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To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:05 pm
by davidtothej05
Years ago, I made a promise to my wife that we would return to our home in Maine after my military service was completed this year. The problem is the lack of law schools in Northern New England. I am not about to tell my wife that we are not going home after she has followed me to places like Alabama and Jersey (apologies to the residents, just not our cup of tea), which leaves the only school readily available to be Maine Law in Portland. Would it be worth it to take a 2 hour train ride to Boston to attend Northeastern or Suffolk over Maine (my scores wont allow BC/BU and I cant retest before 2011 admissions cycle closes) or drive an hour west to New Hampshire (no IP)? With the Post 9/11 GI bill and yellow ribbon, money will not be an issue.
I apologize if this is obvious to most, I am just getting my feet wet with all of this. Thanks.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:14 pm
by bk1
The schools aren't different enough to warrant that commute. NE/Suffolk are not really better than Maine if you want to work in Maine.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:15 pm
by Grizz
Want to practice in Maine? Maine law I would gather is your best bet. 2 hr. commute is a terrible idea..
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:04 am
by davidtothej05
thanks, you both saved me a couple of hundred in application fees.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:07 am
by patrickd139
If you want to work in Maine after you graduate, go there for law school. I agree with the posters above in that Harvard would be worth the commute. Suffolk? Not so much.
Also, Portland is awesome.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:36 am
by reasonable_man
patrickd139 wrote:If you want to work in Maine after you graduate, go there for law school. I agree with the posters above in that Harvard would be worth the commute. Suffolk? Not so much.
Also, Portland is awesome.
Agree completely. However, look into the Maine legal market. I've heard (note I said heard, not that I know), that it has been hit particularly hard, as in, worse than much of the rest of New England. That said, practicing law in New England is a wonderful experience and to some extent, I'm jealous. Good luck to you OP and thank you for your service. I hope that much of your tuition will be covered by the government (as it should be).
FWIW, Maine is just as good as Northeastern and/or Suffolk. Rankings below a certain point mean absolutely nothing..
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:48 am
by davidtothej05
Thanks all! After being in stationed in Iraq for the past year, New England will be quite a change of pace. I probably will have to get used to cold weather again, but I am exicted about it none the less.
How would you recommend going about finding out about how the Maine legal market is doing? UML has a pretty high placement rate, but I am not sure how that plays into the job market as a whole.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:57 am
by reasonable_man
davidtothej05 wrote:Thanks all! After being in stationed in Iraq for the past year, New England will be quite a change of pace. I probably will have to get used to cold weather again, but I am exicted about it none the less.
How would you recommend going about finding out about how the Maine legal market is doing? UML has a pretty high placement rate, but I am not sure how that plays into the job market as a whole.
Try contacting some local attorneys... Local bar news papers, etc. There is no science to it really.. You're just going to have to look into it a bit... Take the time and research it closely.. Don't jump in head first, ya know..
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:23 pm
by JOThompson
An exhausting commute like that might be worthwhile for BC/BU, but certainly not for Suffolk or Northeastern.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:22 pm
by kalvano
JOThompson wrote:An exhausting commute like that might be worthwhile for BC/BU, but certainly not for Suffolk or Northeastern.
Whatever. It's by train. That's easy. Though I agree, probably not worth it for those schools.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 11:48 am
by davidtothej05
I was considering the train as being a way to catch up on reading and notes, but if there isnt that much difference in the schools then it doesnt seem to be worth it.
Thank you all for your feedback!
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 4:56 pm
by MDPSteve
davidtothej05 wrote:Years ago, I made a promise to my wife that we would return to our home in Maine after my military service was completed this year. The problem is the lack of law schools in Northern New England. I am not about to tell my wife that we are not going home after she has followed me to places like Alabama and Jersey (apologies to the residents, just not our cup of tea), which leaves the only school readily available to be Maine Law in Portland. Would it be worth it to take a 2 hour train ride to Boston to attend Northeastern or Suffolk over Maine (my scores wont allow BC/BU and I cant retest before 2011 admissions cycle closes) or drive an hour west to New Hampshire (no IP)? With the Post 9/11 GI bill and yellow ribbon, money will not be an issue.
I apologize if this is obvious to most, I am just getting my feet wet with all of this. Thanks.
I'm using the Yellow Ribbon/Post 9/11 GI Bill and the only school that I wasn't paying out of pocket for is New Hampshire. I believe Maine was still about 8,000 a year out of pocket and the Boston schools were closer to 20k out of pocket. Also, look at the BAH rates for the school... I'm getting 1,650 in New Hampshire while I think Boston was just over 2,300 and Maine was under 1000 (I'd double check these but I'm fairly certain that's what they were). Also, if you get a scholarship and your tuition is covered by the GI Bill/Yellow Ribbon, it's refunded back as a living allowance.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:16 pm
by 20160810
I would never commute 2 hrs. Any commute under 30 minutes is fine though IMO. I hate studying at school anyway, it just stresses me out more.
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 11:02 pm
by NU_Jet55
rad law wrote:Want to practice in Maine law? Maine law I would gather is your best bet. 2 hr. commute is a terrible idea..
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:04 am
by 20160810
NU_Jet55 wrote:rad law wrote:Want to practice in Maine law? Maine law I would gather is your best bet. 2 hr. commute is a terrible idea..
1.) LOL
2.) Touche
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:13 am
by davidtothej05
what makes you say that? sorry for the bump
Re: To Commute or Not?
Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 11:27 am
by NJcollegestudent
The thing about NE commuting is that outside New Jersey Transit, Metro-north, LIRR and Amtrak, the latter of which is expensive, there is not much in the way of rail.
You could try the downeaster, i believe that is the Amtrak rail service to Maine, however, it would be expensive.