Final Decision Time - Temple or St. Johns? Forum

[Google225]

I currently have about 24 hours to make a decision on law school, and I have a bit of a dilemma.

I have an admissions offer from a good school in the Philadelphia area, where I currently live. This school would give me plenty of options for getting involved, and I like the atmosphere.

I also received a great offer from a slightly less competitive NY school that would only be a little more expensive then living at home and attending school in PA.

I see myself practicing law in NY in the future, but I like almost everything about the PA school better. I guess my question is: is it do-able to attend law school in the Philly area then look for employment in New York? Obviously it's not the best option, but is it do-able?

[bk1]

Schools? How much debt will you be taking out?

[Google225]

The schools are Temple and St. Johns,

Temple would come to about 16k/yr for tuition. St. Johns would only make me pay about 5k a year but then I'd need to take out loans to cover living expenses.

[bk1]

I'd easily take Temple because it will cost you around 50k. St. John's is a terrible idea because it would cost more and is at the bottom of the pile of NYC schools. While it is possible to get NYC from Temple, accept that you might be working in PA for a while before that happens.

[ndirish2010]

The answer is very rarely St. John's.

[arvcondor]

The answer is clearly Temple, but it comes with some compromises you'll be forced to make – namely, that you probably won't be working in NYC. As far as pecking orders go, Temple is tied for second in a market with about 5-6 schools. As a poster above me mentioned, St. John's lies close to the very bottom of a hugely saturated market targeted by graduates from most of the top schools (and a ton of not-top schools).

To answer your question of whether Temple-to-NYC is "doable": It is in the sense that there are no physical laws precluding it, and every now and then a Temple grad lands a job there, but it's not something you should at all rely on. Plan on working in Philly.

What sort of work are you trying to do?