Tulsa?

[ashleighlaren]

I have been accepted into TU and have received a sizeable scholarship. I am worried about the job prospects in Tulsa and I have never been to Oklahoma. I have never even been to Tulsa or OK, so any insight would be helpful.

[czarevich]

To be perfectly honest, the school is horrible and the job prospects are even worse.  If you have no ties to the area, I would not go there.  Furthermore, did you not get in anywhere better?

[anniemarie]

In our defense, TU isn't a bad school.  GREAT professors, and a really good atmosphere.  The job prospects are fine, but are pretty localized- so if you want to work in the area, career services is good at that- they are also really good at scholarships, and in my opinion, it's worth not having any debt.  TU is a good law school.  Law school is about making your own choices, so don't blame the school.  And Tulsa is fun, I've been here almost my whole life.  A different pace from some cities, but it's good place to be.  Let me know if you have any specific questions; I'm in my third year at TU.

Also, here's some general law school advice I've picked up:
http://somekindoflawyer.blogspot.com/

[czarevich]

I admire your optimism...unfortunately, though, the school really is not well regarded.  I know three people who went to law school there.  All three of them are still struggling to find permanent employment (one of them graduated 3 years ago and is still doing contract review work in Boulder, CO, another graduated 2 years ago and cannot find a job in any TX DAs office even after passing the bar, the third also graduated 2 years ago and is doing a 1-year stint as a staff attorney for a trial judge in Arkansas.)  These people would have gladly stayed in Tulsa had there been a job for them...there was not though and now they are scattered across the country trying to get something permanent.  Even being at the top of your class coming from that school is going to give you trouble...I think I've been told me that everyone with a 3.2 is guaranteed Law Review?  Frankly, if you get into another school like U of Arkansas or U of Missouri or some other similarly ranked state school, I would go with one of those.  The tuition will be much cheaper and your prospects will be much better.     

[ashleighlaren]

I have gotten into DU and USD, but none offered and money yet. I don't know if I would want to live in Tulsa the rest of my life though.
Do you know anything about the part-time program?
I don't want to limit my options, but at the same time paying over half my tuition is pretty intriguing.
Thank you for the opinions, I'll take them into consideration. I'm just trying to consider all my options.

[anniemarie]

I won't argue about the merits of the school, and I certainly have things that I wish had been different.  But, in this market, most law school graduates have trouble finding a job, no matter what city they're in or school they went to.  While a high-ranked school certainly will help, it isn't necessarily going to get you a job.  It really just depends on what's important to you.  If you know exactly what you want to do/where you want to live, then you should think about a law school specific to that.  But if graduating with less/no debt and still having a law degree is appealing, then take the scholarship.  Law school rank notwithstanding, I've had a great experience.  And, although it wouldn't have mattered to me when I was looking at schools, law review grade-on is a 3.5.

[ashleighlaren]

I won't argue about the merits of the school, and I certainly have things that I wish had been different.  But, in this market, most law school graduates have trouble finding a job, no matter what city they're in or school they went to.  While a high-ranked school certainly will help, it isn't necessarily going to get you a job.  It really just depends on what's important to you.  If you know exactly what you want to do/where you want to live, then you should think about a law school specific to that.  But if graduating with less/no debt and still having a law degree is appealing, then take the scholarship.  Law school rank notwithstanding, I've had a great experience.  And, although it wouldn't have mattered to me when I was looking at schools, law review grade-on is a 3.5.

In your experience, have the students been extremely competitive with one another or more willing to help each other out? What's the housing like there? Any good neighborhoods I can research?

[anniemarie]

To be perfectly honest, I have never experienced any sort of weird competitiveness.  Even among the top 10-25%, I've never not been able to have a normal conversation, ask other students questions, review their notes, get notes I'm missing, etc.  There's of course some sense of competitiveness in that it is law school, but it is NOTHING like what you read about.  I don't know if it's this school or law school in general, but everyone I know is 100% willing to help (as long as you're not the person who never came to class and then asks for an outline- I'm not very willing to help those people out )

Most people I know live on campus- the TU apartments are very nice, and it's pretty convenient to get to class.  Living on campus is probably the best way to get to know people, because a lot of people live there, and there are apartment units dedicated primarily to grad students.  I live off-campus, and that's fine, too- you just have to know where to look.  The neighborhoods around the campus have cute rent houses/duplexes.  I would recommend living close- there's not a lot of traffic in town, but it's just so much easier to live close by campus.  Not many big apartment complexes I would recommend (other than campus apartments).

[StonewallJacksonFan]

One thing I was intrigued by in Tulsa was that they had a genuine full ride available to people with 159/3.4 or something like that - full ride includes tuition and sizable living stipend (includes room, board, parking and books).  They say law school grades are a crap shoot, but it cant be a total crap shoot since there are objective answers to exam questions and if you studied enough and you are not dumb you will get straight As. I think magna or summa from UofT gotta be worth something.  If it was me (and I was not married and settled for good in Virginia) I would apply and try to get this full ride. I would then become a cloisterer for three years and study day and night.  At the end of the tunnel could be a likely well paid job and no debt.

[czarevich]

One thing I was intrigued by in Tulsa was that they had a genuine full ride available to people with 159/3.4 or something like that - full ride includes tuition and sizable living stipend (includes room, board, parking and books).  They say law school grades are a crap shoot, but it cant be a total crap shoot since there are objective answers to exam questions and if you studied enough and you are not dumb you will get straight As. I think magna or summa from UofT gotta be worth something.  If it was me (and I was not married and settled for good in Virginia) I would apply and try to get this full ride. I would then become a cloisterer for three years and study day and night.  At the end of the tunnel could be a likely well paid job and no debt.

There is nothing "objective" about law school exams unless they are multiple choice but even then it is arguable.  Often times, professors will use some some weird system of awarding points for issues but then adding check marks and double check marks here and there for insightful things....all in all, it transforms into one of the most arbitrary systems imaginable.