<p>when the cost of tuition is factored in to the equation. Very impressive.</p>
<p>[TaxProf</a> Blog: Malcolm Gladwell’s Law School Rankings](<a href=“TaxProf Blog”>http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2011/02/malcom-gladwell.html)</p>
<p>WOW–thanks! DS plans on law school after graduation. We’ve been very concerned about all the horror stories we’ve been hearing about law-school grads unable to find jobs at a living wage, etc., and we know that the caliber and prestige level of one’s law-school alma mater often helps make the difference between getting a good-paying law job and, well, not.</p>
<p>So this is good to know. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, Bama has a Tier I law school. </p>
<p>However, I wish the school spent a little money making the exterior of the law school building lo more attractive. It’s not “unattractive”…but it doesn’t have that same Georgian style that much of the school has. It needs an exterior facelift…some white columns and such.</p>
<p>We have a dear friend Professor William Henning who taught at MU when my husband got his JD and now is at Alabama! He was very kind when D visited last fall to give her a tour and took us to dinner (even got us in to see a little footballpractice). Bill and my husband wrote a textbook together on the UCC during my husbands third year of law school. MU’s loss Bama’s gain…they guy is a class act, intelligent, well written and has even acquired a southern drawl! We were very impressed with the law school and the Professors we met.
Lady D…my H was the partner at the firm who took care of interns. Tell son to keep a look out for opportunities to intern at Firms even before he starts law school. Many firms have programs that do not usually pay but allow prospective law school students to “shadow” lawyers. Several of our son’s friends have done this and they say it really gives them a leg up when it times to find an internship a their first year of law school. Has he read 1L by Scott Turrow? If not he should…good quick read…as yes although a little scary it does adequately paint the picture of the first year of law school. I would also tell him to keep his eye open for a clerkship when he graduates. Although clerks don’t get paid well a clerkship with a federal judge is a golden ticket to a top job.
Finally I would advise y’all to go over to the law school and introduce yourselves…even if he plans to go elsewhere for his JD the professors can be very helpful and who knows what doors they might open!</p>
<p>I wanted to bring attention to the snippet at the bottom of the linked page, without comment as it stands on its own merits:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mom, </p>
<p>Actually, UA’s architectural style is predominantly Neo Classical and 19th century Federal. I don’t think there is a single Georgian building on the campus. That is Auburn’s predominant style. UA also has a bit of Victorian among its older buildings. But Georgian can be nice too!</p>
<p>True…</p>
<p>But, Bama’s law school ranks well with US News, too. Not as high as ivies, but as high or higher than some universities’ whose own overall rankings are high.</p>
<p>When one looks at how well Bama’s law school and UAB’s med school is ranked, it really is a sharp contrast to those who still think education in the south is backward.</p>
<p>^ But those schools still only have weight in the south</p>
<p>Says who? I guarantee that recruiters know the quality of UA Law and UA School of Medicine graduates.</p>
<p>m2ck, I personally love the Modernist design of the Law School Building. I definitely would hate to see them mess with the boldness and earthiness of the glass and concrete facade with ill-fitting Neo-Classical columns. </p>
<p>Modernist architecture is something I wish we had more of on campus. It seems UA experimented with it far too briefly from the 1970s to the last 1990s. The few examples of it can be seen in the Ferguson Center and the AIME Building. </p>
<p>The Ferguson Center used to have a beautiful wrap around symmetry that made it look like the Kennedy Center in Washington, before the additions were made on the west and north faces. See this old post card to see what I mean. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cardcow.com/images/set321/card00382_fr.jpg[/url]”>http://www.cardcow.com/images/set321/card00382_fr.jpg</a></p>
![http://www.cardcow.com/images/set321/card00382_fr.jpg[/url]](http://www.cardcow.com/images/set321/card00382_fr.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>This photo is taken from a vantage point that would now place you on the Crimson Promenade in front of BB Comer Hall.</p>
<p>^^ Maybe those specific schools, but outside of the south, Vanderbilt is generally known as the only good school in the SEC, and maybe Florida.</p>
<p>lol maybe to northern elitist snobs but not to recruiters. Anyway the south needs doctors & lawyers too so I don’t really see the problem. </p>
<p>Feeno, thanks for that pic of the ferguson center. That’s the look I remember from my days on campus. Amazing how much the campus has changed in the last 20 years.</p>
<p>There’s no point debating this with a high school kid.</p>
<p>I just read that full Gladwell article in the New Yorker yesterday (along with a very good column by Tina Fey) before I put the package together to send to D (it’s her subscription 
</p>
<p>I also just read the Washington Monthly (September/October 2010) College Rankings Issue; quite interesting. They rank in a much different manner than US News. Even if you don’t agree with their methodology, it’s enlightening to see things dissected in a different manner. The article about George Washington University really opened my eyes. I know they mentioned Alabama a few times but I can’t find the hard copy right now to quote.</p>
<p>I said that UA’s architetural style was predominantly neo classical and Federal, but actually it is Greek Revival and Federal to be more exact. Sorry!</p>
<p>Well, whatever it is… LOL… I just don’t care for the looks of the Law School. To me, a law school should have a certain “look” of being an old, traditional institution…and I just don’t think any kind of modern style is right. </p>
<p>I don’t mind the more modern style that is used for the rec center or the Ferg and Student Services Buildings…but I just think the education buildings should have the look of old traditional buildings.</p>
<p>@ahpimommy–thanks so much!! I cannot believe how helpful the folks at this forum are. Y’all are so kind (and funny!). I feel privileged to be (potentially) associated with a school whose students have such great parents. (OK, that’s pretty tangled syntax, but I hope y’all know what I mean. :))</p>
<p>As for prestige outside of the South – well, who wants to work and live outside the South, anyway? 
</p>
<p>Only kidding (sort of). But this ex-Yankee cannot imagine living anywhere outside of the sweet sunny South. My hometown of Boston is fine for a visit, but (brrrr!) I wouldn’t want to live there. :)</p>
<p>BTW, re architecture: I’m kind of partial to Neo-Gothic myself. But I think Gothic spires look somewhat out of place in the South. (Take that, Duke! ;))</p>
<p>I just think the Law School’s architecture is out of place for the school and for a law school. </p>
<p>Even the College of Medicine building on campus is much better looking.</p>