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An estimated 6-minute read

A letter to law aspirants. Also NALSAR v. NUJS & NLIU Bhopal v NLU Jodhpur & GNLU v. HNLU

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Hi,

I know you are confused and tensed and that your parents are confused and tensed too. Don’t worry; the master ranks’ issue will be settled in some time.

I am here to distribute some free advice.

Two things:


If you didn’t do well in CLAT, remember:
”You are more than a score, you can do well anywhere you go”- Kian Ganz.

I have a friend in Christ College, Bangalore, a college which usually doesn’t figure amongst the top 15 law colleges. My friend got a job in Trilegal, which is top law firm and pays 14 lacs per annum.

His case is not an exception for I know many other such people.

So say, you worked hard for your law entrances and deserved NLS Bangalore and well instead, get Christ Bangalore. With hard work (consistent hard work) and good choices (consistent good choices), you can achieve in Christ what you would have achieved by being in NLS.

You don’t believe me? Maybe you’ll believe someone else: “Again, many times the top-end of the not so-known schools turn out to be better than the low or medium end of schools which have proved themselves”- Abhijit Joshi, Partner at AZB.

Having said that, a good law school is a superb lawnchpad. 


If you did well, remember:

Having done well in CLAT is history and doesn’t matter now. Forget it. Congratulate yourself; throw a party, click lots of photos when you land in some NLU. And then forget it. Forget your CLAT rank. Brace yourself up for the next battle.

Also, well, congrats! You'll be living amongst the best students in India and it is very very exciting. Also there will be a few faculty members (1 in every 5 here) that will change you and motivate you just like they do in movies. Its going to be a movie now. What role do you have in mind for yourself?

A caveat: If you don’t do well in NLS or NALSAR or NUJS, you don’t do well.


Do read this post of mine: Puppy training: ABCs of NLSs, Part-1- Adjusting (click here)

Here is my post on ragging (click here).

Finally, I came, I saw, I changed. 17 thinks that hit you in an NLU (click here).



On choices (Yeah! Law school rankings and CLAT preferences):

Before going any further please go through this post by a genius called Seth Godin.

"Very often, we’re challenged to make decisions with too little information. Sometimes, there’s no information--merely noise. The question is: how will you decide"?

"When there isn’t enough data, when there can’t be enough data, insist on the flip (of a coin)".

"By refusing to lie to yourself, by not telling yourself a fable to make the decision easier, you'll understand quite clearly when you're winging it".



NALSAR v. NUJS

If you are confused between NLS, NALSAR and NUJS; choose NLS. If you are confused between NALSAR and NUJS, do a coin toss.

Please read this post by Seth Godin (click here). “When there isn’t enough data, when there can’t be enough data, insist on the flip”.

I am a student at NUJS, so I might have a bias towards it. But I’ll try to be as objective as possible and rely on facts. I am also aware of the other type of fallacy: to show to others that I am not biased, I might end up favouring NALSAR.

I’ll take care of both.

NALSAR and NUJS will be rated on various parameters on a scale of 100, 150 and 200. I give 100 marks to less important things, then 150 and then 200 to the most important things. Here you go:


Infrastructure (100)

NALSAR- 100; NUJS- 75

(Everyone knows this. NUJS has a 5 acre campus with no space to accommodate all the girls. NALSAR has a 50 acre beautiful campus and a lake!)


Location (150)

NUJS- 150; NALSAR- 125

(Everyone knows this too. NUJS is in salt lake city, which is posh and happening. It’s also in Calcutta, the cultural capital of India. NALSAR is nowhere.)


Faculty (150)

NUJS- 150; NALSAR – 130

(NUJS has taken a clear lead in this; MP Singh, the VC, has got a large number of top notch people from India and abroad. NALSAR, on the other hand, hasn't been proactive on this front [UPDATED]. See the websites for more details.).


Student quality (200)

NALSAR- 200; NUJS- 190

(NALSAR has a slight edge; it’s a strong second preference with CLAT aspirants).


Placements (200)

NALSAR- 200; NUJS- 190

(Again, NALSAR has a slender edge. Check LegallyIndia’s or Bar and Bench’s stats to do your own research). Click here to see Bar and Bench's analysis of NLS-NUJS-NALSAR' recruitments.


This, still gives us no conclusion. Scores are level at 755 each. So, insist on a coin toss. Read this post please [Click here]. You’ll know why coin tosses are important.


Infrastructure  (100)

Location (150)

Faculty  (150)

Students (200)

Placements    (200)

TOTAL

NUJS

75

150

150

190

190

755

NALSAR

100

125

130

200

200

755


PS-
Please don't say that either of the colleges  deserve 5-10 marks here or there. Also, if you think placements or faculty or any other component don't matter as much to you as they do to me, please adjust the scores to that effect.


NALSAR’s USP
- Reputation and Overall excellence

Bad things happening now at NALSAR: The new VC who is a butt of jokes


NUJS’s USP- Entrepreneurship and Academic Innovations

Bad things happening now at NUJS: The pathetic lower administrative staff



Now let us move on.


NLIU, Bhopal v. NLU, Jodhpur

Coin toss.

NLIU, Bhopal- State reservations are a big turnoff for me.

NLU Jodhpur-Gives you the option of doing a B.Sc course with some good science subjects and a BBA course too.

Though placements have not been great in both these colleges (very good is not great), they’ll still provide you with most of the things NALSAR or NUJS will.


UPDATE: As you can see, I am slightly tilted towards NLU Jodhpur.

 

GNLU v. HNLU

This is on a commenter's request. So here you go:

GNLU has a better infrastructure and location. I don't know about faculty but have heard that the HNLU' faculty is not good. Also, HNLU has had a lot of problems in the past (student strikes, VCs playing musical chairs etc.).

Placements seem to be OKish with both the colleges. GNLU scores a brownie since it had a large number of students get recruited by Amarchand this year.


So GNLU it will be.



Hope this helps.

Next few days won’t decide your future. Every day will.

(Most people hate philosophical rants; so I’ll stop).


Finally, here is my preference list (law school rankings)

  1. NLSIU
  2. NUJS/NALSAR- Coin toss. (Wannabe entrepreneurs who want to start their own LPOs and law firms go to NUJS. People who love culture and Calcutta go to NUJS. People who want to win Rhodes scholarships and spend semesters abroad go to NALSAR. People who love space and nature go to NALSAR).
  3. NLIU/NLUJ- Coin toss.
  4. GNLU
  5. HNLU


    At last, some stoic advice (courtesy of Seneca):
    Expect everything, good and bad. Accept them. Don't expect perfect responses from others (people and institutions).

    In law schools especially, expect some very bad faculty. Accept them too.


    PS- This discussion on law school rankings i.e NUJS v. NALSAR and NLIU Bhopal v. NLU Jodhpur has been going on since 2004. Please see LST forums for that. No debate can settle it. Insist on a coin toss, instead.

    PS (p) Post script for parents: In case you are worried about recruitments, click here to know everything about it. The link is a Bar and Bench's (an online legal publication) analysis.

---
Please please please. The point of the post is not to rank colleges, though I have. The point is: Some of these colleges are running so close, that it is impossible to take a decision. The best thing (honestly and in all sincerity) is: toss a coin.

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