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Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:03 am
by jarv1989
Hello,
A month ago I paid my deposit to St. Marys University School of Law.
Recently I found out that I have been accepted to Baylor School of Law for the Fall and I need to make my decision soon.
I've read that Baylor is a better law school, is better ranked and has a better bar passage rate.
Should I lose my deposit and go instead to Baylor ? is it worth to change my decision?
Keep in mind that Baylor is a bit more expensive than St. Marys and I have pretty much no scholarships from either school so I will be borrowing a lot of $$$ from loans.
Thanks!
J.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:08 am
by emkay625
Baylor is a much better school.
simultaneously, it is very expensive for the job prospects. What is your total cost of attendance going to be at St. Mary's?
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:13 am
by jarv1989
emkay625 wrote:Baylor is a much better school.
simultaneously, it is very expensive for the job prospects. What is your total cost of attendance going to be at St. Mary's?
St. Marys is $48,626 per year according to their site
http://www.stmarytx.edu/law/index.php?s ... uitionFees
While Baylor is $63,429 per 3 quarters
http://www.baylor.edu/sfs/index.php?id=87868
Thanks!
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:15 am
by rad lulz
lol don't go to either. It would be monumentally stupid to go to either at those prices.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:15 am
by jdhonest
Don't pay sticker for either. Just don't...
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:16 am
by chadwick218
OP, as far as job prospects are concerned, have you considered U of H? Much better job prospects at half the cost. I would be hesitant to go to either St. Mary's or Baylor absent a sizable scholarship. Is waiting another year and reapplying an option?
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:16 am
by togepi
Baylor will give you better job prospects, but as others will tell you, without any decent scholarship offers, both are horrible decisions right now.
Is there any way you can retake? You could try to at least get into Houston or SMU and be far better off next cycle.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:22 am
by emkay625
I meant did you have a scholarship at St. Mary's. Do you?
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:47 am
by rickgrimes69
rad lulz wrote:lol don't go to either. It would be monumentally stupid to go to either at those prices.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 1:17 am
by Stringer Bell
Honestly, St. Mary's is a somewhat underrated school in terms of placing their grads into small firms and PI in San Antonio. It's not worth sticker, but you could say that about most schools.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 1:23 am
by Teflon_Jeff
Do not attend.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:44 am
by jared6180
There seems to be a bit more room for negotiation of scholarships this cycle. Have you considered asking for $ from Baylor? Out of the two that would be your better choice.
TLS will generally discourage you from attending outside the T14 or T25. This is a rational response from posters that have studied the employment rankings on many schools outside these two classifications of schools. Nobody wants to see you graduate from Baylor with six figures worth of debt.
You have not provided your numbers in this thread, but I am sure taking a year off to study for an LSAT retake would be very beneficial for you. You could bump your score 10 points, and probably get 50-75% or more from Baylor. It is something to really consider.
I will not tell you not to attend, but certainly attend at your own risk. I wouldn't be comfortable with either of these options as they stand now.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:18 am
by DerekTokaz
The schools are pretty close in terms of employment outcomes, but St. Mary's is considerably less insanely expensive.
That said, I'll echo the other advice you're getting: don't pay sticker, wait, retake the LSAT, and go somewhere that gives you a ton of money. I wouldn't pick either of these schools if it meant more than $50,000 in debt.
Law schools are desperate right now, and upping your LSAT by just a few points could be the difference between no money and a full ride. If you insist on not waiting, at least tell Baylor that they need to come down to St. Mary's prices, then tell St. Mary's that Baylor is offering you some nice money.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:28 am
by Nova
Neither option is worth close to sticker
150k+ for SM or 190k+ for B is just crazy
You should probably retake.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:17 am
by CanadianWolf
OP: Are you willing to share your LSAT score & GPA ?
Regardless, do not attend either law school without significant scholarship aid if you need to borrow to attend.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:41 am
by Lord Randolph McDuff
chadwick218 wrote:OP, as far as job prospects are concerned, have you considered U of H? Much better job prospects at half the cost. I would be hesitant to go to either St. Mary's or Baylor absent a sizable scholarship. Is waiting another year and reapplying an option?
If by much better you mean slightly or not at all, then yes, UH has much better employment prospects than Baylor.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:47 am
by CanadianWolf
Houston's location offers much greater internship & externship opportunities as well.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:49 am
by abc12345675
CanadianWolf wrote:Houston's location offers much greater internship & externship opportunities as well.
These don't lead to jobs
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:56 am
by CanadianWolf
@abc1234: Job prospects are better in Houston than in Denver. Nevertheless, while many, or even most, internships/externships don't result in job offers, they do build resumes for legal work experience. DU is a big law school in a small market, but Houston is in a fairly large legal market.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:58 am
by Lord Randolph McDuff
abc12345675 wrote:CanadianWolf wrote:Houston's location offers much greater internship & externship opportunities as well.
These don't lead to jobs
Yes they do. Externing during the school year is a huge advantage.
Just saying UH >>> Baylor for location but Baylor >>> UH for alumni network. Baylor and UH are peers. If you want DA in Mid-land go to Baylor, if you want Houston or a shot at big law go to UH.
OP do not go to St. Mary's or Baylor at those prices. No one will marry you.
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 1:48 am
by BuckinghamB
jdhonest wrote:Don't pay sticker for either. Just don't...
Re: Baylor Law vs. St. Marys Law
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:04 am
by Easy-E