Every year, we here at Blueprint – in partnership with Above The Law’s Career Center – survey our LSAT prep students to get an idea of how they feel about some aspect of their law school journey. In the past, we’ve gathered their thoughts on everything from their admissions chances to the prospect of an online LSAT administration.

This year’s survey was sent to the thousands of students currently enrolled in our summer course, who are in the midst of preparing for the September 27th LSAT. It focused on how they plan to choose their law school, and the effect they believe that choice will have on their career prospects.

• On choosing a law school: 56% of LSAT students believe that “Prestige of Law School/US News & World Report ranking” is the most important factor in determining where to attend law school, while nearly a quarter value “Job Placement Record” or “Special Interest That Aligns with Career Goals” highly, and only 10% chose “Where Tuition Is Lowest” as the deciding factor.
• On admissions: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Blueprint students feel that LSAT scores are the most important factor in gaining acceptance to law school. 90% of those surveyed ranked it first, with undergraduate GPA leading the remaining factors by a slight margin.
• On post-graduation hiring: 59% of survey respondents ranked “Prestige of Law School” as the primary factor they believe law firms weigh when hiring, beating out “Ranking in First Year Class,” “Work History,” and “Law School GPA.”

We’ll have more analysis in the coming days, both here and at Above The Law. But there’s one quick conclusion that I can draw, and it looks an awful lot like the logic diagrams some of you are getting buddy-buddy with in Blueprint classes. By and large, our students believe:

Good LSAT Score → Prestigious School → Good Job

What do you think? Are they correct to follow that line of reasoning? Or are there other variables at play here?

Leave your thoughts in the comments.