Deliberations for a prospective law student

August 21st, 2013 / By Kyle McEntee

This piece was published in this month’s National Jurist PreLaw Magazine.

If you’re thinking about applying to law school, you likely have two main questions. Can I get in? and Should I go? Lately, the answers have shifted for many individuals. A higher percentage of applicants are getting into law school; fewer are deciding to attend.

Getting into law school remains an achievement. It signals intelligence and determination. But before deciding to attend, you need to examine your options and aspirations carefully. Don’t choose law school just because you just because you got in, you like to argue, you’ve always wanted to help people or you don’t know what else to do. Think more specifically about what you hope to achieve with a law degree.

You can find that clarity through more than your imagination. Law school is a professional school, so go see what the professionals do. Shadow a variety of lawyers, meet dozens more and do anything you can to peer into the career paths of those who came before you.

Once you’ve developed some ideas about the type of career you want, check out employment outcomes for specific schools. The American Bar Association has a website with recent employment information for every accredited law school. Nationwide, only 56 percent of 2012 law graduates found full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar admission within nine months of graduation. But employment rates and job patterns vary across schools, so look carefully.

Geography matters. In recent years, about two-thirds of employed law graduates obtained their first job in the state in which their school was located. Think not just about where you want to attend school, but where you want to build a career. My nonprofit organization, Law School Transparency, developed a tool that will help you find the schools that send graduates to the cities or states where you want to work, www.LSTScoreReports.com. Employment data from the ABA and other sources are available on LST school profiles too.

Understand your student loans. The federal government originates almost all law school loans these days. Research how these loans work, such as what amount you’ll have to pay and when you will have to begin repayment. Also look at the tax implications. Boston University and Georgetown law schools have developed user-friendly calculators to help you compute debt loads and repayment plans. Consider what life will be like with debt, from the impact it may have on your career choices to your family planning or psychological well-being.

Finally, ignore all U.S. News & World Report law school rankings. At best, these rankings proxy various traits — all of which are better measured through analyzing raw data on LST, the ABA, or in the ABA-LSAC Official Guide.

Helping You Deliberate

Even with all of the sources listed above, it’s hard to make good decisions about investing in law school. When you look at salary statistics or other information on a law school website, how can you be sure they’ve presented the data fairly?

Law School Transparency recently announced a law school certification program that builds on the resources provided by the ABA and individual schools. The program centers on assuring fair representations about financial education and job statistics. We’ll certify the inaugural group of law schools in the coming months. Certified law schools will partner with LST to help students make educated decisions about whether and where to begin their legal career.

As participants, these schools will use our certification mark to signal their compliance with best practices for publishing vital employment and financial information. “LST Certified” will also demonstrate the school’s commitment to enrolling an informed student body.

Two primary goals inspire our program. First, we want you to have access to the information you need to critically evaluate your life-changing decision. The ABA’s law school accreditation standards require some important information, but not all that you want to know. The new LST Best Practices fill the gaps.

Second, we want students like you to trust the law schools that deserve your trust. Prospective students typically struggle to distinguish between schools that claim a comprehensive picture of job outcomes and costs, and those schools that actually provide one. These days, all law schools put their best foot forward to convey their value and distinctive offerings. But fierce competition drives questionable marketing tactics.

Law school is a huge investment that requires you to balance complicated costs, potential job and educational outcomes, and intangible benefits. ABA data, law school websites, the LST website, and LST’s new certification can all help you make the best decision. None of these sources can tell you whether to attend law school — or which school to attend — but they will aid your decision-making.