How Texas A&M became a top-100 law school in four years
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:48 pmBut inside, the school — acquired by A&M from Texas Wesleyan in 2013 — has gone from unranked to one of the top 100 in the country, hiring more than 25 new professors in the last two years, improving job placement numbers and putting itself on a competitive playing field with well-established law schools in the state, such as SMU, the University of Houston and Baylor.
“Texas A&M is an incredibly ambitious university,” interim dean Thomas Mitchell told the Star-Telegram in an interview at the school. “So when they acquired a law school that was unranked, that was not the end goal — just to have a law school. It wasn’t just to have a law school that was average. It was to have an outstanding law school.”
A&M debuted at No. 112 last year and moved up to No. 92 this year.
The way Leiter sees it, A&M is already in a position to at least be competitive with SMU in attracting prospective law students to North Texas.
“Texas Wesleyan was near the bottom of the heap,” Leiter said. “By A&M taking it over, they’re going to give SMU a run for their money, though SMU does have a well-established law school base.”
• A&M’s median LSAT score has risen to 157, a jump of five points since the school was acquired from Wesleyan, Mitchell said. SMU and Baylor, by comparison, had median LSAT scores this fall of 161 and 160, respectively. UT’s last year was 167. Houston’s has been 159 in recent years, according to its website. “[Five points] is a significant improvement,” Leiter said. “If you’re at 157, it’s reasonable to think that most of those students have the skills to pass the bar.”
Texas law schools (national ranking) (tuition) (2016 enrollment)
1. University of Texas-Austin (14) ($33,995 in-state; $50,480 out-of-state) (904)
2. SMU (46) ($51,096) (741)
3. Baylor (51) ($57,752) (365)
4. University of Houston (54) ($30,401 in-state; $45,219 out-of-state) (710)
5. Texas A&M (92) ($28,000 in-state; $33,668 out-of-state) (484)
6. Texas Tech (118) ($23,668 in-state; $35,008 out-of-state) (518)
Source: U.S. News & World Report and American Bar Association
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local ... 55286.html
“Texas A&M is an incredibly ambitious university,” interim dean Thomas Mitchell told the Star-Telegram in an interview at the school. “So when they acquired a law school that was unranked, that was not the end goal — just to have a law school. It wasn’t just to have a law school that was average. It was to have an outstanding law school.”
A&M debuted at No. 112 last year and moved up to No. 92 this year.
The way Leiter sees it, A&M is already in a position to at least be competitive with SMU in attracting prospective law students to North Texas.
“Texas Wesleyan was near the bottom of the heap,” Leiter said. “By A&M taking it over, they’re going to give SMU a run for their money, though SMU does have a well-established law school base.”
• A&M’s median LSAT score has risen to 157, a jump of five points since the school was acquired from Wesleyan, Mitchell said. SMU and Baylor, by comparison, had median LSAT scores this fall of 161 and 160, respectively. UT’s last year was 167. Houston’s has been 159 in recent years, according to its website. “[Five points] is a significant improvement,” Leiter said. “If you’re at 157, it’s reasonable to think that most of those students have the skills to pass the bar.”
Texas law schools (national ranking) (tuition) (2016 enrollment)
1. University of Texas-Austin (14) ($33,995 in-state; $50,480 out-of-state) (904)
2. SMU (46) ($51,096) (741)
3. Baylor (51) ($57,752) (365)
4. University of Houston (54) ($30,401 in-state; $45,219 out-of-state) (710)
5. Texas A&M (92) ($28,000 in-state; $33,668 out-of-state) (484)
6. Texas Tech (118) ($23,668 in-state; $35,008 out-of-state) (518)
Source: U.S. News & World Report and American Bar Association
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local ... 55286.html