First-tier schools

• Stanford University 92.8% California
• University of Colorado-Boulder 96.5% Colorado
• Vanderbilt University 92.5% Tennessee

Second-tier schools

• Lewis and Clark College 78.8% Oregon
• University of Georgia 91.8% Georgia
• University of Hawaii 79.4% Hawaii

Third-tier schools

• Drake University 81.8% Iowa
• Loyola University 69.2% Louisiana
• Pepperdine University 61/1% California

Fourth-tier schools

• Northern Kentucky University 85.3% Kentucky
• Quinnipiac University 76.2% Connecticut
• University of Tulsa 73.4% Oklahoma

Law school may need improvements
Simply changing name of institution won’t bring prestige, some say

By Melissa DeLoach
Senior Reporter

Tracey Sowards, a TCU alumna, said she applied to South Texas College of Law in Houston, because the trial advocacy programs are some of the best in the nation.

However, if TCU had a law school at the time, she said she would have applied there right away.

“There are so many reasons why I would have stayed,” she said. “I love Fort Worth. My friends and family are close by, and my experience as an undergraduate was amazing. It would have been great to expand on my relationships with professors and staff.”

Sowards is not alone in her thinking.

If TCU was to acquire Texas Wesleyan University School of Law or start its own law school, the impact on the university and the Dallas/Fort Worth area would be vast, said Daniel Wright, a second-year law student at Wesleyan.

“Everyone knows TCU,” he said. “It has a good reputation in the community and also a strong national reputation.

Everyone (at Wesleyan) would appreciate having a larger school.

“We’re at a point where a move would benefit everyone involved. A law school would add to the prestige of TCU and in turn the name change might give us a second (look) at being considered for a job.”

According to U.S. News and World Report, only 62 percent of 1999 Wesleyan law graduates were employed before graduation. Nine months later, only 68 percent of the graduates were employed.

Christopher Schell, a senior at Southern Methodist University, said simply changing the name of the law school is not enough. He said he learned about the possible acquisition when he visited Wesleyan’s law school two weeks ago.

If TCU is going to acquire Wesleyan, he said that the university must do it soon, while the program is still young.

“You can name (Wesleyan law school) whatever you want, but slapping a new name on the front of the building will take time for the staff, community, students and alumni to accept,” he said.

Ann Arnold, a former Wesleyan alumni board member and author of the book “The Fort Worth Legal Community,” said Fort Worth has a need for a law school that offers a flexible curriculum of day and evening classes. According to her research, Wesleyan is the only law school in the area that offers classes for parttime students in the day and evening. SMU’s law school is a daytime program.

“A lot of students who go to Wesleyan are those who work during the day and take classes at night,” she said. “(SMU) keeps people who are working fulltime from attending.

“Additionally, because the SMU curriculum is lockstepped, businessmen who would like to further their education by taking law courses are unable,” she said.

If TCU is considering Wesleyan or starting from scratch, these things need to be considered, she said.

Another factor to consider is Wesleyan’s bar-passage rate, Sowards said. According to US News and World Report, only 65.5 percent of 1999 Wesleyan law students passed the Texas State Bar Examination.

“If TCU is going to acquire the school, it is going to have to start recruiting top faculty and make a lot of internal changes to bring the bar passage rates up,” she said. “Because the scores are low, the overall reputation of the school is low.”

Melissa DeLoach
m.d.deloach@student.tcu.edu