Top Law Schools

I had my heart set on going to Fordham, but unfortunately I got denied today. I am from New York and want to stay in the area.

Hofstra offered me 40,000/year and St. John's offered me 35,000/year. Still waiting to hear from Minnesota and Cornell.

Which school between the two should I choose?

Stips? Practice area/location goals?

Top 40% at both schools. My goal is to get into IP, Corporate, or Criminal and stay on Long Island or NYC

Top 40%? Fuck those stips, they are unacceptable. You know the answer my friend -> Retake, and or Reapply.

Just wondering, what are your stats?

Vpassarelli wrote:Top 40% at both schools. My goal is to get into IP, Corporate, or Criminal and stay on Long Island or NYC

Top 40% is way too high. See if you can negotiate them down to top 75%.

You can forget about corporate and IP- not happening from either of those schools unless you have a STEM Ph.d, but if you really want to do small time crim law or PD/DA work, neither of those schools for free are the worst way in the world to spend three years. You have about a 50% shot of landing a legal job afterwards.

dissonance1848 wrote:Top 40%? Fuck those stips, they are unacceptable. You know the answer my friend -> Retake, and or Reapply.

Just wondering, what are your stats?

167 LSAT/2.6 LSDAS, have. Masters Degree with a 3.97 and 5 years WE

Retake and go to NW or just stay at your current job

rad lulz wrote:Retake and go to NW or just stay at your current job

+1. Another couple of points you could probably get some really solid schools to forgive your 2.6.

And if you really can't improve, did you apply to any of the splitter friendly schools? Could have gotten some money for your 167, even with a 2.6.

I know you've got a lot of scholarship money, but you're still talking about a ton of money over 3 years for pretty bleak prospects.

A re-take would mean waiting another year and a half to start school. At the same time, I'm a Business Education teacher at the high school level. Currently I'm not in a school district but in the long run a law degree can only up my salary upon completion should I not be able to attain a decent law job.

As for the stipends, in the end wouldn't it just force me to excel? Which I want to do anyway if I want even a shot at landing a solid job out of those schools?

Vpassarelli wrote:As for the stipends, in the end wouldn't it just force me to excel? Which I want to do anyway if I want even a shot at landing a solid job out of those schools?

Everyone at these schools is "forced to excel" because everyone is fighting to keep scholarships and get jobs. This is pretty convoluted reasoning. You have no idea how you'll do.

The fact that you have a job currently is even more reason to wait on going to law school now. These schools are not very good and your odds are not good of working as a lawyer (see the Law School Transparency data), at least not in any sort of meaningful career.

You may need to wait a year, but the salary difference in the long run, career opportunities, and possible scholarships at other schools with a difference of a few points makes the year worth it. Especially since you have a job and can work for the year. People can be so short sighted on here.

Thanks for all of the advice it is appreciated. The reason for my previous answers is that I'm already 27 and holding off another year would make me around 32 after graduation.

However, everything said makes sense and is appreciated

Vpassarelli wrote:Thanks for all of the advice it is appreciated. The reason for my previous answers is that I'm already 27 and holding off another year would make me around 32 after graduation.

However, everything said makes sense and is appreciated

FWIW, my best friend in law school is a 31 year old 3L and my current lady interest is a 29 year old 1L.

I think you should take one more good, hard crack at the LSAT. You owe it to yourself. If you can't get it any higher, go to the cheapest decent school in your region.

Vpassarelli wrote:Thanks for all of the advice it is appreciated. The reason for my previous answers is that I'm already 27 and holding off another year would make me around 32 after graduation.

However, everything said makes sense and is appreciated

33 y/o 2L here. Totally worth waiting and putting myself in the best possible position to succeed. 32 is not as old as you think it is.