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Fastest Response From Schools
- Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the Spotlight schools on this page.
Student Body
- Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider University of Louisville, Northern Kentucky University, and University of Kentucky.
School Setting
- Out of State: For geographic diversity, take note of Northern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky, and University of Louisville.
- Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Northern Kentucky University.
Excellence
- SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at University of Louisville and University of Kentucky.
- Class Size: For small class sizes, look at University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Northern Kentucky University.
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- Degrees: Master
Student/Alumnus Reviews of Schools for This Career and State
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University Of Kentucky • Lexington, KY
Studying Law (completion in 2008)
• 9/16/2011
"I was mostly satisfied with my school. It didn't have many frills or bells and whistles, but it prepared me well for my career and that is most important."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | I had a pretty good experience at the school. I therefore would recommend it to others. |
| Program Reputation | 5 | The school is generally thought of as a good program. Most importantly, it is top in the state, which is important for jobs. |
| Program Quality | 7 | University of Kentucky law school offers a good program. I thought it prepared me well for practice. |
| Instruction | 6 | Generally, I would describe the curriculum as somewhat outdated. The professors, however, make up for any shortcomings. |
| How Difficult | 8 | A legal education is always going to be challenging. The key is the amount of effort one wishes to put forth. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | The program is mostly book-oriented. I do understand, however, that they are trying to get more experiential classes included. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 3 | The school has no class flexibility. It is a traditional program only - no night or weekend options. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | The building is quite outdated and desperately needs replacing. |
| Social Life | 6 | The social experience at the law school individually is ok. Not too exciting, and rather clique-oriented. |
| Placement Services | 5 | The school's job placement office is generally competent. But some would say it only helps get jobs for people who don't need much help to start with. |
| Alumni Network | 4 | I am quite unimpressed with my school's alumni network. Their only interest is in soliciting donations. |
University Of Kentucky • Lexington, KY
Studying Law (completion in 2008)
• 10/11/2011
"There is nowhere else I would have liked to get my degree from. It was a very difficult three years, but I feel my experience was more positive than it may have been elsewhere."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | At UK Law, a student gets the best faculty in the state, a good environment, and lots of resources. Classes can be tough, and you will look silly in class, but they make sure you learn a lot from the experience. My JD got me the job I wanted. |
| Program Reputation | 7 | In Kentucky, UK Law has a great reputation. Big firms regularly recruit the top 1% of students. Nationally, I do not know how we rank. Since I practice in Kentucky, this is not a concern. |
| Program Quality | 8 | Overall, I feel that UK Law prepared me to practice. There is no way they could have given me everything I needed, but I felt I had a good grip on the basics, e.g. legal research, fundamentals of law, memo and brief writing. |
| Instruction | 9 | UK Law has great faculty, some of whom have written the most widely used treatise on their given subject area. They were also friendly and amenable to meeting in their offices to talk about some of the discussions/debates we had in class. |
| How Difficult | 10 | There were times during first year when I wanted to quit. There was a lot of pressure, as the first year determines your future academic and professional life. Past that hump, it gets somewhat easier. There were quite a few almost sleepless nights, and I never want to take the Bar again. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | Most of my hands on learning came from spending my summers as a clerk for two big law firms in downtown Lexington. As a summer clerk, I was a junior associate. I got to work on current cases, go to court, and have my memos torn to pieces by the partners. I learned a lot about how law works in a non-academic environment, i.e. the issues are not fictional, there is an actual client who wants a specific result and in as cost effective a manner as can be effected. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 6 | At UK Law there is an expectation that you will be physically present in all classes. You are also expected to spend your time in the library. I would not recommend it to an individual who is looking for flexibility. |
| Academic Facilities | 9 | We were provided with free unlimited Westlaw access for academic purposes. The library is large, and full of legal encyclopedias, including both AmJur and CJS. There are also lots of treatises. There are not many computer terminals, but I and most everyone had a laptop. There were empty rooms for us to meet in to study, as well as numerous tables. |
| Social Life | 8 | I had a great time with my classmates. Many of them became friends I still keep in touch with. The school provided lots of social events, but there were also many informal parties under the radar. Law students need to blow off steam, and parties provided the opportunities for us to do that. |
| Placement Services | 5 | Once again, I have little to no experience with job placement and career services assistance. I have heard positive and negatives comments from friends, but cannot verify this myself. |
| Alumni Network | 5 | I have not had much interaction with our alumni network. One of the firms I summered at made me an offer prior to graduation. I have heard positive and negative things from friends. |
University Of Kentucky • Lexington, KY
Studying (completion in 2014)
• 10/17/2011
"I felt that my school was a place where students took the study of law seriously without being too competitive. Therefore it was a positive environment where it was easy to learn while meeting friends and maintaining lives outside of school."
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale
| Characteristic | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Would Recommend? | yes | The things I did not like about my school will improve in the near future. Bar passage rates have been high and improvements have been made to the buildings. |
| Program Reputation | 9 | I feel that our law school had a positive reputation. With a high bar passage rate this year, that should increase. |
| Program Quality | 9 | I felt that my school adequately prepared me for my career. My school had various offerings of practical classes, of which I took advantage. |
| Instruction | 9 | I felt that all of my professors were more than competent. Over the course of law school, I took classes of varying sizes with instructors with divergent styles. Thus I felt I had a well-rounded experience. |
| How Difficult | 8 | My work load was intense. However, I was prepared for that so it was manageable. |
| Hands-On vs. Bookish | I believe that law school necessarily must be a lot of book learning. However, my school did offer a number of more practice-based classes without casebooks, which I took advantage of. | |
| Schedule Flexibility | 4 | There were no weekend and few evening options. In fact, it was sometimes difficult for me to fit enough classes that interested me in my schedule to have a full load. |
| Academic Facilities | 4 | Our building is in disrepair and is not attractive to potential students. The library is well stocked and useful, though, and strides are being made to improve the appearance of the current building. |
| Social Life | 8 | School spirit and morale is high because our school excels at sports. Thus, students get together for games and support the school. |
| Placement Services | 7 | While there were not a great deal of employers interviewing on campus, career services did make an effort to contact everyone to help with the job search. As I planned to be self employed, I did not fully avail myself of career services. |
| Alumni Network | 6 | I have recently become an alumni, so I cannot judge this yet. However, I have already started to receive invitations to alumni activities. |
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