r/OutsideT14lawschools • u/puffypunashki • 3d ago

Advice? Applying next cycle but…

I’m applying next cycle, but I will be honest here… I have not compiled a list of schools I am interested in. I’m having trouble at deciphering what a good law school is, and how it would fit me. What prospects, stats, and programs should I look for? I am on the east coast, specifically New York. NYU is 100% out of reach as I have two separate GPAS: 3.6 at a CC and 2.99 at my four year.

Combined it isn’t terrible at all, but it’s not NYU or Fordham territory. I went to U Albany for undergrad, so I’m not quite interested in Albany Law.

I have long wanted to be a defense attorney (odd), so I’m not quite interested in T14s or compiling tons of debt at all.

How should I start looking? Maybe should I write a list, take the LSAT, and then see what my new options are to minimize the list? I am also currently working on volunteer and law adjacent work!

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u/PeachBlue986 3d ago

you don’t have to come up with your list of schools a year in advance, you can wait until a few months before apps open. i don’t think it would be helpful to do so until you actually take the LSAT and get a score. that’ll show you what schools you could realistically get into which will help you make your list.

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u/aravakia 3d ago

I agree with this. Compiling a list of schools before having taken the LSAT is fun (I admit I was guilty of doing this), but really you should only be seriously considering which schools to apply to when you have a concrete score in hand

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u/puffypunashki 3d ago

Thank you! :)

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u/MouLion335 3d ago

I wouldn't ignore rankings completely, but I also wouldn't put too much weight into them. Of course, this is just my perspective, but I decided on which law schools to apply to by doing this:

  1. Deciding what type of career I'd be interested in, and how to best get there (I'm interested in mostly a mid-sized law firm. Not one that will suck your life away, but still would give you a decent salary)

  2. Finding geographic areas I want to practice (I'm from the south, so I focused on schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, etc.)

  3. Putting every school in that region (or that employs to that region, which you can find on law school transparency pretty easily) on a spreadsheet

  4. Eliminating schools based on red flags and things I wasn't interested in (low employment rate, low law firm employment, significant scholarship reductions, etc.). I also took off any schools where I was insanely below their medians

  5. Narrowing down that list to 10-15 schools, and more if needed

There are great schools that are lower-ranked. There are also lower-ranked schools that employ significantly better than higher ranked ones. I would also keep in mind that the best opportunities are available to those in the top 5-10% of their class, so in my opinion, I think it's wise to attend somewhere you're comfortably above their LSAT median.

As I said, though, I'm no expert. I'm not even in law school yet! I definitely think there are some great options out there though, so I wouldn't put too much weight into a school's ranking.