Do I need to know what kind of law I want to practice before I go to law school?
No. Many students go into law school not knowing what area they would like to practice in. Other students go to law school thinking that they would like to practice in one area of law, but end up doing something very different.What you should know going into law school is that you enjoy legal thinking and work (reading and writing).
How many law schools should I apply to? How can I decide which law schools to apply to?
For a short answer, you should plan on applying to about 10 law schools, with a split between safety schools, target schools, and reach schools. Check out our section on resources for selecting law schools to evaluate your admissions chances. Exact numbers will depend on your specific circumstances, but a typical candidate’s application pool might look something like this:
| Type of School | Definition | Approximate Number of Applications |
| Reach | Schools where you have a less than 50% chance of admission | 3+ |
| Target | Schools where you have a 50-70% chance of admission | 3 |
| Safety | Schools where you have an 80% chance of admission or higher | 2 |
Are there law schools that I shouldn’t apply to or attend…even if they’re my only option?
Unfortunately, yes.
Of course opinions will differ, and when students are admitted to only a limited number of law schools it can be hard to feel like you’re giving up on a dream and avoid some schools.
However, there are some schools that unfortunately have very, very poor track records. Schools where less than 50% of graduates go on to actually get full time legal jobs. The worst case scenario for a pre-law student is NOT failing to get into law school, but instead attending a program and failing out, or spending a lot of time and money to graduate and then not become a lawyer.
Before you consider any law school, you should make sure they are reputable, have a strong track record of putting people into the kinds of legal jobs you would like, and that their graduates actually pass the bar regularly. To do that, use websites that track publicly available career data on law schools.
Two such sites are linked on our page “Resources for Selecting Law Schools.”
Do law schools only teach that state’s law? If I want to practice in New York do I have to go to a New York law school? If I go to a law school in Georgia can I only practice in Georgia?
All reputable law schools teach law from a national perspective. There may be some extra emphasis on local differences, and of course internships and practical classes will be local, but the intent is for you to be able to practice anywhere.
So just because you go to law school in Georgia does not mean you can only practice in Georgia. However, most law graduates work very close to where they graduate. Not because they’re not capable of practicing elsewhere, but because employers tend to recruit from schools that are local to them. For this reason, not due to curriculum, you should only attend a law school if you are willing to work in the same state/region as the school.
How different are law schools of different ranks?
In a lot of ways, not very. The curriculum at most reputable law schools will be almost identical. Law school is in many ways a standardized field with many default, expected classes that are taught the same way all over the country.
The quality of instruction between schools of different rankings is often very similar. The gap in actual quality of education between a school ranked #6 and a school ranked #30 (or even #50+) is much smaller than it seems. The law professors you have at a good-but-not-elite school are largely just as qualified, talented, and capable as professors at elite schools.
However, a difference in ranking does bring a difference in prestige and reputation. As a result, recruiting and job placement does differ heavily based on ranking. To get an idea of the difference, you should compare schools using Law School Numbers and Law School Transparency (see our section on “Resources for Selecting Law Schools”) to get an idea of what kind of jobs each school is likely to get students.
To sum up: the education you receive at the 5th best school is probably going to be very similar to the education you’d receive at the 45th best school, but the job opportunities will be very different.
Do I need to go to the highest ranked law school possible?
This is a complicated decision, but for most students the answer is no. Generally speaking, it is only important to go to a highly ranked law school if you are deadset at working at the most prestigious and competitive jobs.* Supreme Court Justices (and other high ranked federal judges) come disproportionately from the top law schools. Lawyers from “BigLaw” firms at the top of the legal field come disproportionately from top ranked law schools.
On the other hand, if your goal is to be a “regular” day-to-day attorney (even a successful one!), regardless of field there are many law schools who can more than adequately help you achieve that goal at a much lower cost. Most attorneys do not go to elite law schools and are very successful in their fields. Only very exclusive and very specific types of jobs really require it.
*A piece of free advice: if the only way you would be happy being a lawyer is if you get the absolute top of the field best-of-the-best job, you should take some time to consider the decision to apply. These jobs are hard to get even from elite schools. If they’re your only goal and you don’t have a more realistic fallback, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment and unhappiness.