If you live in the Oklahoma City metro area and you want to attend a nearby law school, you have two from which to choose. The University of Oklahoma College of Law (OU Law School) is located in Norman, Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma is a suburb about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City University School of Law (OCU Law School) is located in the heart of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
There is a third law school in the state of Oklahoma, Tulsa University. However, Tulsa University is located in eastern Oklahoma and is approximately a one and a half to two hour drive from the other two law schools in Oklahoma. Accordingly, for purposes of this article, the focus will be on comparing OU Law School and OCU Law School.
The Four Tiers of US Law Schools
US News & World Reports annually publishes a ranking system for all American Bar Association accredited law schools in the United States. The ranking system is broken down into the top 100 law schools and the third and four tier law schools. The third and fourth tier law schools are law schools that do not make it into the top 100.
The University of Oklahoma College of Law normally falls in the top 100. In the most recent publication by US News & World Reports, published in October 2007, OU was one of the top 100 law schools, ranked as the 70th best law school in the nation.
Oklahoma City University School of Law is typically ranked in the fourth tier group of law schools. In the most recent publication by US News & World Reports, published in October 2007, OCU once again fell into the bottom tier, the fourth tier.
According to US News & World Reports ranking system, OU’s law school is clearly a higher quality law school to attend than OCU’s law school.
Two Reasons to Choose to Attend Oklahoma City University School of Law
1. You have received a substantial scholarship to Oklahoma City University School of Law that makes your total costs significantly less expensive than if you attended the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Considering that Oklahoma City University is a private college and therefore charges a much higher tuition than the University of Oklahoma charges, the scholarship to OCU would have to be practically a full scholarship for it to be worth it to choose OCU over OU.
2. You have been accepted by OCU, but you have not been accepted by OU.
The OU Law School has higher admittance standards than OCU Law School. Since it is more difficult to be accepted by the OU Law School, you may find yourself in the position of being accepted only by the OCU Law School. If your heart is set on attending a law school in the Oklahoma City area, then by all means attend OCU Law School in this case.
