anecdotes about texas law schools

[Ninja1]

Ninaja--what is your opinion of the schools you left off your list (other than the obvious which is they are not worth going to)? In other words, care to elaborate?

The short answer is exactly what you said; they're not worth going to. The long answer is that the the remaining schools just don't deliver the kind of bang for your buck that you're going to get from the better schools. They don't place as well, they have higher attrition rates, and their bar passage rates are subject to random and rapid falloffs. And the big thing working against the remaining schools is that it's not that much harder to get into Tech, Baylor (PT), or Houston (PT) than it is to get into one of them. An extra 5 points on the LSAT and .3 on the GPA and you can probably move up the food chain.

Anyway, as for the schools themselves:

Texas Wesleyan seems like the best of the remaining. They do a little better on the bar and they have better attrition, so that will put them ahead of the other remaining schools. But they are private so you're still going to be paying too much for what you're getting.

St. Mary's and South Texas both have average bar passage rates going for them, but kind of high attrition and private tuition.

Texas Southern has an absurdly low bar passage rate and high attrition, so I'd dump them to the bottom of the list. I'm just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised if they drag the state average down 2-5 percentage points. That said, I have heard of some of their grads getting good jobs with big oil and they have the cheapest tuition of the remaining four schools on account of being the only public school in the group. Still, they should probably be avoided the hardest.

[PurplePug]

Baylor doesn't have a PT program.

[vap]

Here is my ranking of TX law schools:

Tier 1 = UT
Tier 2 = UH, SMU
Tier 3 = Baylor
Tier 4 = TTU, South Texas
Tier 5 = the rest

Between UH and SMU, whichever is cheaper is a better option unless you have strong ties to either city.  (27% of lawyers in Dallas County attended SMU compared to 3% from UH; but 25% of lawyers in Harris County attended UH compared to 2% from SMU).  Both schools have similar biglaw placement.

I rank UH higher than Baylor because it places about twice as many lawyers in biglaw and costs less (although my guess is that many people with an acceptance to UH will get some scholarship money from Baylor).

TTU and South Texas is a tossup depending on where you want to work.  TTU has a slightly higher attrition rate but slightly higher biglaw placement (not enough to really make a difference).  The major difference is location.  South Texas is in a major metro area, and one out of every four lawyers in Harris County is a South Texas graduate.

I'd say that any school in one tier below can be a better option than a school one tier above if you have a full ride (e.g., TTU full ride > Baylor full price; Baylor full ride > UH full price).  This suggestion might not apply to UT, although some people at UH and SMU with full rides were admitted to UT.


Where attorneys practice info (and a whole lot more):  http://www.texasbar.com/template.cfm?section=reports
Biglaw placement (outdated, but still useful):  http://www.law.com/img/nlj/charts/composite.pdf


I don't have many anecdotes, except that I got a bad "vibe" from Baylor when I visited a few years ago.  But I know a lot of Baylor grads, and they are all awesome people.  I also have a feeling that TTU's applicant pool will suffer a bit if/when the University of North Texas opens a law school (supposedly happening soon), assuming that North Texas will have similar tuition.  Except for TTU, it will be the only public law school north of Austin (and Dallas > Lubbock).

[Contract2008]

Texas, [big gap] SMU, Houston, Texas Tech, and Baylor are the only schools worth going to, in that order. I would put Baylor higher than Tech, but they have some Liberty-worthy personal conduct rules.

I disagree.

With Cost Being a Factor, it would be UT>>>UH>>SMU>Baylor>Tech>STU

With Cost NOT beinga Factor, it would be  UT>>>SMU>UH>Baylor>STU>Tech

[Ninja1]

Baylor doesn't have a PT program.

That's right. They do the spring start thing instead.

[Contract2008]

I see that you have put a lot of thoughts into this.  Where school do/will/did you attend?

Here is my ranking of TX law schools:

Tier 1 = UT
Tier 2 = UH, SMU
Tier 3 = Baylor
Tier 4 = TTU, South Texas
Tier 5 = the rest

Between UH and SMU, whichever is cheaper is a better option unless you have strong ties to either city.  (27% of lawyers in Dallas County attended SMU compared to 3% from UH; but 25% of lawyers in Harris County attended UH compared to 2% from SMU).  Both schools have similar biglaw placement.

I rank UH higher than Baylor because it places about twice as many lawyers in biglaw and costs less (although my guess is that many people with an acceptance to UH will get some scholarship money from Baylor).

TTU and South Texas is a tossup depending on where you want to work.  TTU has a slightly higher attrition rate but slightly higher biglaw placement (not enough to really make a difference).  The major difference is location.  South Texas is in a major metro area, and one out of every four lawyers in Harris County is a South Texas graduate.

I'd say that any school in one tier below can be a better option than a school one tier above if you have a full ride (e.g., TTU full ride > Baylor full price; Baylor full ride > UH full price).  This suggestion might not apply to UT, although some people at UH and SMU with full rides were admitted to UT.


Where attorneys practice info (and a whole lot more):  http://www.texasbar.com/template.cfm?section=reports
Biglaw placement (outdated, but still useful):  http://www.law.com/img/nlj/charts/composite.pdf


I don't have many anecdotes, except that I got a bad "vibe" from Baylor when I visited a few years ago.  But I know a lot of Baylor grads, and they are all awesome people.  I also have a feeling that TTU's applicant pool will suffer a bit if/when the University of North Texas opens a law school (supposedly happening soon), assuming that North Texas will have similar tuition.  Except for TTU, it will be the only public law school north of Austin (and Dallas > Lubbock).

[vap]

I see that you have put a lot of thoughts into this.  Where school do/will/did you attend?

I'm the Mercer guy with an attitude. 

[Contract2008]

I see that you have put a lot of thoughts into this.  Where school do/will/did you attend?

I'm the Mercer guy with an attitude. 

Let's clarify, a Mercer guy with an attitude with a job offer or without a job offer?

[vap]

I see that you have put a lot of thoughts into this.  Where school do/will/did you attend?

I'm the Mercer guy with an attitude. 

Let's clarify, a Mercer guy with an attitude with a job offer or without a job offer?

   with.

[Contract2008]

I see that you have put a lot of thoughts into this.  Where school do/will/did you attend?

I'm the Mercer guy with an attitude. 

Let's clarify, a Mercer guy with an attitude with a job offer or without a job offer?

   with.

I would prefer a Mercer Guy with a Job Offer and without the Attitude.