OP, did you take the LSAT yet?

PP I am completely confused by your list. Some of those places don't even have law schools, like UCSD or Georgia Tech. According to rankings, the top law schools that are public and are in the T14 are UVA, UC Berkeley (Boalt), and Michigan. The ones that come just after that tier that are public are UT Austin and UCLA. Then in the next tier down, there are places that have strong regional placement like University of Washington, Minnesota, Indiana, etc.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the PP that gave the decision tree - before anyone says i am elitist, i did note in my last point that going to a clear cut regional power does make sense.

So if you want to practice in montana or utah or idaho it probably would be smarter to go for the local flagship law school.

that said, law jobs are getting decimated and in the future there will be even less of them.

Yes, but OP isn't talking about going to law school in Montana, Utah, Idaho, or anywhere remotely similar. Assuming it truly is, here is the list of top ten public universities:

#1 University of California—?Berkeley; Berkeley, CA
#2 University of California—?Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA
#2 University of Virginia; Charlottesville, VA
#4 University of Michigan—?Ann Arbor; Ann Arbor, MI
#5 University of North Carolina—?Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC
#6 College of William and Mary; Williamsburg, VA
#7 Georgia Institute of Technology; Atlanta, GA
#8 Pennsylvania State University—?University Park; University Park, PA
#9 University of California—?Davis; Davis, CA
#9 University of California—?San Diego; La Jolla, CA

UC-Berkeley and UVA are the only two that are also in the top 25, with Michigan and UNC-Chapel Hill not far behind in the top 30 (and the College of William and Mary not far behind those). So, yes, if you're getting a free ride to Berkeley or UVA for law school, then it could be a good investment. Otherwise, don't go. If I had to guess, I'd guess Penn State.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It's free. Definitely do it.

It isn't free!! He is taking money from relatives. Completely different!

Sure, if you want to do slip-and-falls for 50k a year.

surrender the fantasy.

I dunno. DH has some small town, so called "shit law" lawyer friends from his hometown. Most of them went to an unranked TTT regional law school that is nearby with scholarships. They seem pretty happy with their lives. 50K can go a long way in a low COL area if you don't have to service six figures of debt and it is not super high stress lifestyle. There is a certain amount of respect that you get from doing white collar work in a generally blue collar environment. It's not for me, but it works for some.

Also, I think in trying to warn people about how rough the job market is, people say a lot of generalizations like don't go unless you can get into Harvard/Yale/Stanford, or don't go unless you can get into a top 10 or T14. It sort of depends on a number of factors--if you are content to stay in a certain part of the country, some markets recruit heavily from regional schools. Perhaps post some of your questions on TLS forum for a more nuanced picture.

Anonymous wrote:You guys know that outside of big city BigLaw, the whole T14 thing doesn't matter as much, right?

Sure, if you want to do slip-and-falls for 50k a year.

surrender the fantasy.

My biggest gripe about going to law school is that it ended up not being for me. If you truly want to go, and will have no loans, do it!

Yes. It's free. Definitely do it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to go to law school. I am a few years out of undergrad and have been working in a law firm since graduating. A few members of my family have recently (generously) offered to fully pay in-state tuition for all 3 years. The biggest gripe I hear from law school grads is not being able to pay off their loans - I wouldn't have this issue. Should I finally get my ass in gear and seriously get ready to apply for fall 2015?

A free degree? Are you kidding ? Yes. JD is a great background for many fields

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people are figuring out this trope is bullshit: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/07/11/number-of-lsat-test-takers-in-june-falls-to-14-year-low/?mg=blogs-wsj&url=http%253A%252F%252Fblogs.wsj.com%252Flaw%252F2014%252F07%252F11%252Fnumber-of-lsat-test-takers-in-june-falls-to-14-year-low

cooley law school cancelled its entire year at one of its toilet campuses. shitschool deans nationwide are FREAKING OUT because enrollment keeps falling.

no, do not go. do something useful with your life. don't piss away that free tuition money.

This makes me soooo happy. Thank God the money train for these shitheads is coming to a slow stop!!!

I'm the PP that gave the decision tree - before anyone says i am elitist, i did note in my last point that going to a clear cut regional power does make sense.

So if you want to practice in montana or utah or idaho it probably would be smarter to go for the local flagship law school.

that said, law jobs are getting decimated and in the future there will be even less of them.

Anonymous wrote:OP, people want to do environmental law pre law school because they think it's about saving the environment, the wilderness, animals trees.

In law school they learn that it's about statistics, .00000036 level of zinc versus .0000037; administrative law decisions, and days and days of discovery. It's not going to be what you think. Read up on Superfund. You are not going to get near the environment.

This! I was toying with doing environmental law until I got to law school and came across the laws and regs (CERCLA, RIFRA, etc.). Not for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to go to law school. I am a few years out of undergrad and have been working in a law firm since graduating. A few members of my family have recently (generously) offered to fully pay in-state tuition for all 3 years. The biggest gripe I hear from law school grads is not being able to pay off their loans - I wouldn't have this issue. Should I finally get my ass in gear and seriously get ready to apply for fall 2015?

A free degree? Are you kidding ? Yes. JD is a great background for many fields

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL people are figuring out this trope is bullshit: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/07/11/number-of-lsat-test-takers-in-june-falls-to-14-year-low/?mg=blogs-wsj&url=http%253A%252F%252Fblogs.wsj.com%252Flaw%252F2014%252F07%252F11%252Fnumber-of-lsat-test-takers-in-june-falls-to-14-year-low

cooley law school cancelled its entire year at one of its toilet campuses. shitschool deans nationwide are FREAKING OUT because enrollment keeps falling.

no, do not go. do something useful with your life. don't piss away that free tuition money.

yes, because outside of big city biglaw, few people have jobs

You guys know that outside of big city BigLaw, the whole T14 thing doesn't matter as much, right?

OP, people want to do environmental law pre law school because they think it's about saving the environment, the wilderness, animals trees.

In law school they learn that it's about statistics, .00000036 level of zinc versus .0000037; administrative law decisions, and days and days of discovery. It's not going to be what you think. Read up on Superfund. You are not going to get near the environment.