If you were in my shoes? Forum

howie · Post by **howie** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:12 pm

Okay, first of all I applied to entirely too many schools coupled by the fact I am one of the more indecisive people in America I am having a very difficult time deciding upon a law school. Here is what I have it down too: Villanova(full sticker) and Catholic and Seton Hall (both gave me 20,000).

As far as that goes, I would rather practice/live in DC compared to Newark/nyc and philly. DC and Newark are probably equal on cost of living, although I have stumbled across cheap housing in maryland and in other places in DC (probably bad neighborhoods).

I like the communications institute offered by Catholic. It seems like that is a could place to network and secure jobs and internships, etc. plus its a sector of law I am interested in pursuing

on the plus side of philly I understand that temple and villanova dominate the local market aside from upenn

I am thinking that competition for a job would be equal if I attended catholic or seton (correct me if I'm wrong), also another benefit of attending catholic or SH aside from scholarship, is that I am confident I would be able to attain a higher class rank, which I understand in many ways is more important than the rank of your school.

Post by **vanwinkle** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:21 pm

Go to Villanova. You've got good job opportunities across PA with that degree (many Penn grads go outside PA, there isn't a huge rush of folks from out-of-state T14s into PA, you're not competing with a huge number of other T1/T2 schools in the state). DC and NYC are both heavily saturated markets, especially ITE, and the schools you're mentioning there are nowhere near the best school in their markets. Seton Hall may be advantageous as long as you're willing to stay in NJ, possibly, but your mentioning of NYC concerns me that it's your real focus.

As mentioned in the other thread you started, don't go to Catholic. You keep trying to talk yourself into Catholic and not listening to people giving you advice to not go there. There are many, many better schools in DC and VA which are sending lots and lots of grads toward DC, not to mention all the T14 kids (including significant numbers of HYS kids) who want to work in DC when they graduate. It's an incredibly competitive market and Catholic is not going to give you any kind of an edge there at all. Catholic is a very, very bad idea. Even Seton Hall at least has a local fallback (NJ) that Catholic is missing.

Villanova, on the other hand, gives you more access to a market that is overall less competitive. Add in that you're graduating with significantly less debt from there and it becomes a no-brainer.

jen_said · Post by **jen_said** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:24 pm

Have you visited Seton Hall? They gave me 35 a year and I still couldn't do it. Newark is horrible, and you'd probably end up interning in Jersey (not NYC). I would STRONGLY suggest visiting the school before deciding to go there.

waverider · Post by **waverider** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:29 pm

I would not be confident that you will have a higher rank at one school versus another. This is a very dangerous viewpoint to have.

Also, from my standpoint specialty programs are only red herrings that distract pottential students away from the two things that really matter- job prospects and cost of attendance. Do not be mislead into thinking that just because a school has a good specialty program or emphasis on a certain area that your interested in you will be able to find a job in that specialty area.

As an example Ole Miss has a space law program. But do you really think there is a need for a significant number of lawyers in that field?

howie · Post by **howie** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:11 pm

ya i agree i am definately trying to talk myself into attending catholic, because of my desire to practice in DC. I do think location is important. Also, i would be graduating Villanova with the MOST debt as they gave me know money, however, I am sure job prospects look better from there. I also think it is important to note that I do not intend on trying to find a job at a big law firm, the stress and long hours are not something I am interested in.

*ideally i would like to work with the DA or the government and then open up my own firm (i know that strays from my comm interests)

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