Mods please delete? Thanks. Forum

[elc414]

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[phillywc]

-1L but curious to hear the answer to this as a Philly guy myself

Temple for 5k a year seems pretty good though.. I'd probably go with that.

[rickgrimes69]

Don't go to Drexel. TLS is anti-drexel for two reasons: awful employment stats and lack of an alumni base.

Temple is marginally better, but when you say $5000 more a year for Temple is fairly negligible, this worries me, because that implies you are paying money for either of these schools. If you can't go for free, don't go to either.

[timbs4339]

Stips?

I'd strongly lean towards Temple. The faculty are going to be impressive at most schools since law schools are prestige whores, and you can get experiential education by volunteering (which it might be easier to do from Temple).

[elc414]

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[nick417]

Don't go to Drexel. TLS is anti-drexel for two reasons: awful employment stats and lack of an alumni base.

Temple is marginally better, but when you say $5000 more a year for Temple is fairly negligible, this worries me, because that implies you are paying money for either of these schools. If you can't go for free, don't go to either.

You know, it's hard to take anyone seriously who uses a reference from the "Walking Dead" as an avatar on a law school web site.

[locthebloke]

I visited Drexel this weekend and loved it, which really surprised me to be honest. The experiential education is very cool, and I was impressed with the faculty... I'm not looking for big-law - PI, gov't, or small firm work would be fine.

You sound *very* naive right now. None of this matters when the employment figures are what they are. Your ability to get a job is the bottom line and the only thing that counts. Is that faculty member who made you swoon going to matter when you can't find a job? (Don't be taken by law professors. They're just overpaid, underworked stiff-necks with questionable moral compasses).

OK, so Drexel is free for you. But you still have cost of living. And you also have to ask yourself if it's really worth committing 3 years of your life to something and exhausting your time and energy for what will most likely be little payout. You don't just pay in cash down the drain.

You yourself even recognize the lack of an alumni base, and yet you do mental gymnastics to get around it...why? "Well, m-maybe some concerned alumnus will get my back when I'm looking for a job!"

Good government and PI jobs can be--and usually are--just as competitive as Big Law. So you can't be of the mindset like, "It's okay, I *just* want PI, that's fine." It ain't gonna work like that.

I don't know who you are or your background, but do you *really* need to go to law school that bad?

[elc414]

Glad to see I was able to get some people all riled up this morning.

To clarify, I would be thrilled to work in PI. Having significant PI experience already, I am aware of how competetive the field is. What I meant was that due to my savings and scholarships, I won't need a big law salary in order to justify my education.

Alright, I'm off to gain some insight from JDs working and hiring in Philadelphia. I've already had the Temple talk with a few of them, but hadn't considered asking about Drexel. For those of you also interested in this, I'd be happy to PM you with what I learn.

[rickgrimes69]

Don't go to Drexel. TLS is anti-drexel for two reasons: awful employment stats and lack of an alumni base.

Temple is marginally better, but when you say $5000 more a year for Temple is fairly negligible, this worries me, because that implies you are paying money for either of these schools. If you can't go for free, don't go to either.

You know, it's hard to take anyone seriously who uses a reference from the "Walking Dead" as an avatar on a law school web site.

You know, it's hard to take anyone seriously who focuses on the avatar of the poster instead of the content of their posts.

[Dr. Dre]

You know, it's hard to take anyone seriously who focuses on the avatar of the poster instead of the content of their posts.

this is a TLS ad hominem

[somewhatwayward]

Glad to see I was able to get some people all riled up this morning.

To clarify, I would be thrilled to work in PI. Having significant PI experience already, I am aware of how competetive the field is. What I meant was that due to my savings and scholarships, I won't need a big law salary in order to justify my education.

Alright, I'm off to gain some insight from JDs working and hiring in Philadelphia. I've already had the Temple talk with a few of them, but hadn't considered asking about Drexel. For those of you also interested in this, I'd be happy to PM you with what I learn.

Although locthebloke's tone might be off-putting, his general message is correct. The things you are talking about (professors, "experiential" focus (BTW, this is the marketing ploy of every new law school), etc) are irrelevant to picking a school.

Talking to practicing lawyers, especially ones who graduated more than five years ago, does not give you much helpful info. First of all, if a prospective student is asking about a law school, the lawyer is going to assume you are considering it, so they obviously are not going to diss it. Even if they didn't think you were considering it, they probably wouldn't diss it just bc it is unprofessional, no matter how true. They are going to say something nice about all schools, which means you can't tell whether they are saying things to be nice or because they really believe them. Second, they are pretty out-of-touch with what hiring is like now. My mother went to a T30 in the mid-80s, and she refuses to believe that it is only placing about half its class int full-time long-term legal jobs. There was a time, not that long ago, when every law school graduate had a good shot at a job. This is no longer true, but a lot of practicing attorneys still operate in that mindset.

I thought I was gonna conclude that Temple ran away with this race, but I see now that it is only at 54% LT/FT employment while Drexel is at 43%. I guess Temple is better since it is only marginally more expensive for you, but it is critical that you stick to your plan of dropping out if you don't do well. If you are worried about getting experiential training at Temple, then do clinics/externships/internships. Drexel is not offering you anything in that area that a motivated law student can't get on his/her own.

[nick417]

Glad to see I was able to get some people all riled up this morning.

To clarify, I would be thrilled to work in PI. Having significant PI experience already, I am aware of how competetive the field is. What I meant was that due to my savings and scholarships, I won't need a big law salary in order to justify my education.

Alright, I'm off to gain some insight from JDs working and hiring in Philadelphia. I've already had the Temple talk with a few of them, but hadn't considered asking about Drexel. For those of you also interested in this, I'd be happy to PM you with what I learn.

Haha, I know, you can't post anything on here without the "know it all" trolls. They have all the answers and spend so much time trolling internet web sites. They provide zero help, I think they do it just to argue with people.

Let me know what you hear about Drexel. I have talked to the attorneys at the law office I work for in Philly and they think Drexel is a great deal (I have a very good scholarship offer also). They even suggested it over Temple and Villanova since its much cheaper.

Also, this nonsense that it doesn't matter what type of professors a school has is ridiculous. They are teaching you the law. Focusing on rankings is foolish if you aren't learning the legal profession. One problem today is schools are not preparing students for the legal profession. They try to focus on specialization which is a bad way to teach law.

[Dr. Dre]

Also, this nonsense that it doesn't matter what type of professors a school has is ridiculous.

no; 'type' of prof.'s doesn't mean shiTTT.

Drexel wouldn't be THAT bad of a choice; a little bit better than choosing UCI.

[timbs4339]

Glad to see I was able to get some people all riled up this morning.

To clarify, I would be thrilled to work in PI. Having significant PI experience already, I am aware of how competetive the field is. What I meant was that due to my savings and scholarships, I won't need a big law salary in order to justify my education.

Alright, I'm off to gain some insight from JDs working and hiring in Philadelphia. I've already had the Temple talk with a few of them, but hadn't considered asking about Drexel. For those of you also interested in this, I'd be happy to PM you with what I learn.

Haha, I know, you can't post anything on here without the "know it all" trolls. They have all the answers and spend so much time trolling internet web sites. They provide zero help, I think they do it just to argue with people.

Let me know what you hear about Drexel. I have talked to the attorneys at the law office I work for in Philly and they think Drexel is a great deal (I have a very good scholarship offer also). They even suggested it over Temple and Villanova since its much cheaper.

Also, this nonsense that it doesn't matter what type of professors a school has is ridiculous. They are teaching you the law. Focusing on rankings is foolish if you aren't learning the legal profession. One problem today is schools are not preparing students for the legal profession. They try to focus on specialization which is a bad way to teach law.

You've never been in a law school class, have you?

[manbearwig]

Drexel's crap compared to Temple. There's no alumni base, no reputation. Total crap shoot. And Temple is known for its practical skills teachings and clinicals.

[manofjustice]

No.

[OutCold]

I'm familiar with the Philly market. Drexel would be a bad choice. As others have said, it is a relatively new school and its alumni base is severely lacking. Philly biglaw tends to hire from Penn or the top of the class at other local schools. They dip a bit lower into Temple than the others. However, from a PI/Gov standpoint, Temple alums dominate DA, PD, and other local government positions. Penn grads usually head to firms in other cities, leaving that vacuum to be filled by the other local schools, and Temple pulls a lot of weight because of their large alumni presence in these organizations. If you want to stay in Philly and Penn is not an option, Temple is the next best choice, but certainly not at full tuition.

That being said, employment numbers at all the local schools are pretty discouraging. Sure, you might be going to school for almost nothing down, but remember the lost wages of three years of schooling coupled with the fact that most of the available jobs upon graduation will pay the same as what a BS or BA will earn you (as well as the fact that a JD actually locks you out of quite a few obs because of the perception of being "over-qualified"). It's your choice, but at least be aware of the facts.

Edit: Read your COA at Temple wrong. Fixed.

[magp90]

This has been said in various ways already, but the $5,000/year at Temple is probably worth their network. They have a lot of ins in Philadelphia that Drexel simply will not be able to develop for a good number of years. I think there is a sense in the city that Drexel will wind up being much more promising than places like Widener, but it just hasn't proven itself yet, and it's not clear how the students will get jobs without the networking that it required in this kind of business.

The co-op is a start, but unless you really want to be a pioneer, I'd recommend Temple. In fact, I have similar options (except Villanova is also on the table), and I'd rather put a few thousand more dollars on a bigger chance of employment and on their alumni network.

Temple has a great reputation in the city, so it's not like the Villanova v. Temple debate where they may be considered equals. Drexel is just not proven.

EDIT: Also, with the new rankings that just came out, you may be able to just put the education into perspective. Temple is at 56 and Drexel is at 126.

[paintbynumbers]

temple 10 times out of 10

[Ti Malice]

Glad to see I was able to get some people all riled up this morning.

To clarify, I would be thrilled to work in PI. Having significant PI experience already, I am aware of how competetive the field is. What I meant was that due to my savings and scholarships, I won't need a big law salary in order to justify my education.

Alright, I'm off to gain some insight from JDs working and hiring in Philadelphia. I've already had the Temple talk with a few of them, but hadn't considered asking about Drexel. For those of you also interested in this, I'd be happy to PM you with what I learn.

Haha, I know, you can't post anything on here without the "know it all" trolls. They have all the answers and spend so much time trolling internet web sites. They provide zero help, I think they do it just to argue with people.

Let me know what you hear about Drexel. I have talked to the attorneys at the law office I work for in Philly and they think Drexel is a great deal (I have a very good scholarship offer also). They even suggested it over Temple and Villanova since its much cheaper.

Also, this nonsense that it doesn't matter what type of professors a school has is ridiculous. They are teaching you the law. Focusing on rankings is foolish if you aren't learning the legal profession. One problem today is schools are not preparing students for the legal profession. They try to focus on specialization which is a bad way to teach law.

Another drivel-filled drive-by from the site's dumbest poster.

[elc414]

Got my answer. Thanks all!