| |
|
« TLS Profiles - TLS Programs - TLS Stats - Rankings Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law
Columbus School of Law, the law school of the Catholic University of America, is ranked 94th by the USNews and World Report. The law school was established in 1892, and is generally considered to be the fourth-best law school in DC, behind Georgetown, George Washington and American University. Famous alumni of the Columbus School of Law include Senators Tom Harkin and Robert Patrick Casey, Jr. Admissions & Tuition Gaining admission to Columbus requires numbers consistent with those required by other Tier-2 law schools. The median GPAs and LSAT scores of the 2008 batch of full-time matriculants were 3.38 and 158, respectively. Students with numbers above those medians can feel relatively confident about their chances for admission, however students with numbers below Columbus’s 25th percentiles (3.17 for GPA and 157 for LSAT, full-time 2009) must absolutely perfect all other aspects of their application package (personal statement, letters, etc.) if they wish to have any chance of admission. The admissions process at Columbus is a slightly competitive one. Each year, they admit roughly 35% of applicants, so even for students with solid numbers, things like a solid personal statement are a must. There is only one word to describe tuition at Columbus: Pricey. According to the school’s website, the cost of attendance for a full-time student is about $42,000 for the school year. The cost for part-time students is closer to $31,000. These figures include tuition, health insurance, and university fees, but not other necessary expenses such as books and rent. With the high cost of living in DC, $15,000 a year is by no means an unreasonable estimate for living expenses, bringing the total cost of attendance closer to $57,000 a year for full-time students and $46,000 for those attending part-time. Students who do not receive substantial scholarships or grant aid must very seriously consider if this high sticker cost is a sound investment. Bar Passage & Employment Prospects Considering that Columbus School of Law is a regional school, it is unsurprising that a majority of its graduates opt to take the Bar Examination in Maryland. In terms of Bar passage, Columbus graduates do not fare horribly: 86.1% of the most recent crop passed the Maryland Bar, 9.5% above the statewide average. This is the result of an upward trend; Bar passage rates for CUA Law graduates have been steadily improving over the past decade, however it should be noted that as recently as 2001 the school’s Bar passage rate was a rather poor 62% (13% below the Maryland average for that year). Due to this trend, it seems prudent to cautiously assume that Columbus grads are well-prepared for the Maryland Bar. Those who take the bar in Virginia or New York, however, have a pass rate about 10% and 16% lower than their respective state averages. After slaying the Bar dragon, there comes the additional quest of finding employment. Typically, about 70% of Columbus graduates have some kind of employment lined up by the time they graduate from law school. Although this figure rises to about 93% within nine months, it is reasonable to infer that students graduating in the bottom third of their class at Columbus will have to do a good deal of legwork to find themselves employment. The median private sector salary for Columbus graduates is a very respectable $117,500, a statistic that is likely reflective of the vast size of Washington DC’s legal market. Despite this large legal market, and despite the presence of numerous elite firms in Washington DC, only between 5 to 10% of Columbus graduates find themselves working for NLJ250 “biglaw” firms. Students with this as their goal will likely need to finish in the top-10% of their class grade-wise, if not higher. Academics 1L courses at CUA are the standard first year law school milieu. The law school espouses a belief in the importance of teaching practical professional skills, and also integrates a commitment to social justice into the curriculum. The student-to-faculty ratio of 14.8 suggests that, while classes are hardly an intimate affair, the professors are not as few and far between as they are at many other top-100 law schools. The university has six institutes for specialized study, each of which accepts roughly 15 students a year: The Institute for Communications Law Studies, The Comparative and International Law Institute, the Law and Public Policy Program, the Securities and Corporate Law Program, the Interdisciplinary Program on Law and Religion and the Center for Law, Philosophy and Culture. Quality of Life Although the cost of living is high, Washington DC is about as fine a place to study the law as could be imagined. All manner of internship, externship, and job opportunities exist right within the city. And of course Washington contains a plethora of cultural events, sports teams, and other fun things to do. Conclusion Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law could be a very solid choice for someone looking to practice law in Washington DC or Maryland. Many of their specialty programs offer compelling opportunities for applicants with corresponding interests. On the other hand, potential applicants ought really to consider very carefully the law school’s high tuition against the relatively low possibility of getting a high-paying “biglaw” job. Quick Reference U.S. News Ranking: 94 |
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 |