One of the most common aspirations in terms of career paths has always been to become a qualified attorney. However, making an informed decision when pursuing this path is crucial, as not all law schools provide the same quality of education and opportunities.
If you attend one of the worst law schools, the benefits often associated with a legal career, such as travel, attractive secretaries, and high-end clients, may take more work to come by. Furthermore, the financial rewards of being a lawyer may materialize differently than expected if you graduate from a subpar institution.
Therefore, it is essential to carefully research and avoid enrolling in the 10 worst law schools to ensure a successful and fulfilling legal career.
However, there are a few very high costs involved in getting there, so you want to ensure you have the best legal education possible. You might find out one day that you’re a lowly tax attorney with a cheesy network television commercial if you end up in a low-end, second-rate law school.
Therefore, it’s essential that you not only study hard but also work hard enough to enroll in one of the best legal schools in the nation.
But how can you tell which ones are truly priceless and which are worth, well, crap? The best approach to learning is definitely through research, combined with receiving all the mailings you can about the school you’re considering.
You want to learn as much as you can about each decision. Feel free to inquire around as well. The Internet offers a wealth of knowledge from people who have already been there.
10 Worst Law School In the United States
1. Texas Southern and Appalachian School of Law
In terms of Texas Southern, they were found to have violated several of the Standards. One of the violations, a 501b violation, led to an order for them to move forward with corrective action and propose a strategy for the problem.
Lower ranked law schools often need help attracting top-tier faculty and providing competitive job placement opportunities for their graduates.
On the plus side, their grade point averages and LSAT scores increased over the previous year. We may claim they have made an honest effort to improve because they lost 39 pupils this year as well, but the fact remains that they still have a long way to go if they want to avoid receiving additional orders for remedial action.
2. Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School
Due to a few factors, John Marshall Law School in Atlanta ranks as the 2nd worst law schools in the US on our ranking. Before that, it should be mentioned that the institution has been around for a while and has long prided itself on offering an “affordable, no-frills legal education.”
This means that the cost was lower, part-time and evening programs were available, and there were no additional perks for enrolling there, as there would be at certain large state or private universities.
Whatever the case, JMLS is considered one of the worst law schools in America, despite being granted accreditation by the American Bar Association in 2009. In addition, the university has consistently grappled with the problem of its students failing the bar test, raising concerns about the institution’s quality of education and preparation.
Given the challenge of the bar, the numbers surrounding passing highlight the issue. Unfortunately, these figures have been less than stellar, leading to multiple citations from the ABA.
3. Concordia University School of Law
This year, Concordia only recently received ABA accreditation, making it a slightly safer choice than it was before. In light of this, it’s crucial to point out that Concordial was included on the list of the 10 worst law schools in the US.
Concordia has repeatedly been on the list despite having students with only fair to mediocre LSAT scores, declining GPAs, and the fact that they JUST received accreditation in February.
Although correcting many citations at once can be a significant challenge, Concordia University School of Law is sincerely making progress. Who knows what this law school’s future holds?
4. Campbell University (Wiggins)
We’ll put it bluntly but politely: Campbell is rating way too high for our tastes regarding LSAT scores and student GPA averages. Most lists that categorize things for law students include them in the top 100, which could be better, as we all know.
They don’t appear picky either, with an acceptance rate of about 60%. Finally, although most Campbell grads appear to produce average or below-average results, their bar passage record of more than 82% is impressive (even though most students take the North Carolina bar).
Graduating from lower ranked law schools may pose additional hurdles when securing prestigious legal positions and accessing a wide range of career opportunities within the legal profession.
5. Catholic U of America (Columbus)
Catholic University is often considered one of the worst law schools in America for various reasons, one of which is its somewhat lower-than-average post-grad employment rate. While it may be higher than some, it simply cannot compete with other law schools with comparable test scores, further solidifying its reputation as one of the worst law schools in America.
Only fifteen new applicants are admitted annually to Catholic University’s legal program, which is reasonable. However, the school bar pass percentage is only 2.4%, which is relatively low, especially compared to the state bar pass rate. But their bar pass rate has climbed by more than 7% in the past three years.
6. Capital University
In terms of GPAs, SAT scores, and statistics for passing the bar, Capital really performs quite well. The issue is that they must catch up when measured against every other law school nationwide.
Capital Law School, based in Columbus, Ohio, is Lutheran-affiliated and was named the “Best Value Law School” by National Jurist magazine in 2009. As a result, although there are some positive comments about this school, it will take a lot of effort for them to move up the list of the worst law schools in any meaningful way.
7. California Western
California Western quickly makes the list with a student-to-faculty ratio of 9.5:1 and a prohibitively expensive tuition given what they have to offer and the data they provide.
Simple enough to enter with acceptance at around 60%, one shouldn’t anticipate the best legal instruction since their bar passage percentage plummeted substantially by about 12%. OutsideTheLawSchoolCam.com claims that the location is “going to the dogs.” Yikes.
8. Ave Maria School of Law
Ave Maria School of Law must make up for lost time somewhere with its high admission rate and typical student-to-teacher ratio. However, it isn’t in the area of passing the bar (only 53% did so) or getting excellent LSAT scores.
Ave Maria is almost out before they even get on base because those are a big focus of the ABA requirements. So you should avoid the application cost to this particular law school and move up the list if attending a good, reputable law school is an option for you.
9. Boston University
Another top-ranked legal school in the country with a great library is located here. But it’s debatable whether or not it’s a decent school. Once more, there is a school with high tuition, and even while their statistics appear to be relatively successful, the high education makes for very tough repayment, which puts many law students up for failure in the future.
This is particularly true if their career after graduation is less prestigious than one may anticipate after attending a school with solid statistics.
10. Albany Law School of Union University
On the other hand, this institution is ranked number 25 in that particular category and boasts a well-stocked law library. However, Albany Law School is a lock for our list due to its high admission rates, average test scores, GPAs, and exorbitantly costly annual tuition.
Despite having a 75% bar clearance rate, there are 8.1 students for every faculty member. In addition, the costly tuition simply doesn’t make up for the low employment rates, with only 53% of graduates getting jobs and only 80% after another 10 months.
Attending one of the 10 worst law schools can significantly hinder your prospects for a successful legal career due to their poor academic reputation and limited career opportunities.
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