Temple 3L Taking Questions Forum

[arvcondor]

Could you tell me what kind of salaries you and your friends are getting? I'm in at Temple and trying to choose between attending there and keeping my current job.

Generally people don't discuss salaries

In other words, you're not willing to disclose one of the most relevant pieces of information you could offer?

[Justathought]

Could you tell me what kind of salaries you and your friends are getting? I'm in at Temple and trying to choose between attending there and keeping my current job.

Generally people don't discuss salaries

In other words, you're not willing to disclose one of the most relevant pieces of information you could offer?

I think he was saying that his friends don't share salary information with each other. The range of salary information he provided is what I've come to expect from Temple, and its likely that most people start out making a salary closer to the low end. Though I hope most people make more than 35,000.

[voltage88]

What part of Philly do a lot of Temple law students live in? I was looking at a few Center City apts. What are your recommendations with regards to what part of town to live in?

I'd say a vast majority of students live in rittenhouse, South Philly, grad hospital, art museum, and northern liberties, there's also a good deal of people in Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls. Anywhere in Center City or South Philly close to the Broad St. subway is a good call, because you can take the Broad St. line right to campus. I lived in East Falls my 1L year, and its a great neighborhood, but the Regional Rail only comes once every half hour or hour, so your life may revolve around the train schedule. Northern Liberties is a great neighborhood, so is the Art Museum.

The big high rise apartments in center city can be a rip off, so I would avoid those. If you want to live in a building, Parktown and Parkway house in the art museum area are good deals.

By high rise apartments in center city, are you referring to Adelphia house, chancellor apartments, etc etc..cause I was looking into those :\

[Justathought]

There needs to be more Old City love. I'm living around the corner from the home of Betsy Ross.



















Though apparently she's not currently living there.

[JakeG3636]

Could you tell me what kind of salaries you and your friends are getting? I'm in at Temple and trying to choose between attending there and keeping my current job.

Generally people don't discuss salaries

In other words, you're not willing to disclose one of the most relevant pieces of information you could offer?

No. My point is that when someone tells me they got a job, I don't ask "how much are you making?", because that is bad etiquette and makes people uncomfortable. I know my own salary (range $55k-$70k), the salaries at big firms ($120-145k in Philadelphia) and the public sector salaries ($45-65k). Most small and midsize firms pay $50-$80k, and that is what most people at Temple end up doing.

I am willing to discuss salaries, I just don't know exactly what most people are making, because that isn't something that people discuss.

[JakeG3636]

What part of Philly do a lot of Temple law students live in? I was looking at a few Center City apts. What are your recommendations with regards to what part of town to live in?

I'd say a vast majority of students live in rittenhouse, South Philly, grad hospital, art museum, and northern liberties, there's also a good deal of people in Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls. Anywhere in Center City or South Philly close to the Broad St. subway is a good call, because you can take the Broad St. line right to campus. I lived in East Falls my 1L year, and its a great neighborhood, but the Regional Rail only comes once every half hour or hour, so your life may revolve around the train schedule. Northern Liberties is a great neighborhood, so is the Art Museum.

The big high rise apartments in center city can be a rip off, so I would avoid those. If you want to live in a building, Parktown and Parkway house in the art museum area are good deals.

By high rise apartments in center city, are you referring to Adelphia house, chancellor apartments, etc etc..cause I was looking into those :\

Yeah, exactly. You can find a room in a rowhome or an apartment near the art museum for 2/3 or even half the price of those buildings and get the exact same quality of life.

[voltage88]

In all my searches for a cheap studio/one bedroom, I've seen that the high rises are the most affordable. Am I not searching in the right places? I've primarily looked through rent.com and, to a lesser extent, craigslist. Where else should I be looking at?

[JakeG3636]

In all my searches for a cheap studio/one bedroom, I've seen that the high rises are the most affordable. Am I not searching in the right places? I've primarily looked through rent.com and, to a lesser extent, craigslist. Where else should I be looking at?

I'm not knocking the high rises, just the ones right next to city hall. They are over priced. There are some goods ones in the art museum area. I have always used Craigslist. To be honest, Philly is a pretty affordable city, and an "expensive" one room or studio is still dirt cheap by NYC or DC standards. It's all relative.

[arvcondor]

Could you tell me what kind of salaries you and your friends are getting? I'm in at Temple and trying to choose between attending there and keeping my current job.

Generally people don't discuss salaries

In other words, you're not willing to disclose one of the most relevant pieces of information you could offer?

No. My point is that when someone tells me they got a job, I don't ask "how much are you making?", because that is bad etiquette and makes people uncomfortable. I know my own salary (range $55k-$70k), the salaries at big firms ($120-145k in Philadelphia) and the public sector salaries ($45-65k). Most small and midsize firms pay $50-$80k, and that is what most people at Temple end up doing.

I am willing to discuss salaries, I just don't know exactly what most people are making, because that isn't something that people discuss.

Understood, and sorry for the misunderstanding.

What kind of work are you doing?

[JakeG3636]

What kind of work are you doing?[/quote]

No problem. I am doing plaintiff side commercial, consumer and employment litigation in the Philadelphia suburbs. The pay is solid, and the work is great. I think a highly underrated aspect of working at a small or midsize firm, is that you get a degree of creative control over what you do, where you don't get that at a big firm. What I write generally gets submitted to court without too many edits and changes. As soon as I pass the bar, I will be doing trials and depositions. If you work at a big firm, you have at least one associate, one partner, and your corporate client with 300 in-house lawyers micromanaging everything you do, and you won't set foot in court for 5 years. Money is important, but I always urge people to consider what they want out of their jobs as well.

[arvcondor]

Do you commute from the city? Do you find that people are able to laterally transfer to jobs in the city after working in the suburbs for awhile?

[Justathought]

You mentioned heading to trial and taking depositions. It seems many new attorneys intentionally shy away from those arenas, and many more are not given a chance to partake due to the nature of their law firms. Assuming you feel fully prepared to tackle these endeavors, do you feel Temple's trial advocacy focus was a significant contributing factor in your preparation? Did you do the ITAP(I think that's what its called) concentration? Finally, do you think small/midsized firms and/or programs like JAG prefer to hire Temple students who concentrate on trial advocacy?

[JakeG3636]

Do you commute from the city? Do you find that people are able to laterally transfer to jobs in the city after working in the suburbs for awhile?

Yeah, I take the train from the city. You can definitely transfer from the suburbs to the city or vice versa. Once you start looking for your second job (if you choose to leave), its really about what you did during your first. Law school friends, practice groups and networking events can help. There's no hard and fast rule about how to go about doing it, but there's no reason why one can't move from the suburbs to the city.

[JakeG3636]

You mentioned heading to trial and taking depositions. It seems many new attorneys intentionally shy away from those arenas, and many more are not given a chance to partake due to the nature of their law firms. Assuming you feel fully prepared to tackle these endeavors, do you feel Temple's trial advocacy focus was a significant contributing factor in your preparation? Did you do the ITAP(I think that's what its called) concentration? Finally, do you think small/midsized firms and/or programs like JAG prefer to hire Temple students who concentrate on trial advocacy?

ITAP definitely has helped. That being said, I can't compare the preparation I got at Temple, versus another school. Firms that do a lot of trial litigation, especially in areas like criminal, personal injury, insurance defense, etc. like when people do the trial ad courses in law school. It's definitely helpful. I don't know so much about JAG. I know a couple of people doing JAG, and they both have previous military background. DA, public defender and city solicitor jobs really like the ITAP program, and by the time you get out, hopefully the budget situation will be better, so there will be more hiring by those agencies than there is now.

[voltage88]

Hey, I have a question about cross disciplinary opportunities at Temple. Are law students allowed to take courses in other departments like political science, history, anthro, etc?

[johnnyutah]

What part of Philly do a lot of Temple law students live in? I was looking at a few Center City apts. What are your recommendations with regards to what part of town to live in?

I'd say a vast majority of students live in rittenhouse, South Philly, grad hospital, art museum, and northern liberties, there's also a good deal of people in Manayunk, Roxborough and East Falls. Anywhere in Center City or South Philly close to the Broad St. subway is a good call, because you can take the Broad St. line right to campus.

I know some Temple Law folks in West Philly, too.

[johnnyutah]

In all my searches for a cheap studio/one bedroom, I've seen that the high rises are the most affordable. Am I not searching in the right places? I've primarily looked through rent.com and, to a lesser extent, craigslist. Where else should I be looking at?

PM for an in-depth discussion of Philly rental prices by neighborhood.

TL;DR version: the high rises are absolutely not the cheapest places to live in Philadelphia.

[johnnyutah]

Does it bother you when Villanova students claim to attend a peer school to temple? Do you laugh right then and there or wait till they walk away?

What basis do you have for claiming they're not peer schools?

The Temple alumni network mafia runs the city of Philadelphia.

[MrAnon]

I know Temple grads doing public interest law in the suburbs for 30k and some even working for free. Their parents pay their debt.

They had cushy housing during law school though!

[voltage88]

I know Temple grads doing public interest law in the suburbs for 30k and some even working for free. Their parents pay their debt.

They had cushy housing during law school though!

Why? Do they not know of İBR?

[MrAnon]

IBR doesn't wipe away debt. You still have to pay something. 30k a year jobs out of Temple aren't making a dent in the leftover debt after IBR.

[voltage88]

IBR doesn't wipe away debt. You still have to pay something. 30k a year jobs out of Temple aren't making a dent in the leftover debt after IBR.

They would only have to pay a very marginal amount of money making only 30K under IBR. I never said it wipes away debt. But considering there are families that get by with less than 30K I'm sure your friends can manage without having their parents pay for their debt.

[MrAnon]

yes, considering there are families living in poverty, it makes sense for law schools grads to do the same. They shouldn't cry about it at least.

[voltage88]

They can cry about it all they want. I was just merely trying to point out that, with appropriate personal financing, no one, barring extenuating circumstances like extreme credit card debt, etc etc, should have to ask their parents to make their loan payments making 30K/year. At least not anyone who's single.

[HeavenWood]

Does it bother you when Villanova students claim to attend a peer school to temple? Do you laugh right then and there or wait till they walk away?

What basis do you have for claiming they're not peer schools?

The Temple alumni network mafia runs the city of Philadelphia.

And yet job placement is practically equal.