maybe some law students can give me some advice

[korzhenevich]

i thought taking the LSAT was bad enough...but this whole decision process if sucking the life out of me....

so, once again i'm left with the dilemma of which school to go to....brooklyn or wisco...(still anxiously waiting on fordham, gwu, and cornell)

i mean with wisco at 31 and brooklyn at 60...does ranking at this point matter that much unless we are talking about T14?...i know i want to be in New York...i went to wisco for undergrad and am ready for some change....ughhhh what to do, what to do?

[UGAfootballfanatic]

wisconsin, hands down, if those are your only two choices. I'd take a NY T1 or even dozo over Wisconsin, but not Brooklyn.

[korzhenevich]

how come? what's so bad with brooklyn?

[dukedogalley]

wisconsin, hands down, if those are your only two choices. I'd take a NY T1 or even dozo over Wisconsin, but not Brooklyn.

I disagree, if you are 100% sure you want to be in NY, Brooklyn might be the way to go.  I don't know the stats but I would guess that Brooklyn places similarly to Wisc in NYC biglaw.  Maybe Wisc goes top 15 - 20% and Brooklyn goes top 10%?  Outside of biglaw, I'm thinking brooklyn places better in NY metro area than Wisc. due to local alumni base.

[korzhenevich]

that is exactly what i was thinking...the alumni base from brooklyn is so much greater in nyc...i'm afraid that unless i'm at the top of my class at wisco...i will have a tougher time getting work, especially in biglaw in nyc

[UGAfootballfanatic]

My reasoning is that you'll have a tough time getting work from Brooklyn, period, unless you like doc review. NYC or elsewhere. It's one of the schools with the most notorious deceptive job stats. At least with Wisconsin top 25% or so will get you biglaw. Usually I give the standard advice of go to school where you want to live, but do you really want to go to the 6th or 7th best law school in the city?

[redjay]

Doc Review? I'm sorry, but I don't think you know what you're talking about. BLS may not place all that well in biglaw in NYC but there are definitely other options. Just because they are "notorious" for inflating job stats does not mean that you will end up doing doc review.

I personally say go to the higher ranked of the two schools, but don't listen to people trash talking any T2 simply because they got into, and are probably not yet even attending a T1. I'm in the NY market and my understanding is that BLS is a well respected school in the area, if you can manage to not totally screw up while you are there you will be fine. As for big law top 10% is probably accurate. Just because there are several schools ahead of brooklyn in NY doesn't mean you can't get a job, after all NY is the biggest law market in the country.

[themanwithnoname]

http://www.elsblog.org/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/30/nalp_bimodal.jpg

Some food for thought: this is the distribution of first year law student salaries. Frankly, if you are thinking of a law firm, your number 1 priority in law school decision should be in or near the second peak, not the first one. I do not know the employment statistics but it is my distinct impression is that BLS gives you a very good chance of being in the first peak.

[korzhenevich]

ok so i just found out today that brooklyn is giving me a full-ride...now what?

[redjay]

Find out what the condition is. top 50%, top 30%?