<p>I am taking the LSAT in December and have been scoring around 170 and 171 on my practice tests, and I have a 3.94 GPA. However, I'm not sure I want to take out thousands of dollars worth of loans to go to a higher-ranking private law school. I was thinking about just going to my state school, The University of Florida. If I do score in the low 170's on the test and my GPA remains the same, do you think it would be a waste of how hard I have worked to go to a school that you only need about a 160 to get into?</p>
<p>If you want to practice law in Florida, the University of Florida is one of the best choices that you can make. If you want to practice in New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles while saving money by attending your in-state law school at Florida, you will need to make law review and graduate in the top 10% of your class and be willing to contact law firms in those cities on your own.
If your dreams are to become a federal judge, then it is better to consider Chicago, Yale, Harvard or Stanford or be on law review & Top 5% of your class.
If you want to work as a corporate general counsel at a Fortune 500, then your odds of getting a head start in that direction may be better getting a degree from NYU, Northwestern or Columbia.
If you are undecided as to where you want to live & what area of law interests you, then go to the best law school that you can.
Practice tests may or may not be accurate in your case.You have to wait & see what your results are before taking a serious look at Top 14 law schools.
If you want to be a tax attorney, then attend law school whereever you want & get your LLM in Tax Law at Florida or NYU.
What school do you currently attend? What is your major? Where do you want to live? In what, if any, area of law do you want to practice/specialize? Also what were your SAT scores?
P.S. The Univ. of Michigan School of Law & the University of Virginia Law School should not be thought of as state schools as the tuition charged is high for both residents & non-residents and both law schools are highly prestigious Top 14 law schools.</p>
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<p>Coldwind, please help me understand the basis for this statement. Thanks.</p>
<p>^^ There IS no basis for that statement! I have been a corporate General Counsel and have worked at several Fortune 200 companies in-house and there is no particular law school that gives you an edge. Back “in the day” more of us went directly in-house. Now, it is probably a good idea to have 3-5 years law firm experience. After that, you generally work your way up through the corporate legal department. Later in your career you might get hired directly as a GC. My company’s current GC who is very highly regarded graduated from a small law school in the Pacific northwest.</p>
<p>With a 3.94 GPA and an LSAT anywhere near where you’ve been practicing, you’ll undoubtedly get significant money from a lot of schools. Plenty of private schools will offer you a full ride, and there is something to be said for graduating without debt. </p>
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<p>Only the “where do you want to live?” question is relevant. That’s something you’ll have to figure out after you have your acceptances.</p>