University of Colorado Law School

Note: click on any picture to enlarge.
Location: Boulder, Co
U.S. News and World Report Rank: 47
What they like to talk about: N/A
Pros: Boulder, enthusiasm for Boulder, the mountains, the architecture
Cons:  lack of lay prestige (again), lack of national prestige, non-T10 syndrome

Colorado's Boulder campus is stunning. I could stop here and just show you pictures the rest of the way. When I set foot on campus, it was 77 degrees, sunny, and the architecture against the backdrop of the mountains made a good case for Colorado Law. I dearly wanted to attend Colorado Law for a solid 56 hours... and then I arrived in Berkeley (and that's another story).

Boulder Mountains

The Stadium

Gym

What's striking about the architecture is that it's completely consistent throughout the entire campus. Even the stadium is constructed with the distinctive southwestern flair.

It's hard to beat Boulder for a place to live if you like the outdoors. The student body is rife with enthusiasm for where they live and that enthusiasm translates into a cordial spirit. The students are easygoing and seemingly pretty comfortable in their own skin.

The class I visited wasn't super interesting (they were going over rules of evidence on a powerpoint), but there were windows so I could look out and wish I was outside in the sunshine (something I imagine many law students feel when they're in class).

Classroom

Library

So why won't I be attending Colorado Law? At 47th, Colorado is the lowest ranked law school I was accepted to. In this instance, that means it will be much harder to get a job in the PNW with a Colorado degree than with a degree from a top ten school or the University of Washington. Plus, as I discussed in my post about Minnesota, the non-T10 syndrome makes for a more stressful and lower quality law school experience. 

I slept up in the mountains my night in Boulder. Apparently there were some great tent sites just across this bridge. However, because I arrived at the trailhead at 1am, finding a place for a tent proved rather difficult and I ended up sleeping in my car.

I withdrew my application last week.