Penn State Students Taking Questions Forum

[northwood]

that would be fine

[jbarl1]

I am interested in elder/ family/ disabilities law. I am especially interested in people with developmental disabilities. I havent found much information about this? How much of a focus on disabilities law does PSU have?

There is an Elder Law clinic (--LinkRemoved--), a disability law clinic (--LinkRemoved--), and a family law clinic (--LinkRemoved--). All of these are great opportunities for hands on experience and getting to know the field. Check them out and contact the advisers for more detailed information; I'm sure they would be more than willing to tell you more about it.

Do you mind the Philadelphia location?

We aren't located in Philadelphia. State College (University Park) is about 3.5 hours from Philadelphia and Carlisle is about 2 hours away from Philadelphia. You might be thinking of Penn, Villanova or Temple.

[Spinozist21]

What type of scholarship money if awarded? I was accepted early this month and the email said notifications would come out in January...is PSU pretty generous in awards?

[Gatorbull84]

I was going to apply since I got the fee waiver, but the app didn't have a concentration specific for Patent Law. Do you think that Penn State is a good choice for someone who is interested in Patent Law?

[jbarl1]

What type of scholarship money if awarded? I was accepted early this month and the email said notifications would come out in January...is PSU pretty generous in awards?

I got a very nice scholarship last year with 160/3.85. I think they gave out a decent amount of scholarships last year and I know that I got more money from them than I did from their peer schools. They were also willing to pay for me to visit during their open house, so that was generous of them.

I was going to apply since I got the fee waiver, but the app didn't have a concentration specific for Patent Law. Do you think that Penn State is a good choice for someone who is interested in Patent Law?

I don't know much about what they offer in terms of patent law, but I would certainly apply since you got the fee waiver. You never know what kind of money you might get. Also, you may change your mind about what type of law you want to concentrate on, so keep your options open and take advantage of the free app.

[Spinozist21]

What type of scholarship money if awarded? I was accepted early this month and the email said notifications would come out in January...is PSU pretty generous in awards?

I got a very nice scholarship last year with 160/3.85. I think they gave out a decent amount of scholarships last year and I know that I got more money from them than I did from their peer schools. They were also willing to pay for me to visit during their open house, so that was generous of them.

I was going to apply since I got the fee waiver, but the app didn't have a concentration specific for Patent Law. Do you think that Penn State is a good choice for someone who is interested in Patent Law?

I don't know much about what they offer in terms of patent law, but I would certainly apply since you got the fee waiver. You never know what kind of money you might get. Also, you may change your mind about what type of law you want to concentrate on, so keep your options open and take advantage of the free app.

Thank you. I am hoping that because I got admitted so early that I have at least a shot at a decent scholarship amount.

[jbarl1]

What type of scholarship money if awarded? I was accepted early this month and the email said notifications would come out in January...is PSU pretty generous in awards?

I got a very nice scholarship last year with 160/3.85. I think they gave out a decent amount of scholarships last year and I know that I got more money from them than I did from their peer schools. They were also willing to pay for me to visit during their open house, so that was generous of them.

I was going to apply since I got the fee waiver, but the app didn't have a concentration specific for Patent Law. Do you think that Penn State is a good choice for someone who is interested in Patent Law?

I don't know much about what they offer in terms of patent law, but I would certainly apply since you got the fee waiver. You never know what kind of money you might get. Also, you may change your mind about what type of law you want to concentrate on, so keep your options open and take advantage of the free app.

Thank you. I am hoping that because I got admitted so early that I have at least a shot at a decent scholarship amount.

I was admitted after a very short wait. I applied in early January and heard back less than two weeks later. When my formal acceptance letter came my scholarship was enclosed as well. Good luck!

[James Bond]

Do you mind the Philadelphia location?

We aren't located in Philadelphia. State College (University Park) is about 3.5 hours from Philadelphia and Carlisle is about 2 hours away from Philadelphia. You might be thinking of Penn, Villanova or Temple.

[Nicholasnickynic]

Do you mind the Philadelphia location?

We aren't located in Philadelphia. State College (University Park) is about 3.5 hours from Philadelphia and Carlisle is about 2 hours away from Philadelphia. You might be thinking of Penn, Villanova or Temple.

In this thread, we see the op being mocked w/o realizing it.

OP's optimism (both campuses are great! New technology!), impeccable grammar, random knowledge of worthless things (what Penn State is ranked in specialization category x) and giving of worthless statistics while being anecdotal and vague about job and job statistics makes me think this is an adcomm. I mean not a single negative thing to say? Either that, or OP is incredibly naive.


Edited to add: Comparison to NC is invalid. With Duke out of picture, there are two school's competing for jobs: wake/nc. With penn out of the picture, there are four schools competing for jobs- penn state, villanova, temple, pitt. Not to mention that its philadelphia, so people from other schools (see both rutgers) aim for it.

[jbarl1]

Do you mind the Philadelphia location?

We aren't located in Philadelphia. State College (University Park) is about 3.5 hours from Philadelphia and Carlisle is about 2 hours away from Philadelphia. You might be thinking of Penn, Villanova or Temple.

In this thread, we see the op being mocked w/o realizing it.

OP's optimism (both campuses are great! New technology!), impeccable grammar, random knowledge of worthless things (what Penn State is ranked in specialization category x) and giving of worthless statistics while being anecdotal and vague about job and job statistics makes me think this is an adcomm. I mean not a single negative thing to say? Either that, or OP is incredibly naive.


Edited to add: Comparison to NC is invalid. With Duke out of picture, there are two school's competing for jobs: wake/nc. With penn out of the picture, there are four schools competing for jobs- penn state, villanova, temple, pitt. Not to mention that its philadelphia, so people from other schools (see both rutgers) aim for it.

I understand I was being mocked, do you think I have never heard the Penn and Penn State jokes before? Please. I am just sharing what I know about Penn State so far. I have had a good experience. I am not pretending that every one of my classmates is going to get a great job in NYC or DC. I know that a lot of people are happy with their experience here so far and I think that students who like the area and the school could be happy here too. It's not the school for everyone, but for a T2 Penn State is pretty generous with scholarship money and has some good things to offer. The location isn't the best, but almost everyone I have spoken to has plans to go back home for the summer anyway. Last year I had a bunch of questions and there really wasn't anyone on TLS who was consistently answering them, so I thought I would try to do what I could. A lot of my information comes from working being an SBA admissions representative and from the website. I can't say much about job prospects because I am a 1L and I am looking at nontraditional positions with universities. I hope the economy improves and more jobs become available, just like every other law student. But, for now, I just want to answer questions that people have about my school.

[Spinozist21]

I have a couple questions...and you can just ignore the idiocy of the peanut gallery.

First, I notice that you were accepted at both OSU and Villanova (both traditionally considered superior law schools) and so I was wondering why you chose PSU over those two schools.

Second, I was hoping you could tell me a little bit more about your decision to go to Penn State...what was the motivating factor(s) (that obviously will be mostly addressed by question one), but also if you went to the campus(es) before hand when you got your aid decision and when you made your decision.

All the above could, in fact, be greatly helpful to me.

[jbarl1]

I have a couple questions...and you can just ignore the idiocy of the peanut gallery.

First, I notice that you were accepted at both OSU and Villanova (both traditionally considered superior law schools) and so I was wondering why you chose PSU over those two schools.

Second, I was hoping you could tell me a little bit more about your decision to go to Penn State...what was the motivating factor(s) (that obviously will be mostly addressed by question one), but also if you went to the campus(es) before hand when you got your aid decision and when you made your decision.

All the above could, in fact, be greatly helpful to me.

Neither OSU or Villanova offered me any scholarship money, while Penn State gave me a very generous award. Also, while Villanova may be ranked slightly higher, it is generally considered a peer school. While money was not the only factor that I considered, it was difficult for me to justify paying sticker at OSU and Villanova. I applied in early January and received my acceptance via email about a week and a half later. About a week after that I received my formal acceptance letter and my scholarship information was included in that. I did not qualify for need based aid (which is seemingly very difficult to get, because I had no income and my parents make very little) because of my scholarship. However, with my scholarship and federal loans I was able to cover the COA without any additional private loans.

Beyond the money, I really liked the UP campus when I came to visit it last spring. I went to a small undergrad, so I knew that I wanted to go to law school at a big university. I never visited the Carlise campus because I knew I didn't want to attend there. The building really impressed me and so did the town in general. I liked the technology and the layout and it is great that everything is so new. Also, I knew that I wanted to pursue a joint degree and that Dickinson had already established a great relationship with many of the other university colleges. Particularly, I am going into Education Law and Penn State University has consistently been the top school in the country to higher education degrees. If you're interested in a joint degree, the school is very helpful in getting you into an existing one or helping you to work on establishing your own, new path.

Aside from the above, it was really just a feeling. I knew when I went to my undergrad for the first time that that was where I wanted to be, and I knew that when I came here this was right as well. I hope I was generally helpful and if you have any more questions please let me know. Also, feel free to PM me if it isn't something you want to post here.

[Spinozist21]

I have a couple questions...and you can just ignore the idiocy of the peanut gallery.

First, I notice that you were accepted at both OSU and Villanova (both traditionally considered superior law schools) and so I was wondering why you chose PSU over those two schools.

Second, I was hoping you could tell me a little bit more about your decision to go to Penn State...what was the motivating factor(s) (that obviously will be mostly addressed by question one), but also if you went to the campus(es) before hand when you got your aid decision and when you made your decision.

All the above could, in fact, be greatly helpful to me.

Neither OSU or Villanova offered me any scholarship money, while Penn State gave me a very generous award. Also, while Villanova may be ranked slightly higher, it is generally considered a peer school. While money was not the only factor that I considered, it was difficult for me to justify paying sticker at OSU and Villanova. I applied in early January and received my acceptance via email about a week and a half later. About a week after that I received my formal acceptance letter and my scholarship information was included in that. I did not qualify for need based aid (which is seemingly very difficult to get, because I had no income and my parents make very little) because of my scholarship. However, with my scholarship and federal loans I was able to cover the COA without any additional private loans.

Beyond the money, I really liked the UP campus when I came to visit it last spring. I went to a small undergrad, so I knew that I wanted to go to law school at a big university. I never visited the Carlise campus because I knew I didn't want to attend there. The building really impressed me and so did the town in general. I liked the technology and the layout and it is great that everything is so new. Also, I knew that I wanted to pursue a joint degree and that Dickinson had already established a great relationship with many of the other university colleges. Particularly, I am going into Education Law and Penn State University has consistently been the top school in the country to higher education degrees. If you're interested in a joint degree, the school is very helpful in getting you into an existing one or helping you to work on establishing your own, new path.

Aside from the above, it was really just a feeling. I knew when I went to my undergrad for the first time that that was where I wanted to be, and I knew that when I came here this was right as well. I hope I was generally helpful and if you have any more questions please let me know. Also, feel free to PM me if it isn't something you want to post here.

Well I would be interested in doing a joint degree with the philosophy department, but I did not see that joint-degree listed. Would it be possible, you think, to make my own this way?

[jbarl1]

I have a couple questions...and you can just ignore the idiocy of the peanut gallery.

First, I notice that you were accepted at both OSU and Villanova (both traditionally considered superior law schools) and so I was wondering why you chose PSU over those two schools.

Second, I was hoping you could tell me a little bit more about your decision to go to Penn State...what was the motivating factor(s) (that obviously will be mostly addressed by question one), but also if you went to the campus(es) before hand when you got your aid decision and when you made your decision.

All the above could, in fact, be greatly helpful to me.

Neither OSU or Villanova offered me any scholarship money, while Penn State gave me a very generous award. Also, while Villanova may be ranked slightly higher, it is generally considered a peer school. While money was not the only factor that I considered, it was difficult for me to justify paying sticker at OSU and Villanova. I applied in early January and received my acceptance via email about a week and a half later. About a week after that I received my formal acceptance letter and my scholarship information was included in that. I did not qualify for need based aid (which is seemingly very difficult to get, because I had no income and my parents make very little) because of my scholarship. However, with my scholarship and federal loans I was able to cover the COA without any additional private loans.

Beyond the money, I really liked the UP campus when I came to visit it last spring. I went to a small undergrad, so I knew that I wanted to go to law school at a big university. I never visited the Carlise campus because I knew I didn't want to attend there. The building really impressed me and so did the town in general. I liked the technology and the layout and it is great that everything is so new. Also, I knew that I wanted to pursue a joint degree and that Dickinson had already established a great relationship with many of the other university colleges. Particularly, I am going into Education Law and Penn State University has consistently been the top school in the country to higher education degrees. If you're interested in a joint degree, the school is very helpful in getting you into an existing one or helping you to work on establishing your own, new path.

Aside from the above, it was really just a feeling. I knew when I went to my undergrad for the first time that that was where I wanted to be, and I knew that when I came here this was right as well. I hope I was generally helpful and if you have any more questions please let me know. Also, feel free to PM me if it isn't something you want to post here.

Well I would be interested in doing a joint degree with the philosophy department, but I did not see that joint-degree listed. Would it be possible, you think, to make my own this way?

I do believe so, yes. I am not positive, but I have a friend who is working on creating a joint degree program for herself with Biology. You may want to contact admissions and ask them more about the process. Also, contacting the philosophy department on campus would be helpful too.

[lillawyer18]

I was just accepted to the UP campus. How competitive is the atmosphere at PSU compared to other peer schools? Compared to law schools in general? What are the housing options for law students and what would you recommend? Thanks.

[jbarl1]

I was just accepted to the UP campus. How competitive is the atmosphere at PSU compared to other peer schools? Compared to law schools in general? What are the housing options for law students and what would you recommend? Thanks.

I don't find that UP is overly competitive at all. Every student I know is more than willing to share their notes or study collaboratively. I can't really speak for other schools because I have never attended another law school, but I have never felt threatened by competitiveness and I feel that my classmates are genuinely happy for others when they do well.

With State College being a true college town, there are a ton of housing options. The university does offer graduate housing, but I do not recommend it (I live in it now) because, though it is nice, it is very overpriced for the space that you get. The best thing to do if you are a single student would be to seek out roommates because it will give you the flexibility to look for a large place and split the cost. There are a lot of apartment complexes and houses that are split into apartments. Start looking early because places do fill up because of the large undergraduate population. Rent can be a bit high for the general cost of living in the area because of the demand for housing, but it is manageable.

Congrats on your acceptance and please ask any more questions that you may have!

[Chouchous]

I was accepted at the UP campus as well. I cannot make it to any of the open house days, because of work/ school, but I am planning to visit some time in February. Any suggestions on where to stay during the visit? Thank you!

[jbarl1]

I was accepted at the UP campus as well. I cannot make it to any of the open house days, because of work/ school, but I am planning to visit some time in February. Any suggestions on where to stay during the visit? Thank you!

There are a ton of hotels in town. If you want to be within walking distance of downtown try something on College or Beaver. You can get something for probably $60-70 if you stay off of the main strip. If you want to go downtown you could always take a taxi, they are inexpensive here. I would just suggest staying wherever will give you the best deal.

[Chouchous]

I was accepted at the UP campus as well. I cannot make it to any of the open house days, because of work/ school, but I am planning to visit some time in February. Any suggestions on where to stay during the visit? Thank you!

There are a ton of hotels in town. If you want to be within walking distance of downtown try something on College or Beaver. You can get something for probably $60-70 if you stay off of the main strip. If you want to go downtown you could always take a taxi, they are inexpensive here. I would just suggest staying wherever will give you the best deal.

Thank you!!

[hrourke]

They were also willing to pay for me to visit during their open house, so that was generous of them.

Did you ask them if they would pay for your visit or did they offer?

[jbarl1]

They were also willing to pay for me to visit during their open house, so that was generous of them.

Did you ask them if they would pay for your visit or did they offer?

I asked. I emailed and told them that I was very interested in Penn State and wanted to visit but that my budget was tight and I was wondering if they offered travel stipends. They emailed me back and offered to contribute and since I was driving it covered all my costs. I sent them my hotel receipt and then they reimbursed me by the mile for my trip.

[hellocat]

Do you know anything about job placement in CA for Penn St grads?

[jbarl1]

Do you know anything about job placement in CA for Penn St grads?

I don't really know a lot about it to be honest. I know that some of my classmates are from CA and plan to go back during their summers and after graduation. Based on the information we got from career services, there were 7 students from the class of 2012 who worked in CA last summer at places like East Bay, the LA Superior Court, and some firms. If you are planning to attend open house, they may be able to tell you more. I know that generally Penn State Law is seen on this site and others as a regional school, but the name Penn State is a very well known across the country, so that will be of at least a little help. I really do believe that if you want to work in a particular area of the country then you can if you put in the work. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions.

[jayman6]

I guess my biggest issue is debt and job prospects. I got offered $25k/yr with a top half stipulation, which is a nice scholarship, but I'm still not sold. I'd really like to know from a student's perspective what sorts of jobs 3Ls are getting lined up. I also got a $25k/yr scholarship from Denver and feel that I'd have better prospects there. Thoughts?

[jbarl1]

I guess my biggest issue is debt and job prospects. I got offered $25k/yr with a top half stipulation, which is a nice scholarship, but I'm still not sold. I'd really like to know from a student's perspective what sorts of jobs 3Ls are getting lined up. I also got a $25k/yr scholarship from Denver and feel that I'd have better prospects there. Thoughts?

I'm a 1L, so I can't really speak for the 3Ls. Your scholarship is very nice and with federal loans should cover the entire cost of living, depending on your apartment and how much you spend on entertainment, etc. I feel very happy at the moment with my prospects for this summer as far as employment and I know many of my friends are interviewing and feel good about their summers as well. If you want to work closer to Denver, that might be a better choice, but if you want the east coast, I would recommend Penn State. Also, Penn State's alumni network is very impressive and it offers many joint degrees, so those factors may be worth considering.

As always, if you have more questions, let me know.