Thinking about going to law school. What is a good choice

[beyurslf]

Let's just assume that I won't be going to an Ivy League school. I am finishing my Bachelor's in 2004 and am thinking about Law School. I would either want to go in criminal defense or constitutional law (ACLU). What would be a good choice?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Hastings or Boalt Hall

Hastings would be in the top ten in the nation were it directly on a Cal U campus.. as it is it is in the top 20, and Boalt is at Berkeley.

[curse10]

2. I'm at Northeastern

I love it here :-)

[OldSoldier]

3. People's College of Law

http://www.peoplescollegeoflaw.edu/

It's in LA and... "PCL is also very unusual in that it was created to address and balance inequities in our law and society.  PCL's goals are to advocate people before property, human rights, women's rights, tenants' rights, consumer rights, workers' rights; to fight discrimination, economic and political oppression; and to enable and empower those who have been historically denied legal resources and protections."

I read their admissions packet once. Felonies will not keep you out of PCL, but "may" affect your eligibility to sit for the bar examination.

If you're looking for a traditional law school (their term), UNC or Duke are good choices. Stay away from Campbell School of Law (http://law.campbell.edu/) unless you want your politics slightly influenced; the typical Campbell student feels Rush Limbaugh would be a good person if he just wasn't so liberal. (And this before the drug thing.)

[beyurslf]

10. I don't think any one

could influence my politics. I am STAUNCHLY liberal. But thanks!

[Ellen Forradalom]

25. Avoid Ave Maria...

Ave Maria in Michigan was founded by staunch Catholic and pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan. If it leaned any more to the right it would fall right over.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

4. my cousins went to Albany Law School

Very good school

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. Put a rubber band around your wrist, and every time you think

about going to law school, snap the rubber band hard.

[Cry Freedom]

7. LOL

:thumbsup:



:kick:

[agingdem]

6. My husband and my son

went to the University of Texas School of Law. A lot depends on your grades, your LSAT score, and what you can afford and...private law schools cost a whole lot more than state law schools.

[beyurslf]

11. I don't think I could live in Texas.

They take cases to the Supreme Court just to defend their "right" to discrimante against my kind. (Luckily they lost.)

[agingdem]

17. So...

what exactly is "your kind"? My "kind" is Jewish but we're mostly referred to as "you people". I have no problem living in Texas, however, I feel a deep humilation and shame with Georgie and "his kind".

[beyurslf]

19. Oh sorry I thought the SC would give that away. My kind=gay n/t

[agingdem]

23. And...

that would prohibit you from living in Texas? It's kind of like we Jews...if we never travelled to every country that has kicked us out, burned us at the stake, or gassed us, we'd never go anywhere.

[SharonAnn]

18. Gosh, "W" couldn't get into U.T. Law school. Guess your

husband and son are a LOT smarter than he is.

[agingdem]

20. My husband and my son...

are smart and hell! Amazing that someone stood up to Goerge's daddy (and his offer of an endowment) and called a shrub a shrub.

[PinkTiger]

8. Unless you want to be a Supreme Court Justice

or you have aspirations to a high-level clerkship, you should choose a law school close to home, within your financial means, that has a good, all-around education to offer.
You will be happier and have a better time. If you go with a choosy school, the only thing you will receive is more grief, because the best opportunities will be given those with connections.
There are a lot of good schools out there to choose from.

[beyurslf]

12. Unfortunately, there are only two law schools in KS that I am aware of.

One is President's College in Wichita (where I live). The last I had heard, the college had yet to gain its accredidation. This is sad too. Wichita is by far the largest city in the state and has 3 Univeristies with large presences.

There is a law school in Topeka but I have heard it is pretty conservative.

My aunt lives in the SF bay area and she would love me to stay with her. I may look out there.

[curse10]

16. Most law schools are conservative

it's the nature of the beast. Some are more, some are less, but, law attracts a lot of conservative people.

[Deesh]

9. I agree with DucktapeFatwa...

Abandon the idea of law school at once. Law offices are sterile, tense, and spiritually unrewarding.

Work for a non-profit. Sell maple syrup. Anything but law.

[beyurslf]

13. Lawyers are needed. They protect our rights.

Without them, it would still be illegal for me to have sex in Kansas. It would be legal to have separate schools. Women would not have reproductive freedom. The list goes on.

[thebaghwan]

14. OK, having gone through the process I will describe a couple of things.

As you probably know the two things that really count for admissions is your GPA and your LSAT score. Let's talk about the GPA. Your GPA will be calculated by a division of the people who administer the LSAT. They are called the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS). They will use a standard format for everyone. It is possible that your computation of your GPA and theirs won't match. This is because they can't things you don't count. A Not Pass grade is counted as a F for example.

I would get some guides for the LSAT at least. I don't know anyone who ever took those prep courses. Being familiar with the type of questions will definitely help and I believe you can get an "official study guide" from the LSAT people. I would take the LSAT as early as possible and get my grades into the LSDAS. You will have to submit transcripts from all the colleges you attended.

I would look for a website for the LSDAS and you should be able to get the LSAT application also. If you are looking to enter Law School next September, I would get moving on this asap.

OK, you took the LSAT and you got your official GPA report. What now? I believe that the LSDAS/LSAT people used to put out a guide to the last year's entering classes statistics. This can be very helpful in making determinations about possibilities of getting accepted.

This guide shows the LSAT scores and GPA's for the # of people who applied and where accepted.

It works something like this: Let's say you have an official GPA of 3.65 and a LSAT of 60 and you are looking at UCLA.

You go to the chart for UCLA and you will see something like this:

3.5-3.7 GPA LSAT 55-60 227/43

This means that 227 people who had an GPS between 3.5-3.7 and an LSAT score of between 55-60 applied for admission and 43 were accepted.

I have also seen a similar guide for admissions in the back of some LSAT guides you can buy at bookstores.

Hope this helps and go to an A.B.A. approved school.

[beyurslf]

15. I can take the LSTAT more than once right?

I have a year left (graduate Jan 2005). I was thinking about taking it soon to see how I do and then taking it again in the fall to improve. (Kind of like taking the ACT a couple times in high school)

What is a "good" score on the test? 100?

[agingdem]

21. Well...

not the same at all. May I suggest you take the LSAT Prep course?...

[curse10]

22. 150 is the average

180 is perfect. Don't count on getting in anywhere if you score 120 or less.

[thebaghwan]

24. I would not assume that it is OK.

It would depend on the school's policy regarding LSAT scores. Some will say they average the two scores. Good preparation is important.

Having said that, I will tell you that I had to take the LSAT twice. This was in 1976 and I took the LSAT and got a mediocre score. I had a high official GPA for back then 3.75. I was working for Whittier College School of Law in L.A. just doing odd jobs and helping them get ready for the ABA accreditdation review. They told me to retake the LSAT and they would take the higher. Other schools I was interested in said they would average the scores. At this time the LSAT was scored in three digit figures. It was also fairly well known that even if you retook the LSAT and got the same version of the test the most you were likely to get is 50 more points optimum.

Well I retook the test and got 140 more points. I went to a Law Day at a local University and I spoke to an admissions dean from UCLA. He didn't believe me at first until I showed him the official report. He said that was damn near a miracle and asked what schools I was applying to. (UCLA was not one of them. I asked me if there was anything happening in my personal life at the time I took the test. He suggested I think about it then make appoitments with the Deans at the schools I wanted to attend. It dawned on me that I was going to school, My Dad had a stroke and I was also doing his work at that time.

So, I went to talk to the Dean's and they all told me they would average the scores (which really wasn't going to help a lot) and I ended up being admitted to all the schools I applied to

[plm135]

26. Take the LSAT in February

What people arent aware of is that each test is scaled against JUST the people who took that test. In other words, the February test isnt scaled against some other standard or against all the tests that year, just those who took it in February.

February is when most of the people who bombed the test before take it as a last ditch effort before admission is over. I took it in February 98 and got a 169 which was top two percent, if I had taken it another time I might not have done so well.

Univ of Houston is a Tier One school that is pretty cheap, Houston is a fairly multicultural city, fairly liberal (Sheila Jackson Lee is the representative) and it has a pretty large gay community, then again, it has a pretty large everything community.

Traffic is bad bad bad, and crime is more than in Kansas, but not so bad that bullets are whizzing by your head either. Cost of living is low, and pay for lawyers in Houston if you do well can reach six figures fairly easily.