Law School--Portland or Eugene--need advice! (2009, credit, student loan)

[hgurke]

Hi everyone,

I posted a few months ago about moving to Oregon from Chicago. I grew up in Alaska and I LOVE Oregon and I have visited Oregon a few times in the last year, and this year have applied to law school. I have been accepted to 3 programs I am considering:

DePaul (Chicago): A good regional law program, evening program (I can work full-time/part-time during the day and go to law school at night), in a city with a great legal market.

University of Oregon: I really like Eugene, but I need to work at least PT during the school year, and it's a full-time program, so I won't be available for office gigs full time during the week (nor will I have the time to work full time while enrolled in a full-time law program). A 15-20 hour a week server/bartender gig should be enough to pay the bills while in law school if I save some money over the summer, but I am worried about the job market in Eugene.

Lewis and Clark: accepted to evening law program, LOVE Portland, but worried about finding a job...

Any recommendations? I LOVE LOVE LOVE Oregon, I miss mountains and hiking, and I really, really want to be able to practice law in Oregon after graduation. Really, I wouldn't even be considering a school other than an Oregon school if it wasn't for the horrific economy (from what I hear) in Oregon...

I did do a search of job postings in my current field on Craigslist (finance/accounting) and Portland DID have almost the exact same # of jobs listed on the Portland job board when compared to Chicago's accounting/finance job board...although admittedly, Chicago had far more jobs listed on Monster/CareerBuilder (even when compared to population discrepancies) than Portland...

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

[subsound]

Check each programs accreditation and rankings as well as positions while attending, higher ranking and better accreditation is the way to go. It can open more doors to be internationally accredited with good rankings. I know when I hit my masters, because I was in the program (was an MBA, so a little different) they scooped me up because they could get me at a lower cost at the start, and get more benefits as I trained and become more educated. Even though when I started and was looking for positions I really thought there wasn't a great deal available.

[Nell Plotts]

I know its a little late in your hunt but have you considered Willamette???

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

I know its a little late in your hunt but have you considered Willamette???

I thought that, too. Strange that you didn't mention Oregon's premier law school in your rundown.

[observer53]

My reaction, too, remembering when I was thinking about going "home" to go to law school instead of staying in AZ.

[dache1987]

The real question is whether going to law school at all in this economy is a good idea.

I would strongly suggest taking a look at the following:

The Forecast for Rising 2Ls: Pain - Law Blog - WSJ

Will BigLaw Slash Hiring by 90 Percent? - Law Blog - WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/24/...al-job-market/ (written before the recession began)

Law Firm Layoffs Hit 10K Mark; Thursdays Most Often Bring Bad News | ABA Journal - Law News Now

Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession

www.jdunderground.com

[hgurke]

listen, i hope you are joking about willamette...it's a third tier law school, and employment prospects are supposed to be terrible. also, a friend of mine went to law school there, and i know for a fact that the school puts all of its scholarship recipients into one class in order to ensure that there are a few that won't make the grade curve and drop out.

i've pretty much decided on lewis & clark, but thanks for the input.

[hgurke]

Originally Posted by dache1987

The real question is whether going to law school at all in this economy is a good idea.

I would strongly suggest taking a look at the following:

The Forecast for Rising 2Ls: Pain - Law Blog - WSJ

Will BigLaw Slash Hiring by 90 Percent? - Law Blog - WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/24/...al-job-market/ (written before the recession began)

Law Firm Layoffs Hit 10K Mark; Thursdays Most Often Bring Bad News | ABA Journal - Law News Now

Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession

www.jdunderground.com

and i have a degree in finance and will be going to law school in the evening...the job market is poor in all sectors, a recent downturn in the legal market isn't exactly going to deter me.

[Todd.LA]

I would advise caution about financing law school with substantial student loan debt, unless you have a good idea of what you want to do with your law degree before you start. You'll likely take on close to six figures in debt, if you finance just your tuition and not living expenses. Google "Loyola 2L" for a well-known tale of woe of someone who financed a law degree at a second tier law school, did fairly well (top 25% grades), and did not substantially improve his earning potential.

In general, law is an insanely pedigree-obsessed profession, so the more highly-ranked the law school you attend, the better your career opportunities. Many large firms will want your grades to be in the top 5-10% of your class, if your law school is ranked outside the top 25. All law schools, outside of a handful of super-elite schools, have inflexible grading curves, which strictly stipulate the percentage of A, B, and C (and sometimes D) grades that must be given in each course. Everyone is not a winner in law school.

This year was an especially competitive year for admissions because the job market is so poor, so if you are presently employed, it might be wiser in the long term to take an LSAT prep course, re-take the LSAT, otherwise work on improving your application materials (e.g., essays, recommendations, etc.), and re-apply next year, with a stronger application. Check out How to Get into the Top Law Schools for general admissions advice and an excellent first chapter that gives a realistic (if somewhat bleak) assessment of the pros and cons of a legal education and legal careers.

All of the three schools you mentioned are ranked in the US News Tier 2, and they all tend to place their graduates primarily in their home regions. Chicago is a far larger legal market, with many more opportunities than Portland, so if you think you would want to end up there, I'd go with DePaul. If you want to work in Portland after you graduation (recognizing that there are far fewer jobs there), then either LC or Oregon would be fine. LC is ranked a bit higher than Oregon this year, but my impression is that the two schools have a roughly comparable reputation. The Univ. of Washington law school in Seattle, however, is definitely the most highly regarded in the Pacific Northwest, so if you want to attend law school in the region, attending UW would open the most career doors for you.

In sum, I'm not endorsing the legal profession's absurd obsession with prestige and pedigree (indeed, it's pretty shallow and stupid), nor am I saying that students who attended non-elite law schools (i.e., ranked lower than top 25-ish) cannot have successful legal careers (indeed, many do). But, it's important that you recognize that this prestige obsession exists and that the choice of what law school to attend will play an enormous role in determining what career options are open to you after you graduate. Good luck!

[rockybird]

Well, I just want to say congratulations! I know good applicants who are applying to law school and did not get into these schools. It's a competitive pool right now. It was different times, but my father went to U. of O and is very successful practicing in AK right now. I grew up in AK also. If I were you, I would choose the best school. Does going to school at night postpone your graduation (ie a year's salary)? If Depaul is the best school of the three, and Chicago has a busy legal market, maybe it would be the preferable choice? However, it would be hard for me to turn down U O, personally, but ultimately I would choose the best school. One thing my father still says to this day, and that is that he does not miss the rain in Oregon. (I live in AZ but am considering a terrific job offer in PDX).