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

This information is given in a “student profile” Example: LSAT score, GPA, bar passage rate, tuitino, etc.

Constructed a set of interview questions

Interviewed two advisers and four law students

Reviewed information and researched even more

Interviewing process helped give a better idea of criteria to use in evaluation of each school

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

*All criteria was used to compare schools objectively. Occasionally one school did not supply a given criteria.

LSAT = Law School Admissions Test

Tiers (huh?)

Tiers are separated by characteristics such as: bar passage rate, assessment scores by lawyers and judges, acceptance rate, employment rate for graduates, student-to-faculty ratio, etc.

Each characteristic is weighted differently There are four tiers The first tier contains the 105 highest ranked schools Schools ranked after 105 are not given a ranking

Matriculated class

This term refers to students who are currently enrolled into the law school

Median = the middle score in a range

Range of 100-105 Median = 103

LSAT 25-75 percentile

This statistic gives the two LSAT scores, or 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; the 50 percentile is split equally. 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: 155-162 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

Child AdvocacyEducation Law Employment Discrimination Mediation Health LawImmigration Law Innocence ProjectMediationSmall Business/Non-profit State Public DefenderStudent Director Trial Practice

Business Law ClinicCivil Advocacy ClinicCommunity Development ClinicCriminal Appeals ClinicCriminal Justice ClinicImmigration Law ClinicIntellectual Property Law ClinicLaw and Psychiatry Clinic (with the University of

Minnesota Medical School)Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners (LAMP)

ClinicLAMP/The Reentry ClinicLegal Planning Clinic for Tax-Exempt Organizations

and Low Income Clients (formerly Tax Planning Clinic)

Misdemeanor Clinic

Bankruptcy

Child Advocacy

Civil Practice

Consumer Protection

Criminal Appeals

Domestic Assault

Prosecution

Federal Housing

Immigration

Indian Child Welfare William Mitchell

Innocence ProjectMisdemeanor DefenseMisdemeanor

ProsecutionMulti-Disciplinary

Business LawPublic Interest LawSpecial EducationTax Worker’s Rights

Interviews were done over email or over the phone.

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 students indicated that they had no personal time regardless of their first or second year

Students with part-time jobs indicated that they had difficulty with time management. 

Hours 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, some discussion

 S

tudy individually or in groups? WMCL

Both Cornell

Individual studying is most common 

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

Other advice (in order of most commonly mentioned)

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 bc they will cost less. Other forms of law – private schools, tuition is more)

Make sure it is something you want to do

What kind of academic and career opportunities do you make available to your students while in 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

What is the single biggest issue that students struggle with? “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

What is the teaching style of professors at your school? 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.”

Beyond achieving a good LSAT score, what other types of characteristics do law schools look for on an application? Holistic review of every application (in order of

importance) Personal Statement LSAT & GPA Volunteer work Leadership experiences Letter of recommendation

 Approximately how many hours per week are

students expected to put towards school work? For every hour of class, students should plan on

studying two hours outside of class First year students take 14 credits per semester

What is the most common question you receive from prospective students? Scholarships (eligibility) and how to pay for education Job opportunities that Hamline offers

If you could only give one piece of advice to prospective students, what would it be?  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

What is the single biggest issue that students struggle with? Time management

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 What does this say about the 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