Florida State University College of Law

Student Rating^? A+ Alumni Rating^? A- ATL Top 50 Rank #37	Tuition $20,683 / $40,695 Total Investment ^? $140,856 / $212,180	Enrollment 565	Student/Faculty Ratio 11/1
LSAT (25/75) 157/161 GPA (25/75) 3.35/3.79	Region S State F	Dean Don Weidner
Applicants who are accepted 35.9 / 100 Admitted students who enroll 2.5 / 10	Top Biglaw Employers ^? Greenberg Traurig LLP	Talking Points Twice in the past four years, the FSU Student Bar Association has been selected “SBA of the Year” by the Law Student Division of the ABA. Notable Alumni include: Shannon Bream (Fox News Correspondent), John Marks (mayor of Tallahassee), Mark Ellis (Executive Director of International Bar Association), Mel Martinez (former chairman of Republican National Committee).

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: 4.00
Maximum: 4

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.36
Maximum: 4

Practical/Clinical Training

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.14
Mean: 3.60
Maximum: 3.83

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.86
Mean: 2.93
Maximum: 3.8

Career Counseling

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.29
Mean: 3.40
Maximum: 3.56

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.17
Mean: 2.57
Maximum: 3.25

Financial Aid Advising

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.5
Mean: 3.20
Maximum: 3.29

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.25
Mean: 2.69
Maximum: 3.5

Social Life

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.8
Mean: 4.00
Maximum: 3.67

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.62
Maximum: 3.86

More Ratings*

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

US News Rank

#48 - 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.

Insider Reviews

from students and alumni of Florida State University College of Law

Alumni

Great academic school. Great professors. So-so job-search help. Had a really good on-campus interviewing program there, but that was in the summer-associate “hay day.” I’ve heard that like most schools, OCI has fallen to the wayside. I decided to move out of state after school and the career services office was clueless. Regardless, I had a job before I took the bar exam with a good firm (but no thanks to the career services office – I did all of the legwork on my own).
Alumni

On the plus side, you’ll get three years in a wonderful, consequence-free environment with tons of opportunities just on the periphery of the law school experience itself. It’s a great community of people who want to see you succeed, and who will let you shape your law school experience in whichever direction you see fit. To maximize upon this, you will have to take charge, however. Our greatest strength lies in the proximity to the entire state government apparatus, and the numerous courts and law firms in town. Sorry, UF this is where the lawyers and politicians in this state work, live, and play. If you have what it takes, you’ll figure out how to get involved in the things in Tallahassee that actually matter. As far as course offerings, it won’t actively hurt your knowledge of the law to pay attention in a few classes if they interest you. Some of these professors are rather brilliant (many of them are/were practicing attorneys or judges)! Regardless, of which law school you choose, use nearly every second of your time to plot your next move for after you graduate. Let’s be honest here, based on my alma mater’s barely respectable top 50s ranking, our graduates rarely get salivated over by “top firms” (whatever you think that includes). We have quite a growing reputation within the state, and some graduates are able to break out of the Florida marketplace entirely. That’s not to say that right out of school you’ll be landing that six-figure salary. You won’t. So, don’t take on a lot of debt. But, you already knew that if you have ever read anything on ATL.
Alumni

FSU was great. I graduated years before anyone really had the concept of training folks to actually practice law (although our Civ Pro professor did mention that we wouldn’t learn how to practice law in law school). I didn’t expect Career Services to find me a job because I wanted to work in a small firm and had a specific location to return to, neither of which lend themselves to CS’s skill set.
Alumni

Tallahassee is a small, beautiful city that makes it really easy to focus on the study of law during law school. The key if you choose to go to FSU is to make sure you study hard, especially during your first year, and secure a spot on either the Law Review or Moot Court team.
Alumni