Kent vs. Drexel Forum

[new2law]

I am trying to decide between Chicago-Kent, and Drexel Law. They are both offering money, 25K at Kent, and 30K at Drexel, Drexel has a 2.95 stipulation, Kent doesn't.

I hear that the Chicago market has a lot of competition from other schools in the region. On the other hand, at Drexel there is a chance I can lose my scholarship, though I love their co-op and clinical program.

I am inclined towards international law right now. Any advice?

[ndirish2010]

International law doesn't exist, especially from these schools.

If you get below a 2.95 from Drexel, you might as well drop out anyway, so don't consider that a stipulation.

Neither of these are great options, but I suppose I would choose Kent if I had to.

[new2law]

International law doesn't exist, especially from these schools.

If you get below a 2.95 from Drexel, you might as well drop out anyway, so don't consider that a stipulation.

Neither of these are great options, but I suppose I would choose Kent if I had to.

Thank you ndirish2010. Good point about the stipulation.

[HeavenWood]

FWIW, Kent will put you in a much better position in Chicago than Drexel will in Philadelphia.

[beach_terror]

Don't go to Drexel.

[new2law]

Thank you HeavenWood and beach_terror.

HeavenWood I worry about the competition, plus that Chicago's job market seems very tough right now.

beach_terror, I see a lot of skepticism about Drexel. Can you, please, share why you advice against Drexel.

thnx.

[beach_terror]

Thank you HeavenWood and beach_terror.

HeavenWood I worry about the competition, plus that Chicago's job market seems very tough right now.

beach_terror, I see a lot of skepticism about Drexel. Can you, please, share why you advice against Drexel.

thnx.

There are three better schools all within 20 minutes of Drexel. If you can't get into Penn and want Philadelphia, go to Villanova or Temple.

[HeavenWood]

Thank you HeavenWood and beach_terror.

HeavenWood I worry about the competition, plus that Chicago's job market seems very tough right now.

beach_terror, I see a lot of skepticism about Drexel. Can you, please, share why you advice against Drexel.

thnx.

Kent definitely isn't good for Chicago. It's simply the better of your two options. I would personally recommend a retake, but if you can't/won't, Kent is the better choice.

[new2law]

Thank you HeavenWood and beach_terror.

HeavenWood I worry about the competition, plus that Chicago's job market seems very tough right now.

beach_terror, I see a lot of skepticism about Drexel. Can you, please, share why you advice against Drexel.

thnx.

Kent definitely isn't good for Chicago. It's simply the better of your two options. I would personally recommend a retake, but if you can't/won't, Kent is the better choice.

Thanks HeavenWood. I will like to eventually move towards the east coast. Do you think Kent would still be a better choice than Drexel? I am waitlisted at Penn State, expecting to hear from them as well. But I don't think I will get any money from them. Kent and Penn State are not ranked much apart. If Penn State does extend and acceptance, do you think that would be a better choice, or about the same as Kent?

[northwood]

rankings dont matter much. go to the best school you can in the region you want to work. If none of your options that you have this cycle will get you there- aim and try again next cycle.

[tarp]

Beach_terror is an angry little man who goes to Villanova, and trolls around on here claiming his school is better. Personally, I dislike religion so I would take Drexel over Villanova any day, since Villanova is catholic-affiliated. Both are solid law schools, however, and Villanova has an awesome farmworker legal aid clinic that does trial-level immigration cases. Drexel has the Appellate Litigation Clinic, which was amazing (the professor is awesome).

For what it's worth, I was accepted to both Villanova and Drexel (didn't apply to Temple, not interested in hanging out in crack-infested ghettos) and I took Drexel's 30k. If Villanova offered more than Drexel, I may have chosen them. Law school for (almost) free = Easily one of the best decisions I ever made.

[beach_terror]

Nobody listen to tarp, he's one of the more delusional TLS posters. If Drexel is on par with other Philadelphia area schools, why isn't it on this list? - oh right, because it's not. And before you rebut with "well not everyone wants biglaw", the NLJ250 is still an excellent indicator of overall perception of a school's reputation within the legal community.

[ndirish2010]

Beach_terror is an angry little man who goes to Villanova, and trolls around on here claiming his school is better. Personally, I dislike religion so I would take Drexel over Villanova any day, since Villanova is catholic-affiliated. Both are solid law schools, however, and Villanova has an awesome farmworker legal aid clinic that does trial-level immigration cases. Drexel has the Appellate Litigation Clinic, which was amazing (the professor is awesome).

For what it's worth, I was accepted to both Villanova and Drexel (didn't apply to Temple, not interested in hanging out in crack-infested ghettos) and I took Drexel's 30k. If Villanova offered more than Drexel, I may have chosen them. Law school for (almost) free = Easily one of the best decisions I ever made.

LOL actually you're an angry Drexel troll. What good is an appellate litigation clinic when <5% of Drexel students will ever do appellate work? Villanova and Temple are far better schools than Drexel.

[HeavenWood]

Beach_terror is an angry little man who goes to Villanova, and trolls around on here claiming his school is better.

That's because his school is better.

[HeavenWood]

Thank you HeavenWood and beach_terror.

HeavenWood I worry about the competition, plus that Chicago's job market seems very tough right now.

beach_terror, I see a lot of skepticism about Drexel. Can you, please, share why you advice against Drexel.

thnx.

Kent definitely isn't good for Chicago. It's simply the better of your two options. I would personally recommend a retake, but if you can't/won't, Kent is the better choice.

Thanks HeavenWood. I will like to eventually move towards the east coast. Do you think Kent would still be a better choice than Drexel? I am waitlisted at Penn State, expecting to hear from them as well. But I don't think I will get any money from them. Kent and Penn State are not ranked much apart. If Penn State does extend and acceptance, do you think that would be a better choice, or about the same as Kent?

Penn State doesn't primarily feed into the East Coast either. Main destinations include Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg, smaller legal markets which tilt toward small-law/state government work. These markets aren't heavily sought after, but they are small, which still makes finding employment difficult.

[tarp]

A solid knowledge of appellate practice and procedure is essential for any practicing attorney, regardless of whether they do trial-level work, appellate work, or merely give advice. The concepts of standards of review, preservation of issues, waiver, etc. are important for all attorneys to understand.

I feel sorry for anyone who currently attends law school and asks with a straight face "[w]hat good is an appellate litigation clinic?" Sounds like the same kind of wannabe attorney who doesn't make an effort to understand the rules of evidence.

[HeavenWood]

A solid knowledge of appellate practice and procedure is essential for any practicing attorney, regardless of whether they do trial-level work, appellate work, or merely give advice. The concepts of standards of review, preservation of issues, waiver, etc. are important for all attorneys to understand.

I feel sorry for anyone who currently attends law school and asks with a straight face "[w]hat good is an appellate litigation clinic?" Sounds like the same kind of wannabe attorney who doesn't make an effort to understand the rules of evidence.

And what does this have to do with Drexel?

[ndirish2010]

A solid knowledge of appellate practice and procedure is essential for any practicing attorney, regardless of whether they do trial-level work, appellate work, or merely give advice. The concepts of standards of review, preservation of issues, waiver, etc. are important for all attorneys to understand.

I feel sorry for anyone who currently attends law school and asks with a straight face "[w]hat good is an appellate litigation clinic?" Sounds like the same kind of wannabe attorney who doesn't make an effort to understand the rules of evidence.

Yeah, I'm an intern at a state court of appeals, I'm aware it's pretty helpful. Not to get jobs though. Sorry.

[tarp]

Anyone who seriously considers taking advice from this forum also, like HeavenWood, needs to have their head examined. Most of the posters here do not live in reality. They are mostly undergrads and 1L's who don't know anything about law, and have never worked in a law office. I am a rising 3L and I am sitting at my legal internship right now, so I have more perspective.

Also, appellate knowledge/experience is helpful to get a legal job. What are you smoking? Any law firm would consider it an asset.

[HeavenWood]

Anyone who seriously considers taking advice from this forum also, like HeavenWood, needs to have their head examined. Most of the posters here do not live in reality. They are mostly undergrads and 1L's who don't know anything about law, and have never worked in a law office. I am a rising 3L and I am sitting at my legal internship right now, so I have more perspective.

Also, appellate knowledge/experience is helpful to get a legal job. What are you smoking? Any law firm would consider it an asset.

I never said appellate knowledge/experience isn't helpful. I merely suggested attending Drexel is a bad idea. The solution: go to a better school AND do legal clinics. Win-win, baby!

[beach_terror]

Anyone who seriously considers taking advice from this forum also, like HeavenWood, needs to have their head examined. Most of the posters here do not live in reality. They are mostly undergrads and 1L's who don't know anything about law, and have never worked in a law office. I am a rising 3L and I am sitting at my legal internship right now, so I have more perspective.

Also, appellate knowledge/experience is helpful to get a legal job. What are you smoking? Any law firm would consider it an asset.

--ImageRemoved--

[ndirish2010]

Anyone who seriously considers taking advice from this forum also, like HeavenWood, needs to have their head examined. Most of the posters here do not live in reality. They are mostly undergrads and 1L's who don't know anything about law, and have never worked in a law office. I am a rising 3L and I am sitting at my legal internship right now, so I have more perspective.

Also, appellate knowledge/experience is helpful to get a legal job. What are you smoking? Any law firm would consider it an asset.

Wish I was smoking what you are. Drexel is a TTT and their "appellate clinic" won't change that.

[HeavenWood]

Anyone who seriously considers taking advice from this forum also, like HeavenWood, needs to have their head examined. Most of the posters here do not live in reality. They are mostly undergrads and 1L's who don't know anything about law, and have never worked in a law office. I am a rising 3L and I am sitting at my legal internship right now, so I have more perspective.

Also, appellate knowledge/experience is helpful to get a legal job. What are you smoking? Any law firm would consider it an asset.

Wish I was smoking what you are. Drexel is a TTTTT and their "appellate clinic" won't change that.

You missed two T's.

[beach_terror]

Also, relevant to the OP, Drexel's co-op never turns into job offers. You are free labor with no strings attached. Just keep that in mind. I went to their ASW and they presented it like the co-op program was awesome because you form a bond with the employer and all that. Someone asked "do they ever get job offers out of it" and I wish I could have took a picture of the speaker's reaction and the attempted explanation was: "uhhh no, we haven't had much success with that so far" student: "so has ANYONE got a job offer" speaker: "... No."

[JuTMSY4]

I'm from the region and I also attend a school not yet mentioned on this discussion

The biggest problem with Drexel is the lack of alumni in general (its a new school). That alone puts it on a more difficult footing than Temple, 'Nova or even Widener or Rutgers (neighboring schools that are essentially in the same region) in the Philadelphia area alone. Just outside the city, 'Nova, Rutgers and Widener own their respective outskirts and Temple has a very strong presence in many Philadelphia city jobs (they own the DA's office). Plus you've got Penn grads scrambling and willing to take Philly jobs.

Co-op in law school isn't co-op in undergrad. Co-op in undergrad is immensely valuable and often leads to fulltime employment - it's generally a very length experience (6 months) and is full time. Co-op in law school isn't and ABA requirements prevent you from being paid for a co-op...it's a glorified externship (and that's a shame, because it could be valuable if the system were ever reworked).

The ultimate question is region. Kent would probably do worse in Philly than Drexel and definitely vice versa.

Drexel's also cheaper (I think their tuition is 32k). Less the 30k scholarship and plus COL, you're looking at maybe 15k in costs per year.

I think Drexel's a cool school and I think their program has a lot of new and great ideas, but it's a really big risk. Maybe they'll have a base in a few decades, but until then and I don't think anyone on here can confidently recommend Drexel.

Oh and Penn State isn't really in the Philly Region and they don't offer instate tuition. You'd have maybe a marginally better shot at a job (all things holding equal) with a PSU JD over Drexel, but you'd probably pay 2-3 times more for it.