Top Schools for working in PA or Atlanta Forum

[bmathers]

Outside of the T30, what 10 schools would stand the best chance of landing you in eastern/central PA or Atlanta? Currently at 3.3 (GPA addendum) and a 158, but retook in September.

What I am thinking:

PA: Villanova, Temple, PSU (both), Drexel, Rutgers (both), Seton Hall. - probably go to the cheaper of Temple/Villanova

Atlanta: Georgia State, Wake, big reach at Emory - realistically, probably only looking at GSU

Does anyone have any other schools to consider? Thanks

[joeyc328]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

[bmathers]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

[joeyc328]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

[bmathers]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

I'm not going anywhere for more than $50k debt

[bmathers]

I can chip in at least $15-20k/year for COL, and Nova ships are plentiful. Temple is 23k sticker, we'll see about ships

[ronanOgara]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

Lol at this clown.

It really depends at what you want to do OP. I'd try to go to Nova, Temple, Drexel, PSU for free. It's not that hard to get a full ride at any of those schools. Penn is obviously TCR but if you don't want to do big law, don't want to work out of state, and don't have a lot of UG debt--going to Penn is unnecessary. There's obviously the risk that you end up without a job at graduation but you can do well from all of those schools.

[bmathers]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

Lol at this clown.

It really depends at what you want to do OP. I'd try to go to Nova, Temple, Drexel, PSU for free. It's not that hard to get a full ride at any of those schools. Penn is obviously TCR but if you don't want to do big law, don't want to work out of state, and don't have a lot of UG debt--going to Penn is unnecessary. There's obviously the risk that you end up without a job at graduation but you can do well from all of those schools.

Thank you - I'm currently debt-free, so I have room for some LS debt. I'm a little weary about PSU Law, just based on how new it is (no alumni base), and the horrible location for internships.

Would you put Drexel on the same page as Nova? Would you say Drexel for free is better than Nova for 5-10k/yr?

Also, I am not opposed to moving OOS. I am from PA, have lots of immediate family in ATL, and currently live in New England, so I would be happy living anywhere south of New England on the east coast.

[AtlantaDawg]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

Lol at this clown.

It really depends at what you want to do OP. I'd try to go to Nova, Temple, Drexel, PSU for free. It's not that hard to get a full ride at any of those schools. Penn is obviously TCR but if you don't want to do big law, don't want to work out of state, and don't have a lot of UG debt--going to Penn is unnecessary. There's obviously the risk that you end up without a job at graduation but you can do well from all of those schools.

Thank you - I'm currently debt-free, so I have room for some LS debt. I'm a little weary about PSU Law, just based on how new it is (no alumni base), and the horrible location for internships.

Would you put Drexel on the same page as Nova? Would you say Drexel for free is better than Nova for 5-10k/yr?

Also, I am not opposed to moving OOS. I am from PA, have lots of immediate family in ATL, and currently live in New England, so I would be happy living anywhere south of New England on the east coast.

UGA

[ronanOgara]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

Lol at this clown.

It really depends at what you want to do OP. I'd try to go to Nova, Temple, Drexel, PSU for free. It's not that hard to get a full ride at any of those schools. Penn is obviously TCR but if you don't want to do big law, don't want to work out of state, and don't have a lot of UG debt--going to Penn is unnecessary. There's obviously the risk that you end up without a job at graduation but you can do well from all of those schools.

Thank you - I'm currently debt-free, so I have room for some LS debt. I'm a little weary about PSU Law, just based on how new it is (no alumni base), and the horrible location for internships.

Would you put Drexel on the same page as Nova? Would you say Drexel for free is better than Nova for 5-10k/yr?

Also, I am not opposed to moving OOS. I am from PA, have lots of immediate family in ATL, and currently live in New England, so I would be happy living anywhere south of New England on the east coast.

Yeah I wouldn't go to the UP campus. If I were to go to PSU I'd go to Dickinson in Carlisle.

Villanova overall is better than Drexel--it has the name recognition and a much larger alumni base. With that being said, I chose Drexel over nova and all of the other PA schools and I'm quite happy with my decision. It was free, I was able to do a co-op for a whole year and rack up some pretty good experience. I think Drexel hits above its weight in the criminal law realm--but if you weren't too sure on what you wanted to do, I'd probably lean Nova.

[pancakes3]

Do you have a cite for:

A 160 and a 3.4 should get you a full ride at Villanova (based on past performance... they gave out 132 full rides last year) - something to consider

?

[bmathers]

Do you have a cite for:

A 160 and a 3.4 should get you a full ride at Villanova (based on past performance... they gave out 132 full rides last year) - something to consider

?

It's on their 2015 aba disclosure. Abarequireddisclosures.org

[bmathers]

Penn and Emory are your only 2 options. Do not go to law school until your LSAT is high enough to get into 1 of those 2 schools.

I respectfully disagree. I have 0 big law aspirations, but thank you

Your call if you want to risk getting a job with 200k in debt on a coin flip.

Lol at this clown.

It really depends at what you want to do OP. I'd try to go to Nova, Temple, Drexel, PSU for free. It's not that hard to get a full ride at any of those schools. Penn is obviously TCR but if you don't want to do big law, don't want to work out of state, and don't have a lot of UG debt--going to Penn is unnecessary. There's obviously the risk that you end up without a job at graduation but you can do well from all of those schools.

Thank you - I'm currently debt-free, so I have room for some LS debt. I'm a little weary about PSU Law, just based on how new it is (no alumni base), and the horrible location for internships.

Would you put Drexel on the same page as Nova? Would you say Drexel for free is better than Nova for 5-10k/yr?

Also, I am not opposed to moving OOS. I am from PA, have lots of immediate family in ATL, and currently live in New England, so I would be happy living anywhere south of New England on the east coast.

Yeah I wouldn't go to the UP campus. If I were to go to PSU I'd go to Dickinson in Carlisle.

Villanova overall is better than Drexel--it has the name recognition and a much larger alumni base. With that being said, I chose Drexel over nova and all of the other PA schools and I'm quite happy with my decision. It was free, I was able to do a co-op for a whole year and rack up some pretty good experience. I think Drexel hits above its weight in the criminal law realm--but if you weren't too sure on what you wanted to do, I'd probably lean Nova.

Doesn't Drexel do the conditional scholarship game? How lenient are their stips?

[ronanOgara]

Yes most of their offers do. Most schools have the stips--I believe Temple and Nova had stips as well. But many students successfully negotiate the stips off of their scholarship. It's a really simple process.

[gregfootball2001]

If you want to work in ATL, UGA can't be beat.

[pancakes3]

Do you have a cite for:

A 160 and a 3.4 should get you a full ride at Villanova (based on past performance... they gave out 132 full rides last year) - something to consider

?

It's on their 2015 aba disclosure. Abarequireddisclosures.org

"They gave out 132 full rides last year" is disingenuously phrased.

[guynourmin]

Do you have a cite for:

A 160 and a 3.4 should get you a full ride at Villanova (based on past performance... they gave out 132 full rides last year) - something to consider

?

It's on their 2015 aba disclosure. Abarequireddisclosures.org

"They gave out 132 full rides last year" is disingenuously phrased.

It's not disingenuously phrased, its just wrong. Last year there were 132 students will full rides (and 5 with more than), but that is all three classes - so those were given out over 3 years. In fact, its likely they gave out more than 132 full rides last year, but plenty of those offers were not accepted (I say likely because I think it is). We have no idea how many full rides they offered last year; that is not information the ABA asks for (scholarship offers extended but not accepted).

[guynourmin]

I think you're probably right about the PA options - Nova and Temple seem your best bet outside of the t14 without any monetary considerations, and with they'd probably be close to the cheapest anyway. Not sure how far their reach extends into central PA, though. I can't imagine a reason to risk Penn State over either (hypo: certainly not worth it just to save $20-30k). No way is Seton Hall going to be cheaper than either or have stronger placement in PA. I'm not even sure what kind of scholarship negotiation leverage the other schools would have honestly (Dear Temple, SH offered me 20k less than you did and costs 20k more, I really want to stay in PA and you're a better school - can you increase my offer?)

[bmathers]

I think you're probably right about the PA options - Nova and Temple seem your best bet outside of the t14 without any monetary considerations, and with they'd probably be close to the cheapest anyway. Not sure how far their reach extends into central PA, though. I can't imagine a reason to risk Penn State over either (hypo: certainly not worth it just to save $20-30k). No way is Seton Hall going to be cheaper than either or have stronger placement in PA. I'm not even sure what kind of scholarship negotiation leverage the other schools would have honestly (Dear Temple, SH offered me 20k less than you did and costs 20k more, I really want to stay in PA and you're a better school - can you increase my offer?)

I was offered about 80% by Nova last cycle, so hopefully my better polished app early this cycle can get me atleast that.

The only reason I have SH on there is bc their LST report employment % is remarkably high for their numbers. (around 78% for a 156 median LSAT LS).

As for their reach into central PA... you are only competing with PSU/Dickinson and Widener (PA). I can't imagine that Nova/Temple doesn't extend their reach into that area.

[LandMermaid]

UGA should be over GA state for atlanta

[bmathers]

UGA should be over GA state for atlanta

Agreed - and if I am including Emory I guess I should have included UGA. However, with my current LSAT of 158 that is out of reach. I haven't PT'd below 160 since around Feb/March, but my gut feeling is that my September retake actually went down. It was my 3rd and final take (I wasted my first take on little prep, less than a month of studying around FT work, but I wanted to go to LS Fall 16). I've put it off one cycle for my LSAT and this year is dragging on - sitting out another 2 cycles to retake a 4th time is out of the question (side note: I am 29, not a recent grad).

[Clearly]

So I know you don't want to do biglaw...but what do you want to do?

[LandMermaid]

UGA should be over GA state for atlanta

Agreed - and if I am including Emory I guess I should have included UGA. However, with my current LSAT of 158 that is out of reach. I haven't PT'd below 160 since around Feb/March, but my gut feeling is that my September retake actually went down. It was my 3rd and final take (I wasted my first take on little prep, less than a month of studying around FT work, but I wanted to go to LS Fall 16). I've put it off one cycle for my LSAT and this year is dragging on - sitting out another 2 cycles to retake a 4th time is out of the question (side note: I am 29, not a recent grad).

Gotcha. I still definitely think you should include it and just see how it goes, especially if you're gonna shoot an app at Emory!

[Nachoo2019]

If you are public service oriented and want a full ride there will be no better place than Dickinson. They give out full rides like it's candy(I got one with a 3.2/158), they do a damn good job with public service, and the alumni network is extremely involved in helping us out.

[bmathers]

UGA should be over GA state for atlanta

Agreed - and if I am including Emory I guess I should have included UGA. However, with my current LSAT of 158 that is out of reach. I haven't PT'd below 160 since around Feb/March, but my gut feeling is that my September retake actually went down. It was my 3rd and final take (I wasted my first take on little prep, less than a month of studying around FT work, but I wanted to go to LS Fall 16). I've put it off one cycle for my LSAT and this year is dragging on - sitting out another 2 cycles to retake a 4th time is out of the question (side note: I am 29, not a recent grad).

Gotcha. I still definitely think you should include it and just see how it goes, especially if you're gonna shoot an app at Emory!

Good point. I was WL'd at Emory last cycle with a much less polished app (and possibly score... also very late). I have a sibling who is in fellowship at their hospital, so it is more of a pipe-dream, hoping that that helps me out and then I could also just live with my sibling.