Earlier this week, our own Willie Peacock explained why – “despite the hysteria” – it’s a great time to apply to law school.

In some ways he’s correct. Demand is in flux, but the supply is static: Law school applications have taken a nosedive, but most schools aren’t cutting their class sizes. Applicants arguably have a better shot of getting into a better school.

But we need talk to talk about employment prospects after school, because you need a job to pay off law school loans. And eat.

  1. Yale - 90.7 percent2. Harvard - 90.9 percent2. Stanford - 93.2 percent4. Columbia - 93.2 percent4. Chicago - 90.6 percent6. NYU - 93.1 percent7. U. Penn. - 83.6 percent7. UVA - 97.3 percent9. Berkeley - 72.6 percent10. Michigan - 70.7 percent11. Duke - 72.9 percent12. Northwestern - 77.4 percent13. Cornell - 69.7 percent14. Georgetown - 63.7 percent

Those numbers dwindle as we look at schools that round out the Top 30. (GW stands from the pack with an over-80 percent employed at graduation rate.)

  1. University of Texas-Austin - 62 percent15. Vanderbilt University - 65.2 percent17. University of California-Los Angeles - 45.9 percent18. University of Southern California (Gould) - 54.6 percent19. University of Minnesota–Twin Cities - 64 percent19. Washington University in St. Louis - 52.7 percent21. George Washington University - 81.7 percent21. University of Alabama - 66.5 percent23. Emory University - 52.4 percent24. University of Notre Dame - 48.9 percent25. Indiana University-Bloomington (Maurer) - 62.1 percent26. University of Iowa - 48.6 percent26. Washington and Lee University - 27.9 percent28. University of Washington - 54.9 percent29. Arizona State University (O’Connor) - 50.2 percent29. Boston University - 44.0 percent

(All of these numbers are available on each school’s USNWR information page.)

The law school admissions process requires due diligence. For example, if you want to study tax law, go to a school with a good tax program, not just the highest-ranked school (assuming you don’t get into a T14) that accepts you. Use the University of Michigan Law School’s handy debt repayment calculator to determine whether you can afford your top-choice schools, given the loans you would need and the reported starting salaries of graduates from those schools.

And if you shudder at the thought of a four-figure monthly loan payment for the next 25 years, it might not be a good time to apply to law school.

Related Resources:

  • Law School Rankings Don’t Matter. Or Do They? (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)
  • Law School Rankings DO Matter - if You’re Doing it Right (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)
  • Love and Law School: Should Schools Advertise Salacious Successes? (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates)

You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help

Civil Rights

Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court

Criminal

Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records

Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules