Florida Coastal Forum

[Freddy04]

I have heard some very unflattering things about this school, however I visited their campus, and was very impressed with their facilities and faculty. I am also enticed by their accelerated 2-year program. I will be 32 when I start 1L, so getting through at a quicker pace is very attractive to me.
Money is not a concern (Post 9-11, Yellow Ribbon), however I fear grades as an undergraduate (2.5 in 2007) will severely limit my choices if not outright close the door on a legal education all together. But I have been scoring in the 160's on the practice LSATs that I've taken, and I am quite confident, that my letters of recommendation and personal statement will demonstrate I am not the same directionless frat boy I was. After speaking with admissions at Coastal, I am pretty confident I would be accepted. Should I go?

[whitespider]

If you, like, want to be a lawyer, then probably not...

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... stal/2013/

29.5% Employment Score
50% Underemployment

I'm naive about trolling, but this guy can't be serious, right?

Even if he is flaming, I can't leave this unanswered. Just in case some real person actually considering this school should happen upon this via Google.

[TheSpanishMain]

No, you should not go. Ever. Don't waste that GI Bill.

[seizmaar]

only reason to go is to transfer and its still not a good idea

[withoutapaddle]

Would you go for a Bachelors degree at the University of Phoenix?


This school takes you as long as you have a pulse

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/ ... stal/2013/

[TTRansfer]

only reason to go is to transfer and its still not a good idea

That's not just a "not a good idea." It's a terrible idea.

[McAvoy]

only reason to go is to transfer and its still not a good idea

[Freddy04]

No I'm not a troll, I know this school does not have the best reputation, but I am just afraid my options are limited because of that pesky low GPA. I went to a large university and did really well in courses that interested me, ones that didn't I normally chose to party rather than study. When I was 19 or 20, I wasn't thinking about law school. There's much I can do about it now, but buckle down, score really well on the LSAT and see what happens. Thank you for the feedback.

[cigarman]

Where do you live? That could play a role. There are better Law schools in Florida than coastal you can get into. But where you live and want to work are important.
Your GPA is what it is. Mine was 2.57 frat boy thing also. The key is now you are older, show it in the LSAT score. That you can control.
After you take the LSAT you then can make a more informed choice as to where you will want to go, if anywhere. Just plug the numbers into lawschool predictor and you'll pretty much know where to apply.

[encore1101]

There are schools that weigh GPA less, and your LSAT and work experience more. Northwestern University being the first one that comes to my mind, but I believe UVA as well.

I'd aim for a 170+ LSAT, then start looking into schools that are splitter friendly (lawschoolnumbers.com). You're not foreclosed from getting into a T14 or even t50 school, but you just have to maximize your LSAT score.

[seizmaar]

you are a veteran--you're going to be able to punch way above your weight in admissions. just write a sick personal statement on how you didn't take school seriously and then you deployed to XXX and now you want to ensure the USA remains a country governed by laws, and not by guns. etc, etc.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Where do you live? That could play a role. There are better Law schools in Florida than coastal you can get into. But where you live and want to work are important.
Your GPA is what it is. Mine was 2.57 frat boy thing also. The key is now you are older, show it in the LSAT score. That you can control.
After you take the LSAT you then can make a more informed choice as to where you will want to go, if anywhere. Just plug the numbers into lawschool predictor and you'll pretty much know where to apply.

Don't use law school predictor. Use mylsn.info.

[jingosaur]

Yeah, with military and an LSAT in the high 160s/low 170s, you can get scholarship $$ at some pretty good schools even without the GPA.

[FutureSuperLawyer]

The original poster could also work for Florida Coastal or a PR firm they hired. The post touts supposed advantages of the school (e.g. 2 year program, willingness to accept people who did not take college seriously). It would not be surprising. After Paul Campos posted his article criticizing the school comment boards filled up with rebuttals that many thought were written by Florida Coastal or their PR people.

If the original poster is serious he should read Campos' article on Florida Coastal in the new republic. Campos, a law professor at the U. of Colorado argued many of the schools grads won't even be able to pass the bar so they'll never be able to practice law.

[FutureSuperLawyer]

To make life easy for the original poster, if he is not just a stooge working for Florida Coastal, here is link to the article on Florida Coastal in the New Republic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arc ... am/375069/

[FutureSuperLawyer]

And I made a mistake, it was the atlantic, not the new republic, but the link works