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I was planning on attending Rutgers-Newark in the fall because of in-state tuition but I just received a letter from Seton Hall with my acceptance and a $25,000/year scholarship. This would make Seton Hall slightly cheaper for me than Rutgers but I hadn't even looked into Seton Hall because it was so expensive. Any suggestions?

Does the scholarship come with stipulations?

Renewable if in the top 50% of the class. I've only heard negative things about Seton Hall and it's impossible to predict how well I will do my first year in law school so I'm still leaning towards Rutgers, but I'm trying to keep Seton Hall in the picture.

If Rutgers money is guaranteed, I'd go to Rutgers.

Go to RU either way. Even if the $$ isn't guaranteed, in-state tuition is pretty freakin' cheap. If you lose the $$ at SHU you are in major trouble financially, whereas that wouldn't happen at RU.

Both not good options AT ALL. I would say, go to the school that is the cheapest because your diploma mill school wont make a difference in employment unless you are top 5% of the class

OP-

I went to Seton Hall for a year UG (f08-sp09) and i HATED it. I hated the campus- the teachers- the parking- the location- the food- the classes- EVERYTHING.

It was UG so it was probably WAY different from the LS experience, but I couldn't in good conscience let some one consider SH without telling them what a bad experience I had going there for a year. If I were you, I would take SH's offer, burn it, and happily attend RU-Newark (which is an awesome place).

Further, I don't know if this is true, but a friend of mine told me that sometimes you can tell the school (in your case, RU) that you've gotten an offer from a competing school (SH) and occasionally they'll make a counter-offer and extend you some kind of incentive to attend and refuse the competitor's offer. Again, it's something I've heard informally (from a friend whose wife went to Cardoza/Yeshiva and bargained a huge scholarship), but it might be worth looking into.

Good luck, from a Jersey native

keg411 wrote:Go to RU either way. Even if the $$ isn't guaranteed, in-state tuition is pretty freakin' cheap. If you lose the $$ at SHU you are in major trouble financially, whereas that wouldn't happen at RU.

Disagree. If the OP is below the median at one of these schools, he needs to drop out. Losing his scholarship would probably force him to consider that, instead of wasting two more years of his life.

Thanks for the info I feel more confident in going to Rutgers. I'm a New Jersey native and I am returning close to home because of a family issue.

To dukelawguy: I went to Carolina for undergrad and had to withdraw after being accepted to the law school. Your post is an example of why DOOK sucks.

dukelawguy144 wrote:Both not good options AT ALL. I would say, go to the school that is the cheapest because your diploma mill school wont make a difference in employment unless you are top 5% of the class

I know dozens from both schools (all in the top half admittedly, but only one got summa cum laude or top 5%) and most are working good jobs in the NJ/NYC area...stop talking about what you don't know

And it's funny that you are talking about Rutgers being a diploma mill when you are going to yet another grade inflated private school.

pandorasfox wrote: Further, I don't know if this is true, but a friend of mine told me that sometimes you can tell the school (in your case, RU) that you've gotten an offer from a competing school (SH) and occasionally they'll make a counter-offer and extend you some kind of incentive to attend and refuse the competitor's offer. Again, it's something I've heard informally (from a friend whose wife went to Cardoza/Yeshiva and bargained a huge scholarship), but it might be worth looking into.

Good luck, from a Jersey native

Heh, bargaining to pay less money at Yeshiva. Love it. There's some level of delicious irony to that.

Go with whoever gave you more money.

I haven't visited RU-Newark, but I understand that the immediate surroundings are slightly worse, sketchier. I agree that the chance of losing the scholarship sucks, but perhaps that will encourage you to study harder. As another posted pointed out, ranking below median at a tier 2 is a scary employment proposition anyway.

I recommend visiting Seton Hall Law before you make your decision.

aPosseAdEsse wrote:I haven't visited RU-Newark, but I understand that the immediate surroundings are slightly worse, sketchier.

Rutgers law is about 4 blocks from Setin Hall law. That part of Newark is the least sketchy apart from the ironbound.

Aside from that, I'm in the same position as the OP. SH has offered 25k, making it about 3k more to attend than Rutgers (after the scholarship they offered). I'm looking to prosecute, so from what I understand, Rut is the way to go. Does anyone on here have anything good to say about SH for this kind of work?

Keep in mind that Seton Hall's tuition is almost twice what Rutgers is. Assuming tuition increases by the same % at each school, the tuition at Seton Hall will also actually increase at twice the rate Rutgers' tuition increases.

Two years from now, the $3,000 that Seton Hall is cheaper will probably have swung the other way because its tuition will probably go up by a greater $ amount each year.

For example, say:
Seton Hall = 50,000 today
Rutgers = 25,000 today

Let's say each school's tuition goes up by 5% per year.

Year 1:
Seton Hall: 50,000
Rutgers: 25,000

Year 2:
Seton Hall: 52,500
Rutgers = 26,250

Year 3:
Seton Hall: 55,125
Rutgers: 27,562.50

By time you're a 3l, the Seton Hall's tuition would have gone up $5,125 while Rutgers only went up $2,562.50.

Rutgers. End of the dilemma.

Rutgers.

Pher wrote:

aPosseAdEsse wrote:I haven't visited RU-Newark, but I understand that the immediate surroundings are slightly worse, sketchier.

Rutgers law is about 4 blocks from Setin Hall law. That part of Newark is the least sketchy apart from the ironbound.

You're right about that. That's why I tried to emphasize "immediate," but yes, this shouldn't be a deciding factor.

Aside from that, I'm in the same position as the OP. SH has offered 25k, making it about 3k more to attend than Rutgers (after the scholarship they offered). I'm looking to prosecute, so from what I understand, Rut is the way to go. Does anyone on here have anything good to say about SH for this kind of work?

What is leading you to believe rutgers is the way to go for prosecution? It seems to me that more people self select into private practice out of SHU, probably because of their debt, so I don't believe that less people going into gov from SHU indicates a less strong criminal law education.

I think my best suggestion is to visit the two schools and let your gut decide at this point.