Top Law Schools

I am at the 75th percentile for both GPA and LSAT at SU. If anyone could give me their opinions on the school that would be great, along with Merit scholly chances if I apply soon (I've seen people with my numbers get 30k scholarships).

Thanks

noleknight16 wrote:I am at the 75th percentile for both GPA and LSAT at SU. If anyone could give me their opinions on the school that would be great, along with Merit scholly chances if I apply soon (I've seen people with my numbers get 30k scholarships).

Thanks

Heard job prospects are bad, saw something about bar rate not being so good, and the weather there sucks.

its the Harvard of Western New York State.

It's a very, very, very unpleasant place to live, albeit dirt cheap.

SU is very highly regarded in Western NY (Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo) and though the weather is rough, the city/campus is actually quite fun. As far as job prospects go, I have met a couple of SU law grads in my city (Rochester) and they seem to be doing quite well. You could do a lot worse than settling in Rochester which always receives the top marks in QOL, is a very cheap city to live in and the best part is SU grads only have to compete with SUNY Buffalo grads so the job opportunities are there. Now, if your goal is BIGlaw in NYC then SU is most likely not going to get it for you but if your looking to work at a smaller firm in a nice city like Buffalo or Rochester then SU is actually a good choice.

justhockey31 wrote:SU is very highly regarded in Western NY (Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo) and though the weather is rough, the city/campus is actually quite fun. As far as job prospects go, I have met a couple of SU law grads in my city (Rochester) and they seem to be doing quite well. You could do a lot worse than settling in Rochester which always receives the top marks in QOL, is a very cheap city to live in and the best part is SU grads only have to compete with SUNY Buffalo grads so the job opportunities are there. Now, if your goal is BIGlaw in NYC then SU is most likely not going to get it for you but if your looking to work at a smaller firm in a nice city like Buffalo or Rochester then SU is actually a good choice.

Be careful with this. Many firms in Syracuse and Rochester that used to regularly hire Buffalo and Syracuse law grads haven't hired anyone from outside the top 20 law schools since the economy tanked.

Syracuse is a very expensive school. At 44k a year in tuition alone, plue cost of living its not worth the sticker price. However, the admissions people there claim to be very generous in both merit based aide and need based aide. If you are offered a good scholarship, it may be a good consideration as long as you want to stay in western new york. It competes with buffalo, albany, cornell, and the rest of the schools in the state. It has a low bar passage rate, and if you are from the south gets a lot of snow ( thank you lake ontario).

See what they offer you ( in the event they make a decision within a reasonable amount of time), and what the stipulations are. IF you have to pay sticker, be wary about matriculating there. For the price of Syracuse, you can go to Harvard- and Harvard is ligh years a heard of syracuse in terms of prestigue and opportunities for their graduates.

Note: I also applied to Syracuse, and would be happy going there, as long as the price is right for me. I really enjoy western new york, and can see myself living there for the rest of my life. ( I also can see myself in MIchigan). If you are applying to syracuse, you should also apply to UB and Albany, and see what they offer you. UB is a state school,( and you can get NYstate resident rates as a 2L.) Albany has a similiar cost, but if your numbers are good enough for 'cuse, they will be good enough for albany- and you may get a scholarship offer.

The problem with syracuse is that they will admit a lot of people with meh and low meh LSAT scores, as well as good LSAT scores. Do your research before going there, and make sure its a sound financial decision for you.

Off topic but does Syracuse have worse weather than Cornell?

I've always wondered why Syracuse appears on T2 and TTT rankings.

SYracuse's weather is very similar to Cornell, except it gets a lot of lake effect snow ( and cornell doesnt get that much) since its very close to Lake Ontario.

Have been wondering as well about why its on TT and TTT lists.

FiveSermon wrote:Off topic but does Syracuse have worse weather than Cornell?

Yes, on account of Lake Onondaga.

Local legend has it that the pollution in the lake is what makes the sunsets spectacular, however.

So weather wise Syracuse loses to Cornell? Darn.

I live in the Cuse and I'm convinced it's the worst weather in the country. My boyfriend from Buffalo is amazed at how it just snows every day here. It's also one of the grayest cities in the country (fewest hours of sunshine per year). So depressing. The only things that make living here worth it are Cuse b-ball, Dinosaur BBQ, and Wegmans.

noleknight16 wrote:I am at the 75th percentile for both GPA and LSAT at SU. If anyone could give me their opinions on the school that would be great, along with Merit scholly chances if I apply soon (I've seen people with my numbers get 30k scholarships).

Thanks

You went to UG in Orlando. Why the hell to do you want to go to Syracuse and commit to probably spending much of your young life in Western NY?

rad law wrote:

noleknight16 wrote:I am at the 75th percentile for both GPA and LSAT at SU. If anyone could give me their opinions on the school that would be great, along with Merit scholly chances if I apply soon (I've seen people with my numbers get 30k scholarships).

Thanks

You went to UG in Orlando. Why the hell to do you want to go to Syracuse and commit to probably spending much of your young life in Western NY?

I've lived in FL all my life, but the only school that I'm likely accepted to worth considering is Miami, which is private. FSU is probably 50/50, so I need options. I kind of like the idea of moving away from FL after being here so long. In state tuition does sound nice though. I talked to my uncle, who is a partner at an ILRG top 10 NYC based firm, and he thinks that Syracuse has great reach for its rank. He also has a lot of connections in the state and I'm sure he would attempt to help me out post-graduation if I had trouble finding employment. I think I could get a 20k-30k/year merit scholly and make it work. My parents are decently well off (not ridiculously rich though), and have voiced interest in keeping debt down for me. Fortunately, that means they'll pay for my rent/books/food etc and possibly pick up some tuition too. I have no undergraduate debt either since I stayed in state and took advantage of scholarship offers, so that's nice going into graduate school.

I'm also looking at Penn St, Villanova, SMU, Richmond, and UCONN.

If you've lived all your life in Florida - you need to take a winter weekend and visit these schools. You can't possibly decide without spending time there, and at the coldest time of year.

Definately spend a week in the cold. Try to come visit in January, or February when the weather is the coldest for the year. If you are used to the sun and warm, going to the cold and overcast skies can really have a negative impact on your mental state.

I'm from Long Island and I went to school in upstate NY for my freshman year. Worst weather experience ever for me. Always dreary and a lot of the time it would rain or snow. During the summer it's okay but most of the year it sucks. If upstate is bad for me it'll be horrible for someone from the South.

maggiejeter wrote:I live in the Cuse and I'm convinced it's the worst weather in the country. My boyfriend from Buffalo is amazed at how it just snows every day here. It's also one of the grayest cities in the country (fewest hours of sunshine per year). So depressing. The only things that make living here worth it are Cuse b-ball, Dinosaur BBQ, and Wegmans.

yes. omg yes.

before I moved to places that had coldstone, coldstone was also a big draw. lol, shows how much other upstate new york towns have going for them...

sarahlawg wrote:

maggiejeter wrote:I live in the Cuse and I'm convinced it's the worst weather in the country. My boyfriend from Buffalo is amazed at how it just snows every day here. It's also one of the grayest cities in the country (fewest hours of sunshine per year). So depressing. The only things that make living here worth it are Cuse b-ball, Dinosaur BBQ, and Wegmans.

yes. omg yes.

before I moved to places that had coldstone, coldstone was also a big draw. lol, shows how much other upstate new york towns have going for them...

You can get Dino in BBQ in NY without the rusticity.

noleknight16 wrote:I've lived in FL all my life, but the only school that I'm likely accepted to worth considering is Miami, which is private.

Huh? so is 'cuse, villanova, SMU, & Richmond. Syracuse is one of those schools that may sound kind of cool with decent basketball and different scenery, but I bet it fucking sucks. it is 16 degrees there right now, and that is probably high for this time of year.

Miami is the only school in FL I would be for sure accepted to, and that's private and therefore not worth staying in FL for. I'd be more willing to stay in FL if it meant in state tuition.

Depending on what your priorities are, it's my opinion that Syracuse is livable (yes, even in the winter) even if you're not used to this kind of weather. It also has some significant advantages over similarly ranked schools, particularly the bigger name recognition that the school gets since the University has other programs that are prestigious (eg Maxwell).

With respect to the weather, it's three years of your life, most of which will be spent indoors studying anyway. It also has the advantage that it really is a dirt cheap place to live, and bottom line I think if you could get substantial scholarship money, the low COL would make life relatively easy . You can literally get a decent 3-bedroom in Syracuse for under $700 and a fancy loft downtown where they will deal with all of the snow removal for you for ~$800. I know a lot of professional school students at SU choose the latter arrangement.

In any case, the city's taken a lot of flak on this thread, so I thought I'd weigh in as a person from a warm climate who miraculously adapted to the weather in Cuse and actually thinks it's a pretty neat place to live.

oh and PS +1 on the dinosaur and wegmans. <3

neimanmarxist wrote:Depending on what your priorities are, it's my opinion that Syracuse is livable (yes, even in the winter) even if you're not used to this kind of weather. It also has some significant advantages over similarly ranked schools, particularly the bigger name recognition that the school gets since the University has other programs that are prestigious (eg Maxwell).

With respect to the weather, it's three years of your life, most of which will be spent indoors studying anyway. It also has the advantage that it really is a dirt cheap place to live, and bottom line I think if you could get substantial scholarship money, the low COL would make life relatively easy . You can literally get a decent 3-bedroom in Syracuse for under $700 and a fancy loft downtown where they will deal with all of the snow removal for you for ~$800. I know a lot of professional school students at SU choose the latter arrangement.

In any case, the city's taken a lot of flak on this thread, so I thought I'd weigh in as a person from a warm climate who miraculously adapted to the weather in Cuse and actually thinks it's a pretty neat place to live.

oh and PS +1 on the dinosaur and wegmans. <3

Do you have any recommendations for housing to look at online and when I visit (for both cheap and the loft)?