Does school ranking matter? FSU v FIU v Penn St v NYLS v Nov Forum

[amollica]

How much does the schools ranking really matter?
I was accepted to FSU (48), Penn State (64), FIU (113), New York Law School (146), and Nova (165).
Tuition Costs are: FIU $19,000; FSU $20,000; Nova $35,000; Penn State $31,000 (41,000 less $10,000 renewable scholarship) and NYLS $13,000 ($48,000 less $35,000 renewable scholarship)
My undergraduate gpa was 2.79 and my first/only LSAT score was 160.

I am really at a loss as to which school to choose. If ranking is really that important then FSU is the obvious choice but I really was not a fan of Tallahassee. Nova and FIU are in the Ft Lauderdale/Miami area where my parents live so my additional costs such as rent costs would be non-existent. NYLS has a horrible ranking but with the scholarship they are offering it would cut down a great deal on my student loans.
Help.

[Myself]

.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Retake the LSAT. Don't go to any of those schools.

[mr.hands]

How much does the schools ranking really matter?
I was accepted to FSU (48), Penn State (64), FIU (113), New York Law School (146), and Nova (165).
Tuition Costs are: FIU $19,000; FSU $20,000; Nova $35,000; Penn State $31,000 (41,000 less $10,000 renewable scholarship) and NYLS $13,000 ($48,000 less $35,000 renewable scholarship)
My undergraduate gpa was 2.79 and my first/only LSAT score was 160.

I am really at a loss as to which school to choose. If ranking is really that important then FSU is the obvious choice but I really was not a fan of Tallahassee. Nova and FIU are in the Ft Lauderdale/Miami area where my parents live so my additional costs such as rent costs would be non-existent. NYLS has a horrible ranking but with the scholarship they are offering it would cut down a great deal on my student loans.
Help.

Don't go to any of these schools, especially NYLS.

[hephaestus]

Retake or don't go.

[jselson]

TCR is retake or don't go, but I don't think FSU w/ ties is a horrible decision like the others, but only if you want to work in FL (esp govt). Every other school you list is an immediate never go.

[bananapeanutbutter]

I can't believe nyls is 48k. I have an old friend who was waitlisted, then admitted there. I assume he's paying sticker. Wow, that's a ton of debt for those job prospects.

[sublime]

..

[rad lulz]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206299

Read before poasting in this forum

[jbagelboy]

What matters is that you dont attend NYLS. Its a giant scam that must close.

Of the schools you mentioned, FSU gives you the best fighting chance at a job for reasonable COA, albeit still not a great one

You might think with a 2.8 GPA your basically limited to these sorts of options. Think again. You can crack T25 or even T20 with a scholarship if your LSAT is 168+. If you are determined to practice in Florida, you could open up UF or maybe Emory (but that might be pricy). My advice to first time takers who score under 170 is pretty consistently try again.

[sinfiery]

Nov stands for retaking in October and reapplying? Do that.

[nebula666]

It's not a great option but if you refuse to retake or not go I'd take FIU for $60k total. Drop out if you don't do well the first semester/year.

[Justin Genious]

Penn St for that Ivy League swag

[jbagelboy]

Penn St for that Ivy League swag

This is a confused post

[willwilliams1334]

Penn St for that Ivy League swag

This is a confused post

no hes trolling penn

[jselson]

Penn St for that Ivy League swag

This joke should be a bannable offense.

[PRgradBYU]

Penn St for that Ivy League swag

Your joke is bad and you should feel bad.

[californiauser]

Flame. No one capable of finding this forum, creating a username, and activating it through email is this misinformed.

[LSATSCORES2012]

I think that with your GPA you're not going to be able to break much higher than FSU without a stellar LSAT. If you want to practice in FL I'd go to FSU, if not retake and reapply.

I don't recommend any of the other schools on your list.


ETA:
On lstscorereports.com,

FSU:65% employed
FIU:56
Penn state: 56
NYLS: 39

[rmorris87]

For your purposes, the answer is essentially no. All the schools you listed are absolute shit. Granted, according to official rankings, one may be "ranked" 125 and another 170, but in the end nobody really cares because nobody will ever get a job from any of these schools anyway.

[untar614]

What would the COA be at FSU? Given that ur from florida, that one might be ok if u want a local government job and the COA is no more than 75k. But no to the others.

[nebula666]

For your purposes, the answer is essentially no. All the schools you listed are absolute shit. Granted, according to official rankings, one may be "ranked" 125 and another 170, but in the end nobody really cares because nobody will ever get a job from any of these schools anyway.

FSU is absolute shit if you want to work in Florida? Really?

[sinfiery]

Nov stands for Nova, huh. Yeah, I guess it comes down to FIU or FSU here. I'd pick FIU because COL on loans versus zero COL cost is a large part of COA.

[Balthy]

I think that with your GPA you're not going to be able to break much higher than FSU without a stellar LSAT. If you want to practice in FL I'd go to FSU, if not retake and reapply.

I don't recommend any of the other schools on your list.


ETA:
On lstscorereports.com,

FSU:65% employed
FIU:56
Penn state: 56
NYLS: 39

Hey bro, this is irrelevant if OP is planning on being #1 in his class. You should know better.

[DaRascal]

Florida State is a decent school. It wouldn't be T1 if it wasn't. Don't listen to the haters! Some of those other schools like NYLS and Nova aren't good but a top 50 law school can always be worth it I think.