US News Rankings

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Re: US News Rankings

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Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:The transfer market is alive and well for law schools as well. If he only gets in to a number of T-2 schools, might be worth a look if he's willing to work. But don't expect to be able to transfer in to UT. Unlike many other law schools, they take very, very few transfers.

But it's still a gamble. I wouldn't wish upon an enemy graduated from a lower T-2 law school in this kind of market with the associated debt. And I started at one.


It absolutely is alive and well. A very good friend of mine from here in Alabama just transferred from non-top 100 Mercer Law to Alabama Law. We're all still scratching our heads about it because he was outside of the top 10% of his class at Mercer, had an LSAT score that wasn't really in Alabama's "range", etc... but, he did have a great story that mostly revolved around the fact that he is guaranteed a partnership in a law firm in Florida which, obviously, their admissions people liked.
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Re: US News Rankings

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RebStang wrote:
Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:The transfer market is alive and well for law schools as well. If he only gets in to a number of T-2 schools, might be worth a look if he's willing to work. But don't expect to be able to transfer in to UT. Unlike many other law schools, they take very, very few transfers.

But it's still a gamble. I wouldn't wish upon an enemy graduated from a lower T-2 law school in this kind of market with the associated debt. And I started at one.


It absolutely is alive and well. A very good friend of mine from here in Alabama just transferred from non-top 100 Mercer Law to Alabama Law. We're all still scratching our heads about it because he was outside of the top 10% of his class at Mercer, had an LSAT score that wasn't really in Alabama's "range", etc... but, he did have a great story that mostly revolved around the fact that he is guaranteed a partnership in a law firm in Florida which, obviously, their admissions people liked.


Going to work for "daddy's" firm?


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Re: US News Rankings

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Is Alabama law really worth talking about?
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Re: US News Rankings

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gostangs wrote:Is Alabama law really worth talking about?


For whatever reason, Alabama is ranked #23 in US News. Maybe they give lots of scholarship support for new students and transfer in students with lower stats.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... int=992008
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Re: US News Rankings

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This is probably the biggest joke. They don't have the stats and there really is no explanation for Alabama law even sniffing the top 25. SMU law is nights and day better
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Re: US News Rankings

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A little background on Alabama law...

To be blunt, they have manipulated the hell out of the ranking methodologies used.

I know far more attorneys here in Birmingham than I usually care to admit and, in reality, Alabama Law grads aren't even at the top of the list to hire locally because they want big money and, according to some, are not as well prepared for the legal environment in Alabama (which is primarily litigation).

What they have done, though, is leverage a few things that they have going their way.

One, they have poured money into their law school over the last couple of decades because they are savvy enough to recognize that they'll never get their business school to be highly ranked.

Two, according to my friend that's there, they cut their law school enrollment almost in half about 10 years ago. So, without increasing their number of applications or overall applicant quality, they instantly became twice as "selective" AND doubled the amount the university spends per law student on the law school.

Finally, according to the admissions person that recruited this guy, they are also benefiting from some sort of adjustment that is made based on the average starting salaries to adjust for the fact that someone in, say, Atlanta making $90k is really taking home more than someone in New York making $120,000.

That's just what I've been told by a few people around here plus the one guy that's there currently.
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Re: US News Rankings

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tristatecoog wrote:
gostangs wrote:Is Alabama law really worth talking about?


For whatever reason, Alabama is ranked #23 in US News. Maybe they give lots of scholarship support for new students and transfer in students with lower stats.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandr ... int=992008


They allow 15 transfers a year from what I've been told. They do have a lot of money to toss around, though - their law school is probably their most emphasized graduate program right now.
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Re: US News Rankings

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PonySnob wrote:
RebStang wrote:
Stlhockeyguy02 wrote:The transfer market is alive and well for law schools as well. If he only gets in to a number of T-2 schools, might be worth a look if he's willing to work. But don't expect to be able to transfer in to UT. Unlike many other law schools, they take very, very few transfers.

But it's still a gamble. I wouldn't wish upon an enemy graduated from a lower T-2 law school in this kind of market with the associated debt. And I started at one.


It absolutely is alive and well. A very good friend of mine from here in Alabama just transferred from non-top 100 Mercer Law to Alabama Law. We're all still scratching our heads about it because he was outside of the top 10% of his class at Mercer, had an LSAT score that wasn't really in Alabama's "range", etc... but, he did have a great story that mostly revolved around the fact that he is guaranteed a partnership in a law firm in Florida which, obviously, their admissions people liked.


Going to work for "daddy's" firm?


Yep. Insta-parner. I know his family quite well... it's not the typical "guaranteed job at Daddy's Firm" deal.

His father is one of those old school types that made his son pay his own way to college, didn't give him a dime of support while he was getting his MBA, and isn't giving him a dime of support through law school. The carrot at the end of the stick is that, once he gets the law degree, he comes into a position where he's primed to take over his father's lucrative estate practice in Windermere, Florida.

That said, this guy is not your typical law school student... he's 33 years old, has an MBA already, and was an AVP at Regions Bank making over $100k a year before he decided to go to law school.
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Re: US News Rankings

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JDC is a great degree - joining dad's company
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Re: US News Rankings

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smupony94 wrote:JDC is a great degree - joining dad's company


Dude's probably going to be one of the more overqualified people to do that next year...

BS, MBA, JD, LLM... joined dad's company.

As Mustangs, though, let's not knock JDC too much... a couple of our wealthiest alumni went that route, too.
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Re: US News Rankings

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RebStang wrote:
smupony94 wrote:JDC is a great degree - joining dad's company


Dude's probably going to be one of the more overqualified people to do that next year...

BS, MBA, JD, LLM... joined dad's company.

As Mustangs, though, let's not knock JDC too much... a couple of our wealthiest alumni went that route, too.


I don't see a problem with it. Wish I'd have been lucky enough to have that option!
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