Inappropriate campus visit/admissions interview questions

harrison.krupnick

I'm going to look at a few schools this week and wanted to know if there are any questions that I should not be asking the admissions committee. I was accepted at a few unranked schools all of which are giving me a significant scholarship. Is it inappropriate to ask the schools why they are unranked/what their opinion of the ranking system is? I also wanted to ask them how to compare to their competitor schools. For example asking New York Law how they compare to Pace or asking New England Law how they compare to Suffolk etc. These questions wouldn't be in anyway adversarial but I'd very much like to know how the schools answer these "harder" questions. What are your opinions?

KimberlyK

Just a shot in the dark here, but you are unlikely to be given a tour by a member of the admissions committee. It will probably be a student or someone with an "insert insignificant title here". Ask them EVERYTHING especially since you have already been accepted!!! If you are worried when asked your name, do not give them your full name....use something else like just a first name or just your last. In the spirit of anonymity you are not obligated to tell the person who gives you a tour anything.... Unless you have a scheduled meeting with someone with an actual position. They cannot take away your acceptance for asking questions but you are going to be tied to (or possibly tied) this intuition for the rest of your life.... Congrats on your acceptances! Best of Luck to you!

Pacifico

Who cares about ranking if they are unranked? You should already know why these schools are unranked if you applied to them so I don't see the point in asking anyone their about it. Also I don't really see the point in asking law schools how they compare to other schools when they're likely all going to puff themselves up regardless. I hate to come off harsh here but if you are going to go to a law school in that tier then the only thing that matters is employment outcomes so you need to hammer them on employment prospects and assistance. Going to one of these schools for little to no money is pointless if you can't get a job or if you can only get terrible jobs that you wouldn't like or that would not help get you to where you want to be.

nicole.hopkins

@Pacifico said:
I hate to come off harsh here but if you are going to go to a law school in that tier then the only thing that matters is employment outcomes so you need to hammer them on employment prospects and assistance.

Don't be afraid to ask some really hard questions about these employment prospects. An honest rep at schools in this range is not unfamiliar with the fact that their graduates have trouble getting jobs that can pay back their debt, and they'll hopefully tell you how to avoid the fate that so many of their students likely face. And if they lie and say their graduates get high-paying legal jobs right out of law school ... well ... that's a pretty big lie in the lion's share of cases.

Of course, the answer to that question (how to put yourself in the best position at an unranked school) is either to graduate at the very top of the class and cross your fingers, and/or plan on working for a non-profit/Legal Aid (a fine career path but not for everyone) and try to do that for 10 years in order to get loan forgiveness. Or consider something like real estate law and get a broker's license so that you can at least make commission in addition to legal fees.