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Everyone knows that attending a school with
a prestigious reputation is an important factor – if not, sometimes, the factor – to acquiring a job in today’s
legal market. Unfortunately, the focus
of many pre-law students is just trying to get into law school and not on the
job market 3 to 4 years from now. It’s
time to change that troubling perspective, and with that perspective maybe the
decision to go to law school altogether.
So what are some good indicators that
the schools you apply to are going to get you a job in the end? An obvious option is to look at the law
school ranking reports – and not just over the last year. Look at multiple years for rankings. Who is consistently in the top 10? Are there any schools that jumped a lot of
spots to get into the top recently? How
and why did that happen, and is it a good reason to consider them?
Ivy League law schools are always going
to be a given. Harvard reported that 96% of their 2012 graduates were employed,
while at the national level only 65% of 2012 law grads were employed (and this
includes the underemployed). Clearly Harvard’s
reputation affects the odds of its student’s employment upon graduation. Even if an ivy-leaguer law school doesn’t
rank within the top 10, the clout provided by the undergraduate level is often
enough.
Another option is to look at rankings
for schools based on their employment reports.
While this data has been questionable over the last five years or so,
the information can help you begin to weigh your options, and you can dig
deeper into these statistics once you’ve narrowed your list. Here is a helpful rank provided by Forbes for
the top law schools for career prospects in 2015.
If you’re only looking at lower-tiered
law schools, you may want to reconsider applying to law school at all. Again, the job market is extremely
competitive and doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. Some law schools are closing, such as branches
of the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law,
and others are struggling to keep their doors open. Do not get stuck with one or two years of law
school debt only to be left out to dry when the school closes before you
graduate or are able to transfer. Even
worse, having three years of law school debt and no job opportunities! Find better investments for your time
and money.
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Until
Next Time,
Jenny
L. Maxey
Author
of Barrister on a Budget: Investing in
Law School…without Breaking the Bank
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