Choosing which law school to attend is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make when pursuing a legal career. Where you earn your Juris Doctor (JD) degree impacts everything from your hands-on experience and professional connections to your post-grad job prospects. So how do you pick the best law school for you?
While ranking lists offer one data point, legal education experts emphasize looking at multiple criteria based on your individual goals, needs, and preferences. Here, we break down the 15 most important factors to research when selecting a law school.
1. Location
Location significantly influences your law school experience and career opportunities. It determines the availability of hands-on learning through clinics and externships, the strength of alumni networks, and proximity to your target legal market and employers.
If possible, look at schools near where you want to launch your career, like major metro areas known for particular legal niches. You can take the bar exam and practice law anywhere, but location still plays a pivotal role.
2. Cost and Financial Aid
Law school involves a major investment. To minimize debt, research each school’s tuition, cost of attendance, average financial aid packages, scholarship availability, and average student indebtedness at graduation.
Run the numbers to compare your likely return on investment (ROI) across schools. Sometimes those with the biggest price tags do offer the biggest payoff for your goals.
3. Hands-On Experience
Legal clinics, externships, pro bono work, research assistant roles, simulation courses: these hands-on experiences prepare you for practice, help you specialize, and strengthen your resume.
Vet each law school’s offerings, like how early you can participate, types of clients/cases, and supervision model. Clinical opportunities are invaluable.
4. Faculty
The faculty shapes your education through teaching, mentoring, and spearheading initiatives. Beyond reviewing backgrounds, research how accessible professors are to students and their involvement on campus.
Strong faculty-student ratios and interactions facilitate more individualized guidance as you navigate law school’s demands.
5. Career Support and Job Placements
A law school’s job placement power matters. Compare employment rates at nine months post-grad, where alumni work, recruiting events hosted, career advising provided, and bar exam pass rates.
These indicate how well each school prepares you for job search success, bar passage, and launching your legal career.
6. Student Culture and Diversity
Law school is intense. The student body culture influences how collaborative or competitive the environment feels.
Seek schools actively working to increase all forms of diversity among students and faculty, which enhances learning. You want to feel comfortable being your authentic self.
7. Reputation and Rankings
A school’s reputation speaks to the quality of the program and value of the degree. While ranking lists offer limited snapshots, patterns emerge about strengths.
Talk to students, faculty, alumni, and legal professionals to gather insights beyond rankings on assets and shortcomings.
8. Academic Programs and Curriculum
Compare required courses, diverse electives, concentrations, joint degrees, class formats, and timeline flexibility. Vet bar prep too.
Ideally the academic program matches your interests and prepares you to pursue your short- and long-term career aspirations.
9. Alumni Network
Fellow graduates can share advice, job leads, mentorship, and more, helping launch your career. Check alumni job titles and bar pass rates.
A strong alumni network also signals the career prep power and real-world value of the law degree itself.
10. Support Services
Law school is demanding. Compare academic assistance offerings, mental health resources, student life staff, career specialists, disability services office, and more.
These show how well each school supports diverse students and promotes wellness alongside rigorous legal training.
11. Admitted Student Profile
The average GPA and LSAT score of admitted students indicate where you stand competitively. This helps target “reach,” “match,” and “safety” schools.
While these stats alone shouldn’t determine your list, they contextualize your academic profile among applicants.
12. Size
Smaller schools may mean smaller classes and more individualized support. Bigger ones promise more extensive alumni connections and abundant resources.
Consider your learning style and preferences to decide which student body size is the best fit. There are benefits to both.
13. Special Programs
Compare unique offerings like part-time or accelerated options, specific concentrations or dual degrees, social justice institutes, technology law centers, and more.
Special programs illustrate innovation and focal strengths, expanding possibilities for specialized training.
14. Campus Visits
In-person experiences can heavily influence your law school choice. Visit as many as possible to directly preview the vibe. If you can’t, do virtual options.
Talk to students, tour facilities, and sit in on a class. Gauge the community feel and academic intensity for yourself.
15. Your Gut Feeling
This process involves lots of data gathering, but qualitative factors matter hugely too in determining culture fit.
Listen to your inner voice guiding you toward schools resonating as the right personal match beyond stats and rankings.
How to Choose With All These Factors
Comparing over a dozen criteria per school while managing law school apps feels daunting. Here’s a step-by-step process to tackle it strategically:
1. Clarify your career interests. Do you want to work in a particular legal niche or city? Seek roles in certain settings like firms or non-profits? Desired lifestyle factors?
2. Make a master list of dealbreakers and ideal elements. Location requirements? Full-time program necessity? Hands-on clinical opportunities? Support services? Other must-haves? List them all out.
3. Research the factors above for each prospective school. Organize features in a table. Highlight when they fulfill your dealbreakers and ideal elements.
4. Weigh strengths of those meeting essential criteria. Cross off any that don’t. Then compare remaining options across all considerations, weighing your priorities.
5. Assess institutional fit and instinct. Which law school options just feel aligned with your goals, values, and personality? Don’t underestimate this cultural gut check.
6. Finalize target, reach, and safety school list. Based on all the above steps, categorize your top candidates into dream, likely, and secure admission selections to round out a balanced list.
Choosing a law school is exciting but involves many moving parts. Ultimately you want the best overall match across everything from hands-on experience and career prep to culture fit and instinct. Utilizing the above factors and strategic process helps ensure you make the right choice for your needs.