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[20130312]

Sunynp's post is excellent.

Also IGF I thought you were gonna retake, or at least I remember you saying that last cycle.

Yeah that was the plan, but then I got a full scholly to a local school.

Gotta love dat scholly $$$

You know it brother

[somewhatwayward]

I'm sorry OP but I have to agree with the retake advice. If you absolutely will not wait a year, you could retake in June so and use that as leverage to at least get a better scholarship from wherever you do commit to. Also, you need to negotiate like crazy on your scholarships. Only a few schools are worth paying any tuition to (remember you will have COL anywhere so even if you get a full ride, you still go at least 50K in debt) - either HYS or maybe the T14. No other school's reputation is worth paying for when you have other full ride options on the table although you do want to keep employment stats in the picture, so if the full-ride school places less than 50%, that would be a no-no.

Honestly it sounds like you are just going bc you don't ave any better options. I think this is a very bad plan. At the very least spend the next six months before you enroll looking into other career possibilities. The legal field is a total mess right now. It is not a stable career, even for people who go to top schools and excel.

[jstr00az]

OP: I feel for you. I spend all my time on this forum telling people not to go to law school. But I know that most people are just looking for a better life. They have been told for decades that law school will provide a better life. The employment market is even worse for lawyers than it is for people without law degrees and law school is just way too expensive. You will end up paying off your debt for decades and you may not ever practice law. That is just the reality.

What that person wrote was 1) well written, 2) good advice and, 3) probably won't be heeded. It is indeed a shame that people still believe that getting a law degree is the best shot at a comfortable, middle class existence. But it is not. Maybe when the price of law school was $150,000 less than it is today and the job market was better, the argument could be made.

But not today. You are especially poorly equipped to go to law school because you don't really know what you want to do with the law degree. There's nothing wrong with that, except there's something catastrophically dumb about taking on hundreds of thousands of non-dischargeable debt to do it.

[Giddy-Up]

If you are looking at schools outside the top, I would advise going at night and only if you get substantial scholarships. The COL is a big expense, as many have recognized. Plus, if you are already working you are guaranteed not to be unemployed when you graduate.

[collegewriter]

Tell Cardozo you want a full ride. That's what I did and they gave it to me. They are VERY eager to improve the class and hand out money like candy. That being said, Cardozo is the best school on your list to get you into a firm job simply because of the connections in NYC. Despite what some posters may feel, big firms DO actively recruit here and getting a leg up into an IP job is a total possibility. In addition, Cardozo has many connections with prestigious public interest jobs (like the Innocence Project) and you should have no trouble getting internships etc. I had my pick of internship offers with the US Attorney's Office and the like. It helps to be in the top 10% of the class (obviously) but I don't know anyone who has had trouble securing summer employment so far and this translates to positions down the road.

Will you get a Big Law job outside the top 15% here? Probably not unless you work your butt off. However, getting a great job is a total possibility and with generous financial aid you won't be locked into working at a firm if you don't want to. Keep in mind the cost of living! City living is expensive everywhere.

Also, the level of competition at Cardozo is less (people are super nice) and we have REINERT (litigated a Civ Pro case that every 1L reads) which pretty much makes up for anything bad you could say about us

I honestly wouldn't accept at many of your schools without generous aid and Cardozo is in a good position to give it to you.

[northwood]

are you a New York State Resident? If not, then definately cross of Buffalo for a variety of reasons, including the fact that out of state tuition is 15K more a year.