Top Law Schools

I have an impossible time making decisions. Nor do I know what I want half the time. So, these are the things I want for sure. 1. I want to work in NY or DC after graduation. Not big law or corporate. At the moment I'm leaning towards just working for the government or something 2. I don't want to do all work and have no play. I want to go to restaurants, bars, concerts, go shopping and have fellow law students willing to do it with me, and not sit there freaking out about how much they want to rank higher than that kid sitting next to them.

Aside from that, I suppose I wouldn't mind being closer to home (Temple), wouldn't mind cheap (UB), wouldn't mind having built in friends (Case). There are a bunch of other little things that I could factor in as well, but I think the above few things are my main concerns. Maybe study abroad potential, not dying (all these schools are in kind of shitty neighborhoods), overall quality of life/teachers/students/ect too. For those wondering about price, Buffalo would cost me 11k a year, Case 25k (if I keep my scholarship) and Temple 30 (but, 20k after the first year if I could establish residency).

I also think I would like American or Brooklyn a lot, but I am waitlisted. And both would be absurdly expensive, so I think I ruled them out.

Thanks for any help!

Temple is a bitch to establish residency, just fyi. Unless you used to live in PA, I wouldn't bank on it.

Well....Buffalo puts some top students into NYC from what I understand...although not a high enough % to justify going there on that basis.
Pure speculation here....but Temple is by far the closest to DC geographically, so I would think, all other factors being equal, that may equate to some better employment tie-ins between Temple and DC (that logic holds up at Pitt....I figure maybe the same for Temple?)
Case has no real connection to NY or DC, so I would discount it.

Frankly if you KNOW you want NYC or DC you should cough up the $$$ and go to American of Brooklyn...the other schools don't give you a very good shot at either market (although as noted, I would check out Temples connections to DC.)
Good luck!

reverendt wrote:Well....Buffalo puts some top students into NYC from what I understand...although not a high enough % to justify going there on that basis.
Pure speculation here....but Temple is by far the closest to DC geographically, so I would think, all other factors being equal, that may equate to some better employment tie-ins between Temple and DC (that logic holds up at Pitt....I figure maybe the same for Temple?)
Case has no real connection to NY or DC, so I would discount it.

Frankly if you KNOW you want NYC or DC you should cough up the $$$ and go to American of Brooklyn...the other schools don't give you a very good shot at either market (although as noted, I would check out Temples connections to DC.)
Good luck!

Actually, Case has pretty good stats for getting people into NY and DC.

As a random update, Case gave me about 5k a year more. For everyone who chose one school over another, would you mind giving reasons?

Only go to Temple if you want to work in Philly. They are outstanding in Philadelphia, but have negligible placement outside of it.

I'd say Case or Buffalo. Case does better in NYC and DC (as you know....I'm always posting on Case threads for some reason, despite the fact that I'm unlikely to attend there...), but Buffalo is about 30k cheaper over the next 3 years. Plus, Cleveland is cooler than Buffalo imho.

Don't ride out the WL at Brooklyn or American, because they are two of the worst tuition values around. Good schools, but you dont need 200k in debt unless you are sure you'll be able to be employed the full 10 years of gov't service and have the remainder forgiven.

84Sunbird2000 wrote:Only go to Temple if you want to work in Philly. They are outstanding in Philadelphia, but have negligible placement outside of it.

I'd say Case or Buffalo. Case does better in NYC and DC (as you know....I'm always posting on Case threads for some reason, despite the fact that I'm unlikely to attend there...), but Buffalo is about 30k cheaper over the next 3 years. Plus, Cleveland is cooler than Buffalo imho.

Don't ride out the WL at Brooklyn or American, because they are two of the worst tuition values around. Good schools, but you dont need 200k in debt unless you are sure you'll be able to be employed the full 10 years of gov't service and have the remainder forgiven.

You stated my main fear about Temple pretty much. Also, you do seem to be TLS's main Case advocate. So, where do you think you are going to wind up? Why not case?

beach_terror wrote:Temple is a bitch to establish residency, just fyi. Unless you used to live in PA, I wouldn't bank on it.

Are you sure about this?

Case is a major ripoff.

They do not even dominate the Cleveland market, which they should for their price tag.

xyzzzzzzzz wrote:

bceagles182 wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Temple is a bitch to establish residency, just fyi. Unless you used to live in PA, I wouldn't bank on it.

Are you sure about this?

I am. The rules are pretty much you have to live in PA for a while without the sole purpose of getting an education.

Yeah, for some reason I can't find the page on their website right now. But it's pretty intense, and they require a lot of stuff that isn't a cakewalk to prove.

beach_terror wrote:

xyzzzzzzzz wrote:

bceagles182 wrote:

beach_terror wrote:Temple is a bitch to establish residency, just fyi. Unless you used to live in PA, I wouldn't bank on it.

Are you sure about this?

I am. The rules are pretty much you have to live in PA for a while without the sole purpose of getting an education.

Yeah, for some reason I can't find the page on their website right now. But it's pretty intense, and they require a lot of stuff that isn't a cakewalk to prove.

Yeah, I did some research, and this seems to be true. Making temple the most expensive of my three.