Law school, fall of 2009, some big-name school.
That was the plan when I walked into the Lansing Convention Center in June to take the LSAT. The score arrived on July 3rd, a 162. This meant that I'd scored in the 86th percentile, or better than 85 percent of the folks who took the test.
Oddly, that was a huge disappointment. I'd consistently practice tested above the 95th percentile.
Still, the plan was intact. A 162 wasn't going to get me into Harvard, but it put schools in the 20th to 30th range in the national rankings in play (Notre Dame, Boston College maybe even ... gasp ... Ohio State) and made me pretty much a lock for anything below that. Plenty of time to pick and choose.
Then I had a talk with the good folks at the University of Toledo College of Law.
My 162 would put me in the top 20 percent of their applicants. It could, they said, earn me a full 3-year-scholarship. They encouraged me not just to apply, but to apply for immediate admission for fall of 2008. The New Jersey in me was skeptical.
Three weeks later, I'd been accepted with the scholarship.
The reasons to go were obvious - starting the 3-year law school journey a year earlier, without having to pay for it or disrupt Sharon and the kids. The reasons against were more long-term - relocating for a tier one law school would mean better job prospects down the road.
In recent years, Toledo had cracked the US News & World Report top 100 law school rankings for the first time in history, rising as high as 87 in 2007 (lotta data there, you'll have to page down). Law school rankings typically break down as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 school, and schools in the top 100 are generally considered Tier 2. When the 2008 USNR were released, however, Toledo was back outside the top 100. A year from now, it could be back in the top 100. It's a low Tier 2, high Tier 3 school.
One of the things that means is that the best firms often only interview students ranked in the top 20 percent of a Tier 2 class, while at a place like Notre Dame, you might get an interview with a ranking in the top 50 percent. That's a simplification, but it gives you an idea. There will also be many more national and regional firms interviewing at the top 30 schools.
For this reason, there's a school of thought that unequivocally believes you should always go to the highest-ranked law school you can get into.
That school of thought, however, doesn't have a wonderful wife and three beautiful children who love their home in Dexter, Michigan. In the end, Toledo was an easy choice from a work-life balance perspective, and it didn't hurt that the people there seemed to really like me and went out of their way to help me at every step of the process.
And, as an added bonus, I'll get to keep writing the column for The News, probably two days a week. Not sure how long I'll be able to balance the two, but I genuinely love newspapers and it would have been hard to quit the craft and the friendships cold turkey. (Not that I'd quit the friendships, but I sure wouldnt see the people as much).
Oh, and the money won't hurt.
So, here we go. A leap into the unknown. I'm surprised how fired up I am about it. No second thoughts at all. Two months after the LSATs, I'm a law student.
For better or for worse, but I'm pretty sure for better.
That was the plan when I walked into the Lansing Convention Center in June to take the LSAT. The score arrived on July 3rd, a 162. This meant that I'd scored in the 86th percentile, or better than 85 percent of the folks who took the test.
Oddly, that was a huge disappointment. I'd consistently practice tested above the 95th percentile.
Still, the plan was intact. A 162 wasn't going to get me into Harvard, but it put schools in the 20th to 30th range in the national rankings in play (Notre Dame, Boston College maybe even ... gasp ... Ohio State) and made me pretty much a lock for anything below that. Plenty of time to pick and choose.
Then I had a talk with the good folks at the University of Toledo College of Law.
My 162 would put me in the top 20 percent of their applicants. It could, they said, earn me a full 3-year-scholarship. They encouraged me not just to apply, but to apply for immediate admission for fall of 2008. The New Jersey in me was skeptical.
Three weeks later, I'd been accepted with the scholarship.
The reasons to go were obvious - starting the 3-year law school journey a year earlier, without having to pay for it or disrupt Sharon and the kids. The reasons against were more long-term - relocating for a tier one law school would mean better job prospects down the road.
In recent years, Toledo had cracked the US News & World Report top 100 law school rankings for the first time in history, rising as high as 87 in 2007 (lotta data there, you'll have to page down). Law school rankings typically break down as Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 school, and schools in the top 100 are generally considered Tier 2. When the 2008 USNR were released, however, Toledo was back outside the top 100. A year from now, it could be back in the top 100. It's a low Tier 2, high Tier 3 school.
One of the things that means is that the best firms often only interview students ranked in the top 20 percent of a Tier 2 class, while at a place like Notre Dame, you might get an interview with a ranking in the top 50 percent. That's a simplification, but it gives you an idea. There will also be many more national and regional firms interviewing at the top 30 schools.
For this reason, there's a school of thought that unequivocally believes you should always go to the highest-ranked law school you can get into.
That school of thought, however, doesn't have a wonderful wife and three beautiful children who love their home in Dexter, Michigan. In the end, Toledo was an easy choice from a work-life balance perspective, and it didn't hurt that the people there seemed to really like me and went out of their way to help me at every step of the process.
And, as an added bonus, I'll get to keep writing the column for The News, probably two days a week. Not sure how long I'll be able to balance the two, but I genuinely love newspapers and it would have been hard to quit the craft and the friendships cold turkey. (Not that I'd quit the friendships, but I sure wouldnt see the people as much).
Oh, and the money won't hurt.
So, here we go. A leap into the unknown. I'm surprised how fired up I am about it. No second thoughts at all. Two months after the LSATs, I'm a law student.
For better or for worse, but I'm pretty sure for better.
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