Rutgers N v. Seton Hall v. Cardozo Forum

[japenanunez]

Before anyone goes off about how I am crazy for going to law school or that these schools are toilets or diploma mills here is my situation;

I am a Marine Corps Veteran, who still has his full GI Bill benefits to use towards law school and given that all three schools either participate in the Yellow ribbon program or are a state school, my debt and the end of three years will be $0.

Also, I have very little interest in Big Law, I won't rule it out, but at this point I have my hopes set on a public interest career in NYC.

I live in Jersey and the commutes for each school will be; Rutgers N & Seton Hall: 30 Minutes / Cardozo: 45 Minutes

My GI Bill will give me a monthly allowance of $2200 per month if I go to Rutgers N or Seton Hall and $3200 if I go to Cardozo. a Difference of $36,000.00 at the end of 3 years, if I choose Cardozo.

Here are the facts surrounding each school;

Rutgers N; accepted me into their JD/MBA program, I applied to the business to give myself some versatility given that the law school is not the most prestigious in the NYC market. I was also accepted into their Minority Student Program, which I think is pretty awesome. When I visited the School it felt like a good fit and the I liked the fact that the people there seemed down to earth. The building was nice as well. I made my seat deposits for both the Law school and Business School, which totals to about $900 and that I will have to get partial refunds for. I was pretty much set on going to Rutgers until I heard from Cardozo, just in case anybody was wondering.

Seton Hall; accepted with no special offers or programs. Visited their campus for their ASD and the general atmosphere was elitist and Douchey. Everyone seemed to be rich and pretentious, even got a couple of surprised looks when I mentioned I was a veteran. Didn't seem like the place an Hispanic would feel comfortable at. The whole time I felt like throat punching the next person surprised by the fact they were meeting an Hispanic who served in the Marine Corps. However, the building and library were very nice and the clinics seemed good. Also, they threw around a lot of $$$ giving the impression they were very well funded.

Cardozo; accepted me a couple of days ago after about three months of waiting on a reply, which really pissed me off. But, whatever, I was accepted. I visited the school in February during a diversity program they had for prospective students. I loved the mock class I participated in with Professor Yankah and the constitutional law class with Professor Adams. They both seemed brilliant and did a very good job of making very dull subjects seem interesting. The building and library were the least favorite of all three schools, but the location in NYC is exquisite. The student body seemed close and not as cut throat as I had heard it was, but then again maybe they were on their best behavior for the 0L's. The clinics from Cardozo seem incredible I mean they started the Innocence Project for gods sake. The fact that it is Jewish does not seem to be a major issue there, and even the students I talked said is was not an issue. Overall experience there was very good, except for the fact that the student body seemed very young, I think the average age is 24. I will be 30 when I start law school so I don't know how accepting Cardozo students will be of a 30 year old Marine Corps Vet who is ultra competitive.

Needless to say I am having a hard time choosing. So if any one has some insights on any of the schools, or on my situation in general please feel free to chime in. Thanks.

[TheNextAmendment]

First, thanks for serving our country! Second, realize that each of these schools will toe you down to that particular region. With that said- I'd take cardozo. It's in nyc, respected, and will apparently give you more free $. If you're going to end up at a tt school then pick one in a booming region. However, keep in mind cardozos facilities suck...1 building. Anyways, they're all peers. Good luck wherever u go marine!

[romothesavior]

I'm going to lock this thread and go ahead and move your other thread into the Choosing a Law School Forum.