Law School Rankings, I Shouldn't Care... or Should I? USNWR Releases 2011 Rankings

Ok, actually the title lied.  US News and World Report DIDN'T release their 2011 rankings, they were leaked.  (Now available on Top Law Schools and other ranking sites.)

I had almost memorized where all the schools I paid any attention to were on the 2010 rankings because I frequented some of the sites that show the USNWR rankings.  I could tell you off the top of my head that George Mason and BYU were ranked 41, Utah 45, Cincinnati 52, Arizona State 55, and Loyola Law School 71.  I'm not rankings crazy, but I've given kind of a lot of credit to them.  Now I wish I hadn't.  Clearly many schools make drastic changes just to better their standing in the various stats that are used by USNWR to rank the schools.  So in other words, they don't necessarily become much better schools, but rather they change to better fit the rankings model.  Arizona State and Loyola must have done this in dramatic fashion.  Both of them saw huge jumps in the 2011 rankings that just came out.  And as luck would have it, these two schools are the last two holdouts for schools that I'm trying to finally rule out so that I feel comfortable with my George Mason choice.  They didn't really help with the rankings jumps.

Check out the latest rankings changes for the section that has all the schools I'm really considering:
38. Arizona State (55, +17, moved up to Tier 1)
38. Alabama (30, -8)
38. Colorado (45, +8)
38. Wake Forest (40, +2)
42. Brigham Young (41, -1)
42. George Mason (41, -1)
42. Arizona (43, +1)
42. UC-Hastings (39, -3)
42. Utah (45, +3)
47. Florida (51, +4)
48. American (45, -3)
48. SMU (49, +1)
48. Tulane (45, -3)
48. Maryland (43, -5)
——————–
52. Pepperdine (55, +3)
52. Yeshiva – Cardozo (49, -3, moved down from Tier 1)
54. Florida State (52, -2)
54. Connecticut (52, -2)
56. Case Western Reserve (55, -1)
56. Loyola – Los Angeles/Marymount (71, +15)
56. Cincinnati (52, -4)


Yes... Arizona State is now the highest ranked school I'm considering.  WHAT THE POO!?  How am I supposed to deal with that.  Ugh.  Utah, Mason, and BYU are all tied now.  And Loyola is actually tied with Cincinnati and made a big jump.  So a school that is now ranked in the region that I originally wanted to aim for (at least 40s-50s) has offered me $84,000.  I wish I didn't care about these rankings, but I do.  To be completely realistic, law firms aren't going to care if I went to law school # 40 or law school #56.  To them, it won't make that big a deal.  It might matter if I went to law school #14, or law school #80, but the first pairing isn't going to matter much.  Loyola seems to offer more of the programs I want, would be much cheaper tuition-wise, and now is ranked in a similar region as George Mason.  However, I don't think I want to live in Los Angeles.  I also don't think I want to live in Tempe, AZ.  I feel like DC is the place I by FAR want to live the most.  George Mason's ranking is slowly dropping, but hasn't dramatically changed in the last 5 years.  Loyola and ASU could very easily drop in the rankings next year.  Do you see how confused I STILL am about this decision.  Stupid rankings just threw a wrench in my thoughts.  Ugh.  Again, I really wish I didn't care about them at all, but I still do.  
Someone talk some sense into me.  OK, pros and cons let me lay this out:
George Mason---PROS:

• I'm in a city I LOVE
• There are apparently great singles' wards (helps with dating, obviously)
• I am in a city that is very conducive to getting jobs in this career field.  (Well, there are a lot of them anyway.)
• GMU is really good at placing people in jobs
• I will have family out there.  (My bro-in-law and sister.)
• In my mind, this is the most prestigious of the three schools.

CONS:

• Biggest price tag.
• More financially geared law school, and that's not really the direction I'm heading.
• Quite expensive to live out there. (Although apparently Loyola's cost of living is more.)
• Ranking dropping.
• A lot more competition.

Loyola Law School---PROS:

• Has more classes that I'm interested in.
• $84,000 scholarship makes this the cheaper option by about $50,000 total compared to Mason.
• I could possibly be more competitive among my class.
• Frank Gehry-designed campus!  (This is a joke.  Architecture won't make this decision for me.)

CONS:

• Really expensive cost of living, but of course, much of that is alleviated by scholarship.
• Terrible economy in LA and CA in general right now.
• Worse job prospects.
• It's in a shady area, and in a city I really don't much care for.  (Love the roller coasters, that's about it.  Well... the weather is really nice, too.)
• Suspicious jump in rankings: makes me think they're just numbers oriented, not necessarily worried about quality.

ASU--- PROS:

• Now the highest ranked school to which I was accepted.
• Again, singles' wards, great community.
• More classes in areas I'm interested in.
• Cheaper than Mason, but more expensive than Loyola.

CONS:

• Blasted HOT!
• Don't really know how much I want to live there, but I've heard some people say they really like Tempe.  I'm skeptical.  
• Also skeptical of their lack of reporting of employment at graduation.  This is a statistic almost all law schools will report and/or flaunt.  ASU hasn't reported it for the last few years, and it was getting worse in the last few years that they DID report it.
• Not getting a great employment vibe from ASU/Arizona in general.
• Very suspicious of the jump in rankings what with the lack of any great reports of employment.

Ok, sorry to subject you all to that.  But I think I needed a good reminder that these rankings don't really change my opinions.  I paid my seat deposit at George Mason, so I had pretty much made my decision, but then these lame rankings came out tonight.  I still feel that George Mason is the best choice at the moment, and I think that's where I'm headed barring any surprise financial offers, or acceptances offered from my schools that have waitlisted me.  (BYU?)

K, well, yeah, really need to go to bed.  Umm... bye.

Still a tough decision... what do you have to say, Danny Glover?

So, I'm just chillin' here at work, bored out my skull.  (As you can see from totally random video I just put on youtube.)

I got waitlisted at BYU afterall, so my choice is narrowed a bit.  My current plan, which could change within the next week or so, is to pay my seat deposits at Arizona State and George Mason, and then see if I don't come off the waiting list of any of BYU, Utah, or (haha) William and Mary.  Again, Houston could only change my mind at this point by offering some crazy scholarship, and the other schools are pretty much done.  I'm withdrawing from Akron and Cincinnati, just to declutter my decision a bit. (Update: actually, I can't get myself to send these emails.  I'm having such a hard time ruling schools out entirely.  Arg.)  This is still a really tough decision for me though.  I wish that a brick would fall from the sky, shatter upon impact with my parking lot, reveal a hidden scroll within that unrolls, and proclaims the law school that is perfect for me.  Somehow I doubt that will happen.  Just a hunch.

Anyway, life's good.  I can kind of taste graduation now.  I just found out that none other than the famous star from such blockbusters as Lethal Weapon, The Rainmaker, and Lethal Weapon 4, the incomparable, outstanding, groovy kick-trash cool actor, Danny Glover will be the commencement speaker at our graduation!  Awesome.

K, see ya.

Applying to law school: My thoughts, frustrations, opinions.

Wow.  I have a lot of crazy stuff on my mind lately.
DC was a blast last week.  I had a tough time returning to the cold here in Utah.  The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were out there.  Low 70s-ish the whole time, and sunny.  It was great.  I came back here, and we've had a bitter cold wind going on.  Not great.
I really enjoyed getting to see George Mason Law.  It's a tiny little campus.  It was also under construction, so there wasn't much to see.  They have one big building, and they're building a second.  That's about it, plus, I may have already mentioned this, but I kept smelling cigarette smoke all over the campus.  It's in a nice area of Arlington, though.  I really love the DC area.  I think that I'd enjoy living there a great deal, however, it's not exactly cheap.  I would want some decent assurance I could pay off the debt of living there and of going to George Mason without a scholarship.

Random interruption to discuss the photo above.  That's me and Ty on one of our three flights on the way out to DC.  I had only had about 3 hours of sleep the night before, but I can't sleep on planes.  Ty, as you see, was not having the same problem.  That trip was seriously fun though.  The flights weren't comfy, but getting to go somewhere was tremendous.  I'm really glad that Spencer and Ty went with me as well.

Anyway, so I'm struggling with the George Mason choice, even though I really want to live there, and it's the best school that accepted me.  I just worry that I'll get tons of debt and then struggle to get the types of jobs I would need to pay it all off.

I just learned that BYU sent out a bunch of decision letters today, including mine.  What with the timing of their response, and the fact that there are a bunch of them at once, I'm fairly certain that at best I'll be waitlisted.  If they had accepted me, I would definitely go there at this point.  It just doesn't seem like I'd be accepted this late in the game.

I haven't thrown out Loyola, but it seems really unlikely.  Cincinnati and Houston are pretty much out.  (Houston could change my mind if when they offer scholarships next week they give me a great offer.)

Now, my current thoughts:  I'm actually really considering Arizona State.  When I applied I didn't think too much about going there, but now it's looking like one of my best options.  To make it affordable, I'll have to establish residency after my first year.  They've offered a scholarship for only my first year, in order to bring me down to below resident tuition.  Then if I could actually establish residency it would be almost as affordable as Loyola with the big scholarship that they offered.  It's a tough decision, and I need to make it in the next couple weeks, provided I don't want to waste any seat deposit money.

I've been pretty frustrated with getting waitlisted at U of Utah.  I thought I'd get accepted, but it was never a for sure thing, obviously.  Anyway, I'm surprised that I probably don't even have the option to stay in Utah for school after all.

I'm anticipating a lot of news tomorrow.  I have a few letters on their way.  I'll know more tomorrow.  Wish me luck, again.

K, bye.

Havin' a blast!

I LOVE Washington D.C.  I don't know exactly why I love this place way more than other cities, but I do. I've seen quite a few unexpected sites and people.  I saw Joe Biden in a presidential motorcade.  (I think we were on the wrong side of the Capitol to see Barack Obama.)  I saw John Mccain from about 20 feet away, Senator Dodd, Senator Sessions, Senator Thune, and a few others from even closer.  I saw all of them on a special tour of the Capitol.  I also got to go back today and sit in the Senate Gallery up above the Senate floor.  Unfortunately, we pretty much only got to see Al Franken decide to recess the session until Monday.      I'm really tired, but I've quite enjoyed myself.  Tonight we went to a sweet Chili place called Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.  It was crazy-crowded, but fun.  I also got to go see George Mason yesterday.  It was a really tiny campus.  It's not part of the regular campus, and I felt like the whole building kinda smelled like cigarette smoke.  However, they're building a large new building.  It's in a really new and nice area of Arlington.  I sat in on a class.  It was Contracts.  I was really impressed with the camaraderie of the classmates and the professor.  It was a particularly funny and nice professor, but still.  It seemed like a fun learning environment.  I actually kinda understood what they were talking about despite not having read the cases before hand.  I'm havin' fun, but I'm going to have to write more upon my return.  Boo.  The weather has been SO perfect.  In the high 60's, low 70's every day.  And sunny.  I'll HATE going back to the cold of Utah.  But alas, it must be done.  Well, see you later.

K, bye.

OH, also, William and Mary has waitlisted me.  That's what I expected, so we'll see if an offer comes up before I make my decision.  I wish BYU would HURRY UP!