New York Law School (NYLS) 1L Forum

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nylawyer488

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by nylawyer488 » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:06 pm

see i was tempted to go to school at hofstra or seton hall where i got in but they gave no money. so idk if thats worth it without the financial incentive

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Coolgrnmen » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:12 pm

nylawyer488 wrote:yeah i got into hofstra already but no $$$$, so pace is more desirable as theyve offered me a lot ($20 k +)
Something else to consider is the GPA requirements to keep scholarships and the grading curve at the school.
Example, some schools require a min. 3.25 to keep scholly. And some of those schools also grade on a B- scale (where the median is a 2.67). NYLS has horrible GPA cut-offs but is grading somewhere between a B and B+ scale...
Lots of people lose their NYLS scholly. I never had one to lose...

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Helmholtz

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Helmholtz » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:15 pm

nylawyer488 wrote:helmholtz i cant argue with you, you seem to really be in touch. so lemme make the question more direct:

pace (w $$$), ny law, albany, or hofstra?
If I had to choose, I would take the money at Pace. The chance of going to any of the schools and making market salary in the private sector / substantive gov't or public interest work is very slim. If you can't make it into on the top schools, I think your biggest priority is to keep cost down.

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by nylawyer488 » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:16 pm

thanks, that was my plan to keep costs down and try to make the most of what ive been granted

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MrPapagiorgio

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by MrPapagiorgio » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:18 pm

Helmholtz wrote:If you can't make it into on the top schools, I think your biggest priority is to keep cost down.
If everyone on TLS would head this advice, the number of "where should I go" threads would be dramatically reduced.

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joemoviebuff

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by joemoviebuff » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:16 am

nylawyer488 wrote:thanks, that was my plan to keep costs down and try to make the most of what ive been granted
If somebody held a gun to my head and said I had to choose one of those options you said, I'd choose Pace with the cash. But, and I hate saying this, is there anyway you can retake the LSAT? We have the same GPA, and I took the LSAT twice, landing a 157 the first time and a 170 the second. That second one has made all the difference in the world.

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observationalist

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by observationalist » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:34 am

Some interesting comments from NYLS's Dean on whether or not the law school has a duty to disclose job prospects to applicants (from here: http://chronicle.com/article/As-They-Po ... aw/126536/ . I strongly recommend anyone considering NYLS or the others in the region contact career services and request to see full employer lists for the most recent class. They just submitted surveys to NALP for the Class of 2010, so the information should be right at their fingertips. If NYLS really isn't in the business of lying to people, they should be happy to share the real information with you.

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Mr. Matasar took issue with the latter charge. "There's a common myth that law schools are engaged in the business of lying to people to get them to come to law school," he said. If it were "some giant conspiracy" by law deans, "that would suggest we're all a bunch of immoral, unethical, and terrible people, and we're not."

Law students know what they're getting into when they sign promissory notes for their student loans, and they have no doubt read the many blistering critiques questioning the value of a law degree, he said.

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observationalist

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by observationalist » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:59 am

Another good writeup on Matasar's comments, which ATL linked to this week: http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/blo ... y_id=12815

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lawfreak

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by lawfreak » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:18 pm

Where do you guys think I should go assuming someone is holding a gun to my head romo.

Cardozo at sticker, Hofstra with 25k a year and top 40% stip, NYLS with 15k so far and being considered for the Greenberrg scholarship which I'd assume to be full ride, Rutgers-Newark which has cheap tuition even out-state (30k a year)?

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zanda

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by zanda » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:27 pm

lawfreak wrote:Where do you guys think I should go assuming someone is holding a gun to my head romo.

Cardozo at sticker, Hofstra with 25k a year and top 40% stip, NYLS with 15k so far and being considered for the Greenberrg scholarship which I'd assume to be full ride, Rutgers-Newark which has cheap tuition even out-state (30k a year)?
It's hard to answer a gun to the head question because even if we assume that retaking or not going are not options, I'd still recommend to consider a non-top school in a less-congested market. Since we're assuming that the person only has these options and must go to a NYC school, I guess I'd do Cardozo at sticker. I don't think Hofstra and Rutgers are cheap enough to make up for the job opportunity difference and I can't in good conscience recommend NYLS to anybody, even if with a full ride (subject to being taken away after a year, mind you, but we can even ignore that part), unless that person has such great contacts that he is guaranteed a job after law school.

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romothesavior

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by romothesavior » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:31 pm

lawfreak wrote:Where do you guys think I should go assuming someone is holding a gun to my head romo.

Cardozo at sticker, Hofstra with 25k a year and top 40% stip, NYLS with 15k so far and being considered for the Greenberrg scholarship which I'd assume to be full ride, Rutgers-Newark which has cheap tuition even out-state (30k a year)?
Honestly, I am a bad person to ask because I would never, ever, ever spend that kind of money to go to any of these schools. I guess I'd just say to go to whichever is cheapest, or maybe go to Dozo and drop out after a semester if you're not in the top of the class. Dozo isn't terrible, its just crazy expensive and trying to pay off $220,000 in loans on a $50,000 salary in NYC (or worse, contract doc review work for $15 an hour) would be awful.

Also, you need to realize no one has a gun to your head. You can take time off, re-take the LSAT, or not go at all. These are ALWAYS options, and law school will always be there if you want it to be. People never seem to get this, and I wish someone had gotten it through to me two years ago when I was all gung-ho on law school. I went straight into law school after undergrad, and I wish I hadn't.

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lawfreak

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by lawfreak » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:49 pm

First of all I cannot retake because I already maxed out and I just suck at standerized tests. Additionally, I live by my parents in NY so debt by Cardozo would not be 220k rather more like 140k.

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zanda

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by zanda » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:59 pm

In light of the bimodal distribution of legal salaries the type of job required to pay off $140k is not so different than the type of job required to pay off $220k.

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lawfreak

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by lawfreak » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:20 pm

Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Coolgrnmen » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:29 pm

lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.

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lawfreak

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by lawfreak » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:39 pm

Coolgrnmen wrote:
lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.
By full ride I mean full scholarship or close to it, so expensive shouldn't be part of the equation. Thanks

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Coolgrnmen » Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:48 pm

lawfreak wrote:
Coolgrnmen wrote:
lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.
By full ride I mean full scholarship or close to it, so expensive shouldn't be part of the equation. Thanks
Read that wrong - read it as full price, not full ride.

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JusticeHarlan

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by JusticeHarlan » Mon Mar 07, 2011 10:47 pm

Coolgrnmen wrote:
lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.
You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Coolgrnmen » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:10 pm

JusticeHarlan wrote:
Coolgrnmen wrote:
lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.
You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?
I'm advising law freak in particular....and our biglaw placement isn't in the single digits! That's insulting!
Fact is NYLS places more biglaw than most, if not all T3...but if you can get into a higher ranked school in NYC - do it.
I'm not saying NYLS over every other option...he just asked if it was worth it.

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JusticeHarlan

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by JusticeHarlan » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:17 pm

Coolgrnmen wrote:
JusticeHarlan wrote:
Coolgrnmen wrote:
lawfreak wrote:Is this place worth attending at full ride or close to it?
It's expensive...but if it is the best you can do, it is one of very few T3 T4 schools that will possibly get you into BigLaw.
I'm not saying the chances are good of that, but it is possible.
You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?
I'm advising law freak in particular....and our biglaw placement isn't in the single digits! That's insulting!
Fact is NYLS places more biglaw than most, if not all T3...but if you can get into a higher ranked school in NYC - do it.
I'm not saying NYLS over every other option...he just asked if it was worth it.
Can you show some data for that? Latest NLJ 250 placement showed Washington and Lee was ranked #50 with 10.57% placing in NLJ 250 jobs, so NYLS would have to be less than 10.57%. You got something that shows NYLS above single digits?

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by romothesavior » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:20 pm

Coolgrnmen wrote:I'm advising law freak in particular....and our biglaw placement isn't in the single digits! That's insulting!
The truth hurts.

Not only is it single digits, but I'd guess that it's low to mid single digits. Like Harlan just said, NYLS isn't in the top 50, and 50 stops at 10.5%.

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by Coolgrnmen » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:32 pm

romothesavior wrote:
Coolgrnmen wrote:I'm advising law freak in particular....and our biglaw placement isn't in the single digits! That's insulting!
The truth hurts.

Not only is it single digits, but I'd guess that it's low to mid single digits. Like Harlan just said, NYLS isn't in the top 50, and 50 stops at 10.5%.
:roll: I thought you meant single digits...not single percentage...

Yeah, less than 10% placement in biglaw is likely here...

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by JusticeHarlan » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:37 pm

Coolgrnmen wrote: :roll: I thought you meant single digits...not single percentage...

Yeah, less than 10% placement in biglaw is likely here...
Um, ok.

Now that we've cleared that up, let me ask again:

You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by northwood » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:48 pm

JusticeHarlan wrote:
Coolgrnmen wrote: :roll: I thought you meant single digits...not single percentage...

Yeah, less than 10% placement in biglaw is likely here...
Um, ok.

Now that we've cleared that up, let me ask again:

You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?
No.
When deciding big city schools, or schools in expensive areas, you need to take into consideration cost of living. You wont be working during law school ( or if you do, it will be a max of 20 hours a week)- so you will be forced to take out loans to cover living expenses. In addition to rent you need food, utlities and some extra money to live, and to be abel to pay for the what ifs in life. ( this does not include going out money). In addition to all of this, you have your pre-existing debt and bills that you must still pay while in school. If you get a scholarship- take into consideration what you need to do to keep it. If you cant meet those requirements- you lose it( and your cost goes up). I know this is pretty much commmon knowledge, but I think it must be said again. Big Law pays really well- but if you are in huge debt it will cover your living expenses after school and your minimum loan repayment plan. If you cant get biglaw, then you need another way to pay for this experience. im not saying biglaw or bust to be a lawyer, but you need to understand what your options and scenario will be after attending school. Remember- NYC is a destination that is high on a lot of peoples list- not just schools in NYC. So you will be competing against many more schools and graduates than you think. THe name on your diploma doesnt mean much after you have established yourself as a lawyer- but it does play a part in helping you get that all important first job- so its important.

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Re: New York Law School (NYLS) 1L

Post by JusticeHarlan » Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:58 pm

northwood wrote:
JusticeHarlan wrote: Um, ok.

Now that we've cleared that up, let me ask again:

You really think people should be attending NYLS if their goal is biglaw, considering their placement rates must be in the single digits?
No.
See, I wasn't looking for a rational person's perspective; I was trying to see what a NYLS student thought on the issue.

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