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#Georgetown Law - TLS wiki

The Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) is located in one of the world's most vibrant legal and political communities and has vast resources to offer its students. Academic opportunities and extracurricular activities, including clinics and journals, are never in short supply, and the school's location near the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Capitol is something else students can take advantage of. GULC offers both a full- and a part-time J.D. program, the highest-ranked program to do so.

As of the class of 2012, Georgetown had a Law School Transparency employment score of 73.2% (essentially the percentage of graduates employed as entry-level lawyers) and a total debt-financed price tag of $263,473. In this age of rapidly increasing cost of law school and rapidly decreasing job prospects, 0Ls must do their due diligence when investigating law schools and do everything possible to maximize chances of employment and minimize debt.

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Employment prospects

The most important number for judging a school's employment prospects is its Law School Transparency employment score, which indicates the percentage of graduates who by nine months after graduation had obtained full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar passage. GULC's score in 2012 was 73.2%. Its underemployment score was almost 13%.

Georgetown usually places relatively well in both traditional biglaw and in the public sector (government and public interest). On the National Law Journal 's most recent annual ranking of the most prolific biglaw feeder schools, Georgetown placed 13th, with a total of 31.3% of 2012 grads headed straight to the nation's largest 250 law firms. About 39% of grads joined firms with more than 100 attorneys. A further 3.7% obtained federal judicial clerkships, which often lead to biglaw jobs or prestigious government work.

Almost 26% of the class of 2012 got long-term, full-time jobs in the government or in public interest (90 in government, 70 in public interest, out of a total class size of 626). Interestingly, 83 students from the class of 2012 reported being employed in law-school-funded jobs, 61 of which were in long-term, full-time positions.

Not much complete, up-to-date information regarding GULC grads' starting salaries is available. As of the class of 2011 (38% total reporting), the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile salaries for grads going into private law practice were all $160,000, the going rate for new biglaw associates in major markets. Given the bimodal distribution of starting salaries for lawyers, entry-level public-sector jobs tend to pay around $40,000 to $65,000.

Admissions

Tuition and fees

Georgetown Law reports 2013 tuition and fees of $50,890 per year for full-time J.D. students and other approximate living expenses of $26,410 per year. Keep in mind that student loan debt is generally nondischargeable in bankruptcy.

Of course, some scholarships and grants are available, but only for a select few. In 2012, 32% of students received grants, and the median grant was a measly $17,500, or less than a quarter of the total cost per year. While the majority of aid from GULC is based on need and academic achievement, there is also a public interest scholarship (up to a third of annual tuition) for students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to a public interest field.

For those looking for merit scholarships, Andy Cornblatt, the dean of admissions, said the amount of aid given depends on more than one's LSAT and undergrad GPA:

We're looking for people who are well-rounded, that is to say, people who are involved either on-campus or in their community, or that have otherwise led interesting lives. Obviously in terms of merit scholarships LSAT scores and GPAs are an important characteristic, but as with the admissions process, we look at everything the applicant has supplied to us, and after looking at it once to determine who will be admitted, we look at it again to see how those people match up with other scholarship candidates.