Wake Forest out in Winston-Salem, NC. Also, I recognize the irony of commenting on the writing program at the school and then creating a number of grammatical errors myself. Note to self: get edit function activated.
Sam, would you mind posting your essay for potential applicants to UT law to read? You could help them a lot this way.
My brother in law attends SMU law and loves it. Small classes, a North Eastern University feel to it, good job placement once graduated. In fact, I think it is fairly highly ranked as well. I have also heard that they look at the LSAT more than GPA as well, so maybe he should try there. By the way...can't he just apply to every law school in Texas and go to the best one he gets in?
SMU's the second best school in Texas, great option there. Of course, being private, the price is through the roof. CJ, I think maybe you just got some poor classes/professors. Hard to judge a school based on 7 or 8 weeks of classes, especially when you didn't go there for the first 2 years. Also, FWIW, 3rd year is all about "doing the minimum possible". I was clerking 20 hours a week, an editor on my law journal, interviewing for jobs, doing competitive mock trials, and I probably was as apathetic to 3rd year classes as the rest of your classmates.
There seems to be a lot of talk about what is the "best" school. And there seems to be some major disappointment for people thinking they cannot get into a top tier law school. I'm not a particularly big believer of rankings. It's primarily up to you what you want. I went to law school at Texas Tech. Last time I checked a couple of years ago, they were in the bottom tier in U.S. News and World Report. I was fortunate enough to work in the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston and a U.S. District Court. All I ever heard from judges in Texas was how good a school Texas Tech was, regardless of what U.S. News and World Report said. Then I started working in Houston for a year before a lateral move to NYC. Even in NYC, I never had anyone comment to me where Texas Tech was ranked (Although I do get plenty of "Where's Texas Tech? I've never heard of it." . Point is, IMO, unless you're focused on a very limited subset of opportunities such as a professorship or a US Supreme Court clerkship, ranking means little in the long run. I'm a true believer that the quality of your work is what sets you apart. If you don't get into UT Law or some other top program, it's not a reason to be sad or disappointed.
i hear ya, SoSo. i applied only to UH and South Texas, because I was ready to get home to Houston after 4 years in Waco! I never once heard any potential employer or judge say anything negative about either school. I clerked at the 1st Court of Appeals, and some of the judges there were from schools that weren't top-ranked. i've always believed that school is what you make of it. perception is important to some, i suppose. but i've hired an attorney before for my office, and in considering those candidates, i never got bogged down in that stuff. much more concerned about the person's passion and character, frankly.
I'm taking an LSAT prep course in Austin right now. One of our instructors, who's been teaching the LSAT for a while now, tried to put UT Admissions into perspective for us. He said the formula UT uses to decide if they even look at your application is: (GPA * 10) + LSAT = Index He said the cut-off for the last few years is an index of 192. Any application below this magic index is THROWN IN THE TRASH! Your son's index would be around 198. I approximate, because the LSAC tries to normalize GPAs before they give them to schools, so difficulty of school and/or major may help your son. So, he's got a shot, if he can wow them with his essays and recommendations. He should definately be able to get into a decent school within the state, so he shouldn't worry. If he doesn't get into Texas, he won't be alone. His 1L section will be filled with tons of other people that are pissed off that they didn't get in either.
