Hamline University School of Law William Mitchell College of Law

University of Minnesota Law School

Introduction

Purpose Statement

Research

Methods

Findings

Tables of Comparison Clinics Interview Summaries

Recommendations (ranking of schools)

Prospective Law Students

Looking to attend a school in the metro area of Minneapolis and St. Paul

Current law students who would like to transfer to the metro area

Other Interested Parties

Here it is!

1. Hamline University School of Law

2. William Mitchell College of Law

3. University of Minnesota Law School

Choosing a graduate school is a difficult task

Requires research Personal interviews Requires more research

Inadequate research = Inadequate decisions

You might enroll with a school that does not match your needs

I will do the first few steps of research for you

Present and explain each school’s rankings

From accredited news sources

Personal interviews with students and advisors

Research of each school’s websites

In other words, I’ll summarize the information presented into short, easy sentences

Present information objectively

Help you study

Take your LSAT

Visit each campus

Give you personal opinions

Browsed each school’s website

Determined criteria to compare each school

From a “student profile” Examples: LSAT, GPA, bar passage rate, tuition, etc.

Constructed a set of interview questions

Interviewed two advisers and four law students

Reviewed information and researched even more

Formulated a recommendation based on the pre-specified criteria

Tuition

LSAT score

LSAT median

GPA

GPA Median

Average class size

Minnesota bar passage rate

School ranking

Student-to-faculty ratio

1. Tiers

Separated by certain characteristics such as:

Bar passage rate Assessment scores by lawyers and judges Acceptance rate Employment rate for graduates

Each characteristic is weighed differently

There are four tiers

The first tier contains the 105 highest ranked schools

Schools ranked after 105 are not given a number ranking

2. LSAT = Law School Admissions Test

3. Matriculated class

Students who are currently enrolled into the law school

4. Median = the middle score in a range

Range of 100-105 Median = 103

5. LSAT 25-75 percentile

This statistic gives the range that 50% of enrolled students achieved. The other 50% of the students in the class achieved a lesser or better score than the two given scores; 25% of the students scored lower than the lowest number given and 25% of the students scored higher than the highest number given.

Example, please?

LSAT 25-75 percentile of a given school = 155-162 Interpretation

25% of the students achieved a LSAT score of less than 155 25% of the students achieved a LSAT score higher than 162 The rest of the students achieved scores within the range of 155-162

School Tuition LSAT 25-75 Percentile

LSAT Median

GPA GPA Median

Hamline $30,096 FT$21,670 PT

152-158 155 3.17-3.63 3.43

William Mitchell

$15,325 FT$11,090 PT

153-158 156 3.22-3.71 3.53

U of M $21,900 Resident*$32,303 Non-res.

163-167 166 3.29-3.82 3.61

*There is an extra fee of $5,740 for all law students at the University of Minnesota Law School. This fee includes health insurance and a required student laptop that contains all programs necessary to succeed at the University of Minnesota and technical support.

School Average Class Size

MN Bar Passage

Rate

Ranking Student:Faculty Ratio

Application Deadline

Hamline 234 88.00% No RankingTier 3

14.6:1 April 1

William Mitchell

323 96.70% No RankingTier 4

No information available

May 1

U of M 233 97.89% 22nd Tier 1

12:1 April 1

1. Child Advocacy2. Education Law 3. Employment Discrimination 4. Mediation Health Law5. Immigration Law6. Innocence Project7. Mediation8. Small Business/Non-profit9. State Public Defender10. Student Director Trial Practice

1. Business Law Clinic2. Civil Advocacy Clinic3. Community Development Clinic4. Criminal Appeals Clinic5. Criminal Justice Clinic6. Immigration Law Clinic7. Intellectual Property Law Clinic8. Law and Psychiatry Clinic (with the University of Minnesota Medical School)9. Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners (LAMP) Clinic10. LAMP/The Reentry Clinic11. Legal Planning Clinic for Tax-Exempt Organizations and Low Income Clients

(formerly Tax Planning Clinic)12. Misdemeanor Clinic

1.Bankruptcy

2.Child Advocacy

3.Civil Practice

4.Consumer Protection

5.Criminal Appeals

6.Domestic Assault

7.Prosecution

8.Federal Housing

9.Immigration

10.Indian Child Welfare

11. Innocence Project12. Misdemeanor Defense13. Misdemeanor Prosecution14. Multi-Disciplinary

Business Law15. Public Interest Law16. Special Education17. Tax 18. Worker’s Rights

Three Students surveyed from William Mitchell College of Law (WMCL)

One student surveyed from Cornell Law School

A

ll students were in their first or second year

Average class size: 85 students

S

maller writing classes range from 12-30 students

Balance of personal time with school work

Some said they have no personal time Those with part-time jobs said they had difficulty with time management

H

ours of class work expected from students Calculation: 1 class period = 3 hours outside of class Average: 30-45 hours of studying per week

Teaching methods utilized by professors

In order of most-used: lecture, Socratic Method, discussion

Study individually or in groups?

Both

Most challenging part of being a law student (in order of the most common challenge)

Balancing school work load with personal time Not receiving feedback on performance until the end of the semester

In order of most commonly suggested

Be prepared to work hard Work hard

Visit campuses to get a feel for the environment (since you will be spending a lot of time there)

Worry less about other people and worry more about what you can control

Research schools and the legal profession

Understand opportunities available

Understand economics (public interest law – go for public schools because they will cost less. Other forms of law – private schools, tuition is more)

Make sure it is something you want to do

University of Minnesota Career Advisor and Programming Coordinator for the Law

School

• Nuts & Bolts Class: resumes, cover letters, networking, individual counseling

• Career Exploration Classes: lawyers and alumni from the community come in to talk about what they do

• Going to Work Classes: Students learn about the social norms in law firms and how to act and react to others once they get out into the working field

• Post job openings through a network called “Simplicity”

• Provide off campus interview programs for firms that are looking to hire law students

• “Idea of wanting to be a lawyer”

• Not many students come in with clear cut goals

• 40% of students “think they know what they want to do and have a GENERAL idea about their goals.”

• Major issue: the amount of debt that students struggle with

• Old style: Socratic Method

• U of M Law School doesn’t “use that so much anymore because it can either work really well or not work really well.”

Assistant Director in the Office of Admissions at Hamline University School

of Law

• Holistic review of every application (in order of importance) Personal Statement LSAT & GPA Volunteer work Leadership experiences Letter of recommendation

 

• Scholarships (eligibility) and how to pay for education

• Job opportunities that Hamline offers

• Learn to write well and be able to express yourself through writing and speaking The application process at Hamline weighs most of its decision based on the

personal statement which indicates that Hamline looks for students with strong writing skills

• For every hour of class, students should plan on studying two hours outside of class

• First year students take 14 credits per semester

Time Management

Law students struggle greatly with managing their schoolwork and personal lives

Remember our criteria

Tuition LSAT score LSAT median GPA GPA Median Average class size Minnesota bar passage rate School ranking Student-to-faculty ratio

This means that they look primarily at your LSAT and GPA scores

Why does Hamline do their application process differently? They focus on personal statements and writing abilities Also focus on other extracurriculars

Remember the bottom line: can you pass the bar?

Hamline had the lowest score WMCL and the U of M were within 1.19% of each other

Regardless of ‘tier’

Think of extra opportunities

Clinics Job Opportunities

The “working hard” trend

WMCL and the U of M approximated 3 hours of homework for every hour of class

Hamline approximated 2 hours of homework for every hour of class

Think about what this indicates when considering work ethic and challenges presented to students

1. University of Minnesota Law School

2. William Mitchell College of Law

3. Hamline University School of Law

Determine which kind of law you would like to practice

Visit the campuses

Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Talk to advisers and current students Take their advice They have already been through the experience

Study for the LSAT