I completely agree that a geographic connection, even within the T14, is important. Check out where schools place their grads. Do you want to practice on the west coast? I’d go to Berkeley over Penn. Chicago? NU or Mich over NYU.
I would not base my choice on what specific subject area you think that you want to pursue at this time, especially if it means picking Tulane over William and Mary. You want to get a job, and getting a job is all about the school you go to, not the specialization of your school in the specific area that you want to pursue.
Given the terminology and the substance of the OP, I’d imagine that the OP has already researched job prospects at the various schools and knows that, within reason, you want to basically go to the best school you can get into bearing in mind the geographic job placement issues. Prestige might not be everything, but when you’ve got $150K in loans and no job because you weren’t able to finish top 15% at your T50 school, it’s worth considering. Jobs where you can pay of your loans are very competitive outside the T14.
Back to the OP’s question… I think that there have been a lot of good questions so far. I wouldn’t ask questions that are answered by the website, but you should definitely feel comfortable saying things like, “I saw XYZ on your website. Tell me more about that.” I’d definitely research clinics a little bit and ask some more specific questions beyond what’s available on the website. What kinds of cases do students work on? How much autonomy do students have to handle their own cases? I’d also absolutely ask about their communication and legal reasoning program (aka, whatever they call their 1L legal writing program). If you’re interested, ask about international opportunities. Mostly, be informed and be comfortable. Journals, moot court, student organizations - all are good topics.
Crocodiles And Boulevards, I am currently a 2L at one of the schools you’re considering. If you have more questions, feel free to PM me. Best of luck. I know that this process is absolutely no fun.
I graduated law school in May so I have a bit of recent experience about what I wish I had known. Ask about their employment statistics and for information about the career services office (have they won awards, how long has the career services staff been there, survey results, etc.). If they do job postings online, look at it to see how many are there, how often they’re refreshed, etc. The school I went to…not so great in the career services department.
BTW, I know someone who transfered to Northwestern after their first year here (IU Law) and had nothing but gushing awesome things to say about it. My boss went to Michigan and, again, nothing but great things to say about it. Strangely, though, all my professors who went to Harvard…nothing but horrific things to say about that place.
So it seems like you have a couple of nice choices lined up; I wish you the best of luck. Being a lawyer kicks ass.
My sense is that you’re just asking questions because you want to interview well. That’s fine since you should make your decision on bigger factors anyway. But that means that the content of the questions doesn’t really matter, right? The goal is just to fill the space in the interview while the interviewer evaluates what he or she is really looking for. And what is that? What are law school admissions people looking for that they can’t find in your GPA/LSAT/Personal Statement? From my experience they are looking for maturity, humility, and self-reflection. They can tell from your numbers whether you’re smart enough to hack it. But they can’t tell from your numbers whether you have the self-discipline, the emotional intelligence, and real interest in the law to make it through.
To the extent that the content of your questions matters at all, you want your questions to reveal these personal qualities. Ask about how quiet the student housing is, or whether most people study in the library. Ask about whether there is any kind of faculty mentoring program. Ask about how the course selection process works. Ask about how many people come straight from college versus come with work experience. Ask how, knowing what they know, they would decide among schools if they were in your position. Etc.
At Northwestern in particular, they like people who have some work experience. If you do have that experience, think about how you will connect it to your interest in the law, and think of ways to bring it up. You might even brainstorm questions you can ask that would be related. For example, if I had a background as an English teacher, I might ask if there are any at-risk tutoring programs in the area so I do a little part-time teaching.
Good point. I’ve definitely heard this about NU before, and my PS has quite a bit to do with my time as the copy chief for a small publishing company. Actually, that’s a genuine question. I wonder what NU Law can specifically offer to someone looking to use that J.D. to work with publishing companies.
Thanks! I didn’t even know that career service programs had awards to win, but that’s a great question to ask. If they’re an alumnus, I guess I could also ask them about their personal experiences with career services.
Absolutely. I’m set on going for broke with law school. Ah, it was such a good idea to ask this question here! That autonomy question will definitely go down in my list.
Also, I plan on sticking around in the Midwest or going out of the country again. The more I research about Michigan, though, the better it sounds. I’m surprised that the Chicago schools do much better than UMich considering how close Ann Arbor is.
As I said above, for inside the US I’d like to stay in the Midwest or even the South. Like a good Baz Lurhmann fan, I lived in New York and California for a while but moved before they could change me
I do wonder if any particular law school in the country is well-esteemed by the publishing community, though.
Yeah, if you get a student interviewier, I’d make sure that the word that comes out of your mouth most frequently is “you”: what are you involved in? what classes did you take? what do you think of the professor’s interactions with students? etc., etc. Lawyers, even aspiring lawyers, generally like center stage.
Really? That surprises me. Of course, my perspective is California BigLaw, but there is absolutely no perception that either Michigan or Northwestern are regional schools. They’re both considered top notch national schools, and top students from those schools would essentially have no problem getting hired in LA.
As stated above, I disagree. Firms like diversity, and so don’t want to have a class full of USC/UCLA/Stanford/Boalt (or whatever it’s called now) grads. They like some range, so a good Mich or NU student would be a welcome addition. And both those schools have robust and active alumni networks out here, so that shouldn’t matter.
Again, I disagree. But again, my perspective is from Biglaw. If you’re not interested in that kind of work [although if you’re not, why go to a top tier school?], then it probably would make sense to find a regional school that will help you get into whatever kind of work you want to do.
I wouldn’t worry too much about choosing schools until you have acceptances in hand. Indeed, I wouldn’t even worry about it until you have financial aid offers in hand. Cross that bridge when you come to it.
