Indiana University - Maurer School of Law (Bloomington)

Student Rating^? B Alumni Rating^? A ATL Top 50 Rank #48 (tie)	Tuition $31,800 / $51,800 Total Investment ^? $190,581 / $263,651	Enrollment 538	Student/Faculty Ratio 8.3/1
LSAT (25/75) 157/163 GPA (25/75) 3.49/3.88	Region M State I	Dean Lauren Robel
Applicants who are accepted 39.1 / 100 Admitted students who enroll 2.59 / 10	Top Biglaw Employers ^? Jones Day	Talking Points Several professors are leaders in their field including Mark Janis (IP), Fred Cate (Cybersecurity), and William Henderson (study of the legal profession and education, who we cite all the time). Notable alumni include: Wendell Willkie, Birch Bayh, Lee H. Hamilton (current member of the US Homeland Security Advisory Council, former vice chairman of 9/11 Commission)

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: 3.50
Maximum: 4

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.64
Maximum: 4

Practical/Clinical Training

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.14
Mean: 2.64
Maximum: 3.83

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.86
Mean: 3.08
Maximum: 3.8

Career Counseling

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.29
Mean: 2.79
Maximum: 3.56

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.17
Mean: 2.80
Maximum: 3.25

Financial Aid Advising

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.5
Mean: 2.92
Maximum: 3.29

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.25
Mean: 3.24
Maximum: 3.5

Social Life

Students
vs. all schools

Minimum: 1.8
Mean: 3.14
Maximum: 3.67

Alumni
vs. all schools

Minimum: 2.4
Mean: 3.76
Maximum: 3.86

More Ratings*

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

US News Rank

#34 - 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
28%

Unknown
1 %

Other
Employment 8 %

Bar Passage
Required* 63 %

School-
Funded 1 %

Federal
Clerkships 3 %

Large Firm
18 %

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 ^? 71 %
School Funded	1
Large Firm	18
Federal Clerkships	3
Government	14.36%
Public Interest	6.15%

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	92%	34%
Work for government		14%
Work in non-profit/public interest		6%
Go solo		4%

Insider Reviews

from students and alumni of Indiana University – Maurer School of Law (Bloomington)

Alumni

It’s great if you plan to stay in Indiana, or in the states and cities around it, including top-end firms located in those cities. However, if you plan to leave the area, you need to consider your options carefully before considering IU B-ton. it can be done, and done well, but you need to have a plan.
Alumni

IUB is a great law school. Great education, great teachers, medium career services group. It’s a top 25 law school that advertises as a “national law school” but it’s really a midwest filler. If you want to work in Louisville, Chicago, Indy, etc, it’s pretty good. We end up with about 5 federal clerkships per class, per year, so it isn’t super strong in that regard. It is a fun, relaxed law school, where you will get a great education without dealing with too many gunner/tools. If you’re that person, go to IU-Indy, you’ll fit right in.
Alumni

Don’t go to law school for any other reason than to become a lawyer. IUB has a pro-active and helpful career services department, but as a general rule law school is nothing more than a waste of three years.
Alumni

Very comfortable, very friendly. Yes, we competed with each other, but we always helped each other out. It was stressful like any law school is, but also fun and relaxed. it’s a great place to learn.
Alumni

Bloomington is an awesome place to spend 3 years, but unless you’re a top student with OCI prospects (top 10%), you will be lucky to find a legal job. If you want to practice in the State of Indiana, you would be better off going to IU’s Indianapolis campus where you can connect with law firms, government, business, judges, etc.
Alumni

Students

People are very friendly at IU, and there is a real sense of community. Coming from outside the region, however, means that most employers both here and back on the West Coast believe I want to stay put, and that has made finding work difficult.
2L

The school should release complete and accurate employment data for recent classes. Until then, applicants should be cautious of their opportunities.
2L

I have really enjoyed my experience at Indiana. My only complaint is that because I do not plan to work in the Midwest I had to do a good deal of job searching outside of OCI. However, I was moderately successful in obtaining interviews with firms on both coasts and in Texas.
2L

How wonderful the professors and career counselors are but oci and the assistant dean of students are not as wonderful. I got a biglaw job for the summer outside of the oci process but the career counselors were incredibly helpful and prepped me very well for the many biglaw interviews I did. I would say career prospects are good for the top half of the class, but be prepared to do a lot of legwork on your own. That being said, the career counselors are fantastic and will help you through the process.
2L

<10% Biglaw placement. USNWR Rank does not necessarily correlate with biglaw placement; at many schools there is a correlation, but there are significant exceptions. And IU is one of them.
1L