William D. Henderson (Indiana) & Andrew P. Morriss (Illinois), What Rankings Don’t Say About Costly Choices: Some Students Should Consider Lower-Ranked Schools That Offer More Grants, Better Opportunities (National Law Journal):
Based upon our combined 21 years of experience as legal educators and our empirical study of rankings, we think students rely on law school rankings as a rough guide to their future employment prospects. Yet the U.S. News rankings would be far less influential, and produce fewer bad choices, if students had better sources of information. Providing prospective law students with better information is the purpose of this special guide. …
For the vast majority of students who are not admitted to top tier national law schools, these figures lead to a simple conclusion: Slavishly following the U.S. News rankings will not significantly increase one’s large-firm job prospects. And the excess debt that students incur is likely to undermine their career options. Drawing upon our research and detailed data made available by the NLJ, ALM Research and the 2008 ABA-LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools, we offer some additional information to help prospective students decide whether to enroll (or not) in law school, and where. …
For most prospective law students, the most important question is whether law school is worth $100,000 in debt plus three years of lost earnings. In purely financial terms, elite law schools offer a high degree of certainty: Although corporate law is not everyone’s preferred calling, the $160,000 per year salary plus bonus provides ample earning power to pay off student loans quickly. For many students at elite schools, the lure of money, prestige and power is overwhelming. Yet, even among highly ranked law schools, large firm jobs are available to a relative small proportion of students. …
For many prospective lawyers, the best strategy may be a careful evaluation of the regional job market in the area of the country where they want to work. If they are not competitive for admission into a national law school — or are sure they are not interested in corporate law — they can use their entering credentials to negotiate for a substantial tuition discount. By focusing on price rather than rankings, they will have the financial freedom to pursue jobs that will build valuable professional skills and mentoring relationships, or leave the law altogether, without debt, to pursue other life ambitions. Further, if prospective law students still want a shot at large corporate law practice, their best bet may be to focus on regional schools in major legal markets that will provide them with substantial scholarships. Virtually all large firms routinely interview at regional law schools in close proximity to major branch offices while ignoring higher ranked schools farther away.
The table at the end of this article summarizes the top 25 law schools based on full and half-to-full tuition scholarships and grants. In today’s competitive law school environment, the numbers (LSATs and undergraduate GPAs) that will get someone admitted to an Ivy-League school with $120,000 in debt can get the same person a free ride at one of the Tier 1 schools in the table. Likewise, numbers that would get someone into the bottom of the U.S. News Tier 1 (at $100,000 in debt) can get that person a full ride at an excellent regional school with a strong alumni base in his or her dream city. [Click on chart to enlarge.]
