NYLS $ vs. Suffolk vs. NESL $$

[FuManChusco]

You are an idiot. I never told him to go to NYLS. You are a freaking 0L! What do you know about anything? How old are you? How many people can just pick up their lives and move to freaking MONTANA? Maybe a 22 year old 0L like yourself with no real world life experience.

Dante, I have more real world life experience than your fucking granddaddy. Don't trip. I am not telling him to go to Montana. I said pick a fucking TTT in an isolated region that he wouldn't mind living in. I don't care if you want to stay in NYC for the rest of your life, you never ever should go to NYLS. OP, should retake first, if he is stubborn pick a TTT in an isolated region.

that's still not good advice. you'd probably look like a carpetbagger to local firms.

[tram988]

None!

[zanda]

people have been surprisingly pleasant in this thread and it's already reached the 2nd page. anyway, as far as the substance of the thread, in these types of threads I generally try to pick one option that is the least awful. It's tough to do that here. Penn State at sticker (if you get off the WL) is probably a less terrible option than the other 3 (the only one that might be better is NESL with its money but I don't know enough about the school), but conventional TLS wisdom is to pay sticker at no more than the T14 (with many saying only T6, only T3, or even only Yale). Really though, retaking or finding a different career are better choices.

[kwais]

Someone should post that link to the article about the Dean of NYLS and what a fraud he is. I was too lazy to search. I would imagine it would talk anyone out of that school.

[patrickd139]

Someone should post that link to the article about the Dean of NYLS and what a fraud he is. I was too lazy to search. I would imagine it would talk anyone out of that school.

One would think six-figure debt would do the same. However...

[reasonable_man]

Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. I'm here.

Op, each of these schools is fucking awful in its own special way. NYLS yields graduates with no jobs, no hope of employment and its one of the most expensive schools in the nation. Moreover, the dean of this school sits (or sat until recently, I'm really not sure which), on the board of Access Group, one of the leading predatory-lenders to law students (conflict much?). The school has a terrible reputation in New York. You WILL, if you are lucky enough to find a job, be earning 45k doing plaintiff's personal injury work out of a shit-hole office in the Bronx if you attend this festering pile of dung. This is not an opinion. It’s a fucking fact.

NESL, or as I like to think of it, New England School of flaw, is about the only school that makes me feel better about the rat-trap TTT I matriculated from. Students at this disaster-mill can only point to the graduates of Touro in New York for comfort as those poor souls might be slightly more fucked than they are. The school is in a disgusting location. Job prospects are non-existent (you won't even get the shit-ass personal injury job mentioned above). This school has one of the worst reputations (even among shit-law specialists), assuming they have even heard of it. The 20k scholly will be cold comfort when you're 90k in debt looking on in sadness at the graduate of Hamburger College who just received a promotion to assistant fry manager at your local McDonalds and is certain to out earn you for the next decade or more.

And lastly we arrive at Suffolk. Also one of the most expensive dumps in the country. This fine shit-mess of a school is a true pile of dung encased in a faux-outer shell of diamonds. The school is in a lovely location and the building is first class. Too bad your chances of ever being able to fly coach again after attending this pile of dung-"school" are slim to none. The school has a shit reputation and you will be competing with graduates of real schools for jobs. In this economy, you will lose. badly. You may (much like NYLS), have a shot at a 45k per year personal injury job in Brockton Mass, but frankly, the chances of that happening are slim to none.

The one common theme connecting all of these “schools” is that you will never and I mean NEVER be a corporate attorney of any measure having attended one of these rat-traps. The closest you might come is doing some doc review on a transaction in a basement of biglaw for half the rate that was paid in 2005 (assuming the doc-review isn’t shipped off to India instead).

So in closing, if the "folks" are paying for this mistake, then go for it. Unemployed with a JD and no debt is cool. But if they aren't bankrolling this massive mistake, then tell them to fuck off.

[HWS08]

Also, retake. None of the options you have are worth the price you'll be paying.

I want to start this Fall and I wouldn't know what else to do for the rest of the year if I re-take the LSAT. I want to start this year and the folks are pushy about going to law school this year.

That's a terrible idea. You're going to throw money into a bad school because you don't know what to do for the year in between UG and LS? This is a decision that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Just do AmeriCorps or some other program like that for a year if you really have no idea what to do. Work for a political campaign. Intern on the Hill/in a state leg office. Get a job as a legal assistant.

I applied to schools last year and the best schools I got into were American/George Mason/SMU. I didn't go, retook the LSAT, raised my score by 5 points and have now been accepted to a Top 30 school I was rejected by last time around. Totally worth the wait, esp. because I continued working, got a promotion at my current job, and will have saved enough money to cover about 1.3 years of living expenses by the time school starts.

If you're going to be in New Englad and not go to Harvard/BC/BU I'd at least go to Northeastern so you can do the co-op and get some good experience.