ADVICE NEEDED! St. John's full ride vs. Cardozo 15k per year Forum

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[northwood]

what are the stipulations for the scholarships?

[bk1]

Are there stips on your St. John's scholly? If so negotiate to get them removed.

Does your St. John's scholly cover cost of living or just tuition?

I'd say this is a pretty easy slam dunk for St. John's as I would definitely take St. John's for free probably over even Fordham FT at sticker let alone Cardozo with a measly scholarship. Cardozo isn't better enough to justify giving up the full ride, and as I said, Fordham probably isn't either.

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[Cmoss]

go to law school for free! the lack of debt coming out of LS will offer some serious flexibility.

[bk1]

Thanks for the advice... I tend to agree with your logic, although the low ranking and lack of job prospects out of St. John's does scare me a bit.

Being at Cardozo isn't really any better. Better to cover your ass by not having debt then to having a percentage point or two greater chance at finding a job.

[northwood]

how bad do you want to work in NYC? Did you apply to any other schools in NYC? Have you applied anywhere else? If you are not dead set on NYC, then you can use your scholarship at St. Johns at other schools. Remember that the cost of living in NYC is extremely high. You need to figure out what the total cost of going to school will be, ( keeping the scholarship, and losing it after 1L), and compare that cost to job placements, and opportunitites.


If you have done this allready, then you should have a decent idea. Make sure to visit the schools, and try to spend a day while classes are in session to get a better picture of the school and campus environment. You dont need to make this decision right now, you still have 2 months. Take your time and be very thouough.
I know I didnt point you in a direction, but its just some more things to think about. Best of Luck

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[kopper]

I would take Fordham PT because of its rank with the expectation that you can work full time during school to pay cost of living & half the tuition and cover the remainder of tuition in loans. If you can do that you can graduate in 4 years with about $60k in loans.

[Aqualibrium]

Fordham is not what it once was, and the difference in employment prospects between Dozo/Brooklyn/St. John's really is so negligible that it'd be monumentally foolish to take sticker or close at one over a full ride at the other.

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[Aqualibrium]

Fordham is not what it once was, and the difference in employment prospects between Dozo/Brooklyn/St. John's really is so negligible that it'd be monumentally foolish to take sticker or close at one over a full ride at the other.

I appreciate the advice!

No problem. I should add that If you can keep your total debt under six figures at Fordham, the roughly 20-30% better chance you have at getting a big law or any type of legal job that can help you pay that debt down may be worth it to you.

My strategy in your situation would be to try to squeeze more cash out of Dozo ---> take new offer and try to squeeze relaxed requirement out of St. John's --> Go to St. John's, bust my ass in school, and take advantage of every opportunity to network, improve my resume, market myself to employers.

[Grizz]

I agree with BK.

Also I'm throwing in for "retake LSAT."

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[ebl1014]

Fordham is not what it once was, and the difference in employment prospects between Dozo/Brooklyn/St. John's really is so negligible that it'd be monumentally foolish to take sticker or close at one over a full ride at the other.

I appreciate the advice!

No problem. I should add that If you can keep your total debt under six figures at Fordham, the roughly 20-30% better chance you have at getting a big law or any type of legal job that can help you pay that debt down may be worth it to you.

My strategy in your situation would be to try to squeeze more cash out of Dozo ---> take new offer and try to squeeze relaxed requirement out of St. John's --> Go to St. John's, bust my ass in school, and take advantage of every opportunity to network, improve my resume, market myself to employers.

I am anticipating being in the OP's situation (got the SJU full scholarship, waiting on Dozo) and think that your advice here is spot on. I've talked with family members and practicing NYC attorneys and this is the same advice that they gave as well. I'd like to hear some other opinions but it really seems like minimizing debt (if you're looking at sub-NYU schools) should be top priority, followed by ass busting and networking.

[Grizz]

I agree with BK.

Also I'm throwing in for "retake LSAT."

What is the logic behind that? I scored a 163 twice.. doubt I should start studying again now. Lemme know your thoughts.

NY legal market is saturated. Most people from St. John's aren't competitive for biglaw, which actually has jobs. Yeah, you will only have cost of living debt, but you may not get a job from St. John's. Seriously.

Study hard and exhaust your last retake.

[bk1]

What is the logic behind that? I scored a 163 twice.. doubt I should start studying again now. Lemme know your thoughts.

Because the difference between a 163 and 165 actually matters in terms of scholarships and schools you can get into. For example, there is a reason why almost no 168's get into the T14 and almost every 170 does. Also, it is within the realm of possibility to snag a 170. Since taking it a 2nd or 3rd time has almost no downside, there is no reason not to at least strive for getting a 170+.

Since you probably don't want to reapply, for you at this point it would be a waste unless you did the same thing I did last year which was retake in June while putting down a seat deposit and cancelling that deposit to reapply if the retake went well (which for me it did).

But I agree with Rad that NYC is very very saturated with schools and that it is just not an ideal place to be low on the pecking order (low being anything below the T14 and a few others).

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[bk1]

Can someone help outline how I go about getting more money/relaxed requirements from schools? How standard is this?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=79373

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[christmas mouse]

Chances are you'll probly get in to BLS also with at least a $24,000 scholly that you can easily turn into practically full ride. If so I'd choose BLS with 40,000 over st johns with 46,000. Beyond that I'd agree that opportunities are limited at each of these schools and you will need to be close to the top of your class to feel somewhat good about employment, but I wouldn't count on being top 2% at Brooklyn or cardozo, too many variables and you'll find a significant amount of your classmates had credentials for t-30 but took big scholly's at dozo or BLS. I can't say for certain at johns is a safer bet to get top grades, but it is so if these 3 are your options I would try to limit debt taking dozo and their 15k off the table and if you get BLS with around 40k you gotta decide between a slightly better chance for good employment, but harder to get the grades or less chance of good employment but better grades.