First Tier Waste Product: American University Washington College of Law

Hello, readers. I was inspired by a piece of garbage in the Alexandria, VA area to profile this first tier stack of dung. This imbecile claims to be a DC Biglaw attorney - and American University JD from the Class of 2007 - making $120K per year. That doesn’t quite add up, does it? Dumbass then asserted that he actually teaches at the University of D.C. school of law (sic).

http://www.wcl.american.edu/finaid/cost.cfm

Tuition: A full-time law student at American University will be charged the perfectly reasonable sum of $42,614, in tuition alone – for the 2010-2011 school year!! General, technology and Sports Center fees will add an extra $844 to the tab. (Hell, the Sports Center annual fee alone accounts for $130.) Part-time students will only need to pay $29,282 in tuition, for the same academic year.

Estimated Cost of Attendance: The commode estimates that the total COA – for 2010-2011 – will amount to $65,646. However, did you see how they reached that figure?! The school only listed housing and food for nine months. How many law students do you know who only need shelter and food for nine months out of the year?! After including these adjusted costs, a more-accurate COA for the current school year would be $70,594.

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings/page+2

Ranking: According to US News & World Report, American Univer$ity Washington Commode of Law is the 48th best, most mesmerizing law school in the entire country. (That includes Alaska and Hawaii.) The first tier toilet shares this prestigious honor with three other schools.

http://www.wcl.american.edu/career/documents/AmericanUniversityWCL2009StudentStats.pdf?rd=1

Supposed Employment Statistics: The school projects that its Class of 2009 will have a 91.3% employment rate, within nine months of graduation. By the way, only 43 percent of this particular graduating class is in private practice.

Starting Salary Statistics: On page 2, the school points out that its mean public and private sector salaries are slightly higher than the national figures. The private sector mean salary for 2009 WCL grads is $116,812, versus the 2009 national mean of $112,207 - whereas the public sector mean salary for American Law grads is $53,585 compared to the national mean of $50,916. Why not take out $128K in student loans to attend such a prestigious, illustrious law school, right?!?!

http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/grad-debt-rankings

Law Student Indebtedness: Here, the school is in truly elite company. As you can see, the school is rated 4th highest – in terms of law student indebtedness. According to US News, the average student indebtedness – for those members of WCL’s Class of 2009 who incurred law school debt – was $128,258. Only 84 percent of this particular graduating class took on such NON-DISCHARGEABLE debt.

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments//2009/530/196/2009-530196549-05c06c72-9.pdf

Faculty and Administrator Pay: Head over to page 33 of American University’s 2009 Form 990, and take a peek at how well the “professors” are doing, in comparison. Dean Claudio Grossman made $427,201 in TOTAL COMPENSATION – for 2008. Yes, that is correct. Claudio received $381,441 in base compensation; $13,833 in other compensation; $22,999 in deferred compensation; and $8,928 in nontaxable benefits.

“Professor of law and faculty director of the Gushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic” Peter Jaczi “earned” $287,644 in TOTAL COMPENSATION, for the same year. Peter received $251,408 in base compensation; $24,610 in deferred compensation; and $11,626 in nontaxable benefits. “Higher education” sure paid off for these academics.

http://american.lawschoolnumbers.com/

Entering GPA and LSAT Scores: According to Law School Numbers, the 75th percentile UGPA - for 2005-2006 - was 3.59. The 75th percentile LSAT score was 163. These are rather impressive figures. You could reach these levels, and still end up at a first tier toilet such as American Univer$ity Was$hington Commode of Law.

http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/lpb/

As a student at this sewage pit, you can write on the Legislation & Policy Brief. Walk into any bar in town, tell the waitress you are a student editor, and she will be thrilled to remove your briefs. Actually, she won’t. Sorry.

http://www.wcl.american.edu/journal/alr/

If you want some serious action, just become a member of the illustrious Administrative Law Review. The world will be your oyster. (In reality, no one will give a damn about your achievement.)

Conclusion: This school is a grotesquely-overpriced pile of garbage. You do not need to take on an additional $128K in NON-DISCHARGEABLE debt to go into public interest. This debt will stick with you, for life. If this level of monstrous debt does not dissuade you, then nothing will.

In the final brutal analysis, this school is not that much different from a second tier sewer - in terms of job prospects. Again, the school’s 2009 graduates had the fourth-highest level of average law school debt, as listed by US News. Keep in mind that this figure includes those students who were fortunate enough to take out much smaller amounts of debt. YOU could end up with closer to $170K in student debt, from law school alone. How will you benefit from taking on such debt, when you land a $54K public sector job?!