Public Interest in the NY area, little debt. Forum

[erican09]

My #s are 161 & 3.71
I know I'll probably hear to retake the LSAT, but that's not an option for me at this point.
I have a few leadership roles on campus, I'm URM and i'm also a first generation student from CU Denver.

I've applied to:

Columbia (I know I'm probably out already)
CUNY
Brooklyn
Northeastern
Fordham
Rutgers - Newark
Colorado

I don't want a ton of debt, as I only want to be a public defender or something of the sort.
I also just got a fee waiver from Cardozo and am considering applying. I would love to work for the innocence project, but I don't know much else about Cardozo and their employment prospects.

Any advice on what school would be the best pick for me? I'm leaning strongly towards CUNY because of the price, but I don't want to ignore the rest if there's a possiblity they'd be a better fit.

Thanks!

[JCFindley]

You'll probably be in at all the NYC area schools except CLU.

Make a choice based on $$$.

[Swimp]

OP, why did you decide to apply to CLS and not NYU? Particularly if you're interested in PI, NYU would seem to be worth a shot.

[TheThriller]

OP, why did you decide to apply to CLS and not NYU? Particularly if you're interested in PI, NYU would seem to be worth a shot.

OP will need to retake to 170+ to have a shot at CCN, particularly NYU for their PI program and LARP

Edit: Saw the URM. But I would still advocate a retake to a least a 165+

[Doorkeeper]

I know you want NY area, but you might want to consider Chicago, Duke, Michigan, and Cornell. They all seem to be open to accepting a URM with a low-160s LSAT and your GPA range. I'm not sure about whether any of these schools have any scholarships that would help you lower your debt, but many of them have great LRAP programs.

Please do not set yourself short school wise because of geography unless you absolutely must. The employment prospects coming out of Duke or Chicago are FAR beyond what they are for any school in NYC that's not Columbia or NYU.

See:
http://myLSN.info/xt0i42

[Swimp]

OP, why did you decide to apply to CLS and not NYU? Particularly if you're interested in PI, NYU would seem to be worth a shot.

OP will need to retake to 170+ to have a shot at CCN, particularly NYU for their PI program and LARP

OP is a URM. But even if 166 is a little low, I'm mostly just curious why someone who is interested in PI would choose to apply to CLS and not to NYU.

EDIT: Haha okay, I misread too. 161 is pretty low for T14, yeah.

[erican09]

I should note - I recently visited New York and fell in love with it. My fiance is a software developer and while he can get job pretty much anywhere, he's finding some great prospects in NY. I'm not necessarily tied to NY, but I'd really like to live there.

I thought the market for Public Interest Lawyers in NY was good - is that not the case?

Man, this picking a school business is really hard. And I haven't even been accepted anywhere yet!

Thank you all for your comments so far.

[TheThriller]

I should note - I recently visited New York and fell in love with it. My fiance is a software developer and while he can get job pretty much anywhere, he's finding some great prospects in NY. I'm not necessarily tied to NY, but I'd really like to live there.

I thought the market for public interest lawyers in NY was good - is that not the case?

Man, this picking a school business is really hard. And I haven't even been accepted anywhere yet!

Thank you all for your comments so far.

What type of URM

Instead of choosing law schools based on the surrounding regional market, one should look at placement power of law schools into those regional markets. For instance, if I wanted to be a lawyer in Miami, I would 100% take a T14 that places well in Miami over UofMiami.

[erican09]

I'm Hispanic.

I don't necessarily know where I want to practice. I'm not tied to any particular area after school, and I don't want to stay in CO and go to Boulder. I could see myself living in NY after law school, so I figured going to a regional law school in NY would be a good bet.

[TheThriller]

I'm Hispanic.

I don't necessarily know where I want to practice. I'm not tied to any particular area after school, and I don't want to stay in CO and go to Boulder. I could see myself living in NY after law school, so I figured going to a regional law school in NY would be a good bet.

Just to note: You should be careful on what law schools consider as URMs. I know that some Hispanics do not receive a URM boost and those that do receive less of a boost in comparison to AAs and NAs.

A T14 will give you the mobility to work in more places then a regional school. Fordham will not get you to Texas if you find that NY isn't your thing (because it really is its own beast). However, a T14 opens up more options.

[erican09]

What about if I'm not looking for a ton of flexibility? Like I said, I doubt i'm going to want to pick up and move anytime soon after law school, especially if my fiance has a good job.

With that being said, which of these schools would be my best bet? Should I just choose by who gives me the most money, if any at all?

[dingbat]

Apply to all of them and go to the cheapest one (my guess is CUNY, but 'Dozo gave out really generous scholarships last year)

[Doorkeeper]

What about if I'm not looking for a ton of flexibility? Like I said, I doubt i'm going to want to pick up and move anytime soon after law school, especially if my fiance has a good job.

With that being said, which of these schools would be my best bet? Should I just choose by who gives me the most money, if any at all?

Honestly, if your fiance is a software developer he can find a job in most major cities. I would really caution going to the best school that you can. Getting into public interest is not easy. It's actually quite competitive. In addition, you will need a school with a solid LRAP program. I would apply very broadly, see what the best school you get into is, and try to plan accordingly.

[erican09]

Thanks all. After reading these and some other boards I sent out some more apps to the schools that sent me fee waivers since I got so many, and from good schools. More choices so I can get the best school for a reasonable price.

[sd5289]

If you're only interested in being a public defender or something similar, take a strong look at CUNY. That place is practically a feeder into Legal Aid Society. It has strong relationships with many other public defense programs (I can think of several public defender friends off the top of my head who were CUNY grads). They also have a Graduate Fellowship that waives tuition and gives you a $10K/yr living stipend. Won't cover entire COL, but live in Queens and you'll be able to cut some of your costs.

[jenesaislaw]

If you're only interested in being a public defender or something similar, take a strong look at CUNY. That place is practically a feeder into Legal Aid Society. It has strong relationships with many other public defense programs (I can think of several public defender friends off the top of my head who were CUNY grads). They also have a Graduate Fellowship that waives tuition and gives you a $10K/yr living stipend. Won't cover entire COL, but live in Queens and you'll be able to cut some of your costs.

Just keep in mind that 20.7% of CUNY graduates had public service jobs (PI or gov't) 9 months after graduation. (And that 36% had legal jobs total.) They may bill themselves as public interest in spirit, but the outcomes point to struggle despite the relatively low cost. http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=cuny-queens

[Nole06]

I've also been looking into affordable schools in that area that focus on public interest. I found CUNY and UDC to be exactly that, although bar passage and employment stats are questionable. I'm still looking into both...

[timbs4339]

CUNY or Brooklyn/Dozo with a large scholly. Consider sitting out a year or two and making some connections within the industry. For PI jobs, experience/networking/interning during school mean more than they do for private practice (excluding the top PI jobs) although school/rank are still important. Don't pay more than 15K per year for law school. I assume the fiance will be helping with living expenses.

[vanwinkle]

If you want NY, then don't even bother with Northeastern or Colorado. That makes no sense. They're both too low-ranked and in the wrong place. (Northeastern has little reach outside of Boston, especially ITE.)

Cardozo is free, so I'd apply there, but unless they give you scholarship $$$ I wouldn't go. That's a decision for later though.

You really should be applying to NYU, and probably UVA, Penn, GULC, BC, BU. You'll get into at least some of them. Some might give you $$. The sooner you get your apps in, the sooner you're likely to get $$ from those that might give it, since they start running out of money to offer at some point. Again, whether to actually attend will be a decision for later, but if you want to have options you should be applying to a number of schools, and schools near the top. 161/3.71/Hispanic has at least some chance at all the schools I've mentioned.

Good luck.

[Rahviveh]

If you're only interested in being a public defender or something similar, take a strong look at CUNY. That place is practically a feeder into Legal Aid Society. It has strong relationships with many other public defense programs (I can think of several public defender friends off the top of my head who were CUNY grads). They also have a Graduate Fellowship that waives tuition and gives you a $10K/yr living stipend. Won't cover entire COL, but live in Queens and you'll be able to cut some of your costs.

Just keep in mind that 20.7% of CUNY graduates had public service jobs (PI or gov't) 9 months after graduation. (And that 36% had legal jobs total.) They may bill themselves as public interest in spirit, but the outcomes point to struggle despite the relatively low cost. http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=cuny-queens

20% is still a very high rate. Does that overlap at all with their 12.6% school funded rate?

[jenesaislaw]

Nope, it doesn't overlap.