Congratulations! You've been admitted to law school. Several, in fact. Lucky you! Now it's time for you to make a decision, a decision that will determine the rest of your legal career. No pressure, eh?
Choosing a law school is a very controversial subject. Many insist that you should automatically go to the best law school you can get into. I think that this is true to a small extent. Otherwise, it is important to weigh all the facts when making your decision.
Situation: You have been accepted to Harvard, Stanford, or Yale.
Answer: What the fuck are you reading this for? Your life will be an easy ride down a street paved in gold. Obviously, you should go to one of these schools. In general, there are 14 top law schools. These are: Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Penn, Michigan, Georgetown, Berkeley, Cornell, UVA, Northwestern, and Duke. If you get into one of these schools, you basically have your choice of career. Now of course, if you want to be on the Supreme Court or guaranteed a fantastic job in a huge New York firm, HYS carry the most weight. But you are choosing among only the best case scenarios, so no matter where you end up, you should have great career choices. If you get into one of these schools, go. No matter what other school gives you what kind of scholarship or any other consideration. GO.
Situation: You were admitted to a top 35 school, but not a top 14.
Answer: Things still aren't bad for you. You may not necessarily have first dibs at the best firms in New York (although you are not necessarily precluded from these jobs either), but you definitely have your choice at large firms across the country. If you know where you want to practice, you might want to choose a school that has a great regional presence (e.g., Vanderbilt = Atlanta; Notre Dame = Chicago). If you want to work in a mid-sized city, you can basically walk into any big firm from these schools (and you might be rewarded, due to the differences in cost of living). In sum, you are still in great shape, but not as good at the Top 14.
Situation: You were not admitted to a Top 35 school, but got into a Tier 2 school (NOTE: by Tier 2, I mean anything below 35 in the US News rankings. They go to 50, but why kid ourselves?).
Answer: This is where the controversy arises. Let me say this: there are a lot of grumblings from Tier 2 students. Many Tier 2 students went to that school because it was the best school they could get into. These students scored about a 162 on their LSATs, were disappointed, and tried to save face by going to the best school they could get into. It sounds like a fine plan, but the truth is that once you are below the Top 35, your job prospects are essentially the same unless you graduate at the top of your class.
Remember my warning earlier about going to law school for money? This is where this plays out at its worst. The God's honest truth is that the only lawyers who make a lot of money work at big firms. Of course, a personal injury/criminal defense/domestic issue lawyer *could* make a lot of money. But these cases are the exceptions to the rule. Moreover, these lucky few only made a lot of money after working for about 10 years. When they graduated, they were likely working for modest pay.
When you graduate from law school, you will have lots of debt. Law schools cost from 15,000 to 40,000 per year, and most people finance this with loans. These loans place a lot of pressure on students to make enough money to pay them back. No matter how unseemly it sounds, money is very important for almost all graduating law students.
Tier 2 students pose a special problem. They are going to a school that costs quite a bit, but their job prospects upon graduation are not very good. Hardly anyone who goes to a Tier 2 school is on a full scholarship because anyone who scored high enough on his LSAT to get such a scholarship at least got into a Top 35 school (or maybe better). In turn, Tier 2 graduates have tons of loans and graduate with few prospects. What's more, Tier 2 students feel entitled to a good job on graduation because of their success. This can be very frustrating, and at least it is very stressful. I do not envy most Tier 2 students.
The truth is that Tier 2 students stand little chance of finding jobs at big firms. The will only find jobs at big firms if 1) their school is well known in the region, and 2) they graduate at the top of their class. The "and" in the previous statement was intentional. It is very difficult for someone from a Tier 2 school to find a job in a distant city. Keep that in mind if you do choose to go to a Tier 2 school--only go to one in the city where you want to practice. As far as graduating in the top of your class, that is a crap shoot, plain and simple. Everyone is gunning for the Top 10 in the class, and the margin for error is razor thin. No matter how hard you try, you cannot guarantee success at a Tier 2 school.
So what are Tier 2 students supposed to do? I strongly advise all Tier 2 students to apply to Tier 3/4 schools. I know this statement makes you feel sick inside. Most of you are thinking, "I didn't even want to apply to this Tier 2 school--it was my fallback! Why should I consider a T3/4? It's beneath me!" Before you recoil in disgust, hear me out.
1) You will get a good, if not full, scholarship. The full scholarship will enable you to have the flexibility to choose what you want to do after you graduate. You eliminate any financial risk of going to a Tier 2 school, graduating with no job, and being swallowed by debt.
2) You will perform better against T3/4 students. As I said earlier, the LSAT is not determinative of law school performance. However, it is a measure of raw intelligence. If you place as must effort and dedication as you would at a Tier 2 school, you will more likely place in the top of your class. I guarantee you that most students in the Top 10 of their classes at T3/4 schools are there on full-scholarship because of their LSAT score. In the same geographic region, the Top 10 at a Tier 2 has only a slight advantage over Top 10 at a T3/4 school. If you go to a T3/4 school, you give yourself a better chance of being in the Top 10.
3) No matter what you heard, Tier 2 job prospects are virtually identical to T3/4. Tier 2 has a slight advantage. Maybe the Top 20 people will get good paying jobs, where only the Top 10 will at T3/4. However, after this elite, the job prospects are bleak for both groups of students. The sad truth is that the vast majority of T2/3/4 (and therefore the vast majority of law students) will be doing personal injury/criminal defense/family law/quasi-legal government work, or worse, document review for $20 per hour. As I said earlier, if you want to be a lawyer, then this is no problem at all. However, if you are one of the many seeking prestige or money, the T2/3/4 is a rough place to be. You might as well take the scholarship from a T3/4 school to reduce the investment costs.
Having the same job prospects as a Tier 2 student without the debt and possibly with less struggle? Sounds good doesn't it?
Is there a difference between Tiers 2, 3, and 4? Possibly. I'm sure Tier 2 schools have better amenities, more prestigious professors, better sweatshirts. But in terms of employment, the bottom tiers are essentially the same. This is a fact--one that many law students do not discover until their 3rd year of law school, when it is too late.
Remember: If you really, really want to be a lawyer, none of this matters. Go to whatever school you want/can! If you like the Tier 2 school better, have at it! But do not go to the Tier 2 thinking it will guarantee you a good job, or at least a better job than the schlubs at the T3/4. This is just not so.
Situation: Jesus, I'm so lucky that one school accepted me.
Answer: If you barely got into law school, good for you. Just go if you're sure about what you're getting into. Again, please make sure you want to be a lawyer. There is no need incurring so much expense and spending so much time for something you do not want and will not pay off financially (unless you are at the top of your class). If you are going to law school because you aren't sure what to do with your life, don't. Throw your acceptance letter away (unless it's from HYS). Spend a year or two working. Go to Europe. Sit in your garage and work on your TransAm. Law school is the last place you want to be for no good reason...believe me.
