Top Law Schools

I have been accepted to these three school will varying scholarships. My goal is to study entertainment law. Cost is important, but having better opportunities in a city I like (New York) is also important. I would like some advice, please do not respond if you are just going to tell me that all of these schools suck and I should retake the lsat and re-apply.

Cardozo is where I want to go the most but I have absolutely no scholarship or aid there and it is is extremely expensive.
Brooklyn-$20,000 scholarship making it roughly 30k a year instead of 50k
Rutgers- $15,000 scholarship making it roughly 10k a year instead of 25 (in-state)

I do not want to work in New Jersey for an extended period of time, but the Rutgers price tag is making it seem more appealing than these two other choice. I am trying to get a better idea as to if my job prospects coming out of Cardozo are in NYC and good enough to justify the crazy price, and better enough than the prospects I would have coming out of Rutgers (plus the fact that I would have much less debt). I am also ambivalent about Brooklyn since it seems to have gone down in the rankings this year. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Smjocn wrote:please do not respond if you are just going to tell me that all of these schools suck and I should retake the lsat and re-apply.

But the thing is ....

I would like some advice, please do not respond if you are just going to tell me that all of these schools suck and I should retake the lsat and re-apply.

All of these schools suck and you should retake the LSAT and reapply.

What you want to hear is not always what you need to hear.

You would be getting ripped off by attending BLS or Dozo

Why can't you just not respond? Just because the issue is black and white in your opinion doesn't mean you need to force that opinion on other people. I want actual advice please.

the advice is that you would be over paying to attend either BLS or Dozo and you shouldnt go to Rutgers unless you are cool with working in NJ long term.

I do my best to fight for the weaker man, but I'm afraid we're going to lose this battle. Let's go through a checklist:
- Price: You're looking at a lot of debt from Cardozo, and a good amount from Brooklyn. Neither are really worth that much money.
- Location: You don't want to ultimately end up in New Jersey. So goodbye, Rutgers-Newark.

I'm not going to tell you that these schools are awful, they aren't. But, Rutgers doesn't fit into your goals, and Brooklyn and Cardozo aren't good options with that price. Try and get those prices down my friend. If you wanted to live in New Jersey, then Rutgers would be a good option, and if Brooklyn and Cardozo were a lot cheaper, and you didn't want to do "Entertainment Law," they wouldn't be bad options either.

ronanOgara wrote:I do my best to fight for the weaker man, but I'm afraid we're going to lose this battle. Let's go through a checklist:
- Price: You're looking at a lot of debt from Cardozo, and a good amount from Brooklyn. Neither are really worth that much money.
- Location: You don't want to ultimately end up in New Jersey. So goodbye, Rutgers-Newark.

I'm not going to tell you that these schools are awful, they aren't. But, Rutgers doesn't fit into your goals, and Brooklyn and Cardozo aren't good options with that price. Try and get those prices down my friend. If you wanted to live in New Jersey, then Rutgers would be a good option, and if Brooklyn and Cardozo were a lot cheaper, and you didn't want to do "Entertainment Law," they wouldn't be bad options either.

This poster knows whats up

What do you think entertainment lawyers do?

ImNoScar wrote:What do you think entertainment lawyers do?

They entertain

Retake, too much $ for Dozo and Brooklyn and I have no idea why you would even say R-N and "I don't want to work in Jersey" in the same post. That's just basic common sense.

In all seriousness though OP, I don't want you thinking that TLSers only consider "good options" to be Top 14 schools. Don't get frustrated when they say "retake, your current options suck."

You can find plenty of threads on this site of people looking at attending lower ranked schools and the feedback they get is mainly positive. But the thing is, it's because the schools they are looking at fit in with the applicants' goals.

I guarantee you that if you came on here and posted that you wanted to work in New Jersey and had that scholarship to Rutgers-Newark, your responses would be pretty positive. But that's obviously not the case here. So it's not that we're saying "You must be a dumbass because these are the only schools you got into." But rather, we are saying that there are better options out there for you.

What are your stips?

With the above choices, go to rutgers and give up your big city dreams for now. You'll be in jersey for a while working unpaid at a DA's office, but with any lucky you'll eventually get a salaried position somewhere and pay the rest of your loans.

You can study entertainment law at most schools -- you can probably only practice whatever "entertainment law" means out of a very select few. The schools you've listed are not in that few.

Smjocn wrote:Why can't you just not respond? Just because the issue is black and white in your opinion doesn't mean you need to force that opinion on other people. I want actual advice please.

This is like asking someone whether you should voluntarily cut off your foot or you hand

Smjocn wrote:Why can't you just not respond? Just because the issue is black and white in your opinion doesn't mean you need to force that opinion on other people. I want actual advice please.

Why can't you retake?

rad lulz wrote:

Smjocn wrote:Why can't you just not respond? Just because the issue is black and white in your opinion doesn't mean you need to force that opinion on other people. I want actual advice please.

This is like asking someone whether you should voluntarily cut off your foot or you hand

"Not cutting off a limb is not an option for me. Personal reasons, duh."

I am an entertainment lawyer. I did not go to a T14 nor did I finish at the top of my class.

However, I did go to a T25 school and did finish respectfully high in the class.

I say the above to demonstrate that it is possible to become an entertainment lawyer from a non T14 school. Though, the further removed from the T14 in the rankings you are the harder it is to break in immediately, and breaking in will require more networking/luck/knowing the right people than perhaps the barrier to entry of a T14 grad that will have a greater chance of working as a Big Law attorney who can join an IP group within the firm and later transition to an entertainment practice/company.

Your school choices are not highly ranked schools so the probability is low and you likely will start in a different practice area and transition after a few years. Breaking into the entertainment practice from the schools you listed likely will require you to hustle, network, and know people. Merely going to those schools and doing well will not be enough for you.


None of those schools you listed are going to give you a distinct advantage. Proximity to NYC can be useful to network but all of those schools are lightweights in that city anyway.

If you are intent on choosing one of them, I would advise you go to Rutgers, get a cheap legal education for ~30k, and then have the flexibility due to minimum debt to be able to afford to take on lesser-paying jobs that will give you an opportunity to get experience to help you transition to an entertainment practice/ or be able to afford to take a low paying entertainment-legal position.

Unless you finish at the very top of your class, you likely will not be graduating with an entertainment attorney position.

treeey86 wrote:I am an entertainment lawyer. I did not go to a T14 nor did I finish at the top of my class.

However, I did go to a T25 school and did finish respectfully high in the class.

I say the above to demonstrate that it is possible to become an entertainment lawyer from a non T14 school. Though, the further removed from the T14 in the rankings you are the harder it is to break in immediately, and breaking in will require more networking/luck/knowing the right people than perhaps the barrier to entry of a T14 grad that will have a greater chance of working as a Big Law attorney who can join an IP group within the firm and later transition to an entertainment practice/company.

Your school choices are not highly ranked schools so the probability is low and you likely will start in a different practice area and transition after a few years. Breaking into the entertainment practice from the schools you listed likely will require you to hustle, network, and know people. Merely going to those schools and doing well will not be enough for you.


None of those schools you listed are going to give you a distinct advantage. Proximity to NYC can be useful to network but all of those schools are lightweights in that city anyway.

If you are intent on choosing one of them, I would advise you go to Rutgers, get a cheap legal education for ~30k, and then have the flexibility due to minimum debt to be able to afford to take on lesser-paying jobs that will give you an opportunity to get experience to help you transition to an entertainment practice/ or be able to afford to take a low paying entertainment-legal position.

Unless you finish at the very top of your class, you likely will not be graduating with an entertainment attorney position.

Since you're one, maybe you can finally tell us what an "entertainment attorney" is and what "entertainment law" entails.

OP, none, retake.

Also I had a choosing thread that went for 5 pages and not one person told me to retake. If you're reasonable and your choices make sense then people will give you feedback on those choices. Problem is 97% of the time the OP is not reasonable and their choices are far from it.

BigZuck wrote:

treeey86 wrote:I am an entertainment lawyer. I did not go to a T14 nor did I finish at the top of my class.

However, I did go to a T25 school and did finish respectfully high in the class.

I say the above to demonstrate that it is possible to become an entertainment lawyer from a non T14 school. Though, the further removed from the T14 in the rankings you are the harder it is to break in immediately, and breaking in will require more networking/luck/knowing the right people than perhaps the barrier to entry of a T14 grad that will have a greater chance of working as a Big Law attorney who can join an IP group within the firm and later transition to an entertainment practice/company.

Your school choices are not highly ranked schools so the probability is low and you likely will start in a different practice area and transition after a few years. Breaking into the entertainment practice from the schools you listed likely will require you to hustle, network, and know people. Merely going to those schools and doing well will not be enough for you.


None of those schools you listed are going to give you a distinct advantage. Proximity to NYC can be useful to network but all of those schools are lightweights in that city anyway.

If you are intent on choosing one of them, I would advise you go to Rutgers, get a cheap legal education for ~30k, and then have the flexibility due to minimum debt to be able to afford to take on lesser-paying jobs that will give you an opportunity to get experience to help you transition to an entertainment practice/ or be able to afford to take a low paying entertainment-legal position.

Unless you finish at the very top of your class, you likely will not be graduating with an entertainment attorney position.

Since you're one, maybe you can finally tell us what an "entertainment attorney" is and what "entertainment law" entails.

OP, none, retake.

Also I had a choosing thread that went for 5 pages and not one person told me to retake. If you're reasonable and your choices make sense then people will give you feedback on those choices. Problem is 97% of the time the OP is not reasonable and their choices are far from it.

Where is your choosing thread? How did I miss that?

francesfarmer wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

treeey86 wrote:I am an entertainment lawyer. I did not go to a T14 nor did I finish at the top of my class.

However, I did go to a T25 school and did finish respectfully high in the class.

I say the above to demonstrate that it is possible to become an entertainment lawyer from a non T14 school. Though, the further removed from the T14 in the rankings you are the harder it is to break in immediately, and breaking in will require more networking/luck/knowing the right people than perhaps the barrier to entry of a T14 grad that will have a greater chance of working as a Big Law attorney who can join an IP group within the firm and later transition to an entertainment practice/company.

Your school choices are not highly ranked schools so the probability is low and you likely will start in a different practice area and transition after a few years. Breaking into the entertainment practice from the schools you listed likely will require you to hustle, network, and know people. Merely going to those schools and doing well will not be enough for you.


None of those schools you listed are going to give you a distinct advantage. Proximity to NYC can be useful to network but all of those schools are lightweights in that city anyway.

If you are intent on choosing one of them, I would advise you go to Rutgers, get a cheap legal education for ~30k, and then have the flexibility due to minimum debt to be able to afford to take on lesser-paying jobs that will give you an opportunity to get experience to help you transition to an entertainment practice/ or be able to afford to take a low paying entertainment-legal position.

Unless you finish at the very top of your class, you likely will not be graduating with an entertainment attorney position.

Since you're one, maybe you can finally tell us what an "entertainment attorney" is and what "entertainment law" entails.

OP, none, retake.

Also I had a choosing thread that went for 5 pages and not one person told me to retake. If you're reasonable and your choices make sense then people will give you feedback on those choices. Problem is 97% of the time the OP is not reasonable and their choices are far from it.

Where is your choosing thread? How did I miss that?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206316

I really hope you're asking just so you can tell me to retake

If you've deluded yourself into thinking that you ABSOLUTELY MUST make this stupid fucking decision, then please, please go to Rutgers.

Lowest cost, best chance (62%) that you'll actually become a lawyer. You forfeited any reasonable expectation of being able to practice entertainment law (whatever you think that means) when you didn't study for the LSAT, so you can start letting that dream flutter away.

BigZuck wrote: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206316

I really hope you're asking just so you can tell me to retake

Ha, no, you're getting a pretty sweet deal that is actually aligned with your goals. But for real we should probably all just retake.

BigZuck wrote:
Since you're one, maybe you can finally tell us what an "entertainment attorney" is and what "entertainment law" entails.

Why is entertainment lawyer and entertainment law in quotes?

These are real things. I'm not going to explain what an entertainment lawyer is and what an entertainment lawyer does. You can find that information on this website. If you go to law school I would review the syllabus of an entertainment law class and you will get an idea of what issues you deal with.

treeey86 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:
Since you're one, maybe you can finally tell us what an "entertainment attorney" is and what "entertainment law" entails.

Why is entertainment lawyer and entertainment law in quotes?

These are real things. I'm not going to explain what an entertainment lawyer is and what an entertainment lawyer does. You can find that information on this website. If you go to law school I would review the syllabus of an entertainment law class and you will get an idea of what issues you deal with.

So you really are a troll?

I am an entertainment lawyer giving advice.