Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Apply for Membership

Categories

How important are clinics? Attend a school with clinics of interest or higher ranked school w/o?

cgracia12cgracia12 Alum Member
in General 737 karma

Hello again 7Sage fam,

I am very interested in immigration law/family law clinics, but not all schools I am interested in applying have these clinics. How important are clinics? Would it be better to attend a higher ranked school w/o these clinics of interest, or attend a lower ranked school with clinics where you can get valuable experience in?

I'm personally really drawn to these lower ranked schools because I think it would be awesome to get that experience, but I understand that other schools have ranking to their advantage.

It would be great to hear some perspective from some current or past students who have had experience with these clinics.

Thank you!

Show Related Discussions

Comments

  • MissChanandlerMissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐
    3256 karma

    Generally, I would say that the higher ranked school is the better choice. That's assuming that the difference in ranking is at least somewhat substantial. If you're picking between two schools that are only separated by one or two places, then by all means go with the one that has the clinic you want. Ultimately though when it comes to getting a job, the school overall is going to be much more important than whether or not you did a specific clinic. You can still get experience in the areas you're interested in.

  • cqas190517cqas190517 Alum Member 🍌
    535 karma

    All law schools teach bar courses but not all offer the same clinical opportunities. Clinics are where you make networking connections, learn the actual application of the law, and make decisions about where you want your career to go. Ultimately, you want to go to school where you’re going to practice and where you feel the most at home, where you have the most aggressive career services department, and if clinical experience is important to you then you should focus on that. Ranking is often inflated in importance but in all honesty if you don’t feel comfortable at a school but attend because of ranking anyway, your work may show.

Sign In or Register to comment.