American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer Forum

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What should I choose?

American
5
19%
FSU
7
27%
Loyola, 22k a year
10
38%
Mercer, 25k a year
4
15%
 
Total votes: 26

mango26

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American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:22 am

I'm still waiting to hear back from schools, but this is what I have at this point. I know they are all pretty different from each other location wise, etc. I'm pretty sure that I'm interested in government work after law school, probably not in DC though. My first choices (as far as where I think I would like to go and based on location) are San Diego, U Wash, FSU. But I have yet to hear from the SD or UW, so those might be rejections. (3.3, 163, non-URM)

American--It seems like a good school, but it's crazy expensive and I have no money. I'm also not in love with DC.
FSU--I would be out of state the first year. I visited the school and I loved it. And wouldn't mind working in Florida after school.
Loyola--they gave me $22k a year scholarship. I also wouldn't mind working in California after school, but I'm not sure how I feel about going to school in LA.
Mercer--they gave me $25k a year scholarship. Negative, it's not ranked. Positive, it would be cheap due to low COL.

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gwuorbust

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by gwuorbust » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:45 am

I beg of you, for all that is good and right in this world, do not pay sticker at American. You will be unemployed in a city you do not want to be in with the crush of debt on your shoulders. Seriously, it is behind GULC, GWU, GMU all in the direct area and UVA, W&L, W&M which also feed heavily into the area. Unless you are in the very top of the class you will be done. Never count on being at the top of your class in LS.

I say either Loyola or FSU. Both have some regional sway, sig less debt and the possibility of getting a job (tho not six figures). Also: warm weather :) .

mango26

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:11 am

gwuorbust wrote:I beg of you, for all that is good and right in this world, do not pay sticker at American. You will be unemployed in a city you do not want to be in with the crush of debt on your shoulders. Seriously, it is behind GULC, GWU, GMU all in the direct area and UVA, W&L, W&M which also feed heavily into the area. Unless you are in the very top of the class you will be done. Never count on being at the top of your class in LS.

I say either Loyola or FSU. Both have some regional sway, sig less debt and the possibility of getting a job (tho not six figures). Also: warm weather :) .
Ya, I know that some people think that choosing a school based on weather is dumb. But, it is important to me. I have been in a location the past four years in which I have hated the weather. So this time, when choosing schools, it's definitely a factor for me.

lawschoolstudent85

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by lawschoolstudent85 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:16 am

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Last edited by lawschoolstudent85 on Tue May 11, 2010 3:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

mango26

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:43 am

wiggsb wrote:You'd be crazy not to go to Loyola.
why?

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ggocat

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by ggocat » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:12 am

mango26 wrote:American--It seems like a good school, but it's crazy expensive and I have no money. I'm also not in love with DC.
FSU--I would be out of state the first year. I visited the school and I loved it. And wouldn't mind working in Florida after school.
Loyola--they gave me $22k a year scholarship. I also wouldn't mind working in California after school, but I'm not sure how I feel about going to school in LA.
Mercer--they gave me $25k a year scholarship. Negative, it's not ranked. Positive, it would be cheap due to low COL.
Hi. I'm a 3L at Mercer and happy to answer any questions about the school. I was in a similar situation three years ago (deciding between Iowa with a ton of debt and Mercer with a scholarship). A nice plus about the Mercer scholarships is that they are renewable for good academic standing, and really no one loses their scholarship. If Loyola has a more stringent renewal requirement, I'd pass on that school. Law school grades can be unpredictable, especially the first year. I wouldn't pass on a sure thing (Mercer).

I'd also lose American. It seems like all three of your other options are better, especially considering you do not want to work in DC. Employment opportunities will only be marginally better coming from American (and not outside DC).

I think your best two options are probably FSU and Mercer.

You mentioned a negative for Mercer is the ranking, but I wouldn't worry much about the rankings. Take a look at the underlying employment opportunities. NLJ 250 firm placement is a decent measure of overall employment opportunities. This data is from a few years ago, so hiring has definitely decreased across the board, but it's still relevant for comparing schools: http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/composite.pdf.
American - about 10%
FSU - about 5%
Loyola - less than 5%
Mercer - more than 5%

This is a good article for anyone considering a non-national school: http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... 7904889498
Edit: The regular version isn't loading, so here is a cached page: --LinkRemoved--

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by women'ssoccer » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:20 am

ggocat wrote:
mango26 wrote:American--It seems like a good school, but it's crazy expensive and I have no money. I'm also not in love with DC.
FSU--I would be out of state the first year. I visited the school and I loved it. And wouldn't mind working in Florida after school.
Loyola--they gave me $22k a year scholarship. I also wouldn't mind working in California after school, but I'm not sure how I feel about going to school in LA.
Mercer--they gave me $25k a year scholarship. Negative, it's not ranked. Positive, it would be cheap due to low COL.
Hi. I'm a 3L at Mercer and happy to answer any questions about the school. I was in a similar situation three years ago (deciding between Iowa with a ton of debt and Mercer with a scholarship). A nice plus about the Mercer scholarships is that they are renewable for good academic standing, and really no one loses their scholarship. If Loyola has a more stringent renewal requirement, I'd pass on that school. Law school grades can be unpredictable, especially the first year. I wouldn't pass on a sure thing (Mercer).

I'd also lose American. It seems like all three of your other options are better, especially considering you do not want to work in DC. Employment opportunities will only be marginally better coming from American (and not outside DC).

I think your best two options are probably FSU and Mercer.

You mentioned a negative for Mercer is the ranking, but I wouldn't worry much about the rankings. Take a look at the underlying employment opportunities. NLJ 250 firm placement is a decent measure of overall employment opportunities. This data is from a few years ago, so hiring has definitely decreased across the board, but it's still relevant for comparing schools: http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/composite.pdf.

what year is that link from? i didn;t see it on the page.

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ggocat

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by ggocat » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:29 am

women'ssoccer wrote:what year is that link from? i didn;t see it on the page.
I'm not exactly sure. I think class of 2005? So the numbers will be lower for all schools today.

It's linked in the 2008 article that I posted above.

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deadpanic

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by deadpanic » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:49 am

I would say seriously consider Mercer. Like ggocat said, the scholarship is probably not going to be lost and Mercer is an old, established law school in GA.

FSU would be a good option (and my 2nd choice), but I'm pretty sure you would have to pay out of state for all 3 years. Something to consider if you are not looking for a lot of debt.

If you are looking for Gov't work, I really don't think any of these options will be great for that. But given your options, I'd personally choose Mercer.

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lawschoolstudent85

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by lawschoolstudent85 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:55 am

deadpanic wrote:I would say seriously consider Mercer. Like ggocat said, the scholarship is probably not going to be lost and Mercer is an old, established law school in GA.

FSU would be a good option (and my 2nd choice), but I'm pretty sure you would have to pay out of state for all 3 years. Something to consider if you are not looking for a lot of debt.

If you are looking for Gov't work, I really don't think any of these options will be great for that. But given your options, I'd personally choose Mercer.
It's really, really hard, if not impossible, to get residency in the state of florida while in a graduate school.

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:09 pm

deadpanic wrote:I would say seriously consider Mercer. Like ggocat said, the scholarship is probably not going to be lost and Mercer is an old, established law school in GA.

FSU would be a good option (and my 2nd choice), but I'm pretty sure you would have to pay out of state for all 3 years. Something to consider if you are not looking for a lot of debt.

If you are looking for Gov't work, I really don't think any of these options will be great for that. But given your options, I'd personally choose Mercer.
paying out of state all three years at fsu is something i am afraid of, but they make it out like it is very possible to get in state for 2L and 3L if you live there for 12 consecutive months before 2L starts, register to vote in fl, register your car, etc.
i got a half-scholarship at stetson, and i think i would rather do that than pay full out of state at fsu for all three years. i wish fsu was could guarantee this.

lawschoolstudent85

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by lawschoolstudent85 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:22 pm

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Last edited by lawschoolstudent85 on Tue May 11, 2010 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

domeafavor

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by domeafavor » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:26 pm

I went to graduate school in FL, and while I was in-state, many of my friends were OOS and were able to get in-state tuition for their second years (provided they were vigilant about submitting the paper work on time). In fact, in-state residency after your first year was a requirement for GA positions (because the dept. paid for 75% of your tuition). Perhaps it is different for law school, however.

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deadpanic

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by deadpanic » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:52 pm

domeafavor wrote:I went to graduate school in FL, and while I was in-state, many of my friends were OOS and were able to get in-state tuition for their second years (provided they were vigilant about submitting the paper work on time). In fact, in-state residency after your first year was a requirement for GA positions (because the dept. paid for 75% of your tuition). Perhaps it is different for law school, however.
I believe this is a relatively new (as in starting this year) law passed in FL that states you have to live in Florida for 12 consecutive months and it cannot be for education reasons.

But I have just heard this and don't really have anything to confirm it.

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:57 pm

deadpanic wrote:
domeafavor wrote:I went to graduate school in FL, and while I was in-state, many of my friends were OOS and were able to get in-state tuition for their second years (provided they were vigilant about submitting the paper work on time). In fact, in-state residency after your first year was a requirement for GA positions (because the dept. paid for 75% of your tuition). Perhaps it is different for law school, however.
I believe this is a relatively new (as in starting this year) law passed in FL that states you have to live in Florida for 12 consecutive months and it cannot be for education reasons.

But I have just heard this and don't really have anything to confirm it.
i've heard this too, but i think this is why as part of applying for in-state residency, FSU has you apply early for the Florida Bar, and provide a letter from the Bar acknowledging your application. i guess with that you can claim that you are there for work purposes as well?

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by women'ssoccer » Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:40 pm

ggocat wrote:
women'ssoccer wrote:what year is that link from? i didn;t see it on the page.
I'm not exactly sure. I think class of 2005? So the numbers will be lower for all schools today.

It's linked in the 2008 article that I posted above.
here are '09 numbers. some schools went up.

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/law%20sc ... page12.pdf

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by ATOIsp07 » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:43 am

gwuorbust wrote:I beg of you, for all that is good and right in this world, do not pay sticker at American. You will be unemployed in a city you do not want to be in with the crush of debt on your shoulders. Seriously, it is behind GULC, GWU, GMU all in the direct area and UVA, W&L, W&M which also feed heavily into the area. Unless you are in the very top of the class you will be done. Never count on being at the top of your class in LS.

I say either Loyola or FSU. Both have some regional sway, sig less debt and the possibility of getting a job (tho not six figures). Also: warm weather :) .

You are the ultimate anti-American troll! This is my third thread where you've been hating...did you get rejected from there?

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voice of reason

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by voice of reason » Wed Mar 03, 2010 12:53 am

Loyola-LA, clearly, for the combination of money and job prospects.

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Re: American v FSU v Loyola v Mercer

Post by mango26 » Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:44 am

thank you to everyone who has replied. none of my close friends are applying to law school right now so tls is really the only place where i can get advice or opinions. so i really appreciate it.

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