Monthly Archives: February 2011

First-semester grades are in, and you’re either feeling really good, completely awful or confused by what it means to be in the middle (because up until now, you’ve always been on top, right?). You feel like you’re finally “getting” the law-school game, but you’re also uncomfortably uncertain how determinative first semester will be of your 1L success. So what’s an anxious 1L to do? Keep these six points on your radar: 1. Don’t get too comfortable. If you killed it first…

These days, there’s a lot of talk about the “value” of law schools.  But the well-known U.S. News & World Reportrankings don’t specifically include price. That’s why, according to the ABA Journal, and the TaxProf Blog, author Malcolm Gladwell offered an alternative approach to ranking law schools in a recent critique at the New Yorker (sub. req.) — one that weighs affordability.  In The Order of Things: What College Rankings Really Tell Us, “Gladwell devised a law school ranking that puts the University of Chicago in first place…

There are 49 religiously affiliated law schools. They represent a spectrum of denominations and shades of belief. Some faculty incorporate this into curriculum, others do not. How, if at all, are these schools different from their secular counterparts? What effect might the religious commitments and beliefs of the sponsoring faiths have on subject matter, perspective, student life, academic freedom and admissions? If you look carefully, you will notice a small scroll attached to most doors in the…

Law school applicants face a difficult decision in deciding where to go to school.  Law school is expensive and making the choice where to go is one of the biggest investment decisions many applicants have ever had to face. Should you opt for a school near where you want to live and work or the school with a high ranking or big national name? How do you calculate the return on your investment? Will the regional schools get you where you want…

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More and more, potential employers are looking for graduates who already have work experience while in law school. And it's definitely a leg up to getting employed after graduation. Phil Hancock found himself a cozy cubicle at the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs last fall. Each semester, the White House accepts about 100 interns from the thousands of applicants it receives nationwide. This capital co-op was a high point of Hancock's budding legal career in public…

MmmmMmm!  Since many of you will be taking the LSAT this coming weekend, I thought it was appropriate for me to channel my inner Jamie Oliver and make some dietary recommendations to all the February LSAT’ers (if you haven’t seen Jamie’s TED talk, check out the first few minutes) out there. Truth is, we probably all should heed more nutritional advice from the likes of Jamie O – so why not let the LSAT be the incentive…

As you think about law school (and maybe you’re even waiting to hear from the admissions committee on your pending application), you may be trying to decide whether to go to a regional law school, or opt instead for a big name or national school.  Given skyrocketing law school tuition, students are focusing on the value of school and many have to weigh scholarship money at local, regional or  semi-national schools against the full price at a national or higher ranked school. That’s the topic for our upcoming podcast and we interviewed several deans…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that you should always go to the best, most elite law school you get into. Or is it? In a recent study, law school professors Richard Sander and Jane Yakowitz discovered that the salary boost from earning stellar grades outweighs the boost from attending an elite law school. Moreover, if you graduate with a low-low GPA, turns out you’ll “feel the least secure about your jobs.” (Read more about the summary…

 Spencer, a senior, sat in my office during a group pre-law advising session last week at a crossroads deciding whether to go to law school next year. He’s busy filling out applications just in case.  “My parents say if I don’t go now, they are afraid I will never go,” he said. “Plus, it is still a really bad job market out there. Maybe I should go to law school just to hedge my bets.” Marisa, sitting…