Help very much needed!!!! Forum

[sweetpea123]

I am trying to decide among the following options:

Rutgers Newark (in state tuition plus 12k scholly)
Northeastern (60k)
Washington and Lee (45k)
Pepperdine
Wake Forest
Tulane (75k)

My parents are paying for my tuition, so finances are not a huge factor in my decision. I am mainly focused on which option will have the best employment prospects. Ideally, I would like to go to the school that has the best national reputation and offers the most portability. Any advice to help me make a decision would be greatly appreciated!

[rinkrat19]

Hate to break it to ya, but none of those have much of a national reputation or are particularly portable.

Where do you want to end up, geographically?

[flem]

Hate to break it to ya, but none of those have much of a national reputation or are particularly portable.

This.

Tulane has the most "portability" but would be relegated to certain parts of the south. I'd say that's your best option of these, but all of these seem incompatible to what you want.

[CanadianWolf]

All of these law school are regional in terms of placement.

OP: In one of your earlier posts, you wrote that you want to live & work in the Northeast US after law school. On this basis, Rutgers-Newark looks good since you live within commuting distance & it is probably the lowest cost from among all of your options.

[Easy-E]

I am trying to decide among the following options:

Rutgers Newark (in state tuition plus 12k scholly)
Northeastern (60k)
Washington and Lee (45k)
Pepperdine
Wake Forest
Tulane (75k)

My parents are paying for my tuition, so finances are not a huge factor in my decision. I am mainly focused on which option will have the best employment prospects. Ideally, I would like to go to the school that has the best national reputation and offers the most portability. Any advice to help me make a decision would be greatly appreciated!

None of those degrees are going to travel well. What are your numbers?

[rad lulz]

Hate to break it to ya, but none of those have much of a national reputation or are particularly portable.

Where do you want to end up, geographically?

[sweetpea123]

I probably want to end up in the northeast- ideally nj, ct, or ma. i have strong ties in nj and in boston. my numbers are 162 and 3.6 undergrad at an ivy.

[tennisking88]

I probably want to end up in the northeast- ideally nj, ct, or ma. i have strong ties in nj and in boston. my numbers are 162 and 3.6 undergrad at an ivy.

I assume a retake is not an option? I mean, for NJ/CT/MA, the best option is probably NE/Rutgers. I think WL is the best school, but will probably not get you back to that area.

[JamMasterJ]

Tulane, W&L, or (best option) retake

[JasonR]

Are you a URM?

My advice is retake and reapply.

[sweetpea123]

no, i'm a white 21 year old female. and retake is not an option. i studied for a year and unfortunately 162 was about my best score. i'm really torn because i know W&L is a really great school, but i'm not sure how i would fit in with the culture at the school and the rest of the student body. if i don't choose W&L my next choice would probably be Tulane, but Northeastern comes close just because it's in the geographic region I want to end up in and I really don't want to have to commute 45 mins to Rutgers Newark every day of my life for the next 3 years.

[bdole2]

no, i'm a white 21 year old female. and retake is not an option. i studied for a year and unfortunately 162 was about my best score. i'm really torn because i know W&L is a really great school, but i'm not sure how i would fit in with the culture at the school and the rest of the student body. if i don't choose W&L my next choice would probably be Tulane, but Northeastern comes close just because it's in the geographic region I want to end up in and I really don't want to have to commute 45 mins to Rutgers Newark every day of my life for the next 3 years.

Go to a school in a region you want to practice. Also, 45 minute commute isn't that bad.

[MrAnon]

There are people who commute for 2 hours each way to work and then home again for their entire career. Rutgers sounds like a good option since you feel like you have to go to law school right now. But honestly a non-law career would be as good as what these schools offer on average at the end of three years.

[seancris]

If debt isn't an issue, you're really not risking anything. Go wherever you feel comfortable/confident in your prospects to get top grades.

[sweetpea123]

Thank you all for the advice so far!
Also I just got an email from Pepperdine- they're now giving me 15k per year. Please please please keep voting to help me weigh my options

[t14fanboy]

Thank you all for the advice so far!
Also I just got an email from Pepperdine- they're now giving me 15k per year. Please please please keep voting to help me weigh my options

Your post kind of worries me. Pep should be out of the equation completely because 1) its expensive 2) it will most likely not allow you to get a job in the northeast.

[bobbyh1919]

This one is pretty easily Rutgers, though retake is credited as well. Did you only take the test once?

[linquest]

What do you want to do with your JD?

[t14fanboy]

What do you want to do with your JD?

Get a legal jerb obviously?

[Randomnumbers]

Well, apparently you did your undergrad at an Ivy which your parents paid for, and now you want to go to law school and they are still paying. Which means your parents are rich and you'll be fine anyways, so just go to Pepperdine and enjoy Malibu, and enjoy the shock of no longer having grade inflation.

[sd5289]

Northeastern is only going to place you well in Boston, and that's assuming your interests are PI, AND that those interests are nonprofit PI (their LRAP doesn't cover government attorneys). They market themselves as a PI law school, and they have a very funky "evaluations" system. There are no grades. Your professors give out evaluations that are basically narratives of your performance. This means that if your prospective employer has never interviewed a Northeastern grad, they are going to be in for a shock when you come in rocking a 1 inch stack of evaluations from your professors masquerading as your transcript and evaluations from your 'co-op' employers. This, combined with the fact that they do not place well outside of Boston, was more than enough to deter me from going there (they accepted me back in December and were very enthusiastic). W&L and Wake Forest aren't going to place you well up here either, which is I withdrew from those too. I didn't apply to any of the other schools you listed, so I can't speak to them.

[bmore]

Even though you are not taking out loans, and you are not paying, somebody is. Since none of these are very good options please be kind to your parents and select the cheapest option.

[seancris]

Even though you are not taking out loans, and you are not paying, somebody is. Since none of these are very good options please be kind to your parents and select the cheapest option.

lol

[imbored25]

you don't wanna spend 3 years in newark, go to wake

[timbs4339]

I voted R-N. NE second but I've heard that while they love to tout their co-op programs their actual placement is pretty shitty.

None of these schools travel well and none of them place well into biglaw. You will most likely end up in state government or a small firm making 40-60K.

Please make sure your parents have money to burn by doing this. Almost as bad as kids taking out loans for TTT schools at sticker are parents pulling from their retirement or home equity to pay for TTT schools at sticker.