Tulsa or St. Mary's?

[bryanc3]

I'm thinking the next three years of your life and possibly the biggest decision in your life could warrant a day off from the job you'll be quitting in one month. Just sayin'

Don't think I can make it there before Friday.  I know most people probably don't know much about Tulsa, but you still think St. Mary's is the way to go?  Is location the most important factor in choosing between these 2 schools?

[bryanc3]

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[LaneSwerver]

I'm thinking the next three years of your life and possibly the biggest decision in your life could warrant a day off from the job you'll be quitting in one month. Just sayin'

Don't think I can make it there before Friday.  I know most people probably don't know much about Tulsa, but you still think St. Mary's is the way to go?  Is location the most important factor in choosing between these 2 schools?

Most important factor? No. The most important factor should be how you feel about spending the next three years of your life in the place. Not the location, per se, but the feeling you get from it. Are you comfortable there? Do you think you could learn there? How do you feel about the profs? That's why I visited every school I was seriously considering attending. It's not a decision to be made lightly, and especially from afar. Bite the bullet, call in sick, drive to SA, and put this behind you. Like I said, if you don't visit, you'll always wonder.

[bryanc3]

I'm thinking the next three years of your life and possibly the biggest decision in your life could warrant a day off from the job you'll be quitting in one month. Just sayin'

Don't think I can make it there before Friday.  I know most people probably don't know much about Tulsa, but you still think St. Mary's is the way to go?  Is location the most important factor in choosing between these 2 schools?

Most important factor? No. The most important factor should be how you feel about spending the next three years of your life in the place. Not the location, per se, but the feeling you get from it. Are you comfortable there? Do you think you could learn there? How do you feel about the profs? That's why I visited every school I was seriously considering attending. It's not a decision to be made lightly, and especially from afar. Bite the bullet, call in sick, drive to SA, and put this behind you. Like I said, if you don't visit, you'll always wonder.

Ok great.  Well, I already had good feelings about Tulsa.  I was actually pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the school and town because I hadn't heard alot of good things, probably from people who know nothing about it other than what they see on a list.  But I was just starting to second guess because I heard back from St. Mary's later and everyone was pretty adamant about saying you have to go to school in Texas if you want to work in Texas. 

[LaneSwerver]

There ya go.

[Esq]

St. Mary's Law School ("StMLS") is a great law school with a proud history.

Most of the law school facilities were constructed in the late 1960s. The library has an impressive amount of titles, treatises, reporters, and legal periodicals. Some of these are quite old and the oldest books are probably a little musty. Of course, this is true in any library and perhaps your friend had just never spent much time in a library before. However, the library also has the most up to date publications and has modern internet connections. If you walk through it, and look at the carpet, the lighting, the glass doors and the furniture, it's an impressive facility and ranks as a quality legal research institution.

As far as the legal market in the area, San Antonio is the eighth largest city in the United States.  The law firms in the San Antonio area have a preference for STMLS graduates. Large law firms recruit on the St. Mary's campus.

StMLS is an institution with a rich history.  It is difficult to appraise the reputation of an institution when that reputation needs to be measured in terms of decades, rather than just glancing at the last year’s statistics.   For decades, StMLS ranked in the top three or four of the Texas Law Schools in terms of bar passage rate.  In the 1980s, the school was in the top three of Texas law schools five times out of ten July bar exam administrations. The school was entrenched as one of the best law schools in the state. It must be noted, however, that there was no U.S. News and World Reports “ranking system” for any law schools until after 1987.  Prior to the USNWR publication, bar passage rate was seen as an indicator of the quality of a law school’s program.  St. Mary’s was known as a “lawyer’s lawschool.”  It was a place where individuals could go and learn from Texas lawyers.  By all accounts, it was a rigorous program, disciplined, and firmly committed to the “nuts and bolts” of the practice of law. Many people who know something about the school are aware that StMLS had a dip in their bar passage rates in the 1990s; however, the school changed management and the bar passage rates have been on the rise again. There are more than 300 StMLS graduates that are elected officials in the United States.  StMLS has a current U.S. Senator (John Cornyn--Tex.). It's a fine law school and you should go and visit the school. 

[howarddavis]

DONT GO TO ST MARYS! I had a full ride, free accomadations at my in-laws, and still declined (gives you an idea). They are considered crap law school in TX except in San Antonio, even there they are not looked upon very well anymore. They didnt have a "dip" in the 1990's, they crashed. Yes, they are trying to come back, but run. The facilities are high school like. The library is really nice, but that is it. Staff and students seemed quite unhappy to be there, and most seem, well, bottom tier. Trust me, I had high hopes for the school. I reall, really wanted it to be a good school. I kept trying to kid myself it was. Then I visited. Yikes... 

[squilla]

San Antonio may be the "8th largest city in America" like someone said, but that doesn't mean a thing.  The downtown has the riverwalk but that is it - no skyscrapers or nothing .. downtowns of cities 20% the size are more impressive.  Road construction is horrible and the roads themselves are poorly made - there is one road (410) that you have to travel on to get anywhere.  Now imagine 2 million people driving on the same road.  People from DC cannot stand driving because people are crazy here.  I say "here" because I've lived in SA for 4+ years now (military).  Furthermore .. St. Mary's (where I took the LSAT this June) is in a very slummy area (like most of SA is).  That's the city in general.
Good things about SA:
Lots of attractions - SeaWorld, #1 waterpark in the nation, sixflags, riverwalk
Cheap housing - I am in a 3-bedroom house right by seaworld in a great area (and only some 20 minutes from St. Mary's - oh get used to 20+ minutes to drive *anywhere*) for only $800 a month.

Come visit for yourself, though.  Some people I know love SA, it's all personal preference.

[Esq]

St. Mary's is an old law school. The alumni base is very strong and very supportive of the school. St. Mary's graduates sit on every court in Texas, including the Texas Supreme Court. What's more, St. Mary's has the fourth most cited law journal in the country. Anyone arguing that St. Mary's has anything less than a stellar reputation in San Antonio shows he doesn't know much about the school. One poster above wrote that the "staff and students seem quite unhappy."  That's ridiculous. The law professors are well published and the vast majority of them have tenure. It seems most are quite content to stay at St. Mary's. Most have been there more than 10 years. In fact, I wonder just what a law school applicant visting the campus thinks a "happy" law professor looks like? 

Take a look at the San Antonio Bar Association and you see the vast majority graduated from St. Mary's. The bar passage rate is at 80 percent (July 2004), which is at the statewide average.

I don't know what to say about the poster who doesn't like San Antonio drivers or the skyline of San Antonio. Sorry you're not from Texas and don't like being here. 

As far as appraising the law school, which is the purpose of this thread, I would recommend visiting and seeing for yourself.