Pros & Cons Of Texas Law Schools (degree, graduates, best)
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If you have a background in law or have an educated opinion about our educational institutions then I would like to hear your reviews of law schools in our state. How do you rank them and why?
I've heard good things about UT. If you are in state it would also probably be less pricey although I have never priced those schools out.
One thing to bear in mind is whether you want to stay in Texas to practice. Some good schools are more regional in where their graduates go. That's very true here in Florida where a large portion of practicing attorneys are from Florida schools - much more than in Massachusetts where I first began practicing. Or so it seems to me. UT strikes me as one that may fit that mold - it may have a large percentage of the biglaw jobs in Dallas and Houston but few in Seattle, Miami, etc. But that is just my impression without any particular research.
Do you know what you want to do with your law degree? If you're looking for a job at a big firm, or as a law professor, then definitely consider UT. If you're not sure about what you want to do, or are open to smaller firms, or working in the public sector as a prosecutor, or other government attorney of some sort, go to the cheapest accredited law school that you get into.
The more debt you have when you graduate, the fewer employment options you'll have. Unless you find some sort of loan forgiveness program, you probably won't be able to work in the public sector or go into business for yourself if you have a big monthly loan payment. You'll need a big law firm job for the big salary. The golden handcuffs are real.
Baylor has highest job placement, that's very important as unemployment/underemployment among lawyers is ridiculously high in our country.
That is definitely important, but be sure to dig in to that statistic. In the last couple of years it has come out that a number of law schools include in their placement numbers any graduate who is employed, whether it be in a legal field or not. So if a graduate was working as a cashier at Walgreens he or she would be included in the "placed" category because he or she is employed. I'm not saying Baylor is one of these, I'm not familiar enough with it. But you should calrify how they calculate their placement rate if they don't disclose it up front.
Baylor secured the top overall job placement rate for the state. Other statistics show:
• 92.6 percent of the class members were employed as of March 15, 2016.
• 85 percent of graduates are employed in full-time, long-term positions that require a bar license or prefer a J.D. degree, an 18 percent jump.
• As noted by The Texas Lawbook, Baylor also fared the best in job placements for lawyer-only positions (bar passage required), placing nearly 82 percent of its 2015 graduates in such positions.
• Baylor Law School graduates garnered higher salaries this year, with the average salary increasing from $77,894 a year ago to $82,146 in 2015.
Job Rank US News Rank School Percentage
1 7 PENN 93%
2 11 DUKE 92%
2 60 KENTUCKY 92%
4 13 CORNELL 91%
4 2 HARVARD 91%
4 4 CHICAGO 91%
7 6 NYU 90%
7 4 COLUMBIA 90%
9 2 STANFORD 89%
9 12 NORTHWESTERN 89%
11 8 MICHIGAN 88%
12 8 VIRGINIA 87%
12 65 SETON HALL 87%
12 8 UC-BERKELEY 87%
15 55 BAYLOR 86%
15 30 OHIO STATE 86%
15 18 WASHINGTON UNIV. 86%
18 25 ARIZONA STATE 85%
18 20 IOWA 85%
18 1 YALE 85%
21 45 GEORGE MASON 84%
21 57 NEBRASKA 84%
21 86 ARKANSAS 84%
21 45 SMU 84%
25 30 BOSTON COLLEGE 83%
25 33 GEORGIA 83%
25 86 TULSA 83%
25 16 VANDERBILT 83%
The results of the February 2017 Texas Bar exam have been released and Baylor Law is again No. 1 with an 88.89 percent pass rate.
I'm not surprised that Baylor's job placement rate is better than UT, I'm surprised that it's higher than Yale and Vanderbilt.
Imho UT Austin has overall better ranking because their tuition is very low compared to Baylor & SMU.
Last edited by UnfairPark; 06-13-2017 at 06:53 AM..
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