If You're Law School Bound - I Want To Help You Get There!!!

[jnewton0828]

is law school like the movie Legally Blonde ?

I haven't seen the movie.

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The school I attended was ranked 7th for clinical legal training by U.S. News & World Report's Best Law Schools 2016 .

This is a little misleading. You should be very proud of your accomplishments, but a niche category ranking of the USNWR is certainly not the same as USNWR's overall law school ranking (for which University of the District of Columbia [Clarke] did not qualify for ranking).

depending on what you plan to do with your degree after passing the bar, this could be irrelevant. So I understand if this doesn't matter for you. But in the law field, school prestige is unfortunately still VERY important in most of the fields overall --- and falling outside of the T50, let alone not being ranked, is significant for the good ol' boys club. Eventually this will change, of course (with any luck).

Again, this is probably not relevant for your situation so I'm not making a statement about your circumstances. And your explanation of why this doesn't matter to you is definitely valid. I'm not trying to be critical.

Aside from Clarke, were any of the other schools you got into ranked in USNWR's overall ranking (not category-specific)?

I said it is ranked by USNWR for a specific category.  But if we assume when someone says ranked they only mean the T14, T25 then no UDC as are so many others is not ranked in the T14 or T25.  I qualified my statement by discussing what the importance of ranking is if you are trying to get on with a top firm or a federal clerkship. My intention here is to provide general information not to mislead anyone. I thought, I qualified my answer enough with the information about prestige. 

If you are seeking to go to a T14 or even a T25, it may be difficult to do so with our method of undergraduate of study, as some of those school are much more stringent in their admission criteria and selection process. They may also want to see graded credits for everything. I don't know that is the case.  I had an average LSAT and a unique personal statement.  I may never know which school would have accepted me because I applied for the ones that I thought I could afford to attend if I didn't get and keep scholarship money after year 1.  They key is to know what you want going in, so there is no surprises on the exit.  You and I agree on the prestige factor of the T14 schools.

Here's an outside opinion that verifies what I am saying about that matter.  Summed up: if you are dead set on practicing in one of the large law firms or competing for a clerkship, IT MATTERS SIGNIFICANTLY.  Don't sleep on the un-ranked or regional schools either though, because they have valuable alumni circles and connections for a multitude of jobs outside of the top law firms. My school, UDC has such circles and connections, especially in the DC metro area and moreover for public interest law.  

https://7sage.com/does-attending-a-t14-l...ol-matter/