I know I’m late to the party, but while googling for information I came across this thread, and being in the “parsha”, I decided to offer my two cents.
I am an 0l. I have a BTL from Lakewood, and a 99.9 percentile LSAT score. I am thus far in at a few T14s, including Columbia and higher – ranked.
I personally know three former chavrusas who have done LS admissions before me. Two had BTLs (coincidentally, they both went to UPenn), and one got an online degree, and is in another of the T14. It seems pretty clear to me from these few people that the BTL was better than the online degree. Reb Online Degree was by far the best of the three LSAT wise, and had a far tougher admissions cycle. IMHO, if you want a secular degree, go brick and mortar.
The beauty of law school admissions, as you know if you’re involved, is that because of the rankings, you can make yourself a desirable candidate. If it’s true that Columbia and NYU don’t love BTLs – there is still going to be a school that will like an above median GPA and LSAT no matter where the GPA is from. That’s why even Reb Online Degree got a fancy scholarship when he finally did get in.
That is also why it’s hard to believe that any specific school “doesn’t take” BTLs. I understand that New York area schools may not want to oversaturate themselves with specific degrees, but with a good LSAT/GPA, they need you too. If you have flexibility, maybe Michigan (near the Detroit frum community), or Chicago or Northwestern would be worth looking into over a NY area school. Even UCLA is ranked right outside the T14, and I’m told there are some Jews in California.
I find it hard to believe as well that BTLs are all in the top or bottom 5%. Of the (admittedly few) that I know, none are near either extreme. Of the people I know of, two are in Biglaw and seem okay, one has a good summer job lined up, and one is a 1L. A friend of a friend just graduated, failed the bar, and has nothing lined up right now.
If there is one thing that my admissions cycle/process has taught me, it’s that there are few certainties, and few accurate generalizations. “Yeshiva guys can’t write” means nothing if you can write. “They don’t take BTLs” is not likely 100% true – it may just mean they need evidence that the stereotyped shortcomings of BTLs don’t apply to you.
The same even goes for “Yeshiva guys are good/not good at law”. The fact is that the LSAT is a decent predictor of Law School success, and at least BMG has an insane performance history on the LSAT – in the same sphere as top secular undergrad schools. Maybe many yeshiva guys don’t have a writing background, but if they can do well at the reading comprehension on the LSAT, they at least understand English at a fairly high level. OTOH, if you know you have a writing weakness or a general knowledge weakness, don’t say “oh, the LSAT predicted that I’ll do well.” Work on your weakness until it’s not – read and write and read and write. I have found that participation in online forums has made me a much better writer.
Oh, and re: that topic about Northwestern having bad employment – I don’t know where that could possibly be from, but according to last years statistics, Northwestern was the. top. school. in the country from big firm placement.