Probably a lot like your friend, except that I don't know which direction I want to go in. My current job has made it easy for me to be able to really think about where I want to go in my career if I do decide to go to law school. If and when my Swirve gig ends (which doesn't look like it is anytime soon...we just had our best year since the bust), I should have a good idea about what specific area of law I want to go into. Of course, that's all assuming I go to law school. There are a few career paths I'm considering. The ideal would be all-Swirve, all the time.
I would advise going to the very best school you can get into for any course of study. I think the better the school, the better the education from your peers and professors and the better the resources and prestige. However, I would caution against the belief that once you get into a good school you have it made. My father graduated from Harvard undergrad and law school and found that when interviewing with lawfirms he was usually being evaluated by other young lawyers who could be overly concerned that with a Harvard degree he might pass them up in the firm.
That is not true, though. For your whole post, but more specifically to the first paragraph. For law school I would say to go to the best you possibly can. Even if you get little to no financial aid, you can take out a ton of loans and actually be able to pay them off when you get out in the real world. Sure, there are going to be some regional considerations, but overall, go for the best possible. Not only will it look better, but the uber mean professors and competetive students will make you better and train you to be more of a survivor/killer/etc. That is true for all graduate school, though. The key to any is simply to outlast the bastards.
I suggest you pick the law school you like best for your particular reasons. Obviously if you go to a top tier school, you'll arguably have a "smarter" core of students than at lower-tier schools with which to learn. But then I know people who chose lesser-ranked law schools based on costs (e.g., in-state tuition, scholarships) or other personal reasons. They still ended up at the big firms with the big salaries. Personally, I went to Texas Tech law. I finished law school wtih very little debt, and I still ended up in NYC practicing intellectual property with the big boys.
Max, Calurker, I am disappointed in this petty bickering of yours as it embarrasses our profession. I personally would never engage in such shenanigans on this BBS. If you like I can mediate this dispute for you at my normal hourly rate.
i'd mediate, but i have no idea what we're arguing about! i don't even really work here. that's what makes this so difficult.
I'd say always go to the best school you can get into, unless you absolutely have to stay in a particular city or you are absolutely sure that you will settle down in a particular region. (There is no way I would have gone to UofH if it had been my own choice, but my scholarship donors (Fulbright) sent me there. I had told them I would like to go to Harvard or Chicago and these cheap biatches sent me to Houston instead . Looking back, I had a great time, though.)
Some of my former students that went on to law school have all told me that UH is a great place to go and you save a lot of money in the process.
Who is this for? Surely, it's not for you. If you decide to go to law school, I'm sure you'll be bumping up the average age of students at that school They'll call you "pops."
That would be funny. Maybe I can ask the admissions office to see if they offer an AARP discount for tuition I was asking for my brother's grandson. He thought that I would know all of this being in academia for so long. Apparently, he was wrong
that might be true but the problem is if you are looking to work outside of texas, perhaps even houston, UH is considered health only. somewhat like george mason is considered economics only. and thats the problem with regional law schools that start specializing in certain fields. their rankings might go up but the general perception many have is that they're for specific fields so unless you want to do health, or want to stay in houston, you'll have a hard time finding your first job. however as was stated earlier in the thread...once you get your first job, you can go pretty much anywhere with the right contacts. generally if you get into a top 10/15 (maybe top 5) school you should go without worrying about the debt. and i think UT qualifies. if you can't get into those go to the best regional school you can. the first job is all about finding fellow alumnis.
