Texas Tech vs. South Texas College of Law

[Ever162]

Tier 3 v. Tier 4 doesn't mean crap, attrition rate should a bigger factor. I'll be working for a firm headed by a STCL grad over the summer, a family friend from STCL is an asbestos litigator living in the ritzy part of Dallas, and my father's high school friend is a federal judge from STCL. My cousin graduated from Tech Law, and our neighbor is a Tech Law grad who does international transaction law in Dallas. They all make a lot of money, have a good family, and drive nice cars. Once you drop out of the top25, law is more what you do and less where you went to school.

As far as becoming a professor, most schools pull from the surrounding area for their faculty more than they rely on full time professorships. It's going to depend on your post-grad years more than anything else. SCTL, SMU, Tech, Houston, etc are not places that churn out law professors. However, clerk a year after school, build some connections, have successes in your business and ten years down the road you could reasonably get an adjunct position at most schools in Texas.

If you really want to be a law professor focus on Baylor. They inbreed their faculty.  That’s why when people get into SMU v. Baylor v. Houston fights I always favor SMU and Houston. Plus, in Houston you have access to one of the biggest oil and gas markets in the entire world. People may dump on that town but it really is a nice place and you can make a hell of a lot of money. “When gas prices are high, so is Houston.”

You have the benefit of those new ABA rules. Given your GPA it might be worth your time to wait a year, study hard, and retake that LSAT. Just a thought.

As a side note, I choose family over location. My father had a brain tumor when I was deciding between Tulane and SMU and that tipped the scales in favor of staying in Dallas. Regardless, you're never too far from an airport that you can't make it home in a day.

Good Luck!

[lovethelaw2010]

Just my two cents but i've never heard anybody say STCL is better than Tech as a previous poster mentioned.  Lubbock though thats a tough one to swallow.  I went there my freshman year and made awesome grades because I thought the town was so boring.  Might be good for Law School grades though.

[botbot]

If you really want to be a law professor focus on Baylor. They inbreed their faculty.  That’s why when people get into SMU v. Baylor v. Houston fights I always favor SMU and Houston.

It's so true - one of the reasons I crossed them off my list early. The vibe at Baylor is "We are so awesome! Look how awesome we are!  Our profs are the best because they went to Baylor! Baylor is better than Chuck Norris! Baylor delivers roundhouse kicks to Chuck Norris's face!"

Not to hijack this thread or anything...

To further the hijack...

All three schools (UH, SMU, Baylor) have a good deal of professor inbreeding, and none are known for their prestigious faculty.  It is probably a good thing for the schools, though, because the professors are going to have contacts in the local markets.  This market domination is the key selling point for the schools.

[Ever162]

If you really want to be a law professor focus on Baylor. They inbreed their faculty.  That’s why when people get into SMU v. Baylor v. Houston fights I always favor SMU and Houston.

It's so true - one of the reasons I crossed them off my list early. The vibe at Baylor is "We are so awesome! Look how awesome we are!  Our profs are the best because they went to Baylor! Baylor is better than Chuck Norris! Baylor delivers roundhouse kicks to Chuck Norris's face!"

Not to hijack this thread or anything...

To further the hijack...

All three schools (UH, SMU, Baylor) have a good deal of professor inbreeding, and none are known for their prestigious faculty.  It is probably a good thing for the schools, though, because the professors are going to have contacts in the local markets.  This market domination is the key selling point for the schools.

I don't think I know of any full professors at SMU who graduated there.

[botbot]

If you really want to be a law professor focus on Baylor. They inbreed their faculty.  That’s why when people get into SMU v. Baylor v. Houston fights I always favor SMU and Houston.

It's so true - one of the reasons I crossed them off my list early. The vibe at Baylor is "We are so awesome! Look how awesome we are!  Our profs are the best because they went to Baylor! Baylor is better than Chuck Norris! Baylor delivers roundhouse kicks to Chuck Norris's face!"

Not to hijack this thread or anything...

To further the hijack...

All three schools (UH, SMU, Baylor) have a good deal of professor inbreeding, and none are known for their prestigious faculty.  It is probably a good thing for the schools, though, because the professors are going to have contacts in the local markets.  This market domination is the key selling point for the schools.

I don't think I know of any full professors at SMU who graduated there.

Anderson, Roy
Ryden Vinson & Elkins Distinguished Teaching Fellow and Professor of Law

Thornburg, Elizabeth G.
Professor of Law

Not to mention the amount of lower faculty and staff that have SMU JDs...

[lovethelaw2010]

2 wouldn't really be considered inbreeding.  Most law schools have at least some professors who went to school there.  University of Texas for example has between 35 and 40 professors who went to UT.

[botbot]

2 wouldn't really be considered inbreeding.  Most law schools have at least some professors who went to school there.

You are right; I was overestimating the number based on what I observed during an ASD.  It seemed like everyone I met from the staff and faculty had a JD from SMU (I guess they were just trying to show us successful grads) There are still a few associate professors with SMU JDs, and even a couple that have other SMU degrees. 

I stand by my lack of prestige comment for all three (but would love to be proven wrong)...

[lovethelaw2010]

I def. don't think I am going to prove you wrong on prestige but in my opinion how prestigous the faculty has doesn't have much to do with the quality of education you receive.  Most schools only have a couple of really prestigous faculty members so maybe you are going to get to take one course from them during law school.  Prestigous that is such a funny word and I think the only place that I have ever really heard it is on this discussion board.

[botbot]

2 wouldn't really be considered inbreeding.  Most law schools have at least some professors who went to school there.  University of Texas for example has between 35 and 40 professors who went to UT.

I did not see the UT edit, but SMU has quite a few UT grads as well (more than its SMU grads I think, not including staff of course).  UT places reasonably well in academia and has a pretty large class, hence why UT has a good deal of its own grads.

[lovethelaw2010]

Sure because it's a great school.  Harvard and Yale are the same way and so is almost every other law school in this country to a certain extent.  I would assume that UT has more grads in teaching that SMU, Baylor, or Houston but it's still a lot with 40 or so.  I'm just saying inbreeding isn't really a bad thing.