Rutgers Camden $ vs. Temple vs. Pitt $ vs. Penn State $$ Forum

[NothingRlyMattress]

Hey everyone! I just heard back from all my schools, and now it's time to decide.
Here's what I got:

Rutgers Camden - 10k/yr with 3.5 GPA stip
Temple - sticker (just heard back today, so I don't know if they gave me $ or not)
Pitt - 8k/yr
Penn State - 20k/yr

I'm OOS for every school, but I plan on establishing residency in 2L. I would like to practice law in the Mid-Atlantic area, but I do prefer Philly. Which law school should I choose? Also, does anybody know how easy it is to get in-state residency at Temple?

[Hank Chill]

Pick the cheapest option.

[Wholigan]

Cheapest option between Temple and Rutgers if you want Philly. Cheapest option among them all if you don't care. It is hard to get in-state residency at Temple, and easy to get in-state at Rutgers. Keep in mind too, that 3.5 stip is ~top 30% at Rutgers-Camden, so it's no gimme.

http://www.temple.edu/registrar/documen ... cation.pdf

Edited to include link to Temple residency guidelines.

[HeavenWood]

Cheapest option between Temple and Rutgers if you want Philly. Cheapest option among them all if you don't care. It is hard to get in-state residency at Temple, and easy to get in-state at Rutgers. Keep in mind too, that 3.5 stip is ~top 30% at Rutgers-Camden, so it's no gimme.

http://www.temple.edu/registrar/documen ... cation.pdf

Edited to include link to Temple residency guidelines.

Retake/reapply/establish residency in PA. Forget Pitt and Penn state if you want Philly.

[NothingRlyMattress]

Yea, I figured there's no slam dunk answer here. I'll probably end up in Philly; so it's either Rutgers or Temple. Thanks.

[inSouthAmerica]

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/mrpcv

i took rutgers. similar choices.

[NothingRlyMattress]

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/mrpcv

i took rutgers. similar choices.

Got into the same schools, had the same UG majors. Kinda scary actually haha. Any reason you chose Rutgers?

[inSouthAmerica]

im a jersey native, i was abroad with peace corps when i applied and the idea of coming home appealed to me, at newark the $$$line is 3.0, after a semester im chillin' with a 3.5 and very happy with rutgers. rutgers is what it is. theyre not trying to game the rankings, and theyre not trying to be something theyre not - its a state school with a focus on minority students and public interest, but its a very comfortable environment to be in. the students get along, and ive had a decidedly less cutthroat experience than friends at other schools. the price is right, and there are many many opportunities to practice law in new jersey. new jersey has 3 law schools, every 1L i know has found a job for the summer, many in the federal courts in newark. the top students here get "big law" and there are firms in new jersey that hold places open for rutgers students. civ pro sucks, thats where i am right now. go get a civ pro book and see if you really want to go to law school.

[showNprove]

For Philly, definitely Temple.

[jaydee2013]

I'm a 1L at Rutgers and have been happy so far. I completely agree with everything that inSouthAmerica said - he is referring to Newark, but those comments similarly apply to Camden. The only downside is that this does feel a bit like a commuter school - there isn't much of a residential or on-campus community feel as I wanted there to be. Camden is what it is, but this area of Camden isn't particularly dangerous and I've never felt unsafe walking around. You can see the Philly skyline from the law school - very easy to get to. Big emphasis on clerkships and public interest.

Approx the same amount of people at Newark who end up in NYC = the amount of people at Camden who end up in Philly. Clearly, more Temple students end up in Philly, but that's because they are looking there primarily. Similarly, most Rutgers students focus their search on NJ for various reasons, mostly because they are usually from NJ and didn't even consider Philly seriously. It's not like Rutgers students are clammoring to work in Philly are are being shut out; No -- if you are doing reasonably well here and focus on Philly, you won't have a lesser/greater chance than a similarly situated student at Temple. This is even more evidenced by the bar statistics -- less than 1/2 of Rutgers students even sit for the PA bar. If you are in top 1/3 of Rutgers, you should be able to snag SOME sort of internship and job in Philly with no problem (won't have a chance at big law unless top 10% or URM, but you won't be getting big law at Temple unless you are top 10% either).

Rutgers isn't considered substantially different than Temple or Villanova in the hiring process. Depends on the firm and who is interviewing you. Considering all UPenn students flee Philadelphia, you're pretty much on equal footing with the other similarly ranked schools in the area. The job market sucks all around, but you won't have better/worse prospects at Temple or Villanova than Rutgers.

Rutgers doesn't rank students, which is great. I strongly urge you to consider a school's class ranking policy in your ultimate decision. At Rutgers, honors cut-offs are the top 25% of the class (they don't explicitly state top 25% get honors, but that is the "unofficial" policy). This ended up being a 3.43 for Fall 2010, and was 3.3something last year. 3.5 GPA is probably top 15-20% of the class, on average, in a given year.

Note: You CAN establish NJ residency before 1L classes even start. Your paperwork needs to be in order by the end of June, which includes signing a one-year lease for by that time. Make sure you contact the admissions folks, though, in case something changed since last year. My out of state friends at Rutgers were able to do this for 1L year.

Not worth going to Temple if they don't give you any scholarship money, and especially since you wouldn't be able to establish residency. Amongst similarly ranked schools, cheapest option wins.

[HeavenWood]

I'm a 1L at Rutgers and have been happy so far. I completely agree with everything that inSouthAmerica said - he is referring to Newark, but those comments similarly apply to Camden. The only downside is that this does feel a bit like a commuter school - there isn't much of a residential or on-campus community feel as I wanted there to be. Camden is what it is, but this area of Camden isn't particularly dangerous and I've never felt unsafe walking around. You can see the Philly skyline from the law school - very easy to get to. Big emphasis on clerkships and public interest. Approx the same amount of people at Newark who end up in NYC = the amount of people at Camden who end up in Philly. Rutgers isn't considered substantially different than Temple or Villanova in the hiring process. Depends on the firm and who is interviewing you. Considering all UPenn students flee Philadelphia, you're pretty much on equal footing with the other similarly ranked schools in the area. The job market sucks all around, but you won't have better/worse prospects at Temple or Villanova than Rutgers.

Rutgers doesn't rank students, which is great. I strongly urge you to consider a school's class ranking policy in your ultimate decision. At Rutgers, honors cut-offs are the top 25% of the class (they don't explicitly state top 25% get honors, but that is the "unofficial" policy). This ended up being a 3.43 for Fall 2010, and was 3.3something last year. 3.5 GPA is probably top 15-20% of the class, on average, in a given year.

Note: You CAN establish NJ residency before 1L classes even start. Your paperwork needs to be in order by the end of June, which includes signing a one-year lease for by that time. Make sure you contact the admissions folks, though, in case something changed since last year. My out of state friends at Rutgers were able to do this for 1L year.

Not worth going to Temple if they don't give you any scholarship money, and especially since you wouldn't be able to establish residency. Amongst similarly ranked schools, cheapest option wins.

Since the OP is OOS for each school, establishing residency in PA is probably the best option.

[jaydee2013]

Since the OP is OOS for each school, establishing residency in PA is probably the best option.

Not if you can establish in-state residency in NJ for 1L year and thus save even more money than he would save at Temple to begin with (which will presumably be at sticker, and whose sticker is > than Rutgers).

[HeavenWood]

Since the OP is OOS for each school, establishing residency in PA is probably the best option.

Not if you can establish in-state residency in NJ for 1L year and thus save even more money than he would save at Temple to begin with (which will presumably be at sticker, and whose sticker is > than Rutgers).

I meant that the OP is better off waiting a year and retaking. Temple's in-state sticker is lower than Rutgers'. Also, that scholly he was awarded has a ridiculous stipulation.

[NothingRlyMattress]

Since the OP is OOS for each school, establishing residency in PA is probably the best option.

Not if you can establish in-state residency in NJ for 1L year and thus save even more money than he would save at Temple to begin with (which will presumably be at sticker, and whose sticker is > than Rutgers).

I meant that the OP is better off waiting a year and retaking. Temple's in-state sticker is lower than Rutgers'. Also, that scholly he was awarded has a ridiculous stipulation.

I really appreciate everyone's help. I think it's splitting hairs at this point. But if Rutgers is cheaper with easier in-state status, and even if I'll lose my scholarship, I think I'll go with that option. I don't plan on retaking.

Are there any Temple students ITT who can talk about their experience?

[HeavenWood]

I really appreciate everyone's help. I think it's splitting hairs at this point. But if Rutgers is cheaper with easier in-state status, and even if I'll lose my scholarship, I think I'll go with that option. I don't plan on retaking.

If you're dead-set on going to law school this year, then Rutgers is your best option. Try to get more scholly money/your scholly stipulations loosened, though. Play hard to get. Leverage that 20k from PSU.

[keg411]

FYI, if the new curve at Camden is approved, the scholarship stipulations will be adjusted (and most likely lowered). The new curve won't be substantially different from how our 1L classes went, but I think they want to make sure that profs are more even (I know the Contracts classes had pretty significant differences). I do agree that the stipulation is high, but in-state tuition here is pretty cheap to begin with (though admittedly not as cheap as Temple, but far easier to get). Most people I have spoken directly to grades about have all done well enough to keep their scholarships, but then again, I can count those people on one hand so it's a really small sample size.

I do think Rutgers is a better deal for people from the area. Like InSouthAmerica, I'm here because I'm from NJ and want to stay in NJ, and there is a good portion of the student body here that are the same way -- we didn't feel it was worth it to pay $$$$ to go out of state for law school just to come back and try to work in Jersey.

[NothingRlyMattress]

At this point, I think I'm going to go with Rutgers.

I called in today and they said all you need is a lease and a license by August to qualify for in-state tuition for this coming Fall. I think it's an extreme deal - 3 years of in-state tuition coming from out of state and having $10,000 paid for your first year.