik!

[Lawbster]

Tell you what, people will hate, people will be grateful....the basic point is where are you?  I was accepted to a few schools.  I found out about Cooley's negatives AFTER I applied.  By and large, my undergrad was not the best, but mine was for reasons not related to screwing up in class.  Death of my Fiance pretty much screwed up my head, especially when it happened the sunday before school started.

I am/was a Banker and for the last 8 or 11 years, I have made well over $100k.  so money doesnt really motivate me like it might the t1 grad that everyone is talking about.  Its the task at hand.  Since I accepted Cooley and decided to go, I have been looking more and more at the negatives.  If it gets insane, meaning, the schools is not deserving of me and my money, then I will Transfer!  Those of you that do go to the t1 school that wants to hate, feel free.  But understand that most people that I have met that have gone to Ivy league schools couldnt look up without swallowing their tongues or drowning on their spit! 

I dont plan on working in the US anyways, and I have money, so my skills are what im worried about.  If someone could say something constructive about the actual education offered being terrible, then ill listen, but all I hear is people that either never went there, never made it, or loved it.     and of the first two, all i hear is you wont get a job, or your money will be low.   nothing about "Im a KILLER in the RING!!"    so since all i hear is whining, i think it will be ok.

if the average GPA is 2.3 and the class sizes are high in L1...then i would assume that the best place would be among those that are keeping the avg high..n'est pas?

so for those of you giving positives...thanks...ill be there in lansing this may08.

you never know until you try, and if you dont try, you'll fail, and if you fail, you no different than where you are now anyways...right?     SO DONT FAIL!


simple as that!

majik!

So you're saying you've made about $10k/year for the last 10 or so years? Ouch.

Also, hate to nitpick, but if you go to Cooley and fail, you are MUCH worse off than before you tried. You're either a victim of their horrid attrition rates, or you actually have a degree and can't pass the bar, or you pass the bar and can't get employed. In essence, the failures at Cooley seem to make out better than the "successes" because they have the least debt.

[T. Durden]

Tell you what, people will hate, people will be grateful....the basic point is where are you?  I was accepted to a few schools.  I found out about Cooley's negatives AFTER I applied.  By and large, my undergrad was not the best, but mine was for reasons not related to screwing up in class.  Death of my Fiance pretty much screwed up my head, especially when it happened the sunday before school started.

I am/was a Banker and for the last 8 or 11 years, I have made well over $100k.  so money doesnt really motivate me like it might the t1 grad that everyone is talking about.  Its the task at hand.  Since I accepted Cooley and decided to go, I have been looking more and more at the negatives.  If it gets insane, meaning, the schools is not deserving of me and my money, then I will Transfer!  Those of you that do go to the t1 school that wants to hate, feel free.  But understand that most people that I have met that have gone to Ivy league schools couldnt look up without swallowing their tongues or drowning on their spit! 

I dont plan on working in the US anyways, and I have money, so my skills are what im worried about.  If someone could say something constructive about the actual education offered being terrible, then ill listen, but all I hear is people that either never went there, never made it, or loved it.     and of the first two, all i hear is you wont get a job, or your money will be low.   nothing about "Im a KILLER in the RING!!"    so since all i hear is whining, i think it will be ok.

if the average GPA is 2.3 and the class sizes are high in L1...then i would assume that the best place would be among those that are keeping the avg high..n'est pas?

so for those of you giving positives...thanks...ill be there in lansing this may08.

you never know until you try, and if you dont try, you'll fail, and if you fail, you no different than where you are now anyways...right?     SO DONT FAIL!


simple as that!

majik!

ESL?

[Lawbster]

Tell you what, people will hate, people will be grateful....the basic point is where are you?  I was accepted to a few schools.  I found out about Cooley's negatives AFTER I applied.  By and large, my undergrad was not the best, but mine was for reasons not related to screwing up in class.  Death of my Fiance pretty much screwed up my head, especially when it happened the sunday before school started.

I am/was a Banker and for the last 8 or 11 years, I have made well over $100k.  so money doesnt really motivate me like it might the t1 grad that everyone is talking about.  Its the task at hand.  Since I accepted Cooley and decided to go, I have been looking more and more at the negatives.  If it gets insane, meaning, the schools is not deserving of me and my money, then I will Transfer!  Those of you that do go to the t1 school that wants to hate, feel free.  But understand that most people that I have met that have gone to Ivy league schools couldnt look up without swallowing their tongues or drowning on their spit! 

I dont plan on working in the US anyways, and I have money, so my skills are what im worried about.  If someone could say something constructive about the actual education offered being terrible, then ill listen, but all I hear is people that either never went there, never made it, or loved it.     and of the first two, all i hear is you wont get a job, or your money will be low.   nothing about "Im a KILLER in the RING!!"    so since all i hear is whining, i think it will be ok.

if the average GPA is 2.3 and the class sizes are high in L1...then i would assume that the best place would be among those that are keeping the avg high..n'est pas?

so for those of you giving positives...thanks...ill be there in lansing this may08.

you never know until you try, and if you dont try, you'll fail, and if you fail, you no different than where you are now anyways...right?     SO DONT FAIL!


simple as that!

majik!

ESL?

I just assumed that, especially with the wanting to work in a foreign country.

Now we get to hear the "he doesn't feel the need to proofread on a message board" speech.

[thorc954]

I like the part "if I am not happy there, Ill transfer," or whatever it was.   

[jacy85]

I like the part "if I am not happy there, Ill transfer," or whatever it was.   

Yeah, I thought that too.   

[OkinawanLawyer]

The point i'm making is like everything, if you are unhappy and dont like lt, LEAVE.  Maybe I look at things a little different than all of you that are whining, or talking sh*t!  I do not plan to fail.  I know its a reality that i will have to address, but for those of you that either have been there and left, or have never been there, and are reveling in the fact that you are at a T1 school, are really talking out the side of your ass.  If you are warning us, yet know that we are already there, then whats the point of talking sh*t?    We are there!

I dont know about you all, but I dont go into anything thinking im going to fail.  I study my ass off, and I ALWAYS get the results I desire if i put my everything into it.  (and no it wasnt $10k a year for 8 years!!  I reread that and yea i laughed too!)   All of you that are so-called "looking out for our best interests" we thank you.....or some of them thank you, as for me, equating a liberal admissions policy doesn't necessarily mean poor quality of education.  You telling me that if everyone at harvard that came in getting a 4.0 and scored 177 on lsat  but finished with a 2.3 gpa  is better than a cooley grad that finished with a 3.5 but scored a 159 lsat and came in with a 2.9gpa?     The knock-out lap of the first year is just that, they came, they saw, they were conquered!  the other 2/3s are what at that point, tougher garbage?   thats BS.  telling people, that their worth is based upon the school they attended is just like the people that i have needed to train over the years, many of which attended BIG time schools.  They still are people, and they still needed me!   I have a past, i had my own company for 7 years, and I have a personality and can negotiate damn near anything.  If i listened to people like many of you, i probably wouldnt have even gone to college!   So as they say about opinions being just like assh*oles..everyone has one.    If after my first year of politic-ing I see that my attendance there is going to be a huge problem, then I'll leave.   (let me worry about my money situation and debt situation...sounds like i have mine handled better than many of you)   But in the mean time, unless you all are hiring attorneys and not merely posters on a forum, talking as if yoou truly know what the hell you are all talking about....study hard and pray to god that you never get me in the courtroom.   As a trainer, you can tell the performance of a man by how much BS they talk...trying to make opinion into fact.

[NeverTrustKlingons]

It is useless to argue fairness and the actual quality of the lawyers, how many years you've had your own company and so on.

Much like life, the tier hierarchy is not fair.  But it exists -- www.martindale.com, search by school attended.

If you are really dead-set on solo practice in a horrible economy or small-firm work (even small firms have school preferences, in many cases), I guess any school is about the same.  Otherwise, the hierarchy exists in all spheres of legal work (from experience, let me tell you it is NOT just BIGLAW).

If you are suggesting Cooley will give you as good of a shot at the big-money verdict as any other school, you might be right.  But why not just go play the lottery?  Your odds are about the same or even better there, with tort reform rules and - this can't be emphasized enough - a bull economy without enough room for existing lawyers let alone new T3/T4 grads.

If you are suggesting 3.5 at Cooley Law is better than 2.3 at HLS, you need to do some serious research on that point.  It's not correct. The HLS graduate who just omits any grade information from his resume will do better.