(revised 4/1/05)
FAQ:
Choosing a Law School
US News Rankings
The Admissions Process
Application Trends
Diversity
Academic Factors
Sample Personal
Statements
Recs & Resumes
How & When to Apply
Hearing from the
Law Schools
Recent News
Other Departments:
LSAT and Admissions
Services
Success Stories
| Contact Us |
With help from
Netscape Web
Tutorial
by Charlton D. Rose
and David Chang
Choosing Your Law Schools
| Reputation | Financial Aid | Students & Faculty |
Facilities
Law School Buildings
What kind of physical space do you need? How would you feel in a building with no windows, like some at Loyola LA? Would three years in a gray concrete building depress you? Temple is poured concrete from top to bottom; by my second year, I used to joke about sneaking in overnight and painting the walls orange.
The worst problem with physical facilities is reflected in our favorite web sign: "under construction." At a law school, construction means mountains of orange clay, mud to slide in on rainy days, and the noise of jack hammers outside your classrooms. While newly renovated buildings are often quite elegant, works in progress should be some cause for alarm.
Speaking of the Web, computer facilities are one of the most widely varying aspects of law schools. How many computers are there per student? Can you check your e-mail before midnight, or is the system too busy for you to log on? Does the law school provide Lexis and Westlaw software for home use, or do you have to trek to the library for that last-minute citation you need? If you're reading this page at all, you're computer-literate enough to need the answers to these questions.
The Campus -- Does It Exist?
While most law schools share a campus with a university, a large minority don't. This means that such extras as the gym, basketball games, and movie theater may not be as convenient, and won't be included in your tuition. In addition, law schools without a university affiliation may offer fewer (or no) joint degree opportunities. (But this may not be very important; see the section on Curriculum.)
Law schools that are separate from the main campus have the typical services a university offers, but those services are not in the same place you are. Beware of titles like Law School Campus or Downtown Campus. These "campuses" often consist of the law school, the law library, a dorm and a parking lot. Some services, such as student health, may be several miles away from your classrooms and dorms.
Visiting the Law Schools
By far the best way to answer your questions about facilities is to visit the law schools that interest you. Of course, it's also by far the most expensive way. But if you can afford it, you should try to visit twice.
The first time, pay serious attention to the facilities and the community. Can you live in this city? Is it too big/small/cold/hot/slow/fast? Where would you live? How's traffic, parking and public transportation? Next, head for the law school. Look at the library, the computers, the lunchroom and the bathrooms. If there are going to be problems, that's where you're most likely to see them. Don't be shy; talk to some current students. Ask them what they like and dislike about the place. Look at the student organizations, too. Is there something to seduce you away from Civil Procedure, at least occasionally? Read the bulletin boards to see problems and activities. What kind of environment is tolerated in public areas of the school? If an obvious bias is tolerated in public, what can the underlying thought pattern be?
Check out the faculty offices. Are doors open, so you can just drop in? Are notes to professors a week old? Are students taking time to relax, or are they hurrying to the library?
The second time, attend an open house or admitted students' event. Look at your prospective classmates. Are they friendly and accessible? Can you fit in here?
Never pass up the opportunity to look at a law school. Visiting an uncle in Chicago? There are six law schools there. Even if you're not interested in attending that school, it can give you a valuable standard of comparison. John Marshall in Chicago feels a lot like Suffolk in Boston; U.C. is a lot like Penn. So if you're looking for a getaway weekend, look for one in a city with a law school or three.
Can I look at facilities on the Web?
Yes, but:
- I've never once seen a picture of overflowing trash cans, chairs with broken legs, or dingy library stacks on a web page (or in a catalog, for that matter);
- The web page won't tell you whether that pretty picture is of something on the campus, or if the campus is near the law school (unless there's a map). Lewis & Clark's catalog has a picture of a majestic waterfall. I wonder where it is.
- It will take you as long as an hour per law school, especially on a home computer with a dial-up connection.
Having said all that, here are two good lists of law schools. No one list is complete, but the two combined cover every law school with a web site.
Facilities in the community
Aside from the services provided by the law school itself, you may want to investigate the services provided by the university or the local government. Bus systems can come in very handy when your car breaks down, or when you're sharing a car with another person. "Married student housing" can be much cheaper than an off-campus apartment. And some schools open this housing to gay and lesbian couples, to unmarried heterosexual couples, or to single parents.
Your religion is rarely an issue at a secular law school and almost never discussed. But the ability to worship with your community is essential to many people. Does your campus have a Hillel or Newman Center? Is the synagogue within walking distance, or in the next town (as I was told by the recruiter for Washington & Lee)? If your religious affiliation is less common, how difficult will it be for you to find a congregation?
A good place to find information about various cities is the Places Rated Almanac, by David Savageau & Richard Boyer, MacMillan Travel. Unfortunately, they don't have a web site, although the book is a fairly standard reference item at libraries, so you'll have to let your feet do the walking instead of your fingers. A new competitor to Places Rated is Cities Ranked and Rated, by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander. It gives a composite for each city, while Places Rated breaks down the info into separate categories. Each is helpful sometimes.
Do you have any special physical needs?
If you have any physical limitations, facilities can be critical. Those too-close shelves can be troublesome for the average student; for the claustrophobic or wheelchair-bound person, they can be impossible. Chicago has steps in and out of every large classroom, and not a single ramp. This can be a major problem if you're wheelchair-bound, or even if you're on crutches for a month.
If you are visually or reading impaired in some way, you may think of your special needs as requiring the assistance of the law school's staff — readers, or people to find books. But technology has helped make reading-impaired people self-sufficient. Does the law school have talking computers? Word-processing programs with extra-large type? Braille keyboards? Are the textbooks already on tape, or will you have to wait while they're recorded? Are all "Handicapped Services," as most universities call them, handled through a central university office several blocks away, or will you have support in the law school? Will you have to find your own readers, or will the law school provide that service? If you have to provide your own readers, you may well have trouble the first few weeks of class, when the undergrads aren't back yet. Will the law school help you over this hurdle?
Do you have special academic needs?
Applicants with learning disabilities, language barriers, or poor study skills (often caused by attending inferior primary and secondary schools) may want to consider the presence or absence of academic support programs. These programs, like those offered at many undergraduate institutions, help the student in specific subject areas, as well as offering generalized programs in time management, study techniques, and exam preparation. If you know you relied on these programs while in college (or wished your college had such a program to assist you), you might want to attend a law school which offers assistance. If a law school has an "informal" assistance program (i.e., "we'll help you if you ask"), you might want to look at its attrition rate to decide if that informal assistance seems effective.
What are your family's needs?
Applicants in charge of young children should think about their special needs. What about day care? Is it provided in the law school, elsewhere on campus, or "not too far away"? Do they charge on a sliding scale or a fixed fee? Do they allow infants? What about six-year-olds? Can you bring an older child to class when the baby-sitter is sick? A person responsible for the care of young children may well want to investigate schools that offer part-time day or evening programs.
If you have school-age children, you should consider the quality of the local public school system and the cost of private alternatives. NYU may seem better for you than Minneapolis, but the Minneapolis public school system may be better for your kids. If a life partner is moving with you, the job market in her or his field may also be a consideration. Some jobs are easily found, while others require a fairly specialized market. Consider these needs when looking at the community in which the law school is located.
Bad and Good Advice
Very few prelaw advisors are able to undertake research about law schools, but a good advisor should at least know what questions to ask and where to steer you for answers. If the advisor doesn't ask about the kind of facilities you need or want and suggest ways to find answers to your questions, you're getting bad advice.
In addition to visiting as many law schools as I can (and revisiting when they renovate), I include questions about renovation, daycare facilities, dorms, and computer connections in my interviews. I study data in books such as the ABA's Approved Law Schools in order to derive information about the number of library seats per student, the number of books per student, and the number of classes per student. If a client has special needs, I contact a number of law schools directly to find schools equipped to meet them.