Kaplan Test Prep, a company that helps students prepare for various standardized exams, found through a recent series of surveys that many pre-law undergraduates value a law school's ranking significantly more than its job placement rating or affordability. These views contrast sharply with the opinions of many recent law school graduates.
The survey's new findings may encourage some pre-law students at Emory to think differently about the law schools where they choose to apply.
Emory currently houses one of the largest numbers of pre-law students in the nation and is home to more than 250 students who apply to law school every year, according to the Law School Admission Council.
The surveys, which Kaplan emails to students across the nation, asked 705 current law school students to choose what they felt were the most important factors that prospective law students should consider when choosing where to apply.
At the time of the surveys, these students were in the process of studying for their bar exams through Kaplan.
About one fourth of the respondents recommended primarily considering a law school's job placement rate, while another quarter mentioned that the affordability of a particular law school would influence their decision whether or not to apply.
Only 17 percent selected law school rankings as the most important factor when deciding where to apply.
In a second survey, 34 percent of another group of 645 students – who were studying for their LSAT exams through Kaplan – selected law school ratings as the determining factor that influenced where they wanted to apply.
Only 13 percent of those studying for their LSAT chose affordability while even fewer – 8 percent – picked a law school's job placement ratings.
Despite the fact that this is the first time Kaplan administered these specific surveys, Kaplan's Director of Pre-Law Jeff Thomas said he believes the takeaway is clear: pre-law students should adjust their priorities in accordance with these findings.
"[This is] a lesson to undergraduates students looking to apply to law school," Thomas said. "It is really simple to utilize the law school ratings as the number one determinant as to which law school to attend."
Thomas said he feels this consistent emphasis on rankings amongst undergraduate pre-law students places far too much weight on those numbers, especially in a lawyer's job market that, according to Thomas, is the most competitive it has been in years.
U.S. News and Report states in a Sept. 11 article regarding the "Best Colleges" rankings that their lists are important for the college-decision making process.
"To find the right college, you need a source of reliable and consistent data – information that lets you compare one college with another and find the differences that matter to you," the article said. "That's what we do with our rankings."
At the same time, they recommend that students should use the law school ratings as a factor, but not the only factor, in their decision making.
"Yes, many factors other than those spotlighted in the rankings will figure in your decision, but if you combine the information in the rankings with college visits, interviews and your own intuition, our rankings can be a powerful tool in your quest for the right college," the article noted.
Thomas suggested that undergraduate students take their long-term goals regarding where they want to practice law, what field they want to practice it in and other critical goal-oriented questions to narrow down potential schools into more consideration.
"And so the lesson for the prospective law school students today is really simply to just do your homework and to understand that although law school rankings are easy to access and utilize as decision factors, they absolutely should not be exclusive," Thomas said.
College senior and pre-law student Sunny Porterfield echoed a similar opinion.
For Porterfield, job placement and affordability are the most important considerations in her upcoming decision. After working 20 to 30 hours per week during her undergraduate experience, finances are especially significant in her decision-making process.
"Way more emphasis needs to be placed on job placement and affordability," Porterfield wrote in an email to the Wheel. "You're working to an end goal here; status shouldn't matter. But unfortunately to society – and employers – it does."
She said she believes that the undergraduates and graduates differed in their results because while undergraduate students usually still have external support to offset financial stress, graduate students begin to understand the effects of student loans and debt.
For College freshman Rebecca Olderman who is currently interested in pre-law, a school's job placement rating has more value than its nationwide ranking or affordability.
"I do agree with Kaplan ... In the long run, a law degree is a law degree, no matter what institution it is from," Olderman wrote in an email to the Wheel. "People can practice law coming from any legitimate law school ... so spending unnecessary money on a highly ranked and expensive school is not truly in a student's best interest."
Still, Thomas said he understands why so much value is placed on rankings.
"While it may seem counterintuitive that pre-law students aren't placing greater importance on a school's job placement stats, most applicants know that there is a direct correlation between where a student graduates from, their starting salary and [their] career prospects, which is likely why rankings are consistently the most important consideration by far," Thomas said in a statement released by Kaplan.
Olderman commented that the key to paying her undergraduate and law school debts in a timely manner will be to quickly attain a well-paying job.
"An elite reputation won't always lead to jobs," Olderman wrote in an email to the Wheel. "But a law school with a solid, wide-spread and supportive alumni [and] job network will lead to a more reliable and rewarding career."
– By Karishma Mehrotra
Correction (9/29 at 1:10 p.m.): This article has been modified from its original version. The original story said that the company was called "Kaplan Test Preparation." It is called "Kaplan Test Prep."
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