Tell me why I shouldn't

[Aqualibrium]

Aren't pd positions in the Burroughs very competitive?

[Heartford]

Whoops!

[lola_wants]

In general, posters are probably right about CUNY, but seriously, in the NY-area public interest community, it has a pretty freaking amazing reputation--I had no idea it was a TTT just from talking to lawyers around here. OP, if you're positive that you want to do public interest (specifically criminal defense), CUNY is actually a better investment than just about any other school outside the T25 or so. I'm not totally sure why that is (I guess just a niche that the school carved out for itself?), but there's a really stellar network of graduates doing legal services and indigent defense work in the tri-state area.

I should note that I don't know anyone who's gone to CUNY, but I've done a lot of interviewing for public-interest jobs in the NYC area and talked to a ton of public-interest lawyers, and CUNY is way overrepresented.

[HeavenWood]

If this isn't a flame, I weep for you.

[RodneyBoonfield]

Agree with everyone that says don't do it. You want to do public interest now but that could change, and if you transfer down you would be limiting yourself.

Also, I would advise against having your g/f support you. Women are often attracted to power/prestige/things of that nature. If she pays for your day to day life or helps you repay loans, she may look down on you for it.

[boilerplated]

I'm not certain but it feels like this thread is full of 0Ls who are placing way too much emphasis upon rank. News flash: the difference between a "regional T1" (ie not T30) and a 3rd, or even 4th tier school is not that great. Median and below at T31-T50 are likely just as jobpwned as TTT and TTTT grads. In fact, hiring for anyone outside of the top 20% of the class is looking pretty grim at any t1.

This is where I'm really coming from. I'm well aware that my job prospects coming out of CUNY won't be stellar, but I'm equally well aware that my job prospects here are terrible as well. If I stay at my T1, the most likely scenario I see is breaking up with my girlfriend and working a call center job after graduation while I live with my parents and mass-mail my resume by night. At CUNY, I'll at least get to restore my relationship and life I had before law school, and save about $40K. I can network, volunteer and just maybe pull some kind of low-paying PI job. Might I end up bussing tables at the Elmhurst Applebee's? Yep. But at least I'll have done what's best for my personal life and won't have much debt hanging over my head.

I understand the criticism here, because I thought in the same frame just more than a year ago. That's why I only applied to T1 schools. But I also think there's some ignorance here about how people actually get most jobs (it's not OCI) and what exactly CUNY is. If some of the posters here did a little research into CUNY, or even just read the TLS profile (http://goo.gl/2MYXM), it might be a little more clear why I will go there but wouldn't touch Brooklyn/Cardozo/St. John's. Yes, it's a fourth-tier school, and the academic and social environment will almost certainly be less stimulating than where I'm at. But it does seem to have an in with the local PI community, which I'm convinced matters more than some arbitrary magazine ranking.

If this isn't a flame, I weep for you.

Fine. But if you pity me, pity me because I made a stupid decision to attend an overvalued school at a high price for the wrong reasons without doing my research. That's on me, and you can pity a lot of the other posters here for the same reason. Don't disparage me because I'm trying to make a bad decision a little less terrible.

[RodneyBoonfield]

It sounds like you made your decision. You are the only person who knows what is best for you so good luck!