Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Trends, Law School Location, Law School Location; Law School Rankings, Law School Rankings, Scholarships, Yale Law School
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Your go-to source for straightforward answers to law school admission questions brings you a new tool for your journey. Law School Expert has teamed up with FindTheBest to bring you all the need-to-know information to compare law schools and find the best one for you. Just as the Law School Expert blog provides you the best advice and seeks to empower and educate you in making the best law school admission and law school decision choices, the FindTheBest team is dedicated to providing information stripped of marketing influence. FindTheBest has created an unbiased, data driven comparison tool that presents facts in easy-to-use tables with smart filters so you can make informed decisions. Whether you are deciding on schools, or still wondering if law school is for you, this law school comparison is a powerful tool you can use to make an informed decision. Check it out in the Resources section of lawschoolexpert.com, and please let us know what you think!
Oh, and while you’re at it, Law School Expert finally has a page on Facebook! Don’t miss any news, updates, or useful information! “Like” Law School Expert today!
Categories: Law Careers, Law School Location; Law School Rankings, Law School Rankings
Tags: choosing a law school, judicial clerkships, USNWR Rankings
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See this article ranking law schools according to the number of graduates from the 2009 class in Federal Judicial clerkships – Great support for going beyond the USNWR rankings in choosing a school!
Categories: Law School Rankings
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The new U.S. News Law School Rankings for 2011 have been published: The biggest jumps are UCDavis and William and Mary into the top 25. Minor movement among the top 10 - it will be interesting to see how many people Berkeley loses from the incoming class because they went from 6 to 9. Of course, as I always say, the law school can’t possibly have changed that much in a year but the tiniest change in statistics allows U.S. News to sell its annual America’s Best Graduate Schools issue. If things didn’t change, the issue wouldn’t sell.
For more details, see my analysis of the 2010 US News Law School Rankings.
Read more about the “U.S. News Effect on Law Schools” here to understand how schools are able to manipulate rankings.
Categories: Financing a Legal Education, Law School Rankings
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I was reading the paper today and learned that the University of the South is lowering tuition by 10 percent. I thought, “Aha! Someone is finally listening to me!” Ok, it’s not a law school, but it is a fairly respected undergraduate school in the South. (I know these things, since I graduated from high school in Alabama). And they are lowering tuition!
Money and Law School: Lower Tuition! – This is something I posted this last year and I’m pretty sure it’s the only time I’ve ever used the Law School Expert blog to give advice to law schools, but I stand by it. If law schools would worry less about spending more (as per this post by a law school dean and this post about the U.S. News rankings’ reliance on expenditures) then lowering tuition would be much more feasible. The amount of support staff per student has skyrocketed and the importance of fancy facilities seems to have eclipsed law schools’ considerations of whether students are really getting a good value. Law students are generally a disgruntled bunch anyway – no amount of free pizza or fancy library carrels is going to change that. But lower tuition, and less pressure to find high paying jobs – now that’s something that could make law students maybe not quite happy, but a lot more satisfied.
See also:
Budget cuts at law schools
Ten Major Changes in Legal Education in the last 25 years
U. Maryland Law Protects Students from Tuition Increases
Keeping Tuition “Low” at Vanderbilt
Categories: Advice, Financing a Legal Education, Law School Admission Trends, Law School Rankings, LSAT, LSAT Prep, Wait lists, waitlist
Tags: LSAT Prep, success stories, US News Rankings, waiting list
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Yes, I miss Glee. But in the meantime, it’s been an exciting few weeks and I want to share a few highlights with you. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. I was interviewed for US News’ article, “As Law School Tuitions Climb, So Does Demand.” It’s worth a read, just don’t get to caught up in the negative comments about law school. You know how I feel about those. But I do hope that the article inspires more of you to consider scholarships over rank, at least to some degree. (The article was even picked up by Above the Law).
2. Speaking of US News…. are you sitting down? This may shock a few of you who’ve been following my blog for a while. I am going to be the Law School blogger for US News. Starting August 1st, I’ll be writing weekly columns on all things related to the law school admission cycle. Pretty exciting stuff. And, yes, I’ll even be sharing my thoughts on rankings : )
3. Another waiting list success story: One of my favorite clients, (ok, they’re pretty much all favorite clients), just found himself at a crossroads. After working on law school applications with me for two years (he wasn’t happy with his LSAT the first time around and decided to wait), he was in his car, followed by a moving truck, on his way to Tulane Law. He was excited about Tulane: great school, nice scholarship, near his girlfriend’s family. Then, he was somewhere near my hometown in Alabama when he got the call – he was pulled from the waiting list at Emory!!! He called me, totally panicked, excited about the opportunity but feeling like this was a major curve. After asking what his girlfriend thought he should do (go to Emory) I told him, “You’re three hours from Atlanta- GO!” Here’s a situation where ranking prevailed - Emory is #20 and Tulane is #45, and he really loved Emory when he visited. I offer this story as encouragement for all of you who are still on wait lists: Fight, fight, fight!!!
4. I’ve been talking to a lot of people who are wondering whether it’s too late to get started studying for the October LSAT. The answer is my favorite of all answers – it depends. Are you working full time and going to school? Then, yes, it’s too much to start fitting LSAT prep into that mix. But if you have time to dedicate, give it a shot! If a month from now, in mid-August, you find you haven’t been able to dedicate yourself to the effort then put it off until December. But if you have time to really start concentrating on it, do it! I told one of my clients this week that, come Monday, I expect her to have a study schedule set up. If you take my advice on this, you won’t have to call me (or ask on the blog) telling me you didn’t prepare adequately for the October LSAT, terrified that December is too late in the game to be competitive.
Ok, that’s about it for today. I had a wonderful week in Maui, and this weekend we’ll be going to my husband’s 20th reunion for high school. I hope your summer is going well!
Categories: Advice, Application Timeline, Law Careers, Law School Admission Deadlines, Law School Admission Trends, Law School Location; Law School Rankings, Law School Rankings, Law School Resume Tips, Low LSAT, LSAT Prep, Uncategorized, Wait lists, waitlist
Tags: applying to law school, insider secrets getting into law school, law school podcast, LSAT Preparation
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I recently did a podcast interview for Insider Secrets : ”Getting Into Law School” - you can listen to it or read the transcript. In it, I discuss how to choose an LSAT prep program, choosing a law school, taking on debt, putting together your applications, resumes, wait lists, low LSAT scores, and about a thousand different things related to law school admission. I’m happy to take questions here and/or entertain your comments and thoughts.
Categories: Law School Rankings, Wait lists, waitlist
Tags: choosing a law school, law school waiting list, location versus ranking
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Success Story #1: Law School Waiting List Dreams Do Come True
I get a lot of comments on the blog asking whether a waiting list is a “soft-reject.” My response: only if you do nothing to follow up and campaign for yourself. Today, one of my clients called me with wonderful news – she was admitted off the WL into her dream school (a top 10 law school) with both an LSAT and GPA at the 25th percentile for that school. How does this happen? She didn’t take “no” for an answer. Even though the school said in its WL letter that they didn’t want additional materials and no follow-up was necessary, she followed up. She visited. She wrote persuasive, professional letters. She had additional, relevant letters of rec sent. She convinced the school she was a sure thing. Even though she wasn’t in the priority ranking of the WL, today, on June 15th, she was admitted to her dream school. Lawyers are advocates. Start by being your own advocate. Take action and you’ll never have to wonder “what if?”
Success Story #2: Choosing Your Right School, not U.S. News’ Right School
I have another client, let’s call him “Steve.” Steve applied to law school a year ago (without my help) and wasn’t happy with his results. He really wanted to go to Law School X (a top 25 USNWR law school). He didn’t get it. So about a year ago, we started working together. He ended up getting in to School X (with a scholarship) and also into a Top 15 law school. He has spent two months struggling with his decision. Top 15 school is far away, but sounds fun and prestigious. School X is close to home and a great fit for his career goals and social life. He visited both campuses. He talked to local prospective employers. He learned that they would rather hire someone locally who clerked with them during law school than someone from a more highly ranked law school. As I say in the book, “Don’t be a snob. Think about where you want a job!” Choosing his original dream school, right in his backyard, where he is already hooked into the legal community, is the right decision for Steve (no matter what USNWR might say).
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Ann K. Levine, Esq., former director of law school admissions for two ABA approved law schools, is a law school admission consultant and owner of Law School Expert,
