Rutgers School of Law, Newark Forum

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Joymin

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Joymin » Fri Feb 11, 2011 2:21 pm

As a recently accepted student, it was great visiting this old thread that provides some practical tips on things like housing. Thanks, folks.

If any of you old-timers (most of whom must be 2Ls or 3Ls now) are still visiting this discussion thread, I'd like to request some more info. First, how is the job placement scene for y'all at present? Second, how is Rutgers for someone who is focused being involved in patent litigation after law school?

I am leaning towards Rutgers because of several reasons: low tuition compared to NY or DC schools; proximity to NYC; NJ is home to many pharmaceutical corporations (and perhaps, law firms also?) where I could possibly gain employment during law school itself. Presently, I have UNH and Penn State as alternatives (the other schools I applied to have yet to revert with a decision).

Thank you!

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Justathought

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Justathought » Wed Feb 16, 2011 10:15 pm

Joymin wrote:As a recently accepted student, it was great visiting this old thread that provides some practical tips on things like housing. Thanks, folks.

If any of you old-timers (most of whom must be 2Ls or 3Ls now) are still visiting this discussion thread, I'd like to request some more info. First, how is the job placement scene for y'all at present? Second, how is Rutgers for someone who is focused being involved in patent litigation after law school?

I am leaning towards Rutgers because of several reasons: low tuition compared to NY or DC schools; proximity to NYC; NJ is home to many pharmaceutical corporations (and perhaps, law firms also?) where I could possibly gain employment during law school itself. Presently, I have UNH and Penn State as alternatives (the other schools I applied to have yet to revert with a decision).

Thank you!
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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:38 am

OK, since this old thread has been revived...can anyone give some insight on how Rutgers grads do in New York City? I've been living and working in Manhattan for nearly 10 years, and I'm really not looking to work in New Jersey. Should I forget about Rutgers or is it a good alternative to some of the lesser NY schools?

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Justathought

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Justathought » Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:38 pm

This was posted in another thread today by a current Rutgers student. I found it informative:
I'm a current Rutgers-Newark student and one thing which TLS misses time and time again is that you make your own opportunities. Quite honestly, if you're not attending Columbia or NYU pick the local school where you got the most money from and attend. If you're not top 1/3 or above at Fordham your prospects are exactly the same as anyone at these other schools with the added bonus of high cost of living and tuition.

There are Rutgers graduates at most of NY biglaw firms. In almost all cases, they were at the very top of their class, law review and/or moot court etc. There are a few with "less stellar" credentials who managed to get in, but those are few and far between. There's a presence in NY mid-law as well, but I don't know how pervasive they are. Rutgers is very public interest focused. They routinely place students in most of the local DA's and public defender's offices, US Attorney's offices, etc. No one is going to hand you these jobs. You're going to have to work your butt off, send out hundreds of resumes, network, and be flexible with the results you get. The degree name is not going to open doors for you alone. Only Columbia and NYU do that and even now that's starting to change and those students are experiencing some slight trouble.

I've been here for 2 years and am satisfied that I attended. The expectations are high, getting high grades is very difficult, and there are administrative problems etc. The professors are all highly qualified, some care/some don't about their teaching. I interned with a NY appellate court judge first summer and got a connection through her for a firm job in NY. I know it wasn't a district or appellate court position, but it did the trick and there are a lot of Fordham, Cardozo, etc. students that were still looking for employment and some of them were on law review, moot court etc. I watched near 4.0 students get rejected from firm after firm because, although they can write one hell of an exam answer, either their arrogance or lack of inter-personal skills completely turned off the recruiter. It is what you make it.
Also this chart (although from 2008), is also helpful:


http://www.law.com/img/nlj/charts/composite.pdf

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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:30 pm

Justathought wrote:This was posted in another thread today by a current Rutgers student. I found it informative:
I'm a current Rutgers-Newark student and one thing which TLS misses time and time again is that you make your own opportunities. Quite honestly, if you're not attending Columbia or NYU pick the local school where you got the most money from and attend. If you're not top 1/3 or above at Fordham your prospects are exactly the same as anyone at these other schools with the added bonus of high cost of living and tuition.

There are Rutgers graduates at most of NY biglaw firms. In almost all cases, they were at the very top of their class, law review and/or moot court etc. There are a few with "less stellar" credentials who managed to get in, but those are few and far between. There's a presence in NY mid-law as well, but I don't know how pervasive they are. Rutgers is very public interest focused. They routinely place students in most of the local DA's and public defender's offices, US Attorney's offices, etc. No one is going to hand you these jobs. You're going to have to work your butt off, send out hundreds of resumes, network, and be flexible with the results you get. The degree name is not going to open doors for you alone. Only Columbia and NYU do that and even now that's starting to change and those students are experiencing some slight trouble.

I've been here for 2 years and am satisfied that I attended. The expectations are high, getting high grades is very difficult, and there are administrative problems etc. The professors are all highly qualified, some care/some don't about their teaching. I interned with a NY appellate court judge first summer and got a connection through her for a firm job in NY. I know it wasn't a district or appellate court position, but it did the trick and there are a lot of Fordham, Cardozo, etc. students that were still looking for employment and some of them were on law review, moot court etc. I watched near 4.0 students get rejected from firm after firm because, although they can write one hell of an exam answer, either their arrogance or lack of inter-personal skills completely turned off the recruiter. It is what you make it.
Also this chart (although from 2008), is also helpful:


http://www.law.com/img/nlj/charts/composite.pdf
Thanks!

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Brown1911

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Brown1911 » Fri Mar 11, 2011 7:00 pm

I just got waitlisted for the Fall 2011 cycle but I'm really hoping for some good luck to get in. I have 3 other prospective school choices, but Rutger-Newark is really holding my attention and is tied with Univ. of South Carolina (my home school) as my top choice.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by get it to x » Tue Mar 15, 2011 3:33 pm

Rutgers is on break this week, so if any of the 0L's/prospectives who are on the fence have questions, feel free to pose them and I'll try to answer them as candidly as possible.

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Iceman389

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Iceman389 » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:33 pm

Do you know of anyone who was deferred before being offered admission? And if so when did they hear final word on their application?

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by get it to x » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:44 pm

Iceman389 wrote:Do you know of anyone who was deferred before being offered admission? And if so when did they hear final word on their application?
Personally, I know of several people who were deferred and then subsequently offered admission off the waitlist. One of them was admitted a few days before orientation and the other one I'm unsure of. The timeline varies depending upon admitted students who are waitlisted elsewhere taking offers and opening up spots. That process can drag from mid-April through August. I would definitely write a LOCI (tailored to Rutgers, your interests, why RU is the place for you etc), come for a tour (if feasible), etc. to show interest to admissions, but not be a pest. Beyond retaking the LSAT, that's those are the best options for deferred students that I can think of off the top of my head.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by mrtoren » Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:21 pm

I just want to say congratulations on your admittance to Rutgers-Newark. I'm looking to apply for Fall 2012 and I was wondering about visits. The Rutgers-Newark Law website doesnt have an appointment feature..do you have to contact admissions directly or do you simply walk around campus yourself?

Thanks for the help!

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Ridore » Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:00 pm

I was wondering how you would know you were offered a scholarship at RU. I look up on it and they said after being admitted you are automatically considered.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Joymin » Sat Mar 26, 2011 12:54 am

Ridore wrote:I was wondering how you would know you were offered a scholarship at RU. I look up on it and they said after being admitted you are automatically considered.
You can not know whether you have recv'd scholly or not until the letter arrives in regular mail.

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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:06 pm

Joymin wrote:
Ridore wrote:I was wondering how you would know you were offered a scholarship at RU. I look up on it and they said after being admitted you are automatically considered.
You can not know whether you have recv'd scholly or not until the letter arrives in regular mail.
Actually, I was notified by e-mail. I had one e-mail about being admitted and a second right after about my merit scholarship. They do also include it in a snail mail letter.

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Joymin

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Joymin » Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:32 pm

Lawst wrote:
Joymin wrote:
Ridore wrote:I was wondering how you would know you were offered a scholarship at RU. I look up on it and they said after being admitted you are automatically considered.
You can not know whether you have recv'd scholly or not until the letter arrives in regular mail.
Actually, I was notified by e-mail. I had one e-mail about being admitted and a second right after about my merit scholarship. They do also include it in a snail mail letter.
Funny they didn't even tell me when I emailed them asking about it. I had to wait it out till I received the letter by regular mail.

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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Sat Mar 26, 2011 3:32 pm

Joymin wrote:
Lawst wrote:
Joymin wrote:
Ridore wrote:I was wondering how you would know you were offered a scholarship at RU. I look up on it and they said after being admitted you are automatically considered.
You can not know whether you have recv'd scholly or not until the letter arrives in regular mail.
Actually, I was notified by e-mail. I had one e-mail about being admitted and a second right after about my merit scholarship. They do also include it in a snail mail letter.
Funny they didn't even tell me when I emailed them asking about it. I had to wait it out till I received the letter by regular mail.
Hmm...weird. That's how Seton Hall and St. John's handled it for me, too - snail mail only. I was accepted to Rutgers 2/15 - maybe after a certain date they would notify you by e-mail to get it out to you sooner?

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kapital98

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by kapital98 » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:54 pm

I was originally deferred with a 157/3.3. After my I sent in my fall grades and February LSAT, bumping me up to a 162/3.4, they immediately accepted me with a $8,000 grant. This was on March 11th by email and then a couple days later through snail mail.

I asked the financial aid office about more aid (specifically need based grants) and they were very adamant about not being able to give out any additional merit or need based grants. Luckily, Rutgers waives out-state tuition immediately if you live in NJ during school and the state has a considerable amount of need based grants for students (~$3,500 maximum).

If you go onto lawschoolnumbers the amount of merit based aid is almost a perfect function of your LSAT score.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Joymin » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:27 am

kapital98 wrote: If you go onto lawschoolnumbers the amount of merit based aid is almost a perfect function of your LSAT score.
Absolutely agree with you. Some schools engage is this pageantry about 'other' factors being also important to them; however, they probably say so only to fend off criticism about excessive adherence on LSAT/GPA.

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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Sun Mar 27, 2011 10:20 am

Does anyone know when you have to have your official undergrad transcript in? I just noticed that box on my status checker when I looked (AGAIN) to see if they're gotten my seat deposit in the mail yet.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by alexanderhamilton » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:59 pm

So I'm doing scholarship negotiation, has anyone had success with this? Numbers are 3.72/160, I was kind of surprised they didn't give me one of begin with because Camden gave me one (10k/year), and they have higher admission standards. I also have competing offers from St. Johns(25k/year), Syracuse (33k/year), Hofstra and so forth, so I'm hoping to get the same amount as Camden is giving me.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by kapital98 » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:15 pm

alexanderhamilton wrote:So I'm doing scholarship negotiation, has anyone had success with this? Numbers are 3.72/160, I was kind of surprised they didn't give me one of begin with because Camden gave me one (10k/year), and they have higher admission standards. I also have competing offers from St. Johns(25k/year), Syracuse (33k/year), Hofstra and so forth, so I'm hoping to get the same amount as Camden is giving me.
There is almost no chance you're going to get 10k/year from Newark. Camden/Newark are almost identical regarding selectivity (check the 2011 statistics -- they have practically identical medians.) On lawschoolnumbers a person with your exact stat's got $6,000. GPA has almost no bearing on the scholarship awards -- a few exceptions (3.9's) exist. Maybe with some negotiation you could get $8,000?

In general Camden gives $2,000-4,000 more for every identical score compared to Newark.

Good luck. Maybe with some luck they will match your award.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by alexanderhamilton » Wed Mar 30, 2011 2:58 pm

:| So RU-N gave me $8,000 with a 3.0 GPA stip, compared to RU-C's $10,000 with 3.5 GPA stip. In a bit of a dilemma now. Leaning slightly toward RU-N on the basis of cultural affinity to NYC and North Jersey, and presumably somewhat safer than Camden. :?

So anyone feel like swaying me further?

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Justathought

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Justathought » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:05 pm

alexanderhamilton wrote::| So RU-N gave me $8,000 with a 3.0 GPA stip, compared to RU-C's $10,000 with 3.5 GPA stip. In a bit of a dilemma now. Leaning slightly toward RU-N on the basis of cultural affinity to NYC and North Jersey, and presumably somewhat safer than Camden. :?

So anyone feel like swaying me further?
Here's something to consider: You need to live in NJ to take advantage of instate tuition. In south Jersey, that likely means a suburban environment, since Camden is brutal. Newark isn't much better, but there is a little more going on there. Plus, if you're okay with a 15-20 minute commute, you could live in Jersey City or Hoboken. Urban locations with a lot going on. I know you said you're not interested in biglaw, based on your other thread, but Newark places better with NLJ firms. Not all of those firms are what most here would define as biglaw. Some of them simply have a large number of attorneys, but have a lifestyle - and salary - which is more typically associated with midlaw.

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by phooey182 » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:03 pm

Hi all, I'm a 2L at Rutgers - Newark. I was offered a partial scholarship when I was accepted. Rutgers pays half my tuition (~$10,000). I entered with 168/3.3 (grad school gpa). I suspect they consider LSAT score much more than GPA when considering scholarship offers. Honestly there's lots of applicant with great GPAs and mediocre LSAT scores. Of course, LSAT really have nothing to do with law or law school, so even if your LSATs aren't stellar, you can still achieve extremely high grades in law school.

If you are offered a merit scholarship, which is based on your grades/LSAT, you will have to maintain a 3.2 GPA or else you lose the scholarship. I haven't had problems maintaining that GPA.

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Lawst

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by Lawst » Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:39 pm

phooey182 wrote:Hi all, I'm a 2L at Rutgers - Newark. I was offered a partial scholarship when I was accepted. Rutgers pays half my tuition (~$10,000). I entered with 168/3.3 (grad school gpa). I suspect they consider LSAT score much more than GPA when considering scholarship offers. Honestly there's lots of applicant with great GPAs and mediocre LSAT scores. Of course, LSAT really have nothing to do with law or law school, so even if your LSATs aren't stellar, you can still achieve extremely high grades in law school.

If you are offered a merit scholarship, which is based on your grades/LSAT, you will have to maintain a 3.2 GPA or else you lose the scholarship. I haven't had problems maintaining that GPA.
3.2 GPA? Mine from RU-N stipulates 3.0 and it's around half-tuition as well. I guess it's possible they lowered it?

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Re: Rutgers School of Law, Newark

Post by rw2188 » Mon Apr 04, 2011 3:26 pm

hey-anyone looking to rent a master bedroom w/ private bath in downtown jersey city, easy access to the PATH train to school in a lux building, PM me :)

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