portability of penn st. degree Forum

[dlegg0387]

does a penn st. law degree have the same portability as they claim it to have.... i got a suprise call on friday and was admitted off their waitlist (current plan was to go to stetson).... i am not opposed to working in mid/south atlantic, but do they really place well at all in those regions, i think i saw that only 56% work in state??? thoughts please

[A'nold]

I doubt I would ever even consider even possibly taking Stetson over Penn State. As for national portability, it does at least have a name. I know what school Penn State is but I'd never heard of Stetson before coming on this board basically.

[kalvano]

I'd rather have Penn State than Stetson.

As A'nold said, it has some name recognition.

[dlegg0387]

yes, i know nation wide psu has a name.... granted stetson isnt great, i have happened to live 5 minutes away from it almost all my life.. .its not about which is more known, its is psu well known enough to make me want to go there and have my options open... but if it comes down to if i have to be stuck in penn. or fla. im choosing fla

[joeshmo39]

56% might be a bad sign really, not one of portability. I live in PA and I see a lot of Pitt degrees and Duquesne degrees on this side of the state and not many PSU degrees. Remember, Pittsburgh is fairly insular and Pitt and Duquesne own it. Philly has Drexel, Temple, Nova, and Penn (am I missing someone) and then there is PSU that has the middle of the state which is less than desirable for me. PSU grads may have to go wherever the jobs are because they don't place anywhere naturally. Try to get a hold of more specific placement stats, it is kind of a man without a home.

[ggocat]

Where do you want to work?

What is total expected debt from each school?

Both schools are regional.

[dlegg0387]

thats the problem... it really does seem like a bad sign... but i dont fancy myself wanting to work in penn. anyways..... according to the aba stats, their '09 class or w/e is workign in 24 diff states with only 45% in state... im sure psu would claim its due to their ability to place and not their lack of ability to place in state.... either way thanks for any advice

[A'nold]

Um, if you want FL (which would have good to know from your OP) then Stetson, duh.

[ze2151]

I can't speak for others who say pitt and duquesne outplace psu where they live(d) in pa... But in Central/Southeast PA (Up to and including Chester County), Penn State rules the roost (After Penn of course).

Moreover, PSU has the nation's largest alumni network (I think it's still larger than UT's), and they love, LOVE their school and they love their own. My brother-in-law graduated in May and was offered four jobs, ITE, and I think three were due to alumni relations. Not one of those jobs was in PA.

I, like others, have no idea what a Stetson is, haha. But if you want to stay in Fla, for sure, then maybe that's your pick. Esp if there is money involved.

[Kaneloa]

When I went to Dickinson (what you guys insist on calling Penn State) the emphasis was on small town practice. I don't know if its still that way, but it might explain why you haven't seen that many Dickinson grads in the big cities. Some did go to big firms and big cities, of course, but most of my classmates went back to their small towns to practice. Of course, that was before most of you were born.

[fenderjsm88]

From what I've heard, the vast majority of people at PSU law school plan on returning to their small and mid-sized hometowns in PA (ex: York, Lancaster, Reading, Scranton, all those other cities.) PSU has never been that huge of a school in the Philly and Pittsburgh areas; it's more of a small-town PA thing.

My point is, I wouldn't recommend PSU's law school to anyone that isn't from PA or doesn't have connections to one of the small or mid-sized PA cities. It isn't the kind of school that feeds into law firms in Philly.