New York City is the logical starting point for this occasional series highlighting law schools in specific locales. New Yorkers’ self-regard is bloated enough to believe they are at the Center of the Universe and that everything that happens there is naturally interesting to everyone, everywhere. The ATL Insider Survey asks, among other things, current law students to rate how their schools are doing in terms of academics, career counseling, financial aid advising, practical/clinical training, and social life.

After the jump, check out how the students at Columbia, NYU, NYLS, Hofstra, Fordham, St. John’s, CUNY, Seton Hall, Rutgers-Newark, and Brooklyn rate their institutions. Somehow we don’t have sufficient survey responses from Pace or Touro….

UPDATE (5:45 p.m.): Apologies to Cardozo Law School. You were mistakenly left out of the initial version of this post and we have revised it to include you.

The comparisons below are based solely on the responses to our ATL Insider Survey, which aggregates the subjective views of the respondents. In other words, the ratings have nothing to do with LSAT scores, GPAs, or any of the other typical statistical indicators.

Quality of Faculty and Academic Instruction (ratings are on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 4)

1. NYU (3.70)

2. Columbia (3.46)

3. Fordham (3.43)

3. Cardozo (3.43)

5. Brooklyn (3.33)

6. Hofstra (3.25)

7. Seton Hall (3.22)

8. CUNY (3.20)

9. NYLS (3.17)

10. Rutgers-Newark (3.0)

11. St. John’s (2.88)

In the perennial contest between the city’s two most hallowed law schools, the NYU kids are more satisfied with the product they’re finding in the classrooms.

Practical and Clinical Training

1. CUNY (3.50)

2. Seton Hall (3.44)

3. Fordham (3.42)

4. NYLS (3.40)

5. NYU (3.30)

6. Brooklyn (3.28)

7. Cardozo (3.22)

8. St. John’s (3.11)

9. Hofstra (3.11)

10. Columbia (3.02)

11. Rutgers-Newark (2.88)

No surprise here, with CUNY’s explicit commitment to “learning through service to underserved communities.”

Financial Aid Advising

1. Rutgers-Newark (3.25)

2. Hofstra (3.15)

3. NYU (2.90)

4. Seton Hall (2.88)

5. NYLS (2.83)

6. Brooklyn Law School (2.79)

7. Columbia (2.69)

8. Cardozo (2.57)

9. Fordham (2.56)

10. CUNY (2.50)

11. St. John’s (2.11)

Career Counseling and Job Search Help

1. NYU (3.30)

2. Columbia (2.80)

2. Fordham (2.80)

4. NYLS (2.57)

5. Seton Hall (2.56)

6. CUNY (2.50)

6. Brooklyn (2.50)

8. Hofstra (2.36)

9. Cardozo (2.26)

10. Rutgers-Newark (2.25)

11. St. John’s (1.78)

This category had the lowest scores.

Social Life

1. NYU (3.56)

2. Columbia (3.15)

2. Fordham (3.15)

4. Rutgers-Newark (3.13)

5. Brooklyn (3.00)

6. Cardozo (2.91)

7. NYLS (2.86)

8. Hostra (2.79)

9. Seton Hall (2.78)

10. St. John’s (2.67)

11. CUNY (2.50)

Downtown, things’ll be great when you’re

Downtown, no finer place for sure

Finally, when we average all five categories above for an overall rating, we find that the most satisfied law students in the New York City area can be found at NYU. Congratulations, Violets! (Also, it’s sort of interesting that the two schools with probably the least overlap in their applicant pools — Columbia and CUNY — are tied on the list.)

1. NYU (3.35)

2. Fordham (3.07)

3. CUNY (3.02)

4. Columbia (3.02)

5. Brooklyn (2.98)

6. Hofstra (2.97)

7. Seton Hall (2.92)

8. NYLS (2.91)

9. Rutgers-Newark (2.88)

10. Cardozo (2.87)

11. St. John’s (2.50)

If you have not yet taken the (absolutely confidential) ATL Insider Survey, please take a couple of minutes and take it here. Thanks.