A recent Kaplan Bar Review survey reveals that law school graduates advise prospective students to evaluate affordability and job placement rates when applying to law schools, but many students pay more attention to national rankings than anything else.
Applicants should weigh their future finances and employment more than the “monopoly on the law school rankings,” said Jeff Thomas, director of pre-law programs at Kaplan Test Prep.
Thomas said the U.S. News & World Report rankings are the only statistics applicants look at since there aren’t other notable school rankings.
“Law school rankings should not be the primary factor in choosing a school,” he said.
Logan Williams, economics freshman, said he is most interested in the University of Chicago and Georgetown University law schools because of their “noteworthy faculty” and rankings.
The U.S. News & World Report ranked University of Chicago at the No. 5 spot, and Georgetown claimed the No. 13 spot.
The LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center is ranked No. 79. Tulane University and Loyola University New Orleans law schools are ranked 51 and 135, respectively.
Thomas said the employment percentage of graduates should have more value in applicants’ decisions since the current “supply of lawyers” is higher than the demand.
“It’s understandable that students won’t think about 2015, 2016 now,” Thomas said. “What this is reminding students to do is to think long and hard not just if they want to go to law school, but what they want to do after they graduate.”
In some instances, schools that ranked lower in the U.S. News & World Report have higher job employment percentages for graduates than top-ranked schools, he said.
“Therein lies the magic question,” Thomas said. “There is not necessarily a direct correlation with public law school ranking data.”
The Wall Street Journal ranked the LSU Law Center in 11th place in its job reports. The Daily Reveille reported in the summer that 93 percent of 2011 graduates were “employed in full-time, long-term legal jobs within 9 months of graduation.”
Of the 176 LSU Law Center graduates, 3.98 percent were unemployed and seeking employment nine months after graduation, according to the Wall Street Journal report. Tulane, which ranked 28 spots higher than LSU in the US News & World Report list, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to have 7.05 percent of its graduates unemployed and seeking employment.
Lacy Reed, mass communication freshman, said being employed after graduation is a major factor in choosing a law school.
“Everyone’s goal is to get a job right after graduation, and in today’s economy, that’s a really difficult thing to do,” Reed said.
After learning about the Kaplan survey, Williams said his priorities in choosing a law school may change.
“That’s definitely something I’ll look at,” Williams said referring to the job employment percentages.
He also said tuition may become a problem, and he’ll most likely have to take out student loans.
“My family has some money put away, but certainly not enough to cover all of the law costs,” Williams said.
The National Jurist ranked the LSU Law Center as the No. 3 Best Value Law School in 2012, according to the LSU Law website. In-state students pay $17,474 tuition, and out-of-state students pay $33,800 tuition, according to the US News & World Report.
Tulane law students pay $43,684 tuition, according to the same report.
Thomas said the reason graduates advise applicants to consider tuition prices is because law school can leave students drowning in debt.
“It’s natural that students won’t understand,” Thomas said.
Thomas said another factor applicants should look at is bar passage percentages.
Of the LSU Law Center students who took the bar exam in 2011, 86.5 percent of test takers passed the exam, according to the Center’s website. The website also compares the numbers to other Louisiana law schools, though it does not list which school scored which number. According to the website, 69.6, 62.2 and 78.6 percents of other Louisiana law students passed the bar.
Though all three schools have lower passage rates, one Louisiana school is ranked higher than the LSU Law Center by the US News & World Report.
Justin Mannino, student member of the Board of Supervisors and LSU Law student, said the LSU Law Center gives the “most bang for its buck.”
“If you’re going to stay in the state of Louisiana, LSU Law is the way to go,” Mannino said.
