Northwestern University School of Law

Student Rating^? A Alumni Rating^? A+ ATL Top 50 Rank #10	Tuition $58,398 Total Investment ^? $294,038	Enrollment 658	Student/Faculty Ratio 6.5/1
LSAT (25/75) 164/170 GPA (25/75) 3.58/3.9	Region M State I	Dean Daniel B. Rodriguez
Applicants who are accepted 19.3 / 100 Admitted students who enroll 3.37 / 10	Top Biglaw Employers ^? Kirkland & Ellis LLP	Talking Points First top-tier school to offer a two-year Accelerated JD program. Notable alumni include: John Paul Stevens (retired SCOTUS justice), Pat Quinn (Governor of Illinois), Carter Phillips (Sidley Austin Partner, argued the most Supreme Court cases), Jerry Reinsdorf (Owner, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls), Mark Walter (Controlling Owner, LA Dodgers), Matthew Ferguson (CEO, CareerBuilder.com)

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: 3.57
Maximum: 4

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.71
Maximum: 4

Practical/Clinical Training

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.14
Mean: 3.59
Maximum: 3.83

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.86
Mean: 3.57
Maximum: 3.8

Career Counseling

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.29
Mean: 3.04
Maximum: 3.56

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.17
Mean: 3.13
Maximum: 3.25

Financial Aid Advising

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.5
Mean: 2.67
Maximum: 3.29

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.25
Mean: 2.94
Maximum: 3.5

Social Life

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.8
Mean: 3.43
Maximum: 3.67

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.56
Maximum: 3.86

More Ratings*

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

US News Rank

#10 - Tie

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.

Employment

Class of 2016, data from Law School Transparency and the American Bar Association

Unemployed
12%

Unknown
0 %

Other
Employment 4 %

Bar Passage
Required* 84 %

School-
Funded 4 %

Federal
Clerkships 7 %

Large Firm
61 %

Large Firm
Long-term, full-time jobs at law firms that employ 101 or more attorneys. Due to data limitations, this score may include paralegals and administrative staff.

Federal Clerkship
Long-term, full-time federal clerkships. Usually, these jobs have a duration of one year, though sometimes graduates obtain two-year appointments or "career clerk" positions.

School Funded
All jobs funded by the school, including long-term, short-term, full-time and part-time.

Bar Passage Required*
The percentage of the entire class working in long-term, full-time positions. Excludes solo practitioners.

Other Employment
All employment nine months after graduation, including short-term, JD advantage, professional, and non-professional positions.

Unknown
Non-respondents and unknown credentials.

Unemployed
All unemployed students including those seeking graduate degrees and not seeking employment.

Employment Score ^? 88 %
School Funded	4
Large Firm	61
Federal Clerkships	7
Government	3.48%
Public Interest	3.83%

School Response to This Data

The LST score under-represents our employment picture uniquely due to our sizable JD-MBA program, the largest in the nation with approximately 80 students and comprising 10% of our student body. Each year, a substantial number of our JD-MBA graduates obtain highly coveted positions with prestigious consulting firms, investment banks, venture capital firms, and other businesses. Unfortunately, the LST score does not account for any of these jobs since they do not require a law degree and despite the fact that these positions are the ones the students desired upon entry to the program.

The ATL Career Center's goal is to reconcile publicly available employment data for the class of 2013, nine months after graduation. We compared data from the American Bar Association, Law School Transparency, National Association for Legal Professionals, and individual school websites. If any information is inaccurate, please contact us at [email protected].

Student Career Plans

Sector	Anticipated	Actual
Source: ATL Insider Survey and the American Bar Association
Work for a firm	87%	64%
Work for government	4%	3%
Work in non-profit/public interest	1%	4%
Go solo		1%

Insider Reviews

from students and alumni of Northwestern University School of Law

Alumni

Can’t do better than NLaw. Fun and studious at the same time, and, at least under former Dean Van Zandt, it was run like a b-school (in a good way).
Alumni

Clinical training and practicums are the most useful training you’ll receive.
Alumni

NLaw is great – great fellow students, great location, great faculty. The only problem I had with the place (other than the social life, but c’mon, it’s law school) is the career center. These people have had their job handed to them for years – the only thing they needed to do was proofread resumes. Now that it takes some pavement pounding to find opportunities (especially targeted opportunities for specific students), they don’t know what to do. Its time NLaw let these people go and buy the career center staff from a place like Loyola or Depaul – places that had to put in hard work to land good jobs for their students even when the economy was better.
Alumni

Northwestern was simply great. In the heart of Chicago, the social life possibilities are endless. Student organizations are really active and never miss an opportunity to gather students for an outing, a show, sport… Students are generally a little bit older than usual, making the work atmosphere more professionnal. / Faculty are extremely professional. Very “hands on”. Best school to become a lawyer in a top law firm.
Alumni

The opportunities are there (clinics, moot court, working closely with professors) but it’s very easy to be disinclined to take advantage of them because of a lack of advising.
Alumni

Northwestern’s student body is, on average, older than most other top law schools. I think this makes a huge difference in the culture – there was very little useless competing on the part of students and we generally all got along and tried to take the most we could from our classes. I loved my experience and I think it is a great option for someone who has work experience who wants to have a less college-y law school social life.
Alumni

It’s the University of BigLaw.
Alumni

Northwestern would benefit from greater practical training courses and better legal writing instruction. Tuition is also sky-high.
Alumni

Very social.
Alumni

Students

I picked NU mainly b/c I’m a dual degree student (JD/MBA) but also because I’m slightly older than other candidates. Unlike other top schools, about 95% of students have at least 1 year of experience, and it seems the average male is about 3-4 years out with the average female being 2-3 years out. I think the work experience gives students valuable perspective – not necessarily about the issues, but a perspective on life. A maturity that may not be found in typical law schools filled with fresh out of undergrad liberal arts gunners who didn’t have a life in college.
1L

I think the public perception is that Northwestern churns out corporate lawyers, and while there is some truth to that sentiment, we also have a wonderful clinic, an active public interest community, and a strong network of alumni in government and public interest positions.
2L

Most of the people have had work experience before law school, but as someone who went straight through, I don’t think this has put me at any disadvantage. People are nice and friendly for the most part, willing to help each other out. WHile law school is inherently competitive, I actually have a better social life in law school than I did in college. Northwestern Law really focuses on the student experience, and it shows/
1L

Northwestern Law’s clinical classes are excellent. If the you want to get hands on experience, instead of wasting your time in a doctrinal class, this is the best school for that. The social life is great and the students are very relaxed and friendly. I never felt like I was competing against my classmates.
3L

Northwestern’s unique atmosphere of almost all students with some post-college experience makes it a really interesting place to attend, and I think makes employers more attracted to our student population overall– if you are considering corporate law in particular, NU has *incredible* practical experiences available as a law student, from structured transaction classes taught by actual practicioners to the Entrepreneurship Law Center (clinic) to the opportunity to do externships with in-house counsel or for organizations like the SEC.
3L

Not worth the full price of tuition. Only worth it if you get a scholarship. Clinical classes are either great or terribly disappointing.
3L

The only way to get any real financial aid is to apply to another school, get a financial aid offer and leverage it for money from this school.
3L

Great city and well regarded by employers. Do well and you have plenty of job options.
2L

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