Top Law Schools

Hi all. Very torn between these two. From long island so I could theoretically live at home and go to both of these schools although my goal is to move out as I am going to be 28. Brooklyn gave me 33k out of about 49k per year and Cardozo gave me 18k out of about 50k per year. Due to the new rankings, Brooklyn dropping to 80, I am leaning towards Cardozo.

What do you guys think?

CalamityPhysics wrote:Hi all. Very torn between these two. From long island so I could theoretically live at home and go to both of these schools although my goal is to move out as I am going to be 28. Brooklyn gave me 33k out of about 49k per year and Cardozo gave me 18k out of about 50k per year. Due to the new rankings, Brooklyn dropping to 80, I am leaning towards Cardozo.

What do you guys think?

Go to Brooklyn, live at home, save money. If you have stipulations on that scholarship get them removed. Try negotiating with each school to increase the scholarship amounts if you haven't done so already.

Both of these schools have poor employment prospects so you should be trying to go for as cheaply as possible.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=cardozo

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=brooklyn

Employment numbers and potential debt mean everything...rankings mean NOTHING outside of the T-14.

First of all, minor fluctuations rankings are completely worthless. They should matter zilch, zero, nada, none in your analysis.

In order to give you better answers, could you please provide us with this pertinent information?

Both schools have very bad placement statistics in the current legal hiring glut. If you're going to go to one of them, you'd better be (a) absolutely burning to be an attorney, (c) not giving up a good-paying career outside law, and (c) graduating with debt of no more than about 50K.

Are a, b and c all true? If yes, go to the one that gives you the most money with the fewest strings attached. If no, don't go.

Also, if you have a strong GPA and weak LSAT, stop everything and retake the LSAT; you will have better options.

Finally: Forget the USNews rankings. Go with the school that gives you the best combination of job placement clout in your target market and low cost of attendance.

ETA: JUST NOTICED THAT YOUR STATS ARE IN YOUR PROFILE. RETAKE THE LSAT AND GET YOUR SCORE UP TO 170. IT CAN BE DONE. 3.4/170 WILL GET YOU BETTER SCHOOLS AND/OR BETTER SCHOLARSHIPS.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. Here is more of my info:

I am planning to live and work in NYC. I'm not necessarily going to apply to a law firm, I am interested in Jury Consulting which combines law and psyc (majored in psyc). I also am waiting to hear from Fordham but I don't think I'd get in.

Took LSAT twice: 157 and 162
GPA 3.4 from large public school

wfudeacons2005 wrote:Employment numbers and potential debt mean everything...rankings mean NOTHING outside of the T-14.

I agree with this. Take the $$ and run. Rankings don't mean squat in NYC after Fordham. You still need to be top 5/10% at either BLS or 'Dozo to get a crack at big law firm jobs (the only ones paying $160K post-grad). Otherwise, you are in the same boat as everyone else.

If you want to be a jury consultant you should probably go get a PhD or at least a masters in psych. They are not going to hire you as a jury consultant because of a JD. If they want someone with a JD as a jury consultant, they will go get someone that has picked lots of juries. Coming out of law school, you will have picked zero.

I'd really recommend retaking one more time. If not, go to BLS and pray for top 10%. cardozo is out of the question. you're looking at 96K+ interest. it's not worth anything close to that.