MSU vs Wayne State

[mgd04]

No way MSU deserves to be T4... look at its #'s

I think it has this ranking because older attorneys get an ingrained image of a school in their mind and they still think of the school as Detroit College of Law and not MSU. I think they'll be ok after this little stint in the Tier 4 but MSU Law really is on the rise. They are doing a ton of things that are really starting to build on each other.

[TheJesus]

No way MSU deserves to be T4... look at its #'s

I think it has this ranking because older attorneys get an ingrained image of a school in their mind and they still think of the school as Detroit College of Law and not MSU. I think they'll be ok after this little stint in the Tier 4 but MSU Law really is on the rise. They are doing a ton of things that are really starting to build on each other.

Actually, MSU's ranking by judges and lawyers was pretty good for the 2007 US News survey... they got a 2.8, which is the same as Wayne State, is very high among Tier 4s and even higher than many school in Tier 3...

I have to think that their disappointing bar passage rate from last year (67%) is what did them in...

[shaz]

hey mg, will you consider depaul over loyola now that they are quite close in the rankings?

[emarejay]

I went and spoke with some people about transfering to Wayne from Toledo. I've decided against it. I saw no competitive advantage I could gain from doing so. Toledo grads have little trouble getting into Detroit firms and then further have all of Ohio to look at also.

[USNWRisBS]

I think they'll be ok after this little stint in the Tier 4...

They broke T4 once, hardly a "stint."

[!!]

Evidence of why the rankings are retarded. 

If they can't pass the bar, it's their own damn fault.  That part of the rankings makes sense.

[TheJesus]

Evidence of why the rankings are retarded. 

If they can't pass the bar, it's their own damn fault.  That part of the rankings makes sense.

Agreed...however, flukes do happen...

Back in 1997-1998, not that long ago, Wayne State actually had a higher bar passage rate than U of M on the Michigan bar exam for like two years in a row...and I don't know that Michigan should have taken a hit in the rankings because of it...you'd think that a pattern would have to be established first, however, it doesn't appear that they are cutting MSU that kind of slack...

[molaw]

Just want to say that I attended a Wayne State Admitted Students Day in the last couple of weeks and it was very poorly run. Very quickly I'll run through what I didn't like.
First, they made the mistake of planning it over spring break so there was no faculty panel, no student panel and the building was dead.
Second, they didn't have a single person from career services get up and speak about career opportunities. This shows lack of organization
Third, they just didn't seem like they were trying to "sell" the school.

There is a list of other things I didn't like but mainly I felt it wasn't that organized and that Wayne State has become very complacement. As most UMich grads leave the state Wayne has just always been the top school in Michigan. .. combine this with in-state tuition and it was an easy choice for many students wanting to work in michigan. Because of this I feel they haven't put much effort into recruitement. I've emailed them 5 or 6 times and have never gotten a response. When I call their office I get transferred around a million times and they just generally aren't too interested in wooing students or paying attention to people. Overall, it just seems a highly unorganized and that they aren't on top of their sh*t. The presentations on the admitted students day covered all the basic law school stuff one might expect but completely lacked in any attempt to show off the school or show how all the great things the law school can do for you. They never mentioned their clinical programs, were unable to respond to a question about a study abroad program, didn't present career services, I thought there was also a host of other issues they glossed over that are important to incoming law students.

My impressions of the Wayne faculty and student body are very very good but my impression of the administration is incredibly negative.

Bump.

I attended a Wayne State prospective law students forum a few months back, and it too was run very poorly.  Mostly the people in the audience were idiots and asking the most inane questions, which isn't the fault of WSU.  However, it went a whole hour over it's scheduled time and the speakers did not have control of the room, such as saying something as simple as "please hold all questions until the end."  They actually took the time to explain to someone the defintion of MEDIAN when one idiot asked "I ain't got no 3.0, so be for real with me, am I wasting my time here?"  The answer should have been a simple YES, you are wasting your time and everyone elses!   

I was impressed with the opening remarks from the Dean (Dean Wu, I believe) but the person running the thing (I think the Asst Dean of Admissions) seemed as though she was trying to bring it down a level.  For example, talking about how you should drive a hoopty to law school and save your money.  It generally seemed as though she was trying to make the school seem ghetto-friendly, which was a total turn-off for me.  I almost wish I hadn't gone  to this meeting because now I have such a bad taste in my mouth.  But it really should have been run better.