Help me decide! Forum

[matsa]

Hey all,

I need help deciding on a school. For the naysayers, go away, please.

I am interested in public interest/human rights law- I am aware the latter of which is a field impossible to get into. I currently live in Brooklyn, NY, but would be happy to move. I am not going to retake the LSAT and apply again next year. These are my current prospects:

American - $12,500 per year
Brooklyn- $25,000 per year
BU- waitlisted
Cardozo- $25,000 per year
Hofstra- Full ride
New York Law School- Full ride + other perks- free books, guaranteed research assistant position, free semester abroad..etc
Penn State- Full ride
Temple- $15,00 per year
UConn- accepted but waiting on scholarship info
Hastings- accepted but waiting on scholarship info

Graduating without massive debt- I am willing to put in a max of $50,000 over three years- and securing a job as an attorney upon graduation are my main objectives for this. I am also interested in regional and national credibility of schools.

Side note- prospects of receiving a grant from FAFSA- what's the likelihood of getting one as an independent student going to law school?

Thank you in advance

[GreenEggs]

Advice in this form requires the following:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT


What is your LSAT/GPA, and how many times have you taken the LSAT?

[Ron Don Volante]

Hey all,

I need help deciding on a school. For the naysayers, go away, please.

I am interested in public interest/human rights law- I am aware the latter of which is a field impossible to get into. I currently live in Brooklyn, NY, but would be happy to move. I am not going to retake the LSAT and apply again next year. These are my current prospects:

American - $12,500 per year
Brooklyn- $25,000 per year
BU- waitlisted
Cardozo- $25,000 per year
Hofstra- Full ride
New York Law School- Full ride + other perks- free books, guaranteed research assistant position, free semester abroad..etc
Penn State- Full ride
Temple- $15,00 per year
UConn- accepted but waiting on scholarship info
Hastings- accepted but waiting on scholarship info

Graduating without massive debt- I am willing to put in a max of $50,000 over three years- and securing a job as an attorney upon graduation are my main objectives for this. I am also interested in regional and national credibility of schools.

These schools are all really bad for the scholarships you've received (most of them are really bad, period) and are generally not "credible."

You're going to have to retake to find a justifiable option.

You're essentially holding a gun to your head and begging for someone to say "pull the trigger"

[romothesavior]

These are pretty terrible options. That's not being a naysayer, that's just being realistic.

[transferror]

Do you have ties outside NYC?
What city/region do you want to work in?
Are you sold on public interest?

[Winston1984]

With your goals, current prospects, and refusal to retake, you shouldn't attend law school.

[Rigo]

You know you should retake because all of these schools are TTT.

None of these schools have national reach, so forget about that.

What would your COA be for Brooklyn and Cardozo?
As of now, I would say go to Penn State because full ride but even that doesn't really make sense. At least you would be able to keep your savings by taking a full-ride.

If you insist on going to one of these, definitely don't go to American, BU, NYLS, or Temple.

[BigZuck]

If I understand you correctly, you want to get into a niche field of law, you want degree portability, and you want to minimize debt, and yet you're going in with bad entering stats and insisting that your choice be one of the worst law schools in the country.

What you're saying is akin to "I plan on becoming a world class scuba diver, I don't know how to swim and don't ever plan on learning. So what scuba school should I choose?"

Don't go to law school

[matsa]

Do you have ties outside NYC?
What city/region do you want to work in?
Are you sold on public interest?

I don't have any significant ties outside of NYC
I would like to remain on the East Coast- open to any city really.
I am interested in this field right now, but I am open to the idea of law school changing my mind.

[Ron Don Volante]

I am interested in this field right now, but I am open to the idea of law school changing my mind.

wut

[matsa]

I am interested in this field right now, but I am open to the idea of law school changing my mind.

wut

I am mainly interested in public interest right now, but it's not a 100% commitment until I take classes.

[Ron Don Volante]

Don't go to law school

[Johann]

if you want PI, go to lst score reports and see which school has the most people in public interest. i'd prolly take the full ride at penn st, NYLS, or hofstra.

[Louis1127]

Advice in this form requires the following:

-The schools you are considering
-The total Cost of Attendance (COA) of each. COA = cost of tuition + fees + books + cost of living (COL) + accumulated interest - scholarships. Here is a helpful calculator.
-How you will be financing your COA, i.e. loans, family, or savings
-Where you are from and where you want to work, and other places where you have significant ties (if any)
-Your general career goals
-Your LSAT/GPA numbers
-How many times you have taken the LSAT


What is your LSAT/GPA, and how many times have you taken the LSAT?

[transferror]

Do you have ties outside NYC?
What city/region do you want to work in?
Are you sold on public interest?

I don't have any significant ties outside of NYC
I would like to remain on the East Coast- open to any city really.
I am interested in this field right now, but I am open to the idea of law school changing my mind.

Well that puts you in a bad spot. Penn St full ride is ok if with modest goals and ties to Philly/Pitt or middle Pennsylvania, but you don't have any.
Why no CUNY? It's cheap and PI focused.
Hofstra or NYLS full rides are defensible (assuming no ridiculous stips), as in not awful, but they still aren't good options.
You need to re-evaluate your position or not go.

[Robespierre]

These are poor options. The correct answer is None of the Above.

If you are hellbent on choosing one, go with NYLS. At least you'll be debt-free and you'll be in NYC with a chance to get an internship at one of the many NGOs and PI organizations, which could turn into a job.

But make sure the full ride is without strings attached.

[AReasonableMan]

Are there stips on the NYLS full ride?

One thing that's missing here is schools that will allow you to sell yourself in the likely scenario they don't lead to employment. Western Pennsylvania is extremely strict about prostitution, and much of the tri-state area is as well. Have you considered UNLV? I agree a 40-50% chance of a 30k job is a good enough scenario to not have to retake, but prostitution could be a lucrative backup option or supplement to practicing doc review. All these schools shut the door on such an opportunity. The important thing is not to retake. It can be hard to repay 150k and suppoort yourself on 500/week salary (which is the best case scenario). Prostitution, underground organ donations or becoming muscle for a drug cartel are all lucrative ways to supplement doc review. They will also allow you to get some experience dealing with the issues in human rights law, and are likely the best opportunity in this area you'll have out of these programs. If you go to a school with sub-50% legal employment you really want one located in a state that has laxed laws on other ways to help repay your debt.

[03152016]

hi op, i noticed you mentioned retaking in your op
since you brought it up, let's discuss

what is your reason for not retaking
i'm sure you know that none of the options you listed are very good (though it depends on your goals, there are a couple options that are defensible depending on your circumstances)
most of the schools you listed have terrible placement and will cost you far too much
you can do much better in terms of both placement and cost with a retake

so what is your reason for not doing so? is it laziness?

[03152016]

if you want PI, go to lst score reports and see which school has the most people in public interest. i'd prolly take the full ride at penn st, NYLS, or hofstra.

drink bleach

[A. Nony Mouse]

Side note- prospects of receiving a grant from FAFSA- what's the likelihood of getting one as an independent student going to law school?

Just for the record, very very few law schools offer need-based aid. It's not something to rely on with any of those schools.

[Ron Don Volante]

if you want PI, go to lst score reports and see which school has the most people in public interest. i'd prolly take the full ride at penn st, NYLS, or hofstra.

drink bleach

dude dont you go to that school?

[03152016]

that is a really original joke

[Ron Don Volante]