Top Law Schools

I will be attending law school in the fall, and I will likely either be attending Syracuse or Hofstra Law.

Financials and ranking are both crucial factors. Both schools are similarly ranked, and the COA is approximately the same. I do want an initial law job in long island or the tri-state area (near Hofstra), and career aspirations involve real-estate and business law in Long Island / NY before moving onto Floriad.

Syracuse has offered $20,000 in scholarship with a 2.8 GPA stipulation.

Hofstra has offered $10,000 in scholarship (top 40% for full retention and top 50% for half), and $10,000 in annual grants.

Given both schools are the same price, which school is better? Which one will lead to more career opportunites, and which has a better education and reputation? Is Hofstra better since I would like to start in the long island market? Is Syracuse better because it is more of a national school?

Also, is there any way to properly approach scholarship or grant negotation or stipulation negotiation?

Thank you so much.

FWIW I knew a lawyer in Orlando who had the desired career path you have...Long Island Mid Law-Orlando Mid Law...she went to hofstra

Check out Law School Transparency and the employment numbers of both. Neither are good.

From Hofstra: At least 20% of those employed are working part time 9 months after graduation. Only about 70% are working FT. This is not to say those working full time are even lawyers. 22% of those employed are in "business and industry." Since most businesses don't hire new grads, this usually encompasses stuff like retail or jobs you can just get with your undergrad degree. 9.7% are in academia; since law professor hiring is usually done from top schools, academia usually means you couldn't get a job and went to pile on another degree. Of half of the class that works at firms, half of those work at firms of 2-10. This is not usually a good outcome, for a lot of reasons (none of those firms pay what you would need to service big debt), but also because it encompasses recent grads who band together with other recent grads and just set up shop (which is a shitty idea, since law school doesn't teach you how to practice). 20 grads out of 352(!) got jobs in large law firms (100+), which are basically the only employers that pay enough to service the debt you will take out. Also note that Hofstra doesn't say how many people got jobs that required bar passage. This is a bad sign. http://law.hofstra.edu/academics/career ... index.html

Syracuse provides pathetic data, but what we do know is that only 81% were employed 9 months after graduation. This does not mean that 81% got jobs as lawyers, and it does not mean that all the jobs were full time. The 31% in business should also raise some red flags. Also, Syracuse failed to make the latest NLJ 250 list (decent approximation for big law); chances at large firms are almost nil. --LinkRemoved--

So due unbelievably shitty employment outcomes, retake or don't go, or at least only take out like $50k debt, so if get screwed, at least you won't be totally lifefucked.

Thanks so much for the information. Does anyone have any more personal insight or opinions regarding one or both of these universities?

Thanks again.

Ask for more scholarship money or retake & reapply.

Any more info? Very confused with the equal COA now. Thanks so much.