As a recent law school graduate, I appreciated Leora Maccabee's column "So You're Thinking of Law?" In that piece, Ms. Maccabee advises applicants to evaluate schools based on factors like "academic supports," the ability to "develop law school friends" and the ways in which students are graded. I disagree. Current students who are considering law school should first evaluate schools based on their post-graduation employment opportunities. Law school is a huge investment. Do not prioritize issues such as "making law school friends" over your job prospects coming out of school.
Many Amherst grads will enjoy the luxury of selecting from the small handful of law schools whose graduates, regardless of class rank, enjoy a variety of first-choice job opportunities. However, this luxury will not be available for the average applicant. When I entered law school in 2004, the average LSAT of applicants from Amherst was 161; that number puts an applicant in the bottom quartile of the entering class at any top-20 law school. And while there are many good law schools ranked well below Yale, Stanford and Harvard, most applicants don't do enough research on how job opportunities often differ significantly from school to school (even among top-20 schools) based on factors like a school's geographic location and, yes, its U.S. News rank. It's not enough to look at employment statistics; they only tell part of the story and some schools have been caught dishonestly propping up those numbers. Far too many recent law graduates are now struggling: A recent Wall Street Journal article included the quote of a law school dean who concluded that many students "simply cannot earn enough income after graduation to support the debt they incur."
Unfortunately, it takes diligence to uncover the information needed to make an informed decision on where (and whether) to attend law school. Sadly, there's reason to believe that some law schools have not been forthcoming with information. I would encourage students to contact lawyers in the alumni network for advice. Every lawyer I contacted responded with thoughtful advice which allowed me to make an informed decision. Also, it would be my pleasure to talk to any student who contacts me.
While I was sincerely happy to read that everything worked out for Ms. Maccabee, her advice concerns me, and I hope her article does not reflect the state of law school advising in the career services office. Picking the right law school is a decision that deserves special care. The fact that your professors were more accessible, or your social life was a little better or that unpaid internships were (unsurprisingly) in good supply will mean little if you cannot find a job to pay off your loans afterwards.
Sincerely,
Dave Nardolillo '98
Attack On Student For Expressing Political Beliefs Recalls Mob Justice
A lynching is an ugly affair. A mob of white men, armed with clubs, whip, or rope, takes justice into its own hands and brutalizes a black man. Lynching was rampant in the Deep South from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, and it was a terrifyingly effective way to maintain the whitesupremacist social order.
No instinct should be more foreign to the enlightened Amherst student than the urge to join a mob and bully those who question the dominant culture. And yet, I recently witnessed an event in an Amherst dorm, involving Amherst students, that resembled nothing so much as an attempted lynching.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, six or seven young men burst raucously into the first floor hallway of North Dormitory. I was just going to bed. They accosted me and demanded to know where Gregory Campeau lives. He is my neighbor, and they were standing in front of his door. I informed them of this fact. The young men pounded on the door, aimed kicks at, and loudly cursed Gregory. There was no answer. Most of the group started to leave, but one continued to beat on the door, shouting, "Come out, you pussy!" No response. The mob stormed out, whooping drunkenly. Moments later, I heard a shaken Gregory, inside his room, calling the police.
Now, I realize that the free availability of alcohol is a sine qua non of Amherst society, and that we teetotaler North residents are very much in the minority. The incensed young men were merely trying to defend the social order from a perceived threat. No one can deny them the right to get drunk and intimidate their fellow students.
Alcohol is evidently harmless; we all know that Massachusetts law doesn't apply to Amherst College, and the campus police will always turn a blind eye. It was this same indifference on the part of authority that allowed Southern white men to beat and hang blacks whom they perceived as posing a threat to the status quo. Shall we, too, venture down the path of mob justice?
Daniel Silverman '11