There is nothing wrong with Tier 3 law schools

[Jay the Great]

No trolling here.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. US News rankings are arbitrary and overrated. So called "tiers" mean nothing in the real world, and there are some very excellent Tier 3 law schools out there.

Take the Cecil C Humphrey's law school at the University of Memphis. I live in Memphis, and I can comfortably say that the almost all of the city's most successful lawyers graduated from there. That's not to say that a Memphis graduate will go on to be the next Supreme Court Justice, but who cares? They do very well in their region and state on all levels - and I'm sure could do equally well nationally.

So stop this better tier war and go to a law school that is practical for YOU. Quit taking so much consideration in some journal's rankings and decide for yourself.

/rant

And I don't care who agrees with me!

[paul1454]

I'm not going to a t3, but I do agree that the "go to the best school possible (according to USNWR)" is a bit overrated.

[adlai]

I'd actually divide the top 100 USNWR rankings into thirds, with everything from 66-99 being interchangable, 33-66 etc.

But T3 is a big drop-off imo, I mean, they don't even bother to rank them. It's like after Top100 is a no-mans land, I know that it sounds mean, but the fact that they don't even bother to rank the t3 schools makes the schools look bad.

[paul1454]

Exactly.  Outside the top 25, one shouldn't focus so much on rankings in general.  One should be more focused on location and regional reputation in regard to where they would consider practicing than giving the greatest weight to the difference between #37 and #50.

[«ě»]

It would make more sense to divide up rankings in bulks of fairly equal schools instead of ranking everything. Like, I think everyone agrees that HYS is the top three, but to what degree Yale is better than Harvard and Harvard is better than Stanford is so subjective it doesn't really make sense to separate them. And so it goes downwards. There certainly is a difference between schools, but very marginal and at times quite arbitrary. Then again, the newest USNWR rankings had _a lot_ more ties than it usually does, so maybe it's starting to reflect this. Or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, there's plenty of good T3 schools.

[Thistle]

I'd actually divide the top 100 USNWR rankings into thirds, with everything from 66-99 being interchangable, 33-66 etc.

But T3 is a big drop-off imo, I mean, they don't even bother to rank them. It's like after Top100 is a no-mans land, I know that it sounds mean, but the fact that they don't even bother to rank the t3 schools makes the schools look bad.

Not ranking them makes them look bad, but that doesn't mean that they are bad.  They don't rank them because it's more of a regional debate.  Ranking a T3 in Florida vs. a T3 in Wyoming is ridiculous since most likely the graduates will stay local to their respective schools.  Outside of the top 25, I'd like to see USNWR rank based on geographic regions. 

exactly.  80% of arkansas graduates from both schools stay in arkansas, and both schools have good regional reputations.  its silly for them to compete with creighton or washburn because the graduates wont be working in those regions.

the t2's are even regional, to a great extent

[yongsoo]

So called "tiers" mean nothing in the real world, and there are some very excellent Tier 3 law schools out there.

Take the Cecil C Humphrey's law school at the University of Memphis. I live in Memphis, and I can comfortably say that the almost all of the city's most successful lawyers graduated from there.

I agree with my fellow LSDers on this: that past top 25, it really just comes down to where you want to practice. But to state that "tiers" mean NOTHING in the real world is a bit overboard...unless of course, your real world is limited to Memphis and the surrounding area.

You make a good point that when it comes down to how successful one is in their career, the greater percentage of success is due to individual motivation and perseverance. Unfortunately, the real world isn't quite what our elementary teachers described to us. It takes more than just will power. Sadly, a lot of it is 'who you know' and 'where do you come from.'

You must admit that the Vault top 10 would look more favorably upon a T14 graduate than a T3/T4 Graduate, even though the latter may be more capable. Is this fair? no. (and I hate to use the cliche, but...) "That's the way the [real] world works."

[Boalt 2010]

go to a law school that is practical for YOU.

i agree with this part at least.

however much of your rant doesn't apply to me since i do in fact want to become the next supreme court justice. 

but i realize most people are not the same way.

[Thistle]

So called "tiers" mean nothing in the real world, and there are some very excellent Tier 3 law schools out there.

Take the Cecil C Humphrey's law school at the University of Memphis. I live in Memphis, and I can comfortably say that the almost all of the city's most successful lawyers graduated from there.

I agree with my fellow LSDers on this: that past top 25, it really just comes down to where you want to practice. But to state that "tiers" mean NOTHING in the real world is a bit overboard...unless of course, your real world is limited to Memphis and the surrounding area.

You make a good point that when it comes down to how successful one is in their career, the greater percentage of success is due to individual motivation and perseverance. Unfortunately, the real world isn't quite what our elementary teachers described to us. It takes more than just will power. Sadly, a lot of it is 'who you know' and 'where do you come from.'

You must admit that the Vault top 10 would look more favorably upon a T14 graduate than a T3/T4 Graduate, even though the latter may be more capable. Is this fair? no. (and I hate to use the cliche, but...) "That's the way the [real] world works."

true, and if thats where one aspires to work, one must take that into consideration.  i just never did.  or do.  or whatever.

and, i could never pass the background check to be a supreme court justice, i'll be lucky to pass character and fitness 

[«ě»]

Good post, I truly believe what you say, it's all about will power and dedication to do whatever it takes. To some people, success comes easier, whether it's a T14 school, genetics, rich parents, whatever. But if you're smart enough to get into law school, you're smart enough to succeed. At that point, it just comes down to how hard you work. Whatever you scored on your LSAT test is by no means directly related to how well you can perform as a lawyer, don't let semi-arbitrary numbers get you down.