Advice Wanted (St Johns vs L&C vs W&L) Forum

[gabewatch]

I am still waiting on a few responses, but I think I am essentially going to be choosing between

St Johns - (Full Ride, top 50% of class) so I will pay COL

Lewis and Clark - 10k/yr in scholarship with 2.95 gpa, so I will pay ~25,000/yr in tuition + COL

Washington and Lee - 17k/yr in scholarship with 3.0 gpa, so I will pay ~20,000/yr in tuition + COL

I know that St Johns does not have a great reputation, and its in a competitive market, but I am not excited about debt. I think I would like Portland but 10k/year isnt that much compared to the 17k/yr from W&L. My main concern with W&L is probably the size of Lexington. I dont have a strong preference about where I end up living after Law School, but I guess that both W&L and L&C are regional schools. So assuming that one is just basing this decision on employment prospects and the cost of attending what would you advise? Should I rule out St Johns automatically? Is the difference in St Johns and a school like W&L great enough to offset the cost that comes with it? This may seem obvious, but some people say there isnt a huge difference in schools past a certain point in the rankings. Anyways, tell me what your opinions are please. Thanks.

[TTH]

I imagine paying NYC COL would make St John's as expensive if not moreso than the other options. Of the three, I'd pick L&C as it has a fairly good reputation and it's in a nice city. It really depends on where you want to practice after LS.


Also, any grade/class rank stipulations on those schollys?

[nycparalegal]

Well the COL in NYC depends on where you live, and if you have roomates. What are you looking to do?

[Bronte]

The name of this sub-forum is choosing a law school. Thus, when you title your thread "Choosing a Law School," you create this hierarchy: Choosing a Law School > Choosing a Law School. Imagine if everyone titled their thread "Choosing a Law School"? Sorry, I'm having a bad morning.

[gabewatch]

The name of this sub-forum is choosing a law school. Thus, when you title your thread "Choosing a Law School," you create this hierarchy: Choosing a Law School > Choosing a Law School. Imagine if everyone titled their thread "Choosing a Law School"? Sorry, I'm having a bad morning.

i see your point, i'm not a big poster on any forums, thanks for the advice

[PhantaManta]

You should go where you want to live, I think. Washington and Lee has the best chance of getting you a job elsewhere out of these schools, but I am not sure how good a chance it is without looking at some statistics. I'd go to W&L. I like them.

[galahad85]

Don't go to St. John's. The employment prospects will be dismal, you can never guarantee that you'll remain in the top 50% of the class, and the high cost of living will probably offset much of the price difference between it and W&L. COL is dirt cheap in Lexington, and while W&L is a fairly regional school, it at least does pretty well within its own region - which is more than can be said for St. John's.

[deadpanic]

1. W&L
2. St. John's

I would not consider L&C. W&L is a much better school, the COL will be cheaper, and job prospects will be better.

[algren]

L&C is tight on money this year, but you may be able to leverage your W&L scholly if you found you preferred L&C.

To me, where you want to live is a big consideration, but since its not for you the next thing I would try and determine is what you want to do with your degree. For instance, if you want to work in environmental law.... then this isn't a tough decision.

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out St. John's though as others here have suggested. I have a full ride offer from a school that is closely ranked to St. John's. I applied there as a safety, but a full ride makes you think twice about it.

Another poster suggested that you can never guarantee where you will be in the class rankings. This is true, however, you can estimate where you will be in the class rankings at St. Johns a lot better than you can estimate where you will be at these other two schools. You increase your chances to finish at the top at a school like St. John's. So that said, the question becomes: does being at or near the top at St. John's equate to graduating in say, the top 1/3 at one of the other two schools?

In another thread I had similar to this one, someone posted this article and it helped to answer that question a bit. Hope it helps you too:

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... hbxlogin=1