re: South Texas College of Law

Have an upvote

Well,

If its highly regarded in Houston and he plans to stay there for twenty years no biggie.

But obviously he shouldn't go there and go to a big firm in NYC that's not gonna happen.

Unless of course you lived in charleston your whole life and come from old money. Then it's a gimme

Agreed. The LSAT isn't the end all be all test, but if the best you can do is a 150, you probably should find something else to do with your time/money

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If its highly regarded in Houston and he plans to stay there for twenty years no biggie.

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This is subjective too, and can often lead to bad information.

I know a professor at South Texas and know a couple of people who went there, but I won't speak authoritatively about what professionals in Houston think about it.

But, as a Georgia based attorney, I imagine it's something akin to Mercer (which i think is probably better) or John Marshall (which may be worse). Those are schools that might be touted as "well respected" in Atlanta, which really means that you can get hired in Atlanta out of those schools but you will struggle to get hired somewhere else. This is different than let's say, SMU, where you can get hired anywhere with an SMU degree but Dallas people revere it like a degree from Yale. That's a much truer definition of "well respected in (CITY)" to me.

In sum, I'm sure South Texas puts out Houston attorneys. But I doubt more competitive firms hire frequently from South Texas, and I'm positive that it's still a challenge to find employment in this legal environment. Moreover, I doubt the average Houston attorney would go "South Texas, that's a great school." They'd probably modestly defend it, as I would a mediocre GA law school.

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But, as a Georgia based attorney, I imagine it's something akin to Mercer (which i think is probably better) or John Marshall (which may be worse). Those are schools that might be touted as "well respected" in Atlanta, which really means that you can get hired in Atlanta out of those schools but you will struggle to get hired somewhere else. This is different than let's say, SMU, where you can get hired anywhere with an SMU degree but Dallas people revere it like a degree from Yale. That's a much truer definition of "well respected in (CITY)" to me.

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I agree with this.

You could go and have it work out, or you could go and fall on your arse, but one thing that's sure as shite is if you go to a crappy law school because you didn't pull up that 150 and you could have, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

I took a practice lsat and got a 148. Took a Kaplan course, twice actually, and moved up significantly. I highly recommend this before you go to law school based on an lsat you didn't study for. It's a simple test if you put in the work.

Kaplan is $2500 or something along those lines, but you are spending $2500 now to not spend serious money on your law school education. I found that it was a great investment.

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took a practice lsat and got a 148. Took a Kaplan course, twice actually, and moved up significantly. I highly recommend this before you go to law school based on an lsat you didn't study for. It's a simple test if you put in the work.

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How much did it improve your score?

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While personal experiences are great and useful, it's so misleading when people come in and tell the guy that a consensus low-ranked law school is a great school and highly regarded.

It's not. That doesn't mean he can't be successful from there, but compared to to LSU/Ole Miss, and especially compared to higher T2 or T1 schools, you're starting with a hand (or two) tied behind your back.

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This is patently false. First, in Houston, LSU is considered relatively on par with South Texas. Second, Ole Miss is considered the joke that it is. Third, personal experiences inform one's judgment. In my personal experience, and in the personal experience of many others, South Texas produces lawyers every year that work at top notch firms making great money. As I said, I work at an AmLaw 200 firm and the bulk of the attorneys who are my colleagues are South Texas grads. Now, we do mostly litigation, so that may be something to take into consideration as well.

But the bottom line is that it really depends on the market you want to be in. If I wanted to go to California, my LSU law degree would mean frick all, but a degree from Chapman may mean I get a job at a great firm in the L.A. area, despite Chapman being ranked significantly lower than LSU.

If the guy wants to live and practice in Houston, South Texas is a fine school and is, in actuality, respected in the Houston legal community. I wouldn't go so far as to say "very respected," but I will say that it won't really hamper him like a degree from Southern.

On the other hand, I side with the Ocean on this and think the guy needs to retake the LSAT after investing in one of the Princeton Review or Kaplan courses. It is just simply amazing how much a $1200 program can pay off for you in the long run.