Should I Apply to Low-Ranked or Unaccredited Law Schools?

Law can be a fairly elitist profession, so applicants often obsess about top-ranked law schools. Yale, Stanford, and Harvard are unambiguously considered America’s top law schools, and their alumni dominate prestigious roles in the judiciary, academia, and big law firms. More broadly, a group of 14 elite law schools dubbed the “T14” have long occupied the top spots of the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings. Opinions may differ on other law schools ranked in the top 20 or 30 slots, but they are generally recognized and respected nationwide.

While top-ranked law schools attract outsized attention, they constitute a small share of the roughly 200-odd accredited law schools in America, of which 140-150 are ranked by U.S. News. If you graduate from any one of those accredited law schools and meet other requirements, you qualify to take the bar examination in any state or jurisdiction to practice law there. 

Accredited law schools meet national standards set by the American Bar Association (ABA), the Chicago-based professional organization of the U.S. legal field. Those criteria include curriculum, faculty, facilities and services, among others. The ABA recently added a new requirement that 75% of graduates who sit for the bar exam pass it within two years.

There are also roughly 30 unaccredited law schools in states like California and Alabama, which allow graduates of unaccredited law schools to take the bar exam if they meet certain requirements. (California is actually one of four states that allow aspiring lawyers in special apprenticeship programs to qualify for the bar without ever graduating law school!)

Attending a lower-ranked or unaccredited law school can be a risky path. While graduates of less prestigious medical schools have little trouble practicing medicine, law is a more crowded and uncertain field. Some law school graduates come up short in their job searches and move to other fields, resentful of the debt they took on to pay law school tuition.

However, graduates of lower-ranked law schools are not doomed. Earning a law degree is a serious life achievement valued by peers, employers, and potential clients. Look at the directory for any major law firm and you will see many successful lawyers who attended low-ranked schools. When I worked for a prestigious global law firm in New York after graduating Harvard Law, my boss was widely recognized as a top lawyer in his specialty despite the fact that he did not graduate from a top-100 law school.

Downsides of Attending a Low-Ranked Law School

Unless they have personal connections or career experience, graduates of lower-ranked schools face steep odds on the job market. Graduates of top-ranked law schools have a leg up on securing legal internships, clerkships, and job interviews—even with mediocre grades.

In contrast, graduates of low-ranked law schools may need to rank at the top of their class to get interviews with prestigious employers. In some fields like legal academia, graduates of low-ranked law schools can face a lifelong stigma. This fixation on prestige is absurd and outdated, but unlikely to change soon.

Widespread career anxiety can make lower-ranked law schools surprisingly cutthroat. Lower-ranked law schools also suffer from weaker alumni networks, difficulty attracting talented faculty, and fewer student resources. It takes alumni with deep pockets and school pride to support top-notch facilities, clinics, research programs, and other opportunities.

Finally, note that lower-ranked schools tend to have low bar exam passage rates. On the one hand, this simply reflects the fact that bar passage is a factor in law school rankings and that the students most likely to pass the bar exam tend to choose higher-ranked schools. On the other hand, this can be a worrying indicator about the quality of legal education that such schools provide.

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Is Attending a Low-Ranked Law School Worth the Cost?

Some lower-ranked law schools are cheaper than others, even after accounting for scholarships. Be sure to weigh the costs and benefits of each law school before settling on a final choice.

Consider these questions before accepting admission at a low-ranked law school:

How Much Will It Cost?

Law school tuition depends on several factors, including the availability of scholarships, school location, the costs of room and board, and whether the school is public or private. Even public programs vary in their rules about eligibility for in-state tuition. Plus, some schools offer special accelerated programs or paid work opportunities that lower the cost of attendance.

Does The School Have Any Red Flags?

Before accepting admission at a law school, do your homework and research the law school online. Search news sources for any signs of trouble, like financial distress, legal disputes, faculty turnover, or a leadership vacuum.

In recent years, several law schools have ceased operations, lost their accreditation, or been demoted to provisional status. Some experts have predicted a wave of law school closures in coming decades. When a law school closes down due to financial difficulties, its students and recent alumni suffer.

If a school has declining admissions standards, your degree could carry less weight on the job market by the time you graduate. Be sure to look into recent trends in the school’s rankings and admissions statistics.

Does The School Provide Access to a Legal Market?

Because top legal markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Boston have many law schools and high demand for jobs, graduates of lower-ranked law schools may find themselves crowded out of job opportunities.

This is less true in overlooked legal markets dominated by lower-ranked schools. For example, the state of New Mexico has only one accredited law school, the University of New Mexico School of Law, currently ranked 102 by U.S. News. Likewise, Vermont Law School, ranked in the bottom quarter of accredited law schools, is the only law school in its state. 

Does The School Have Strong Programs of Interest?

Not only do some lower-ranked law schools serve overlooked legal markets, but many have top-ranked specialized programs. Of the two examples mentioned earlier, the University of New Mexico School of Law has one of the nation’s strongest programs in Native American law, while Vermont Law School has an outstanding program in environmental law.

Is Attending an Unaccredited Law School Worth the Cost?

There are strong reasons to be wary that unaccredited law schools offer enough benefits to justify the time and tuition they require. Indeed, the fact that many such schools are for-profit (along with some accredited ones) warrants concern. Rather than attend an unaccredited law school, most applicants would be better off gaining entry to an ABA-approved school by raising their LSAT score or improving their profile in other ways.

Some applicants with less ambitious career goals appreciate the relaxed admissions standards of unaccredited law schools. These schools provide the opportunity to study law without jumping through hoops. Other applicants gravitate toward unaccredited schools with a community focus, religious affiliation, or unconventional pedagogy.

Unaccredited law schools also tend to be cheaper and more convenient than accredited schools. Many unaccredited law schools offer flexible, part-time, and online options that appeal to older applicants working full-time. Indeed, ethnic disparities in wealth and income may explain why Black and Hispanic students are overrepresented among students of unaccredited law schools but under-represented among accredited schools.

Even if graduates of unaccredited law schools save money in the short term, their postgraduate job prospects may suffer. Their overall rates of bar passage and postgraduate employment are significantly lower than for their peers from low-ranked but accredited law schools. For example, only 14.4% of graduates of unaccredited law schools passed the July 2019 bar exam in California, compared to 50.1% of test takers overall.

Furthermore, graduates of unaccredited law schools may not sit for the bar or practice out of state. While California is a vast state with an outsize legal market, its bar exam is notoriously hard (hence its low passage rate). Its major legal markets are also highly competitive, attracting lawyers nationwide.

That said, many graduates of unaccredited law schools who pass the bar exam succeed in the legal field. Some find jobs through personal connections or start their own practices in overlooked markets. Once in practice, their legal education may fade from relevance. Many states even allow lawyers who passed the California bar and have practiced for a certain number of years (three to ten, depending on the state) to take their bar exam regardless of their legal education.

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