Ranking prediction on two schools-

[Happy_Weasel]

What is your prediction on Denver (95) and Akron(T3) (my two top choices) in 2007?

[Tulane1L]

Denver moves up 2 spots.  Akron stayes the same.

I have nothing to base that on.

[JES]

Down a few slots meaning up (better) in the rankings, or down meaning lower (worse) ranked? I assume you mean better ranked. Do you know if US News plans to use the old 25/75 ranking system? The Feb bar passage was pretty bad...I just looked at that last night.

[JES]

Here's something interesting someone posted on LSD. The weights given for USNEWS rankings:

1. Peer assessment 25.0%
2. Employment rate 18.0%
3. Judge/lawyer assessment 15.0%
4. Median LSAT 12.5%
5. Expenditures per student 11.25%
6. Median GPA 10.0%
7. Student/faculty ratio 3.0%
8. Acceptance rate 2.5%
9. Bar passage rate 2.0%
10. Library resources 0.75%

[Happy_Weasel]

Yeah, I'm really trying to get an opinion on these schools. I don't want an analysis of their absolute rank, just their trends.

[Happy_Weasel]

Because they are the only ones I can afford and the only ones close to places I want to live which have good legal markets.

[Erapitt]

Because they are the only ones I can afford and the only ones close to places I want to live which have good legal markets.

But will the legal markets they reside in want you after graduating from them compared to other schools higher up on the totem pole? 

[JES]

With regard to the legal market in Denver wanting him, I beleive that the answer is a solid yes if he does reasonably well in school. I don't know the exact numbers, but have heard that something like 80-90% of the lawyers in Denver are DU graduates. That alone clearly proves that the legal market wants their graduates. If we presume that some of them are doing hiring, I would think that it would be in their interests to hire DU graduates. Perhaps even BEFORE CU graduates, although keep in mind I am only speculating here.

[Erapitt]

Excellent.  I didn't mean to come across as not thinking they placed well in Denver, I was just curious.  Good luck with your applications.

[Happy_Weasel]

Although I am concerned if I don't quite make it into Denver. Akron beckons, but they are one of the most obscure of schools with a rep of 1.8,2.1. However, their career placement stats are as high as Denver's with only a 4k difference between 60K and 56K. Essentially, it appears that Denver is an automatic sign-on because it is the only law school besides Boulder while Akron has to compete with Marshall, Case and OSU. The question essentially becomes whether or not it is worth the risk of staying in Wyoming if I don't get in to continue campiagning for Denver.

The positives of taking the risks are:

1) I have both the 75th %tile in GPA and LSAT @ Wyoming
2) Denver has a liberal transfer policy
3) Wyoming's new student/faculty ration is now 13:1
4) Denver is close
5) I'll have good clerkship oppurtunities

The negitives:

1) I will still have to make the top 20 students in the class of 80 to transfer.
2) I may be stuck in Wyoming, where the average job pays only 45,000$ (about a third less than most graduates)
3) Since I intend to move to Denver or Boulder if I graduate from Wyo, I will have to probably go into my own practice which means at least a few years of poverty.
4) I will have to commute every day if I go to Denver
5) Akron seems to be on the rise