| |
|
« TLS Profiles - TLS Programs - TLS Stats - Rankings Boston University School of LawSpecial thanks to Alissa Leonard, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, and to a number of TLS students for providing extra insight and details for this profile. When discussing Boston University (BU), the first order of business is usually to clear up any potential confusion -- it is not the same as Boston College (BC)! All BU and BC law students – whether at one law school or the other – will surely encounter some of this confusion at one point in their career. While BU Law is within the city limits of Boston, BC Law is on a satellite campus outside of the city limits, in the suburban area of Newton. Both schools are accessible by the city’s public transit system, The “T”. BU Law may be higher-ranked in the U.S. News and World Report Law School rankings, but BC held a higher ranking for many years in the past. For this reason, older attorneys seem to be more familiar with the prestige of BC Law while younger lawyers tend to be more impressed by a BU Law degree. While both of these law schools have plenty in common, including academic excellence and a strong reputation, this profile focuses on BU Law. There are dozens of factors that define a high-quality law school and BU Law embodies many of them. All applicants should know, however, that BU Law has an unmistakably excellent reputation in the New England area and beyond. It is located in a hub of East Coast intellectualism (Harvard and MIT are nearby), has strong connections to a healthy legal market (in the city and throughout the Northeast), and boasts a career services office which exhausts every resource to find its graduates well-paying work. Boston is a great city with a lot to offer its visitors – beer lovers can enjoy a visit to the Sam Adams brewery or one of the city’s hundreds of bars and pubs; sports enthusiasts can catch a Red Sox game at legendary Fenway Park or and can check out a Bruins hockey game. Boston’s nightlife is active, its museums and cultural institutions are world-class, and it boasts a rich sense of history without approaching the incredibly populous numbers of cities like New York City or Los Angeles. While some admitted students might find the city too hectic and yet others find it too calm, many discover that that Boston’s size and pace hit the sweet spot, striking an ideal balance between big-city advantages and mid-sized manageability. While the city can be somewhat hard on the wallet, and there are some complaints about BU Law’s rather urban campus, the law school has many things working in its favor to make for an exciting, engaging, and valuable law school experience. If you know for certain that you want to attend BU Law, just make sure you send your application to the correct Boston school – or, just to be safe, send it to both!
BU Law, like most law schools, has a rolling admissions process. Applicants begin sending in their files in late fall, at which point the admissions office immediately gets to work in reviewing files and issuing decisions. As the rush of files comes in, decisions go out, and this pattern continues until the spring. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible, as the rolling admissions process usually benefits earlier applicants. That said, there is not exactly a “first-come, first-served” policy. Alissa Leonard, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, says, “As much as we would like to evaluate applications in the order in which they are received, sometimes that is not the best approach.” Even though applications are looked at once they arrive, sometimes they are set aside until more applications are in the office. With this in mind, December LSAT takers needn’t fret that they will be severely disadvantaged for applying later in the cycle. Leonard continues, “We review each application in its entirety and do not use numbers to form any sort of composite rating.” That said, for several years, the law school has admitted students who generally fall within a certain GPA and LSAT range (listed below). This has led applicants to infer, perhaps correctly, that if they fall at the upper limit of these scores, their chance of getting accepted will increase. Like most top law schools, Boston University attempts to form a highly diverse entering class. BU Law seems to value students who come from unusual or extraordinary backgrounds and may send out acceptances to those applicants whose unique experiences and perspectives overshadow a LSAT score and GPA which may be below the school’s medians. With each passing year, the law school sees an increase in the number of applications it receives. Due to an increasingly competitive applicant pool, the school’s acceptance rate has decreased from 29% in 2008 to 23% in 2009. If this trend continues, students in coming years might have to spend extra time studying for the LSAT and preparing their resumes, personal statements, and additional materials with added care and precision in order to have a chance at admission.
Admissions Basics As mentioned above, the admissions office does not create a composite number (or index) for each person’s file. Still, Leonard admits, “A look at our admissions statistics from previous years will give you some idea of the GPA and LSAT numbers we are looking for.” That said, Leonard notes that, “every year we admit a significant number of students with numbers well below what you might expect and deny some applicants who have numbers higher than our medians.” Regardless of an applicant’s numbers, one is advised to highlight any aspects of his or her life experiences which might highlight a unique background or demonstrate the applicant’s suitability for the legal profession and the challenges and rigors of a top legal education. As Leonard puts it:
As a natural extension of this, Leonard welcomes each applicant to show how he or she might contribute to BU Law’s particular community. She advises applicants to think of their file as a unique case for why the law school should admit them. Transcripts Upward grade trends are looked at positively. Downward trends, however, should probably be explained. Leonard states she understands “that ‘life happens’ and when some life event has interfered with academic success or test performance there is no reason not to include an explanatory addendum.” An addendum explaining a poor semester or downward trend may be as short as a few sentences; regardless, this can be very helpful to have in an applicant’s file when elements of a transcript require explanation. She also says that if the transcript is “uniformly weak,” then you can give an explanation, so long as “you feel there is a reason that [the reason will not] impact your performance in law school.” Graduate degrees, as a rule, are a plus for students, since they show a measure of intellectual commitment and curiosity. Multiple LSAT Scores Regarding this topic, Alissa Leonard gives us the following information:
Personal Statements According to Leonard, you should adhere to the two-page limit. She says, “For some reason, this year we are seeing many longer personal statements—some running well beyond the suggested two pages.” Applicants can be hurt by going over the limit, which becomes more important as applications swarm into the office in larger numbers (and counselors have more to read overall). Many law schools do not require a statement tailored to the school. In fact, some schools are explicitly indifferent to the tactic. For BU Law, the situation is somewhat complicated. Leonard states that “a strong demonstration that BU is an applicant’s first choice can be one helpful factor. However, our experience shows that an applicant may in fact change his or her mind or even have written the same thing to more than one school.” The admissions office reads a great deal of essays and values honesty and professionalism from its applicants. BU’s readers are so well-versed in reading personal statements that they can usually see through any disingenuous flattery. If an application broadcasts its insincerity or boasts any careless errors of an egregious nature, the file reader will pick up on it as cause for possible rejection. For this reason, Leonard advises, “Several pitfalls to avoid include concluding the essay with the sentence, ‘…and this is why I want to attend Harvard Law School.’” Perhaps most important, Leonard says, is simply “being yourself” in the application process. “We want to understand how you think, what excites and drives you, and why you want to attend law school,” she states. Leonard’s recommendation is sound advice for any law school applicant, regardless of their school choice. Undoubtedly, there is no better place to exhibit these traits than in the personal statement. Letters of Recommendation “The best recommender is someone who can speak both to your academic talents—your analytical abilities and your capacity to write well—and to your personal character,” says Leonard. Applicants should avoid soliciting a letter from a successful family friend or an important-sounding department simply for the sake of name-dropping. Regardless of who is doing the writing, BU Law (and other law schools, for that matter) prefers letters that demonstrate a strong familiarity with the applicant and attest to the applicant’s preparedness for law school. Scholarships BU Law provided grants to about 55% of its total class (including 2Ls and 3Ls) in 2008. About half of those students received grant aid of less than half tuition, and the other half received aid for half (or more than half) tuition. About 12 students in the total class received more than full tuition. The median grant aid was $15,000. A current law student gives us this rundown of scholarship information:
Fortunately for scholarship recipients, the award they receive for their first year is renewed each year. Unfortunately for those who are trying to get more aid by leveraging offers from other law schools, BU Law does not often negotiate. Finally, as if applicants didn’t already have enough incentive to apply early, Leonard notes, “Since our scholarship aid is awarded on a rolling basis as students are admitted, applying early for our need based financial aid will be critical.” The Waitlist Many students find solace in knowing, one way or the other, if the law school they applied to will be letting them in or not. In some cases, the waitlist can be worse than a rejection, as it might drive applicants to postpone decisions regarding other schools. Luckily, we have procured some advice on dealing with a waitlist notification from BU. At BU Law, the office likes it if a waitlisted applicant “frequently shows interest by keeping us up-to-date on activities through periodic e-mails.” The frequency of your e-mails should not be too high, though, since daily e-mails might annoy admissions counselors. At any rate, there is nothing you or admissions can predict once you get on the waitlist, since any waitlist movement relies on the personal decisions of hundreds of other, already accepted, students. As a general rule, after a deposit deadline passes at the law school, waitlisted applicants might hear some news. Transfer Students Some students will be entering BU Law as second-years. For these applicants, most of the above materials will not matter as much as a solid, thoughtful, and informative letter from a professor at your first law school. Each year, BU Law accepts a different number of transfer students. According to Dean Alissa Leonard, the purpose of accepting students is to “fill spots created by students taking leaves of absence, going to study abroad programs, and transferring to other law schools.” A successful transfer applicant will have a strong letter of recommendation and excellent (usually, for BU Law, top 20%) class ranking. Waiting for a Decision All law schools will make a student wait, some longer than others. To soothe those predisposed to anxiety, Leonard offers some perspective on the decision time frame for BU Law applicants:
Law School Culture 
In decades past, BU Law had quite a strong reputation for a highly competitive atmosphere. One 1L tells us,
Luckily for current students, the consensus on campus seems to be that this reputation is overblown and inaccurate. The same 1L student continues, “Everyone I talked to at BU made it sound like that [level of competitiveness] was a very, very outdated perception of the school.” In current times, the opposite attitude seems to prevail at BU Law; students are professional, helpful, and studious. Here are what several different BU Law students had to say about the school’s challenging, but collegial, academic environment:
Beyond the cordial atmosphere, students spend plenty of time getting to know the city of Boston. “There’s a ton of law school events and they're usually pretty fun,” says a 1L. Students also report that a certain level of professionalism exists among their classmates. Professors, though, can do silly things in class. One visiting student said, one professor “burst into song about a case we were talking about in the example class. That didn’t jive with my ideas of what law school would be like, but apparently he’s a favorite professor at the school.” At any rate, it seems like students at BU Law understand that the law can sometimes be fun, and appreciate pedagogy that accepts that. At the same time, without being contradictory, the culture at the law school values students willing to buckle down, study hard, enjoy themselves, and help their classmates do the same. Professors The singing professor mentioned above is Mark Pettit, who teaches Contracts. To help keep the material interesting, he will sing the details of a particular case to tune of commonly-known songs. However, he will only sing lyrics written by his students – lyrics written to be relevant to the case or rule at hand. This sort of student-professor collaboration, which makes learning interactive and enjoyable, seems to be common at BU Law. Not every professor is as unorthodox as Pettit, and while students don’t get to see every professor sing, they do get to see them in their offices, at lectures or workshops, and where they thrive – in front of a classroom. BU Law takes special pride in its faculty, which is made up of many highly esteemed individuals. Most students will tell you that these professors are extremely accessible and willing to talk to students. In 2008, the Princeton Review ranked BU Law #1 in terms of law school faculty. A first-year writes:
Teaching style varies from professor to professor, but Alissa Leonard tells us that no professor will “assume prior knowledge of law or the ways of law school.” In other words, you will be taught everything you need to know to succeed in law school while you are in law school. More words from a current student:
This omnipresence of the BU faculty makes itself known even for visiting students. One report from an Admitted Students Day comes back: “1Ls and professors were super enthusiastic about new students and tried very hard to convince people to go to BU. We then went to a mock class with Profesor Farnsworth and discussed the McDonalds case. [There was] no Socratic method but he did get people talking and was very engaging. I was really impressed.” There is no doubt that the professors act very much as the lifeblood of the law school. They inspire students, who in turn want to learn and engage the material as much as possible. There are about 160 total faculty members, which makes the student-to-faculty ratio a very impressive 11.8 to 1. Anyone considering attending BU Law should take note of the professors who teach there; research them, e-mail them, and perhaps they will help you make a decision about where you want to attend law school. Classes  Classes
Like most other law schools, Boston University determines the first year schedule of classes for students, but afterwards allows them to choose from more than 150 courses to round out their coursework. Students generally do not report any trouble finding seats in the courses they want. All 1Ls have to take civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law, legislation, property law, torts, and a research and writing program that spans the entire year. Sections are split up into about 95 students each, and within those are what BU Law calls “mini-sections” of about 50 students each. The writing courses are very small, capped at 14 students per class, and have an interesting component after the first semester is completed. All second-semester 1Ls participate in the J. Newton Esdaile Appellate Moot Court Program. Here, according to BU Law’s website, students “conduct research, draft a brief, and present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot-court judges made up of faculty, lawyers and students.” This allows students to practice their oral speaking skills in an intense, realistic environment. Even if a student doesn’t plan on going to trial, employers will look kindly on those who have this experience, as it shows an ability to think on one’s feet. 2Ls and 3Ls have many classes to choose from, and most of the classes have enrollment caps of 25 students or less. For these classes, there is no mandatory grade distribution. But for classes of 26 students or more, the following distribution applies:
While this may seem confusing at first, the important thing to consider is that nobody has to fail and nobody has to receive an A+. Conversely, the majority of students will receive a grade in the B range. Computers Boston University School of Law does not require students to have a computer. Curricular Curricular Opportunities Partly as a result of its impressive faculty, Boston University’s intellectual property law and tax law specialties are nationally recognized, while the school’s healthcare law specialty is considered one of the best in the nation. Also worth noting is the Public Interest Scholars program, which Leonard says “is designed to provide significant financial support” to students who wish to work in public interest law. Students interested in a particular subject area who do not want to pursue a dual degree have the option to concentrate their field of study. BU Law offers five concentrations – Business Organizations and Finance Law, Health Law, International Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Litigation and Dispute Resolution. Concentrating one’s field of study allows a student to stay up-to-date on changing legislation and other advancements in each respective field. Study Abroad The law school has one of the most extensive study abroad programs available at any law school. Students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a foreign culture for a semester in one of 13 cities around the globe. They include Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Tel Aviv, Florence, Lyon, Paris, Geneva, Hamburg, Madrid, Oxford, Leiden, or Buenos Aires. There is also a foreign exchange program that students can participate in as well. A student informs us, “The international program is expanding, adding new countries and internships possibilities—Hague, ICC, and EU antitrust.” You can review the study abroad opportunities available on this page, and view a travelogue and video about students’ experiences overseas. The value of a study abroad program is manifold. Students who participate are broadcasting to employers their seriousness about working in international law. They demonstrate the capability to live and flourish in a foreign environment, and for some programs that require fluency, the ability to be academically engaged in another language. These skills are valuable ones for students to have. They can help students with international aspirations convince employers of their commitment to international law. Dual Degree Programs Students at BU Law have many options if they want to pursue a dual degree. These include, but are not limited to, Graduate Tax Program, Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law, European Law, Mass Communication, Philosophy, and Public Health. A full list of opportunities can be viewed here. As with studying abroad, pursuing a dual degree program is a commitment. It sometimes requires additional time in school beyond the three years required for a JD. Employers in these fields might look favorably at candidates who have a dual degree or specialization. Clinics and Externships For a law school with only 270 students, BU Law has a large variety of available externships and clinics, taking advantage of Boston’s status as a city with strong global ties. This makes sense for a law school that founded one of the nation’s first clinical programs (the Voluntary Defender’s project). There are many options for students, including Civil Litigation Program, Criminal Law Clinics, Legislative Clinics, or a Semester-in-Practice Program, in which you gain credit at an externship outside of Boston. These externships have students work in Geneva (Human Rights Externship), D.C. (Government Lawyering), Atlanta (Death Penalty Externship) or elsewhere (students can write a proposal for independent study). Students also have the opportunity to work in Community Courts, a Health Law or Legal Externship, or even a Legislative Internship at the Massachusetts State House. All of these opportunities directly expose students to the world of legal practice. Job Placement The sort of work a graduate can get from law school varies, and is often a source of worry for incoming students at any school. As even the largest firms are reporting layoffs in the current economic climate, applicants want to know what a law school will do to address these concerns. A first-year at BU Law echoes this:
It seems at least some students are being helped by career advisors to find the job they want. “Each year,” the 1L continues, “BU puts a good number [of graduates] into a bunch of [government] agencies. I know of at least one person who has an FTC [Federal Trade Commission] gig lined up, one who is clerking now on the tax court (without an LLM, which is awesome), another SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission], one USTR [US Trade Representative] and a few DOJ [Department of Justice].” About 7% of graduates go into government work; they are fortunate that BU Law seems to have some solid connections in that regard. BU Law gets students to network through lunches or advising sessions on a regular basis with alumni. Sometimes, the people they meet are “a partner at a big firm or a DA [District Attorney] or federal government employee.” The free food is a draw for students, and the conversations about the job market and career prospects are generally very insightful. When it comes to firm jobs and private practice, more questions hang in the air. The median reported salary for students going into private practice in 2008 was $145,000. However, Alissa Leonard says, “It is critical to understand that the fallout from the economic downturn is not yet fully understood. The shape of the legal profession and the nature of career-building may end up largely unchanged as we come out of recession, or strategies that have been very reliable for many years—e.g., counting on good grades to get you a good job at a big law firm—may prove to be much less effective than they have been in the past.” It used to be the case that students who did well, stayed above median, and worked closely with a career advisor were nearly guaranteed a job. Now, however, there is nothing that says this trend will continue for certain. Students might have to network more, they might have to reconsider working in a large firm, or they might have to be in the highest percentages of the class to secure a good job. Or, for all we know, the employment situation for future BU Law graduates might improve to mirror previous years’ good fortunes. As is the case with all other law schools, there is no obviously way to know for sure. At any rate, Leonard tells us that GPA was always just one factor in a student’s ability to find work. All students have to take their job search seriously, and “the single dimension of GPA,” she says, is hardly the primary determinant. Tenacity matters. Diligence matters. Many employers will only be able to distinguish two students at the median by interviewing them. In 2008, recent graduates said those in the top third of BU Law’s graduating class could expect offers from some of the best firms in the nation. For the rest of the school’s graduates, extra legwork was required to get into their desired firms, but anywhere from upwards of 99% of students in previous years have found employment within nine months of graduation. Boston has a large legal market and many East Coast firms are familiar with BU Law’s reputation. Even so, with the unpredictability in the legal market, students are within reason to worry about job prospects, even at a school as high in the rankings as BU Law.
Geographic Placement To many students’ surprise, BU Law has a decent presence in the California market. Part of the law school’s strength is that less than 40% of its graduates end up working in Massachusetts. They mostly end up in a major Northeast market, which makes the school appear regionally strong, but its West Coast presence cannot be overlooked. A 1L adds:
Alissa Leonard adds to this:
Her belief is that the Career Development Office can help students find work wherever they want; indeed, BU Law does place a small percentage of students in the Midwest, the Mountain states, and elsewhere across the country. While there are alumni in every state, some students may still have to put in some additional work to get the job they desire in an area with few BU graduates.
Bar Passage Graduates of BU Law are highly prepared to practice the law. They do very well on the infamously difficult California bar, and excel on the Massachusetts and New York bar as well.
Quality of Life When it comes to deciding a law school, Alissa Leonard notes, “For some, geography is of paramount importance. For others, all that matters is the prestige level of the school. Sometimes, the choice is just a matter of gut feeling about where you will feel the most comfortable for the next three years.” A visit to the Boston University Law School might sway your mind one way or another. It might be the campus, the people, the weather, or a particular street you can see yourself living on; whatever it is, how you imagine your quality of life at a law school will probably play a role in your final decision.
Another first year says:
Life at BU Law seems to involve trips on the T, the public transportation system that runs within (and beneath) the bustling city. Some students live close enough to walk to campus, but many will ride the transit system to get to BU Law, which is very close to a stop. For some, the initial sight of the law building can be an eyesore. A visiting student writes:
As for the staff, this visiting student tells us:
This account tells a different story than those tales of the Razor School of Boston. One thing incoming students can rely on is that the administrators and students are genial and helpful. The city of Boston has plenty to offer, but one big downside is that housing is often expensive and difficult to find. A visiting student said, “[The law school] made living in Boston sound easy and convenient. But when I talked to some students, many of them were doubling up in single bedroom studios to save on rent, which seemed to be between $1,000 - $1,600 per month depending on where you live.” Facilities The gym at BU Law gets some rave reviews. One visiting student says, “I checked out the gym students can use – wow. Hands down, the best workout facility I've ever seen!” A former undergraduate has this to say: “The gym (FitRec) is amazing…I really haven't found anything better.” The campus, on the other hand, gets mixed reviews. A first year says:
A former undergraduate at BU adds this:
Finally, some more first-years compare it to BC Law:
Alissa Leonard says that the “chief complaint” of current students “has to do with the somewhat old building we are housed in.” In her view, and in the view of many students, the most important part of BU Law is not its facility – although it is an oft-mentioned negative for the school. Leonard says, “We are constantly improving the physical facilities. As one just-graduated student says, ‘the tower is constantly evolving. Every year, we improve the space to best suit our students’ needs. Last year, we added a new reading room, increased the space dedicated to student lounges, and improved the printing services in the tower.’ Other improvements have been made in each of the last few years and will continue to be made in the coming years.”
Housing is reportedly expensive and difficult to find, as the school does not offer housing specific to law students. As with all law schools, living on campus gives some benefits that living off campus does not. One student reports:
While take-home finals might not be the primary reason students decide where to live, there is something to be said about saving upwards of an hour a day on commuting. A former resident says, regarding where one can live:
Another former resident says:
To offer a counterpoint to the anti-Malden opinion mentioned earlier, a different BU Law student states:
Indebtedness Debt for graduating students in 2008 averaged $91,168, which is slightly below average for a top law school. Extracurricular 
At BU Law, students have over 30 organizations to keep them busy and interested. These include the Art Law Society, Human Rights Law Society, OutLaw, Real Estate Club, Running Club, Scotch Club, Softball, and Student Government Association. A full list of the school’s student organizations is available here. Many students participate in these organizations as a way to unwind, relax, and make new friends. Journals The law school has six nationally recognized law journals – the Boston University Law Review, the American Journal of Law and Medicine, the Review of Banking and Financial Law, the Boston University International Law Journal, the Journal of Science and Technology Law, and the Public Interest Law Journal. Membership to any of these six journals is judged a student’s first-year grades as well as the results of a writing competition held during the post-1L summer. If a student is chosen to work on a journal, he or she will be directly involved in research, writing, and analysis of articles. Students prepare their own notes or comments for publication and develop new topics for the journal. For more information on the BU Law journals, visit this page. Pro Bono Program BU Law has a pro bono program available to its students. The school’s website describes the program as such:
Volunteering is always a good thing to do for one’s community, and as a bonus, it makes your resume stand out from your competitors. The pro-bono commitment is minimal, amounting to a mere average of 12.3 hours of volunteer work each year. Many students participate in the BU Law pro bono program as a great opportunity to contribute to the Boston community’s legal needs while gaining practical experience in the pursuit of a legal education. Competitive Organizations There are a number of different legal academic competitions that students can participate in at BU Law. These include the Edward C. Stone competition, which is open to second-year students. In this competition, students work in teams of two to tackle one of three different moot court problems (which are made up for the purposes of the competition). The top 16 participants are invited to perform in the Homer Albers Prize Moot Court Competition. During the final round of the Stone competition, students have the opportunity to present an argument in front of judges from the US Circuit Court of Appeals. Furthermore, students who compete are eligible to participate in one of five national moot court competitions. Additionally, there is a Negotiation Competition and a Client Counseling Competition open to interested students. Conclusion BU Law clearly has an impressive amount of offerings for the active student. Its moot court competitions and law journals are numerous, professors are ranked among the country’s best, and the school is located in one of the nation’s most historic and walkable cities. Most importantly, many graduates report having greatly enjoyed their three years at the law school. There are some downsides to Boston, like the aforementioned housing difficulties and high cost of living. The “T”, while functional, may disappoint students used to the efficient public transit systems in cities like New York, D.C., or Chicago. Additionally, some worry that, with so many great law schools in the Boston area, there aren’t enough local summer opportunities to go around. While many BU Law graduates choose to stay in the Northeast and take advantage of the school’s strong regional alumni network, many also find employment in California, where the school boasts surprisingly strong placement statistics. However, when making law school plans (even at higher-ranked institutions), potential law students should keep in mind that the pursuit of a legal career is always subject to the unpredictable fluctuations of the legal market. Some would advise that BU Law can place graduates better nationwide, but part of this prediction is based on how well one performs while in school. Predicting future performance (relative to one’s peers) is sheer guesswork. At any rate, the average debt for graduates coming out of BU Law could be much worse for a top law school. Its relatively low tuition (compared to other top schools) keeps the debt from climbing to six figures, although recent years’ figures have come quite close to approaching the $100,000 figure. Many students who gain admission into BU Law will have several choices within the top tier of law schools. Questions that might arise in the decision-making process include whether or not one wants to live in a city like Boston, whether or not the library has enough places to study, and whether or not the students or professors seem amicable. While it is important to consider these details which color one’s perception of the school, remember that gaining admission into BU Law is a great achievement. The school is an excellent institution with an excellent reputation; whether you want to work in Boston, greater New England, New York City, or even California, BU Law might be the school to help you do just that. Interview: Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Alissa Leonard of BU Law Contact Information: Boston University School of Law Quick Facts: U.S. News & World Report Ranking: 20th |
Stanford Law School Yale Law School Harvard Law School University of Virginia School of Law Pepperdine Law School Northwestern Law School Cornell Law School Michigan Law School Golden Gate Law School Duke Law School Columbia Law School Temple Law School Loyola Law School UCLA School of Law Villanova Law School New York University Law School UC Hastings Law School Santa Clara Law School UPenn Law School Berkeley Boalt Hall University of Chicago Law School UC Davis Law School Fordham Law School George Washington Law School Georgetown University Law Center New York Law School UNC Chapel Hill Law School Boston College Law School Boston University School of Law Emory University Law School The University of Iowa College of Law University of Minnesota Law School The University of Texas School of Law The University of Southern California School of Law (Gould) Vanderbilt University Law School Washington University in St. Louis School of Law Wisconsin Law School The University of Alabama School of Law George Mason University School of Law The University of Colorado School of Law Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington University of Notre Dame Law School The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law The University of Washington School of Law William & Mary Law School Washington and Lee University School of Law The Arizona State University College of Law The Baylor University School of Law The Case Western Reserve University School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law The Brigham Young University Law School The Southern Methodist University School of Law Tulane University Law School The University of Connecticut School of Law University of Florida Levin College of Law Wake Forest University School of Law Vermont Law School The University of Utah College of Law Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University The University of Tennessee College of Law The University of Cincinnati College of Law The University of Pittsburgh School of Law University of Maryland School of Law The University of Kentucky College of Law The University of Houston College of Law The Florida State University College of Law Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois Institute of Technology) Brooklyn Law School University of Arizona College of Law American University College of Law University of San Diego School of Law Northeastern University School of Law University Of Miami School Of Law University of Richmond Law Oregon School Of Law Lewis & Clark School of Law Rutgers Law - Camden South Carolina Law Seattle University School of Law PSU School of Law Canada: University of Toronto Faculty of Law DePaul University College of Law Rutgers-Newark School of Law Hofstra Law School Seton Hall Law School Missouri - Columbia Law School Indiana University Indianapolis Law Buffalo Law School UNLV Law School St. John's School of Law The University of Denver Law School University of Louisville School of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law Georgia State University College of Law Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center Loyola University Chicago School of Law Marquette University Law School University of Kansas School of Law Canada: University of Alberta Faculty of Law St. Louis University School of Law University of New Mexico School of Law Catholic University's Columbus School of Law The University of Maine School of Law Gonzaga University School of Law The University of Arkansas School of Law University of San Francisco School of Law Canada: Dalhousie Law School Canada: McGill University Faculty of Law Canada: University of Ottawa Faculty of Law Canada: Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) Canada: UBC Faculty of Law IE Law School- Northwestern Law Executive LLM Program IE Law School- Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Practice University of California – Irvine School of Law | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Admissions 
A student talks about the city and location of BU Law:
Housing