Is Cooley Law School That Bad?

[the white rabbit]

For me its about more than just making a large salary. Does anyone actually want to practice law? Advocate a cause? Provide solid legal advice to a client in the community you grew up in?

Just because you want to do something doesn't make it a good idea.  Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but let me ask you one simple question: how much money will you owe when you graduate from law school?

[john4040]

Nevertheless, schools such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Penn, Columbia, and NYU are thought of as "Ivies" by the general public.

I'm pretty sure that this is not true, because the general public probably has no clue that Chicago and NYU are good law schools.

Not here to quibble with whether or not the general public refers to these two particular schools as Ivies.  My point above still stands. 

Maybe if I edited my post everyone here could separate the forest from the trees, and address the substance of my argument if they disagree with it.

[the white rabbit]

My apologies.  I'm a compulsive quibbler.  I know it's a bad habit, and I'm trying to quit.

[JDGuy86]

To answer your question directly, it depends on what you want.

If you're not adverse to taking on $150,000 in debt for the prospect of no legal job, or a salary of $40,000 or less after graduation, go to Cooley .
If you're looking to impress laypersons, go to Cooley.
If you MUST be a lawyer and are willing to live in poverty for the remainder of your life, go to Cooley.

There you have it.  You'll be $150,000 in debt, living in poverty, but at least you can tell your friends that you're "a real lawyer" (assuming you pass the bar).  You will also be able to masturbate to the fact that you do "intellectually stimulating" will drafting, personal injury work, and felon in possession cases.  Last but not least, you will undoubtedly feel superior to your peers and bask in warmth of the Cooley Rankings.  After all,  it is YOUR LAW SCHOOL, Mr. Cooley Grad, THAT IS RANKED #12 IN THE WORLD (in a ranking system based almost exclusively on the size of the school's library).

150k in debt.. not so much.. most people going to cooley get a scholarship. I'm going part time and Cooley law will only cost about half of that amount for me. I already work with a nonprofit, and plan to continue working in public service but in a legal role.

The cooley rankings.. c'mon everyone knows that is bs. People who go to cooley dont even give that merit (including myself).

And career prospects. Its really not something you can predict. Yeah, people from schools outside the top tier will have to work a lot harder to network and find a job -this is a given. I will take a stab at it though- From my conversations with practicing lawyers, judges,and professors law school pretty much gets you your first job. After that, employment is based off experience and performance rather than where you went to school or academic credentials.

I'm making this my last post arguing for cooley. I'm going there, and if you plan things and budget things appropriately you can make Cooley Law work for you. Its just as good as any other lower tiered school, and it provides a great bit of flexibility especially if you plan to work in the mid west.

If you go to cooley you can be a lawyer despite what the elitist posters here proclaim. Their 10,000 plus alumni will verify this lol. Good luck, and future Cooley trashers well have fun maybe you can be my paralegal one day! ha!

[john4040]

Obviously Harvard is a good school and the elite schools are properly ranked, but what is the difference between Gonzaga and Hofstra at the end of the day. Also you should probably not waste your time googling and disclosing people's personal info when you should be "allegedly" working as a Federal Clerk either.
*  *  *  *
If you really have nothing better to do than research and disclose personal info about me then I guess do what you got to do.

Don't worry, it took all of 5 minutes.  By posting the link in your sig, you effectively outted yourself.

No I do not make a million dollars a year and neither do 1L's at Harvard and I imagine you don't either if you are spending time googling me when you should be working. Some people from Cooley make money and some from UCLA don't.

You still don't get it, do you?  The average starting salary upon graduation from Cooley is $52,400.  Let's adjust that for the # of people who actually reported their salary, and you'll probably come up with a figure lower than $40,000.  Even assuming that your salary starts at $40,000 and it will increase over the years, it will still be nearly impossible to repay your $150K loans + accrued interest within 20-30 years.  Thus, although it may be true that "Cooley is not going to ruin your life intentionally", a ruined life is the inevitable consequence of graduating from Cooley without a scholarship.

[john4040]

150k in debt.. not so much.. most people going to cooley get a scholarship. I'm going part time and Cooley law will only cost about half of that amount for me. I already work with a nonprofit, and plan to continue working in public service but in a legal role.

Although my post above was somewhat sarcastic, you've just confirmed my thoughts to a large extent.  High debt (although you attended with a scholarship - which not everyone does) and work at a nonprofit.

The cooley rankings.. c'mon everyone knows that is bs. People who go to cooley dont even give that merit (including myself).

Apparently bigs5068 thinks they have merit.

And career prospects. Its really not something you can predict. Yeah, people from schools outside the top tier will have to work a lot harder to network and find a job -this is a given. I will take a stab at it though- From my conversations with practicing lawyers, judges,and professors law school pretty much gets you your first job. After that, employment is based off experience and performance rather than where you went to school or academic credentials.

I do believe that you can generally predict the career prospects from a given school by looking into its past employment history.  Also, I think that there is some truth to the notion that employers care less about where you went to school and your academic credentials after years of legal experience.  Nevertheless, I see many jobs being posted for partnership positions which require top grades at a top law school.

I'm making this my last post arguing for cooley. I'm going there, and if you plan things and budget things appropriately you can make Cooley Law work for you. Its just as good as any other lower tiered school, and it provides a great bit of flexibility especially if you plan to work in the mid west.

That's cool man.  At least you got a scholarship.

[the white rabbit]

150k in debt.. not so much.. most people going to cooley get a scholarship. I'm going part time and Cooley law will only cost about half of that amount for me. I already work with a nonprofit, and plan to continue working in public service but in a legal role.

So $80k in debt, assuming you don't lose your scholarship (I assume it's contingent)?  What does that translate to in terms of minimum salary you'll need to service your debt + make ends meet?

Their 10,000 plus alumni will verify this lol.

This assumes that those alumni actually made it as lawyers.  We don't have data on that.

And for the record, I'm not trying to trash Cooley.  I'm just encouraging people to make thought-out decisions. 

[cooleylawstudent]

There is no school better than cooley. Everyone else is just jealous of the bigkid on the block and pissed off that they rock while being less old than dirt like the other places. "Young punks now days didnt earn to be best yet....."

[cvtheis]

How many times can we make this argument, and how many ways can those hell-bent on goint to a T3/T4 try to refute the simple fact that wracking up huge debt with no improvement in job prospects makes no sense?  Have we even gotten acknowledgement of the IRREFUTIBLE FACT that the legal market is shrinking, and law schools are kicking out increased numbers of JDs?  We have seen the financial bubble burst, the housing bubble burst, and this is the law bubble bursting -- ignoring it does not change it.  I'm done.

For me its about more than just making a large salary. Does anyone actually want to practice law? Advocate a cause? Provide solid legal advice to a client in the community you grew up in?

Just because you want to do something doesn't make it a good idea.  Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but let me ask you one simple question: how much money will you owe when you graduate from law school?

[cooleylawstudent]

apparently untill you cry yourself to sleep with your closed account, 

How many times can we make this argument, and how many ways can those hell-bent on goint to a T3/T4 try to refute the simple fact that wracking up huge debt with no improvement in job prospects makes no sense?  Have we even gotten acknowledgement of the IRREFUTIBLE FACT that the legal market is shrinking, and law schools are kicking out increased numbers of JDs?  We have seen the financial bubble burst, the housing bubble burst, and this is the law bubble bursting -- ignoring it does not change it.  I'm done.

For me its about more than just making a large salary. Does anyone actually want to practice law? Advocate a cause? Provide solid legal advice to a client in the community you grew up in?

Just because you want to do something doesn't make it a good idea.  Maybe this doesn't apply to you, but let me ask you one simple question: how much money will you owe when you graduate from law school?