American ($) vs. George Mason Forum

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American ($) vs. Mason

American
20
49%
George Mason
21
51%
 
Total votes: 41

lawlife2010

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American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by lawlife2010 » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:09 pm

American has offered me a small scholarship and as of now Mason has offered nothing.
I am leaning towards GMU because I like their law/economics program and get the idea that American is more for those interested in International law, but should I base it on that?
I would really appreciate anyone weighing in on this topic. I noticed that more firms come to American OCIs. As far as prestige in DC, what would you pick?
Please let me know what you feel I should consider while making this huge decision!

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holydonkey

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by holydonkey » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:16 pm

Something to keep in mind. American's full-time tuition is $42,614, George Mason's out-of-state full-time tuition is $34,220. So Mason is over $25,000 cheaper at sticker. If American offered less than 25k, GMU is still cheaper.

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eagles86

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by eagles86 » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:22 pm

George Mason is like the FOX News of law schools, without Bush and his cronies in the White House its not quite as good as some people on this site believe.

lawlife2010

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by lawlife2010 » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:04 pm

eagles86 wrote:George Mason is like the FOX News of law schools, without Bush and his cronies in the White House its not quite as good as some people on this site believe.
Yeah, hopefully that is not the case. It seems like a pretty good school.

digitalcntrl

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by digitalcntrl » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:16 am

lawlife2010 wrote:American has offered me a small scholarship and as of now Mason has offered nothing.
I am leaning towards GMU because I like their law/economics program and get the idea that American is more for those interested in International law, but should I base it on that?
I would really appreciate anyone weighing in on this topic. I noticed that more firms come to American OCIs. As far as prestige in DC, what would you pick?
Please let me know what you feel I should consider while making this huge decision!
GMU hands down. I went to American my first year PT before transferring upwards, the place is a diploma mill. As for the number of firms recall that American has double the number of students as GMU.

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truthypants

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by truthypants » Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:13 am

I can't speak for American, but Mason has an unconventional 1L curriculum. That is, you have to take an economics class and founder's constitution class (i.e., deals with federalist papers). In other words, if you weren't an econ major or poli-sci major, you are at a disadvantage going in, in terms of it you are gunning for top of the class. Mason has a lot of gunners, too. Also, a lot of people complain about the grading in the legal writing class at Mason (myself included) because it is graded by students and the grades are based on how well you do compared to a very small sample size rather than the class as a whole (the last project we did, the sample size was 4 total grades). I don't know how American's writing program is graded, so can't comment. I'd say go to whichever school you think you will be able to get the good grades at (i.e., if you were an econ major or have a ton of time to put into writing assignments, head to Mason).

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Rocketman11

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by Rocketman11 » Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:19 am

eagles86 wrote:[strike]George Mason is like the FOX News of law schools, without Bush and his cronies in the White House its not quite as good as some people on this site believe.[/strike]
Removed everything that is ignorant from this statement for the OP's benefit.

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BigFatPanda

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by BigFatPanda » Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:26 am

Rocketman11 wrote:
eagles86 wrote:[strike]George Mason is like the FOX News of law schools, without Bush and his cronies in the White House its not quite as good as some people on this site believe.[/strike]
Removed everything that is ignorant from this statement for the OP's benefit.
amen

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oberlin08

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by oberlin08 » Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:28 am

You mentioned OCIs so I assume you want to do biglaw or practice in a lawfirm? Then Choose American.

If youre going for Gov't however, I'd say GMU.

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digitalcntrl

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by digitalcntrl » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:31 pm

oberlin08 wrote:You mentioned OCIs so I assume you want to do biglaw or practice in a lawfirm? Then Choose American.

If youre going for Gov't however, I'd say GMU.
Why would you prefer American for BigLaw? The only reason to go to American is if you want to make contacts in the public interest market.
Last edited by digitalcntrl on Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

digitalcntrl

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by digitalcntrl » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:33 pm

Rocketman11 wrote:
eagles86 wrote:[strike]George Mason is like the FOX News of law schools, without Bush and his cronies in the White House its not quite as good as some people on this site believe.[/strike]
Removed everything that is ignorant from this statement for the OP's benefit.
A more logical question would be if Mason saw a dip in the numbers (relative to other schools, I realize there is a recession going on) of students going to govt.

digitalcntrl

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by digitalcntrl » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:44 pm

truthypants wrote:I can't speak for American, but Mason has an unconventional 1L curriculum. That is, you have to take an economics class and founder's constitution class (i.e., deals with federalist papers). In other words, if you weren't an econ major or poli-sci major, you are at a disadvantage going in, in terms of it you are gunning for top of the class. Mason has a lot of gunners, too. Also, a lot of people complain about the grading in the legal writing class at Mason (myself included) because it is graded by students and the grades are based on how well you do compared to a very small sample size rather than the class as a whole (the last project we did, the sample size was 4 total grades). I don't know how American's writing program is graded, so can't comment. I'd say go to whichever school you think you will be able to get the good grades at (i.e., if you were an econ major or have a ton of time to put into writing assignments, head to Mason).
A few comments on your comparison with American:

1. American has a conventional 1L course structure.

2. Every school has a lot of gunners.

3. Every schools legal writing course is a bitch time wise. This is well known and understood. American (and I am assuming many other schools) also splits you up and grades you in small groups of 8-10 (our appellate brief was done in groups of 2 with a total of 4 groups) since it is impossible to compare the score given by one adjunct to another and it impossible for one professor to grade all 95 briefs with a reasonable amount of time.

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truthypants

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by truthypants » Thu Mar 25, 2010 1:26 pm

digitalcntrl wrote:
oberlin08 wrote:You mentioned OCIs so I assume you want to do biglaw or practice in a lawfirm? Then Choose American.

If youre going for Gov't however, I'd say GMU.
Why would you prefer American for BigLaw? The only reason to go to American is if you want to make contacts in the public interest market.
Interesting. How do you define "public interest"? Are you talking cushy federal govt. jobs (i.e., maybe DOJ or something like the SEC)? Or are you talking like a crappy public defender gig for some state govt.? My impression from Mason is that they are more focused on govt. gigs (i.e. federal govt.). They have a federal govt. career fair at Mason (I think January or early Feb?) and a lot of the students (at least night section) work for the feds in some capacity. Is American focused on federal govt. work like that?

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digitalcntrl

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by digitalcntrl » Sun Mar 28, 2010 12:34 am

truthypants wrote:
digitalcntrl wrote:
oberlin08 wrote:You mentioned OCIs so I assume you want to do biglaw or practice in a lawfirm? Then Choose American.

If youre going for Gov't however, I'd say GMU.
Why would you prefer American for BigLaw? The only reason to go to American is if you want to make contacts in the public interest market.
Interesting. How do you define "public interest"? Are you talking cushy federal govt. jobs (i.e., maybe DOJ or something like the SEC)? Or are you talking like a crappy public defender gig for some state govt.? My impression from Mason is that they are more focused on govt. gigs (i.e. federal govt.). They have a federal govt. career fair at Mason (I think January or early Feb?) and a lot of the students (at least night section) work for the feds in some capacity. Is American focused on federal govt. work like that?
Public interest at American is more like doing human rights law or working for the poor, you know all that give back to humanity stuff. I guess the public defender's office could qualify but American does not focus on the govt per se. Many students at American have a very different mentality toward getting an great job than you or I. No wonder I transferred out of there.

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daagermy1

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Re: American ($) vs. George Mason

Post by daagermy1 » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:52 pm

Lawlife - I'm in the exact same predicament! Looking at the PT programs though.

Visited the ASE a few weeks back and very much got the public interest vibe from AU. Also AU tends to be a bit more liberal of a school, both undergrad and grad. Obviously bot Mason and AU have students from different ends of the spectrum, but, if it matters, AU is more left leaning and Mason more right.

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