Cleveland Marshall Full Ride or Pitt at Sticker Forum

[northwood]

If you must go, go to Cleveland Marshall and drop out two minutes after you lose your scholarship ( should you lose it). Pitt is ridiculously expensive, and has tough competition in Pittsburgh from Duquesne ( especially with judges).

However, you may want to look at a re-take more carefully. Sure you can get a stronger application, but you will also put more time between the mistakes from your past, and the Character and Fitness aspect of bar admissions. So even if you decide to ultimately go to one of these two schools ( and assuming you don't retake, or score just as well as you did on your last LSAT exam), you may have more credibility when you say that you are a changed applicant and that the mistakes that you made do not reflect your true character and fitness to practice law.

[McAvoy]

Whatever you do, don't go Pitt at sticker.

A smarter investment would be to borrow a quarter of a million dollars from a bank, walk into a casino, and bet it all on Red.

Lol. But seriously. Even if you have to borrow it from Tony Soprano, it's a safer investment.

Cleveland-Marshall, and if you lose your scholly, just drop out and walk away with your free Master of Legal Studies degree.

https://www.law.csuohio.edu/newsevents/ ... ree-option

Hmm. This would be an attractive option at a non-TTT, really.

[TheSpanishMain]

Thanks guys! Sorry for the chip on my shoulder. Made lots of bad decisions as an 18-23 year old and Tier 1 is near impossible for me. These are the only two options at the moment. I realize you are just giving me the best advice possible, and it's my fault for making a hasty post without anticipating the firing squad I deserved. Best of luck to all of you in your legal careers.

There's no need to kick yourself. Just don't put yourself in front of the firing squad that is unemployment with staggering debt. Keep in mind that no one here has an ulterior motive. No one says "retake" just to screw with you. It's just irresponsible NOT to recommend that you retake.

Your original question is sort of like asking the following of a doctor: I'm going to either smoke ten packs of meth-laced cigarettes a day, or I'm going to inject heroin into my eyelids. Which one of these is medically advisable? Please don't say neither, I'm definitely going to do one or the other.

[thehowlingfantods]

All valid points. I will take them into consideration as this advice is greatly appreciated. I will not attend Pitt at sticker. Thank you for knocking some sense into me.

[jbagelboy]

Neither university is worth attending, even if being paid to attend, because both bring negative value to your CV or resume. As it stands, regardless of where you received your Bachelors, it is more valuable stand-alone than either of these degrees. It would literally just embarrass you to attend either and have to have a transcript from them.

It's like paying to work at Chic-fil-a while trying to break into gay rights advocacy. Would you? Would anyone, regardless of goal? Why don't rational individuals consider added value, or is that just passé in the rebirth-of-collared-and-khloe-kardashian era?

[Nova]

Thanks guys! Sorry for the chip on my shoulder. Made lots of bad decisions as an 18-23 year old and Tier 1 is near impossible for me.

just so you know

the bar is a much bigger problem than getting into a good regional school

GULC let a guy convicted of having a ton of ecstasy in, and then during law school he got convicted of dealing a ton of meth

Tulane let a murder in. Like, a cold blooded killer.

T1s consistently let druggies and people who have done very questionable things in.

[Mauve.Dino]

I'd go to Pitt, but that's because I love Pittsburgh, I went there for undergrad, and I wouldn't mind eating at Primanti Brothers for the rest of my life.

(Embrace the cholesterol: http://primantibros.com/)

[Nova]

(200k COA for a 50/50 shot at a low paying legal job)

[Colonel_funkadunk]

and if you become one, you will probably be stuck in Cleveland for the rest of your life.

This alone should be enough to keep anyone from Cleveland Marshall.

[TheSpanishMain]

Neither university is worth attending, even if being paid to attend, because both bring negative value to your CV or resume. As it stands, regardless of where you received your Bachelors, it is more valuable stand-alone than either of these degrees. It would literally just embarrass you to attend either and have to have a transcript from them.

Even Pitt, if it were literally free, and the person was prepared to work small law in Pittsburgh? I realize that's not the OP's situation, but if it were literally free (no COL debt either) then I could see it not being an awful choice with the right goals.

[thehowlingfantods]

I understand most people do not like Cleveland. I appreciate the responses. I hope everyone gets into the schools they want with the least amount of debt and the greatest opportunity for success. Thank you for taking time out of your day to offer me advice.

[Nova]

All valid points. I will take them into consideration as this advice is greatly appreciated. I will not attend Pitt at sticker. Thank you for knocking some sense into me.

well its good you aren't going to Pitt at sticker.

you should look into some things w/r/t your CM scholarship,

-what class rank 3.1 typically is

-whether they would take your scholarship away after the 1st semester if you are below 3.1, or if they give you till the end of the first year before potentially taking it away

-whether you can regain your scholarship if you lose it

-whether you can get instate tuition for 2L & 3L if you happen to lose the scholarship (I don't recall if you said you are from ohio)


Good luck. Keep using TLS. the 1L megathread is a really great resources, and there are a ton of great resources in the law student subforum that are very helpful.

Read GTM and LEEWS before school starts, and keep your eye on the prize,

Know that if you lose your scholarship, it will be very uncomfortable to pay off tuition + cost of living loans with a modest small firm salary.

[DportIA]

Looks like 3.1 at Cleveland-Marshall is usually a top-third marker, apparently.

https://www.law.csuohio.edu/currentstud ... entrecords (near the bottom).

So you have a 2/3 shot at losing the scholarship. Those are not betting odds.

[Nova]

Yikes. Yeah, that's bad

OP, you need to do everything you can to negotiate the stipulations down/off. Check these links:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=79373

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =7&t=27221

[Otunga]

Looks like 3.1 at Cleveland-Marshall is usually a top-third marker, apparently.

https://www.law.csuohio.edu/currentstud ... entrecords (near the bottom).

So you have a 2/3 shot at losing the scholarship. Those are not betting odds.

Sleazy as shit. Don't attend either school OP unless you're able to negotiate (erase) the stipulation.

[thehowlingfantods]

Thanks a lot folks (especially Nova). I will do my best to achieve the desired outcome and pm all who are interested.

[timbs4339]

That stip sucks. If you don't make it, you need to drop out.

[Jdempewo]

I got a 24k scholly offer from cleveland marshall as well. They claim 66% keep their scholarships but I can't get their math to work. If i lived in ohio, it would be a full ride but i am probably not going to go because if i didnt get in state tuition in 2l and 3l then im Going to be spending too much to justify going TTT.