Florida vs Ohio State vs Temple vs Rutgers-C Forum

[voltage88]

Stuck between these 4 for now. Still waiting on a couple other schools so i'll update in the near future...Assume no geographical preference..and give explanations for your choice!

Notes:

-COA includes only tuition

-Figure for Florida doesn't include scholarship/grant info yet...but i'm not expecting much..also, i'm assuming i'd be paying out of state tuition for 2L and 3L since I heard being reclassified as a FL resident was pretty difficult (correct me if i'm wrong)

-Figure for Ohio assumes in-state tuition for 2L and 3L

-Figure for Temple assumes out of state tuition (same reason as Florida...)

[Justathought]

This is a tough one. I don't know the legal market in Ohio, but that seems like a pretty good deal. Rutgers is too, but I am really hesitant to choose Newark myself, because its tied to state funding and is so public interest minded.

On an irresponsible note, Florida has such a great campus and community, and I would personally enjoy practicing there more than any of your current options. However, its expensive.... so I guess don't go.

I'm voting OSU.

[voltage88]

This is a tough one. I don't know the legal market in Ohio, but that seems like a pretty good deal. Rutgers is too, but I am really hesitant to choose Newark myself, because its tied to state funding and is so public interest minded.

On an irresponsible note, Florida has such a great campus and community, and I would personally enjoy practicing there more than any of your current options. However, its expensive.... so I guess don't go.

I'm voting OSU.

Rutgers-Camden definitely gets a lot of love on these boards for a school of its caliber. Maybe it has something to do with their judicial clerkship placement? Its definitely a great bargain but their scholarship has ridiculous GPA stipulations...

As for Florida, what about the community do you know of? I haven't had a chance to visit so any information is helpful right now..

[Justathought]

This is a tough one. I don't know the legal market in Ohio, but that seems like a pretty good deal. Rutgers is too, but I am really hesitant to choose Newark myself, because its tied to state funding and is so public interest minded.

On an irresponsible note, Florida has such a great campus and community, and I would personally enjoy practicing there more than any of your current options. However, its expensive.... so I guess don't go.

I'm voting OSU.

Rutgers-Camden definitely gets a lot of love on these boards for a school of its caliber. Maybe it has something to do with their judicial clerkship placement? Its definitely a great bargain but their scholarship has ridiculous GPA stipulations...

As for Florida, what about the community do you know of? I haven't had a chance to visit so any information is helpful right now..

Not too much, just that I visited some friends there in undergrad (which is a long time ago since I'm 30!); they lived like kings for pennies. Their housing was more akin to a crappy resort (read - still pretty darn nice for college). I'm imagining the place hasn't gone down hill since 2002, so its probably still as awesome as ever. Let's put it this way, their quality of life was exceedingly high, given the amount it cost to live in Gainsville. The entire town caters to students, and its really a nice place to spend 3 years. Also, UF does have the best reputation in Florida, so I doubt you would be jobless if you performed. Still, we are talking a lot more cash than your other options.

As for Rutgers, I'm personally considering Newark, as I noted in the previous post. Both Rutgers get a lot of love because they are a steal when compared to other local options which may only provide marginally better job prospects. For example, Cardozo in NYC has 2% better placement in NLJ 250 firms. Is that 2% worth an extra 22k without even factoring in the extremely high cost of living in NYC? Most TLS posters will say, "no." Still, the Rutgers seem to be very public interest oriented, and again, they are tied to state funding, which can be shady - especially with a Seton Hall Law grad as Governor!

[voltage88]

True. I'd choose either Rutgers over Seton Hall any day despite the rankings. What kind of COA for Florida would sway your vote away from OSU? Any others with input?? I'm totally lost at this point.

[Patriot1208]

All are extremely regional, go where you want to practice. If you have no regional preference, go to the cheapest.

[Justathought]

True. I'd choose either Rutgers over Seton Hall any day despite the rankings. What kind of COA for Florida would sway your vote away from OSU? Any others with input?? I'm totally lost at this point.

Well I think cost of living would be about the same at OSU or UF. Probably a little higher at Temple or Rutgers. I think you would enjoy the highest quality of life at UF, but that's mainly because I'm a warm weather kind of guy.

So in the end, UF will cost about 40k more than OSU no matter how you slice it. If you don't want to practice in Ohio, but would like to practice in Florida, I would advise you to take Florida. 40k extra in student loans wouldn't ruin you.

As the poster above said, just go with your regional preference. Surely there must be someplace you would prefer to live in after graduation. If there isn't, I say go to OSU because it seems to have a better grasp on its market than Rutgers and is cheaper than Temple.

[voltage88]

True. I'd choose either Rutgers over Seton Hall any day despite the rankings. What kind of COA for Florida would sway your vote away from OSU? Any others with input?? I'm totally lost at this point.

Well I think cost of living would be about the same at OSU or UF. Probably a little higher at Temple or Rutgers. I think you would enjoy the highest quality of life at UF, but that's mainly because I'm a warm weather kind of guy.

So in the end, UF will cost about 40k more than OSU no matter how you slice it. If you don't want to practice in Ohio, but would like to practice in Florida, I would advise you to take Florida. 40k extra in student loans wouldn't ruin you.

As the poster above said, just go with your regional preference. Surely there must be someplace you would prefer to live in after graduation. If there isn't, I say go to OSU because it seems to have a better grasp on its market than Rutgers and is cheaper than Temple.

When it comes to Rutgers vs OSU, I was thinking the same thing: that OSU has a better grasp of its market. I also think the OSU name is much more recognizable. I'm just trying to convince myself that OSU is a better option at this point, but with Rutgers's cheap price tag and respectable reputation in its region, it's difficult

[drums!]

I'm also trying to choose between Rutgers-C and Temple - they will cost about the same when scholarships are factored in and they both feed the same markets. I plan on practicing in the area so I only applied to a few schools overall. I'm not sure what metric to use to decide here. As for the original poster - I would go with whatever is cheapest if nothing else trumps cost as a factor.

[revlawyer]

it's easy to get Florida Residency for 2L and 3L, plus I'd expect some scholly. Of the four, cross off Rutgers Camden if you want to work. The 3 remaining are regional schools. If you want one location over the other negotiate.

[BearsGrl]

it's easy to get Florida Residency for 2L and 3L, plus I'd expect some scholly. Of the four, cross off Rutgers Camden if you want to work. The 3 remaining are regional schools. If you want one location over the other negotiate.

No, it's not. They recently passed more residency requirements. I'd look into this before giving out this advice. You can't just claim residency unless you have a job there, vote there 12 months prior, etc..

You need to choose a school based on where you actually want to work. OSU/UF is not going to get you NE.

[BearsGrl]

Gainesville will also be drastically different from those other choices. It's not located near any water, it's in the Northern part of the State (think country - Ocala is known for horses & that's like an hour or so South, if that), but it is the best option for FL. But you also have to enter it knowing that FL has so many law schools that you're competing against those students too. Outside of CA, there's not a state that has more law schools and they're even talking about opening up another one near Daytona.

Just choose by the region and visit them because there ALL different, city-wise.

[slawww]

In-state FL residency seems pretty easy to obtain, and will reduce your COA by quite a bit.

http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/residency/qualifying.html

[untar614]

I live in gainesville now, and its still nice living for very cheap compared to most places (I'm spoiled by it - I freak out whenever I look at rental prices elsewhere). Pretty fun place, though its much more of an undergrad city. I'm sure there's some grad/professional stuff I'm unaware of, but I don't see as much of them. I visited Columbus not too long ago, and OSU's campus definitely blows UF's out of the water. After living here for a while, itd be nice to be in a real city, though I do love the warm weather.

Both have employment numbers that should cause concern. Looking at the OSU student thread, it seems even some top 20% people are having trouble finding work. I'd guess that top 10% at UF is probably better than top 10% at OSU just cuz there are more big cities with some markets, even if theyre not huge. But beyond that it's hard to say. FSU's law school is close to the same level, plus there are local (on the city level) law schools to compete with for a given major city. I've heard in Cincinnati, OSU grads will lose out to Cincy grads. Dunno how that plays out in other cities.

[romothesavior]

Since this thread was started two years ago, I'm gonna guess that OP doesn't need help with their decision anymore.