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Had an alum come and speak at our school this morning. Guy was a managing partner at a big law firm in Dallas, and he said that usually stuff: would not have gotten into CU Law today, would not have gotten his big law job with the grades he had at CU Law today, had to be in the top 5% of a T25 school for them to even look at your resume or had to "know a managing partner." Exception was the local school (SMU). Not in the T25 but would still look at the very top of the class. I'm assuming they would go deeper than 5% at UT or other schools but he didn't say anything about that. Also top 25 schools was his distinction, never said T14 FWIW.

Super depressing. Not even sure why career services invited him in... I think his kid was in town to look at undergrad schools and he just had some time to kill. Basic message was that literally no one could get a job at his firm from the law school he was speaking at?

Anyway seems to suggest that at least on firm in dallas does keep up with the rankings. The question was, initially, do you keep up with the rankings, and his answer was "if anyone tells you otherwise they are lying." Dunno obviously this was just one dood.

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FSU DROPS FROM THE T1! IT WAS TIER 1 WHEN I GOT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS #50 and now it's #51!!!!!!!!!!!

#droppingout #transferring #eitherdroppingoutortransferring #debt #debti'llneverpayback #it'sover #TTT #medschool #paralegal #suing #embarrassed #gogators

On a related note, my engineering grad school seems to have dropped from #15 when I went there to the 40s now. Granted I'm old, but this is ridiculous. Folks at USNews - get a real job!

FSU LAW IS UP IN ARMS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S A MADHOUSE AROUND THIS JOINT!!!!!!!! CODE FUCKING RED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


#worldwar3 #demolition #2012 #armageddon #apocalypsenow #whatarewegonnado #anarchy #fml #judgmentday #theskyisfalling

The only firms in Dallas who are that picky that I know of are Susman Godfrey and (maybe) Bickel and Brewer. Maybe also McKool Smith? But those are all litigation boutique firms. The bigtex firms in Dallas and the more national biglaw firms take well below 5% at UT and other schools. What the guy is probably conveying is if the hiring partner isn't familiar with your law school and then goes to check up to see what rank your law school is, well than it will probably be bad news if your school isn't within a certain range. If the firm already does OCI at say WUSTL, the firm is not going to stop doing OCI at WUSTL b/c of a drop in rank and will probably not even know that such a drop in rank happened. If the firm doesn't do OCI at a school but has hired from that school before (and has had success with those people), then they will still treat those people who mail in their application the same. If rankings matter for employees, it's to fill in gaps of ignorance.

Another good potential takeaway from this: Don't trust what partners say about firm hiring unless they are the hiring partner or have worked hiring committees. A random partner may know what the hiring process is like or he might not have a clue. It's kind of like asking a law professor for advise on applying to law schools. Sure, they might be keeping up with current admissions standards, but they might not have a clue.

This. Almost all ratings related hysteria is coming from people stumbling over each other to prove how much they don't care. Most of the content in the rankings thread consists of reasonable inquiries. Now we get a stickied thread about how much we don't care. How very important.

I was going to ED Michigan, but now that it's only #10 and being referred to as MiShitGone I'm going to have to ED UVA. #whitepeopleproblems

Yeah this is what I was thinking as well. Good point on the fact that this guy wasn't a hiring partner. I suppose if the firm never gets resumes from Washington and Lee it might check the rankings to see if that school is in the top 25 or so. Yeah only going top 5% at UT wasn't what he was trying to say I don't think, because that doesn't make any sense.

CU brings in alums all the time for 8:15 free coffee/bagel chats, and this guy was mr. wednesday. I think some of us who went (five in total today) thought it was strange that he was speaking to CU students and you could basically conclude by his comments that even if you were top 5% at CU, you would not get an interview at his firm because CU wasn't in the top 25 law schools. (Hunton and Williams btw) I would think that if I had super grades I could resume/coverletter his firm and expect to be considered. Seemed harsh. He did say that CU was a "fantastic law school," which makes sense because he went here, but apparently not fantastic enough for even its top students to get a look at his super cool firm. Dunno maybe he misspoke.

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Whether the rankings are senseless or not, they certainly carry a legacy of importance. No one wants his or her school to fall off the tier 1 bandwagon. The higher up you go the tighter it becomes. Dropping out of the T-6 would be a major disappointment. Even the MVP change to PBV will likely bring stress to some, joy to others―no one moves to Ann Arbor because it is trendier than San Francisco.

Whatever one thinks of the USNWR rankings, at least they have been reliable in keeping the same schools in the T-14. That consistency is good news for all law students.

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Thanks for the response. I kind of get it.

You should probably just not post.

No one thought Chicago was falling apart when it went to 7 and Berkeley went to 6 a few years. No one thought Berkeley was actually a top 6 school, because while the USNWR generally track what people think are the best schools, the rankings don't always line-up with the general consensus. Another example: Not too many people actually think Minnesota is a better law school than BU or GW.

Arizona State is way better than BosTTTon U

A legacy of importance bro.

Only way I can see the rankings being relevant in any way is that we (0Ls) take them so seriously that we'll choose where we apply and enroll based on the USNews ranks. This affects the quality of students that school can recruit, which in theory would improve the quality of the graduates from that school. Long term, rankings could indirectly alter how law firms view schools.

Best advice I ever received was from a retired CT appellate court judge who told me to go where I can get the best legal education for the least amount of money regardless of rank.

That's actually pretty misleading/shitty advice.

Yup. Legal education is legal education, almost anywhere you go. Sure, there might be some disparity between the educational opportunities you'd get at Yale and a TTTT (which, assuming you can get into Yale, might give you a ridiculous scholarship and maybe a Ferrari), but both will teach you pretty much the same stuff about Torts, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, and Property. Outside of the basic 1L classes, your education is essentially up to you, wherever you go. Meanwhile, there is an obvious disparity between career options you'd have at the same schools. So, like, that retired judge wasn't totally correct, dude.

Welcome to applying to law school where the employment prospects are made up and the rankings don't matter.