Wake Forest, Kentucky $$, or Penn State $$. Forum

[lawwhat]

I would rather live in NC and the cost of living in NC is low. I'd like to eventually work as a plaintiff's attorney in civil actions. Hopefully I can be a part of a firm that works on class actions someday. Anyway, what do you guys think?

Which degree is most portable (I realize this may be a goofy question, as it's likely that none of them are especially portable)? LSN OCI numbers would seem to indicate that Wake has the most portability, while Penn State is second, and unfortunately Kentucky may not have much.

[Nicholasnickynic]

Wake @ sticker is an unfortunate price, especially with nice offers from other schools.

However, if one of your life/career goals is to work in NC, its wake forest, hands down, no contest.

I think you need to decide how much you are willing to pay to stay in NC.

[lawwhat]

I'm rather surprised by the poll results. I voted for Wake. I wonder why Kentucky is leading ($ I suppose. Obviously. I guess I've just always had a desire to attend Wake. I know it's not Duke, but it's always been an elite school in my mind.)

Other than money, is there any other reason I should choose Kentucky?

I consider these all to be great schools. I never thought I'd have these options in my life. I got into UConn today as well, but I can't even consider UConn without scholly money simply because cost of living in Connecticut is crazy high. Great school though. Beautiful campus judging by the online photos I've seen.

[Nicholasnickynic]

This question really comes down to where you want to work afterwards.

If you want to work in Pen, go with Penn state.
If you want to work in Kentucky, go with kentucky.
If you want to work in NC, go with Wake.

However, if location and $ were not a factor:

I'd personally be hesitant to choose Pen state, as they are competing with villanova, temple, and pittsburgh for philly/pitt spots, and all those schools have a better hold on the market. In addition Penn is a fairly new school thats on the rise, so they are not well established like the other ones. In addition, there are also people from the vastly superior UPenn (although many go elsewhere), as well as a number of people from the peer school of rutgers.

With Wake forest, you'd be only competing with UNC, which is basically a peer school (in fact, recent employment statistics = Wake>unc.) The only other school would be duke, but Duke is so high that a lot of the dukies go somewhere else. In otherwords, prospects for Wake Forest Grads in NC are better than prospects Penn State Grads in Penn.

As far as kentucky goes... well I have no clue about them.

But I'd say it comes down to $/location/job placement. You just have to decided how much you value each one.

[LSATfromNC]

Kentucky on the cheap is your situation is the best bet for NC, not placement wise, but over all (combination of NC placement and debt). It is a respected school and I imagine a fair number of Kentucky Alumni have wondered down to NC, it's not like it's across the nation.

Not sure if you can turn down the University of Penn State, it's an ivy after all. j/k

[lawwhat]

Kentucky on the cheap is your situation is the best bet for NC, not placement wise, but over all (combination of NC placement and debt). It is a respected school and I imagine a fair number of Kentucky Alumni have wondered down to NC, it's not like it's across the nation.

Not sure if you can turn down the University of Penn State, it's an ivy after all. j/k

Ha ha. Be nice to Penn State. I probably won't go there but it's not their fault that people refer to the school as Penn sometimes. I do believe that school will be top 40 within 5 years. It is the state's flagship school, unfortunately for Pitt and Temple, and Penn State is going to receive special treatment/more funding.

[jremington]

I voted for Kentucky because of $. I'll assume Kentucky gave you the out of state waiver. This makes the tuition costs roughly $15k compared to Wake at $35k. Personally, I do not think Wake is worth more than twice the cost in tuition. Also, you might consider that NC has what 6/7? law schools which increases competition for jobs.

If I were you I would set a break even point on the max price you would be willing to pay to attend Wake (say $25k/year tuition) and then attempt to negotiate for scholarship money. Best of luck.

[Nicholasnickynic]

I voted for Kentucky because of $. I'll assume Kentucky gave you the out of state waiver. This makes the tuition costs roughly $15k compared to Wake at $35k. Personally, I do not think Wake is worth more than twice the cost in tuition. Also, you might consider that NC has what 6/7? law schools which increases competition for jobs.

If I were you I would set a break even point on the max price you would be willing to pay to attend Wake (say $25k/year tuition) and then attempt to negotiate for scholarship money. Best of luck.

For your situation, I agree with above poster... debt wise, 45k is much much better than 105k, especially when you add in interest.

However, I don't think saying N.C. has 6 schools affects Wake, as they don't have to compete with most of them. I seriously doubt Elon University (which I didn't know existed until 30 seconds ago), North Carolina Central (which I also didn't know existed until 30 seconds ago), campbell and Charlotte Law are going to give Wake much competition, as all are tier 3 or worse..

Furthermore, while Duke>wake, hands down, I imagine a large % of dukies leave the state.

I'm just saying, its not like there is some break neck competition that Wake Forest grads have to deal with in NC. I imagine its mostly just them against N.C. and to a smaller degree duke.

[JuTMSY4]

In addition Penn is a fairly new school thats on the rise, so they are not well established like the other ones.

...no it isn't

And PSU's portability isn't that far reaching. Their UG network is spectacular (FWIW) and perhaps they're the most portable in the state of PA (with reasonable opportunities in both Philly and Pittsburgh).

If you can handle the debt, I'd go Wake. I think many people are picking KY because of the combination of low cost and proximity to NC

[Nicholasnickynic]

In addition Penn is a fairly new school thats on the rise, so they are not well established like the other ones.

...no it isn't

And PSU's portability isn't that far reaching. Their UG network is spectacular (FWIW) and perhaps they're the most portable in the state of PA (with reasonable opportunities in both Philly and Pittsburgh).

If you can handle the debt, I'd go Wake. I think many people are picking KY because of the combination of low cost and proximity to NC

Fair enough. But the combo of Penn State and what ever school the merged with is pretty new, no?

[JuTMSY4]

[
Fair enough. But the combo of Penn State and what ever school the merged with is pretty new, no?

Dickinson is the fifth oldest law school in the US

[Nicholasnickynic]

Penn state law is two law schools that recently merged. Thats why there are two colleges

[JuTMSY4]

Penn state law is two law schools that recently merged. Thats why there are two colleges

Only one law school. PSU acquired Dickinson about 10 years ago to have its own law school. Dickinson is still in Carlisle and PSU added a school in State College

[LSATfromNC]

I think Penn is typically the University of Pennsylvania, one of the coveted top 14 PSU has a beautiful campus and tons of lay prestige, but is no where close to being in Penn's league.

[Nicholasnickynic]

Penn state law is two law schools that recently merged. Thats why there are two colleges

Only one law school. PSU acquired Dickinson about 10 years ago to have its own law school. Dickinson is still in Carlisle and PSU added a school in State College

Thats my point. What we think of now as Penn State Law really only happened about ten years ago with teh merger. Before that I do not believe Penn state was in top 100. So tahts what I mean when I call Penn state young.