University of Chicago Law School

Student Rating^? B Alumni Rating^? A ATL Top 50 Rank #1	Tuition $56,916 Total Investment ^? $312,810	Enrollment 617	Student/Faculty Ratio 8.6
LSAT (25/75) 167/173 GPA (25/75) 3.73/3.96	Region M State I	Dean Michael Schill
Applicants who are accepted 17.5 / 100 Admitted students who enroll 2.41 / 10	Top Biglaw Employers ^?	Talking Points Professor Aaron Director began the investigation between law and economics; school remains on the forefront of applying social science to the law. Notable Alumni: John Ashcroft (Attorney General, US Senator), Elizabeth Cheney (daughter of VP Cheney), Frank Hoover Easterbrook (Federal Judge), Jan Crawford Greenburg (ABC News Correspondent), Thomas Pritzker (CEO, Global Hyatt Corp).

Ratings & Rankings

Colored bars represent the range of average school ratings. Black line is this school's rating.

Academics

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.25
Mean: 3.56
Maximum: 4

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.84
Maximum: 4

Practical/Clinical Training

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.14
Mean: 3.00
Maximum: 3.83

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.86
Mean: 3.01
Maximum: 3.8

Career Counseling

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.29
Mean: 2.96
Maximum: 3.56

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.17
Mean: 3.10
Maximum: 3.25

Financial Aid Advising

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.5
Mean: 2.55
Maximum: 3.29

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.25
Mean: 2.70
Maximum: 3.5

Social Life

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.8
Mean: 2.82
Maximum: 3.67

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.04
Maximum: 3.86

More Ratings*

	Student	Alumni
	A-	A+
	B	B-
	B+	A+
	B	A-
	B-	B+

US News Rank

What do these ratings mean?

from Brian Dalton, Breaking Media Director of Research

The ATL School and Firm Insiders Survey asks self-identified current students, alumni, and practicing lawyers to rate major aspects of life at their law school (academics, social life, clinical training, career services, financial aid advising) and/or law firm (compensation, hours, morale, culture, training). We then translate these ratings into letter grades, where the mean score for each particular ratings category is the equivalent of a “B.”

We require a minimum threshold of responses for each institution before we publish any survey-based ratings content. Using a standard formula for statistical validity, we adhere to a threshold that gives us an 85% confidence level and a 10% margin of error. The precise threshold number will of course vary depending on the size of the individual institution. For example, for a law firm of 1,000 attorneys, we would require 50 responses in order to publish ratings for the firm.

Sector	Anticipated	Actual
Source: ATL Insider Survey and the American Bar Association
Work for a firm	85%	57%
Work for government	9%	4%
Work in non-profit/public interest	3%	15%
Go solo	0%	0%

Insider Reviews

from students and alumni of University of Chicago Law School

Alumni

I don’t think there is a better choice of law school if you plan on doing finance related work, including bankruptcy.
Alumni

I found U of C students to be more relaxed and down to earth than expected. There are a large variety of people who are attracted to the school, and it’s relatively easy to find others who are like you. Job prospects were great upon graduation (pre-recession). Professors were helpful when sought out, but do not go out of the way for you. Would recommend the school to anyone who gets in.
Alumni

I loved my school and it was an incredible experience for me. Know your self and assess whether your school is the right fit. Chicago is a great intellectual envrionment filled with people who actually have social skills, contrary to public opinion!
Alumni

It’s a small school, in a neighborhood with not much to do, so it’s sometimes hard to find people to socialize with who are both reasonable and law students.
Alumni

Our career counseling was almost 100% focused on firms and clerkships but not much on other legal employment. I loved my time at the law school but as I’m finding my way in the public sector, I’m increasingly frustrated by the lack of information available to me from my law school’s career services. That being said, I would pick the law school again because it was some of the best years I’ve had – great faculty, great fellow students, great city, etc.
Alumni

The University of Chicago law school attracts a varied and interesting student body that has a wealth of life experience. The faculty is unsurpassed.
Alumni

The University of Chicago places lawyers at big law firms at a staggering rate, even in a down economy. If you want to understand the economic underpinnings of the law, you will love Chicago. I had kids when I started law school, and the campus, faculty and Hyde Park are all relatively family friendly (relative to other top ten schools, at least). I think the faculty may be the best in the nation, but I’m rather biased.
Alumni

There was a lot less handholding and handwringing during my years at UChicago than I’ve experienced at other schools since. I liked that, but I guess it’s not for everyone.
Alumni

Students

Chicago places students at great law firms, not just law firms. I think its important to know how each school runs their OCI process and how many firms you get to actually interview with.
2L

It is among the smaller schools of its caliber, which I believe has made for a more enjoyable and fruitful experience.
3L

Quarter system is great as a 1L, but the constant exams burn you out by the end of 2L.
3L

The fact that the school provides for such fine distinctions in grades on the 150-186 scale but does not ensure any kind of uniformity in medians after the 1st year is annoying (I say this as someone with a very, very high average all three years, so it’s not sour grapes). The Office of Career services will not look out for you even if you reach out to them. I was told based on my average that missing a few days of OCI would be “no big deal” and “firms would beat down my door.” This was 2010. I stupidly trusted them and missed out on my top few choices. I’m still bitter about that. Living in Hyde Park kind of sucks. If you can get a big scholarship to come here the school is a decent value.
3L

The school has really clever marketing about its great academic envoronment, but most of the famous old school faculty (R. Posner, Easterbrook, Epstein) -while featured prominently on the law school’s website-really no longer have much of a relationship with the school. And the young faculty hired to replace them are leaving in droves – Cox, Gersen, Samaha in the past year alone. / / There are also a lot more people here without jobs than the school lets on. Career Services is useless.
3L