WUSTL vs FIU Forum

[itskevin]

So here's my situation.

I'm planning to finance law school through with a mix of scholarships and loans.

I was admitted to WUSTL back in early January and I still haven't received scholarship/financial aid info. My LSAT/GPA helped me enough to gain admission, but I think its a tossup as to whether or not I'll get good $$.

I received my acceptance to FIU Law yesterday afternoon and I believe that they'll give me at least 5k/year in grants. (not including merit/private scholly's)

I have until April 1st to submit the first seat deposit for both schools.

My goal is to position myself for a BigLaw/private sector job in the state that I end up going to study in. (I know the legal market is over-saturated.)

A few questions:
1. How do the job prospects look from both?
2. Is it possible to place deposits on both schools with no problem?
3. How difficult would BigLaw in Miami truly be?

Background info: Finishing my BBA in Finance (3.9gpa,LSAT.. ehh.) from FIU this semester.
Miami's great (Born/raised), but would not mind relocating to another city.
I'm also on GULC's WL.

[butlerraider1]

Need a lot more information man, but this is probably a premature thread since you don't have COA numbers yet. Need a lot more than 5k/year to make FIU justifiable in my opinion though.

[BigZuck]

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com for job prospects.

[Mullens]

In order to receive the best feedback in this forum, please provide as much of the following information in your original post as possible:

-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

[nv93]

Wash U in St. Louis is a good choice for law school. FIU is an okay option. I would rather go to Wash U since it has a much better ranking. A lot of people would tell you to retake the LSAT to build up your scholy chances. If you cannot, go with Wash U. If you're staying in Miami, UM might be a better choice since it's the flagship law school in South Florida. You could try NSU as well, but, like I said, UM is the flagship program in South Florida.

[Wingtip88]

Biglaw and FIU is on the table? Dude for real.

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

If your GPA is solid, why not take time and retake the LSAT?

[Mullens]

Wash U in St. Louis is a good choice for law school. FIU is an okay option. I would rather go to Wash U since it has a much better ranking. A lot of people would tell you to retake the LSAT to build up your scholy chances. If you cannot, go with Wash U. If you're staying in Miami, UM might be a better choice since it's the flagship law school in South Florida. You could try NSU as well, but, like I said, UM is the flagship program in South Florida.

This is bad advice as it completely ignores finances. Sticker at WashU is a terrible idea. Rankings don't matter. Cost and job prospects matter.

[BigZuck]

Neither school makes sense with those career goals.

Retake/reapply

[itskevin]

Neither school makes sense with those career goals.

Retake/reapply

Explain this. I read on LST that FIU has a little less than 5% of its grads in Big Law, but is it that bad to say neither?

My COL would be 0.

[Nomo]

You have a 3.9 GPA. You're finishing college, which means you're probably 22 and have 0 years of real world life experience and 0 years of work experience. Your LSAT is not very high.

You are the poster child for needing to take a year off (ideally 2 or 3 years off).

Get some experience in finance or another field. See what you like and dislike about it. Try to figure out which practice areas will have minimizes the things you don't like and maximize the things you do like. Play the long game here. You're looking at 3 to 5 decades of legal practice. You're not going to regret doing something else for 2 years before law school.

[itskevin]

Wash U in St. Louis is a good choice for law school. FIU is an okay option. I would rather go to Wash U since it has a much better ranking. A lot of people would tell you to retake the LSAT to build up your scholy chances. If you cannot, go with Wash U. If you're staying in Miami, UM might be a better choice since it's the flagship law school in South Florida. You could try NSU as well, but, like I said, UM is the flagship program in South Florida.

This is bad advice as it completely ignores finances. Sticker at WashU is a terrible idea. Rankings don't matter. Cost and job prospects matter.

I see your point. Finances definitely need to be accounted for.

[itskevin]

You have a 3.9 GPA. You're finishing college, which means you're probably 22 and have 0 years of real world life experience and 0 years of work experience. Your LSAT is not very high.

You are the poster child for needing to take a year off (ideally 2 or 3 years off).

Get some experience in finance or another field. See what you like and dislike about it. Try to figure out which practice areas will have minimizes the things you don't like and maximize the things you do like. Play the long game here. You're looking at 3 to 5 decades of legal practice. You're not going to regret doing something else for 2 years before law school.

Left out that I'm 20, 2 years of full WE in retail banking.

[BigZuck]

Neither school makes sense with those career goals.

Retake/reapply

Explain this. I read on LST that FIU has a little less than 5% of its grads in Big Law, but is it that bad to say neither?

My COL would be 0.

I mean, WUSTL isn't a very good school for big law. Certainly not worth it for someone who is big law or bust. And definitely not for someone with a 3.9.

5% might as well effectively be zero. Almost certainly won't happen for a super young K-JD.

You're 20, take a few years off, work and/or do some cool stuff, retake and see what things look like in 3-4 years. Ideally you'll have found something better to do with your life. Even if not, you'll be in much better shape to attend law school.

[itskevin]

Neither school makes sense with those career goals.

Retake/reapply

Explain this. I read on LST that FIU has a little less than 5% of its grads in Big Law, but is it that bad to say neither?

My COL would be 0.

I mean, WUSTL isn't a very good school for big law. Certainly not worth it for someone who is big law or bust. And definitely not for someone with a 3.9.

5% might as well effectively be zero. Almost certainly won't happen for a super young K-JD.

You're 20, take a few years off, work and/or do some cool stuff, retake and see what things look like in 3-4 years. Ideally you'll have found something better to do with your life. Even if not, you'll be in much better shape to attend law school.

Thanks for the advice.
I'm thinking of waiting to see the full offers from every school first and then compare COA.

[star fox]

Head over to the LSAT forum and change that "ehh" to something better.

[Ramius]

Thanks for the advice.
I'm thinking of waiting to see the full offers from every school first and then compare COA retaking.

[itskevin]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

[Mullens]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

Still worth it. Wasting a 3.9 on these poor options, which give you only a minimal shot at your goals, when you're only 20 would be a shame.

[Ramius]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

How in holy Fuck have you taken the LSAT 3 times before the age of 20?

[itskevin]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

How in holy Fuck have you taken the LSAT 3 times before the age of 20?

June, September, December ('14)

[Ramius]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

How in holy Fuck have you taken the LSAT 3 times before the age of 20?

June, September, December ('14)

Okay, better question would be...



Did you just shotgun the LSAT? Did you study at all? Did you think it changed?

[itskevin]

Would need to wait two cycles for a retake..

How in holy Fuck have you taken the LSAT 3 times before the age of 20?

June, September, December ('14)

Okay, better question would be...

Did you just shotgun the LSAT? Did you study at all? Did you think it changed?

Began studying through Kaplan since Feb '14. Thought I had done well. If your question is if I put time into this, the answer is HELL yes.

PS: My LSAT from June-December went up around 6 points.

[shifty_eyed]

What exactly is your LSAT?

Did you just find TLS? Bc everyone here says Kaplan sucks.

[Johann]

why dont you get a job? you have a finance (useful) degree with a 3.9? law is for suckers man. all my friends in finance have pretty chill jobs with good pay in low cost of living areas.

[itskevin]

why dont you get a job? you have a finance (useful) degree with a 3.9? law is for suckers man. all my friends in finance have pretty chill jobs with good pay in low cost of living areas.

Why would you say law is for suckers? Please do elaborate.