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A few weeks ago I was accepted to Syracuse law with a $25K/year scholarship. I also qualify for $20.5K in loans and my parents will contribute up to $10K a year for tuition. I have $10K saved up from working (I work full time).

My question is: Should I attend Syracuse Law? I have yet to hear back from the eight other schools I applied to, except that I was rejected to UNLV Law (Although, I rushed to complete their application before the deadline and, honestly, I would have denied me, too.)

I have been out of school for almost a year, I work in website development (pays well, but not my end goal), and I am also considering a joint degree (M.S. in CompSci).

Thoughts? Please keep them professional.

I have them going to the Final 4

Probably not, but i need some more info. what would be the total out of pocket cost of attendance for 3 years? Does the scholarship have any stipulations? Are you from central NY and do you want to work there?

ManOfTheMinute wrote:I have them going to the Final 4

Bold pick. Also heard our VP went there.

Your two applications were to UNLV and Syracuse? Are you just randomly applying or are you actually willing to work for a long time after graduating in these local markets?

Syracuse Law is the backdoor to the Vice Presidency

nebula666 wrote:Your two applications were to UNLV and Syracuse? Are you just randomly applying or are you actually willing to work for a long time after graduating in these local markets?

Every year, there are a ton of random apps to syracuse and miami. there are probably some others i'm forgetting too, but it never fails. i don't know why anyone would randomly choose cuse but they do.

I am from the south, but I have a lot of family on the east coast (including one in Syracuse) and I would like to move to New York/the east coast permanently. Essentially, I want to live in snow until I die hahaha

The stipulation on the scholarship is to keep my GPA at or above 2.80. I would incur up to $61,500 in loans, but most likely no more. I am also in the process of applying for outside scholarships. My financing is not really the issue. I have no current debts and can take the hit after law school. I am just wondering what my job prospects would be with either a JD or a JD/CompSci MS from Syracuse. I would like to be at $80K within twelve months of graduation, and I have no interest in a law firm with more than twenty attorneys. In fact, I would actually prefer to work for a corporation as in-house counsel (although I am not sure if that is realistic).

Do you know any SUCOL grads? How well do average grads do after graduation, assuming they graduated at least in the top 50% of their class, if not significantly higher?

ManOfTheMinute wrote:I have them going to the Final 4

Please only reply if you have a decent bracket or put at least $100 on the Towson Tigers making it all the way.

deadpanic wrote:

nebula666 wrote:Your two applications were to UNLV and Syracuse? Are you just randomly applying or are you actually willing to work for a long time after graduating in these local markets?

Every year, there are a ton of random apps to syracuse and miami. there are probably some others i'm forgetting too, but it never fails. i don't know why anyone would randomly choose cuse but they do.

I chose them because I have been working in online development (building websites, HTML/PHP, online marketing, conversion, ect) since my junior year in college and it is now a solid career (started at $20 an hour for freelance work but I now make a salary, so I don't have to worry about upselling my hours). I would like to stay somewhat close to the industry I currently work in. Several schools offer markets either rich with start-ups, intellectual property needs, or online/ecommerce companies. For instance, I also applied to Santa Clara and Houston. I cannot readily get into and/or get scholarships for most tier 1 schools, so I am sticking with TT.

It really sounds like you have dreams of working in NYC or some other big city on the east coast from syracuse. you won't be. you will be working in syracuse or around that area in central/upstate NY, and you have around a 50% chance of actually finding work as a lawyer, probably doing insurance defense or family law making 30-45K. you won't be working for a corporation in-house.

if by some miracle, you wind up in the top 5% or so, i'd imagine you have a shot at NYC or at least a good legal job somewhere in new york.

i realize you said you don't want biglaw. a lot of people don't. you probably won't even have that chance. the thing is, small firms rarely have openings and there is such a surplus of attorneys right now that they can cherry pick who they want. i'd be really weary of going to a random place in central new york with virtually no ties. good luck, though.

man, syracuse is not going to help you in IP. specialty programs are basically bullshit. IP is the one thing that could be useful, just probably not from cuse. what is your undergrad degree in?

Did you attend SUCOL or know SUCOL grads? How did you/they do after graduation?

deadpanic wrote:man, syracuse is not going to help you in IP. specialty programs are basically bullshit. IP is the one thing that could be useful, just probably not from cuse. what is your undergrad degree in?

History, minor in Business. Graduated with honors. Wrote my thesis at 19, presented it my junior year. Only have a 156 LSAT, though, which limits my choices.

Ti Malice wrote:http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=syracuse

wow. This is what I was looking for. Thanks!

Since you want stories, I have two.

1) My cousin graduated relatively highly ranked (I think with honors) from Cuse Law a few years back and works for a small non-profit making ~$15 and hour (which she says is a relatively good outcome for her class). She is pretty granola.

2) A friend of a friend works at a NYC BigLaw firm as a staff attorney (non-partner track). I think he makes decent money, but it's an hourly position.

I haven't met a single Cuse lawyer at a big firm as an associate or partner (my NYC biglaw firm has none).

exitoptions wrote:Since you want stories, I have two.

1) My cousin graduated relatively highly ranked (I think with honors) from Cuse Law a few years back and works for a small non-profit making ~$15 and hour (which she says is a relatively good outcome for her class). She is pretty granola.

2) A friend of a friend works at a NYC BigLaw firm as a staff attorney (non-partner track). I think he makes decent money, but it's an hourly position.

I haven't met a single Cuse lawyer at a big firm as an associate or partner (my NYC biglaw firm has none).

Interesting. Thanks for this! It's hard to get away from "this is what I think" and get to "this is what is actually happening." Appreciate it.

Retake -> Kill it -> Go for free

GreenGoober wrote:

ManOfTheMinute wrote:I have them going to the Final 4

Please only reply if you have a decent bracket or put at least $100 on the Towson Tigers making it all the way.

As you can see, Syracuse is expensive with poor job prospects. It places primarily into low-paying jobs in the New York State area. Given that you have no ties to that area, and given that the school will be pretty pricey, and given that you are unlikely to get a legal job paying more than 40-60k (if you can get a legal job at all), Syracuse would be a terrible decision for you.

If you are really set on being in NY, you should retake for one of the east coast schools, or at least go to Syracuse for free so that you don't end up debt pwned.