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Cardozo and Seton Hall scholarships are unconditional, but St.Johns requires to be top 80%. COL is about the same because I will be commuting from home. My SO works in NY and I'd prefer to work in NY, but NJ is acceptable for us, too. I'm extremely debt-averse. My goal is to land a stable job in the public sector. I was really excited about Cardozo but it will incur about $50,000 in debt, and I'm not sure if that would be worth it for my goal. Seton Hall seems like a solid choice given that it's free but I saw many people on TLS criticize the fact that they place the majority of their graduates in the year-long state/local clerkships to bump employment stats. I'm sorta afraid that once the clerkship ends, I will be left on my own (any idea where can I find Seton Hall's post-clerkship employment outcome?). On the contrary, Cardozo places 3/4 of their graduates into full time, long term jobs. I also got a full ride from St.Johns, but it's conditional and it's lower ranked than the other two. Any thoughts?

aoi1109 wrote:Cardozo and Seton Hall scholarships are unconditional, but St.Johns requires to be top 80%. COL is about the same because I will be commuting from home. My SO works in NY and I'd prefer to work in NY, but NJ is acceptable for us, too. I'm extremely debt-averse. My goal is to land a stable job in the public sector. I was really excited about Cardozo but it will incur about $50,000 in debt, and I'm not sure if that would be worth it for my goal. Seton Hall seems like a solid choice given that it's free but I saw many people on TLS criticize the fact that they place the majority of their graduates in the year-long state/local clerkships to bump employment stats. I'm sorta afraid that once the clerkship ends, I will be left on my own (any idea where can I find Seton Hall's post-clerkship employment outcome?). On the contrary, Cardozo places 3/4 of their graduates into full time, long term jobs. I also got a full ride from St.Johns, but it's conditional and it's lower ranked than the other two. Any thoughts?

Look up “Scott bullock” on TLS and read his work on seton hall. I wouldn’t consider it.

I am not sure on Cardozo v SJ given those scholarships but I’d reckon SJ is the right move. Top 80 percent, even in a stacked section, isn’t a tall order.

Given your aversion to debt, I agree St. Johns is the right choice; if you were trying to maximize biglaw chances, I'd maybe say Cardozo. I would agree SH is not better than either choice here, unless you actually had a NJ preference.