Page 1 of 1
To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:39 pm
by Sweetneers
Relevant info:
Currently PTing at 160
LSAC GPA: 2.86 with upward trend and dying sister addendum
Killer softs
The Question
I'm conflicted about binding to Brooklyn. I love New York, and would love to live and work there. An acceptance via binding decision means an 80% scholly to Brooklyn. The problem is I think I might can get into a better school, like Alabama. I did my undergrad at UA@B.
Should I just take the money, or should I take my chances at a higher price and better job prospects?
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:44 pm
by FirmBiz
Never bind, apply regularly then negotiate. They will negotiate.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:44 pm
by CanadianWolf
Alabama is a solid law school, but not likely to place you in NYC (even though the largest UA alumni group is in NYC). If you want to live & work in NYC, then an 80% scholarship to Brooklyn Law School is the more reasonable option.
P.S. I'm not recommending BLS--just suggesting that between the two listed options, BLS with an 80% tuition scholarship is more likely to get you placed in NYC than is Alabama.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:49 pm
by Sweetneers
CanadianWolf wrote:Alabama is a solid law school, but not likely to place you in NYC (even though the largest UA alumni group is in NYC). If you want to live & work in NYC, then an 80% scholarship to Brooklyn Law School is the more reasonable option.
P.S. I'm not recommending BLS--just suggesting that between the two listed options, BLS with an 80% tuition scholarship is more likely to get you placed in NYC than is Alabama.
Do you mind me asking for suggestions/recommendations for someone within my LSAT and GPA? I'm finding it hard to place myself in a certain rank of law schools.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:54 pm
by T14-->BigLaw
I urge you to look at Brooklyn's employment outcomes before attending. Would you mind stating your career goals for the record? They are important for determining your best choice.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 6:55 pm
by CanadianWolf
Depends upon your actual LSAT score & where you want to live & work after law school. Are you determined to practice in New York City ? Considering any other locations ?
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:00 pm
by Traynor Brah
Retake and then reassess. Alabama makes zero sense for someone who is interested in NYC, and Brooklyn makes zero sense for anyone who is interested in getting a job.
http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/brooklyn/2014/.
If your goal is to work in NYC (presumably in a big firm setting), then to set yourself up for any reasonable shot, you need to attend a T14, Fordham on a large scholarship, or, potentially -- and, again, with a good scholarship -- one of Vandy/UT (which may be a decent way to hedge your bets if you want to be in the south and don't get NYC grades in law school), or another of the T20 who have some tangible nyc placement (e.g. USC/UCLA/WUSTL)(note that I do not advise attending a non-T14 T20 with the hard line goal of getting to NYC). That's it for your options. That means you have to retake, or change your goals.
Cardozo and Brooklyn et al do exist, but, in my opinion, the employment statistics are so poor and the non-tuition cost of attendance is so high that neither are worth attending, in essentially any circumstance.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:06 pm
by Sweetneers
CanadianWolf wrote:Depends upon your actual LSAT score & where you want to live & work after law school. Are you determined to practice in New York City ? Considering any other locations ?
T14-->BigLaw wrote:I urge you to look at Brooklyn's employment outcomes before attending. Would you mind stating your career goals for the record? They are important for determining your best choice.
I'm really comfortable living in any city. Currently, I live in Birmingham and I'm semi-content here. Portland, Seattle, NYC, Boston, Miami, really any metropolitan area will be fine for me. If I had to pick my top area to live it would be Washington DC or NYC. American U might be a good choice dependent on that, thoughts?
I'm also fairly open to what I want to do law-wise. I would love to be in the courtroom, so I'm looking at prosecutor jobs, many some personal injury work further down the road. Biglaw would be awesome, and I think I'd enjoy it, but I realize that's probably not a possibility for me, and it's not the end of the world. I looked really hard at Cumberland Law (Samford), and I think that's my safety school given my area connections there, and their good advocacy program, but I would like a non-T3 school. I'm really shooting for T1, but who isn't?
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 4:12 pm
by goldenflash19
Never go to American. It's a trap school with horrible employment numbers.
If you're an Alabama resident and could get a decent scholly to UA, I think that would be a defensible choice. I honestly wouldn't even be comfortable going to Brooklyn with a full tuition scholarship given cost of living and its job prospects.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:58 pm
by Well Hung Jury
goldenflash19 wrote:Never go to American. It's a trap school with horrible employment numbers.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:19 pm
by riku33090
BLS 2L here, if you can place in the top 15% of your class with great interview skills, then you are fine (fine meaning you are going to land a SA position at a midsize firm).
For BigLaw, top 10% with extremely good interview skills.
Anyways, main takeaway is you need to have great interview skills, I had a friend(top 8%), struck out OCI with 12+ screeners.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:24 pm
by stego
As a 0L, you can't count on being top 15% of the class.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:26 pm
by KMart
FirmBiz wrote:Never bind, apply regularly then negotiate. They will negotiate.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:36 pm
by Leonardo DiCaprio
dude please fucking retake. no one should be going to schools like BLS. full ride or not.
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:38 pm
by KMart
Leonardo DiCaprio wrote:dude please fucking retake. no one should be going to schools like BLS. full ride or not.
Can you even say retake when op has not taken the test yet?
Re: To Bind to BLS or no?
Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 9:35 pm
by eagle2a
Go to Bama