Best schools for BIGLAW?

[Lindbergh]

Oh I know, but the post I was questioning stated that Fordham was not geographically limiting ... Fordham does not have the "approaching-national" rep of Vandy or UCLA.  This is why Fordham has traditionally been in the 30s.

I said not "as geographically limiting as people want to believe", which it isn't. No doubt the most regional of those schools, but I bet you Fordham could get you to DC or Miami with some effort and good grades.

you can say this of any school in T1 ... but the national status of a school is judged more on actual placement and OCI.  88% of Fordham grads stay in the Mid Atlantic.

in the same vein, something a little more useful than your guesswork:
http://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2006/02/national_and_re.html

None of that takes self-selection into account. If you go to Fordham, you go to stay in NYC.

Self-selection is a reason I feel that many schools have a lot more reach than people give them credit for.

What are Fordham's national rep ratings?  I don't believe they're particularly impressive. 

You are right about self-selection, to some extent.  However, that self-selection also means there's less of a national alumni network to spread the school's reputation and create hiring opportunities. 

As a result, it's easier to place nationally from Vandy than Fordham, even though the schools have comparable student bodies. 

[yykm]

Being a national school outside t14 has much more to deal with name appeal across the country than usnews rankings.  Eg, GW, BC, and ND are all more national than say Fordham, W&L, and UMinn.  Part of this has to do with athletics.  The other part is whethe rthe school comes off as prestigious when people hear the name.  Outside of the NE, few people say, "Fordham, that's impressive" or something along those lines.  This could be due to differences in the perceived quality of ug at each school as well.  Nevertheless, private schools tend to be more national than publics since their students tend to come from all over and can spread the name when they return home.  The privates that have done this longer and to a greater extent, now claim a more national stake.

[yiplong]

No one think Fordham is prestigious, not even in NYC.  Fordham has virtually no name recognition outside of the immidiate NYC metro area, even less than some mediocre state school because they bear the name of the state. 

[Lindbergh]

No one think Fordham is prestigious, not even in NYC.  Fordham has virtually no name recognition outside of the immidiate NYC metro area, even less than some mediocre state school because they bear the name of the state. 

So would you say Vandy is more prestigious than Fordham in NYC?

[bamf]

so what are some non-T14 schools that are nationally ranked?

i am guessing Fordham isn't considering it's main alumnus is in NYC. i think from i've heard and looking into the USNews, it seems Vandy is pretty well represented. USC and UCLA seem to be regional only in CA (i may be wrong). and Texas is regional in Texas and south. Vandy, Emory, GW, Notre Dame, American, Tulane seem to be the most nationally diverse schools in T1. does anyone else know of any other school that is like this or is my understanding of these schools wrong?

uhhh yeah this is a little skewed ... especially the American and Tulane parts ... Did I already toss in the Leiter link to the numbers of OCIing firms?  Look at the number of firms OCIing at each school, see if you can find the number of states represented in those firms, then look at the number of states where grads were placed and the percentages of grads who went to different regions ... all those numbers will start to give you a decent idea of the national placement of a certain school.  I will just say that BU and BC probably both outrank your whole list of "most nationally diverse" except for vandy and maybe GW.