Rutgers-Newark Class of 2014 (First Acceptances are in) Forum

[jerseygirl]

Just please take into account that Rutgers requires 1st years to take 4 core classes + LRW during the fall semester. Other law schools usually require 3 core classes plus LRW. You will be in school from roughly 10-5:30 or 8-3:45 with very few substantive breaks in between and hundreds of pages of dense legal reading to do when you get home. The addition of that 4th class is substantial to your workload and can be a huge drain. Just make sure you take this into account as the picture of where you're likely to attend becomes clearer over the next few months.

I understand your point here. However, if extra work for the first year discourages us from attending a school in particular, we are pursuing the wrong career.

[aidez-moi]

Just please take into account that Rutgers requires 1st years to take 4 core classes + LRW during the fall semester. Other law schools usually require 3 core classes plus LRW. You will be in school from roughly 10-5:30 or 8-3:45 with very few substantive breaks in between and hundreds of pages of dense legal reading to do when you get home. The addition of that 4th class is substantial to your workload and can be a huge drain. Just make sure you take this into account as the picture of where you're likely to attend becomes clearer over the next few months.

I understand your point here. However, if extra work for the first year discourages us from attending a school in particular, we are pursuing the wrong career.

I hear you, but when scholarships are in play (& grade dependent) and one is taking four classes plus graded LRW, get it to x's points should be considered.

[get it to x]

Just please take into account that Rutgers requires 1st years to take 4 core classes + LRW during the fall semester. Other law schools usually require 3 core classes plus LRW. You will be in school from roughly 10-5:30 or 8-3:45 with very few substantive breaks in between and hundreds of pages of dense legal reading to do when you get home. The addition of that 4th class is substantial to your workload and can be a huge drain. Just make sure you take this into account as the picture of where you're likely to attend becomes clearer over the next few months.

I understand your point here. However, if extra work for the first year discourages us from attending a school in particular, we are pursuing the wrong career.

I understand your perspective. If you receive scholarships and/or financial from Rutgers and another comparable law school, I believe it should be a factor taken into your consideration. You will being doing more work initially than your peers at other schools. Hardly anyone at Rutgers or elsewhere is filled with unmotivated students. The vast majority of students work hard and will receive mediocre/below mediocre grades as a function of the B curve. Quite honestly, it's a crapshoot that distinguishes the top of the class from the rest. Unfair? Perhaps. I would not harbor any illusions of grandeur that you will certainly rock your four core classes and be first on the call-back list for another interview with a top NYC or NJ firm. I know it's tough to hear as a 0L that the odds of being "TLS successful" are stacked against you, but for the most part it's reality. If that's where you'd like to see yourself in three years, I would strongly advise you to consider other schools that only require three core classes per term for the 1L year. You will have more time to concentrate your efforts and you will freak out less.

I'm honestly not trying to dissuade you or anyone from matriculating at Rutgers (because honestly if this is where you believe you belong then you should attend), but you have to make an informed decision. Set modest goals for yourself and try to accomplish those. Employers also like some humility. It would be good for the profession if more of my classmates demonstrated less hubris now and then. If bigger things happen as a result, terrific. If they don't you won't be that disappointed. Just make sure you ask lots of pointed questions, sharpen your ability to see through the ra-ra bullshit about Rutgers being perfect, and do some online research related to job placements, clerkships, etc. Then send or don't send the matriculation form in. At least you did your due diligence.

[BrownBears09]

Pointless rant.

Are you a scribblehead alt? You're trolling an admissions forum with employment and class statistics in an attempt to dissuade others from attending. Also, your argument structure is very similar to scribble's. This is a "Law School Acceptances, Denials, and Waitlists" forum, not your blog.

[NJcollegestudent]

For me, internal scholarships as a 0L are probably not going to happen. I do not have the LSAT to receive money based on past trends. I would just like to receive admissions.

Again, i did not say attend Rutgers without researching, i did, and i found it is perfect for me debt wise, location wise, opportunity wise and of course academically.

[get it to x]

Pointless rant.

Are you a scribblehead alt? You're trolling an admissions forum with employment and class statistics in an attempt to dissuade others from attending. Also, your argument structure is very similar to scribble's. This is a "Law School Acceptances, Denials, and Waitlists" forum, not your blog.

Didn't think my efforts are pointless. Wouldn't consider what I was doing as trolling. Sorry for the long post (or perhaps the frequency of my postings) which you interpreted as a personal blog? And no I am not the other poster who just posits useless crap. I did not mention one statistic in my post. I thought my arguments brought something to the table. I dunno when I was going through the process I wish someone gave me a complete picture of any school. I'm sorry you don't appreciate my efforts.

[get it to x]

For me, internal scholarships as a 0L are probably not going to happen. I do not have the LSAT to receive money based on past trends. I would just like to receive admissions.

Again, i did not say attend Rutgers without researching, i did, and i found it is perfect for me debt wise, location wise, opportunity wise and of course academically.

NJ, that's great! A fit is a fit. Best of luck to you.

[NJcollegestudent]

Thank You, and i hope you find a nice job after you graduate.

[NJcollegestudent]

To jerseygirl, russianwater, and all those who are waiting for a decision, hopefully tomorrow is the day. Happy Holidays and stay safe and let us keep hoping.

[jerseygirl]

Thank you, same to you NJCollegeStudent! I have 2 finals and a take home exam due tomorrow so I am going to be very busy, but coming back to find out that I was accepted would be a wonderful way to end this semester!

[northwood]

To jerseygirl, russianwater, and all those who are waiting for a decision, hopefully tomorrow is the day. Happy Holidays and stay safe and let us keep hoping.

same to you. stay safe, have fun, and keep your hopes up. Im sure you both will get in to your top school.

[NJcollegestudent]

Thank you, same to you NJCollegeStudent! I have 2 finals and a take home exam due tomorrow so I am going to be very busy, but coming back to find out that I was accepted would be a wonderful way to end this semester!

Are you sure we do not know each other? I have two finals and a take home tomorrow as well.

[NJcollegestudent]

To jerseygirl, russianwater, and all those who are waiting for a decision, hopefully tomorrow is the day. Happy Holidays and stay safe and let us keep hoping.

same to you. stay safe, have fun, and keep your hopes up. Im sure you both will get in to your top school.

Thanks russianwater, hopefully you get even more good news tomorrow.

[jerseygirl]

Thank you, same to you NJCollegeStudent! I have 2 finals and a take home exam due tomorrow so I am going to be very busy, but coming back to find out that I was accepted would be a wonderful way to end this semester!

Are you sure we do not know each other? I have two finals and a take home tomorrow as well.

That's quite the coincidence!
On another note, is anyone else obsessively checking their email and status checker today? haha

[scribblehead]

BTW, McCarter & English, the largest law firm in NJ, had a 2010 summer associate class that consisted of 0 people:

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/08/canceled ... d-offices/


BTW the main offices of this firm are just a few blocks from R-N in the Gateway Center, across from Newark Penn Station.

Why shouldn't an admissions thread have at least some discussion of the ultimate purpose/goal of law school: a paying job as an attorney. I'd think it would at least warrant some concern among prospective students that the largest law firm in the state, located in the same city as your law school, hired 0 people from R-N (or any law school) this year. Yet other posters above consider this "useless crap." Sure guys, the fact that you'll likely be unemployed in 3 years is "crap."

Ditto the fact that the NJ AG's office has an indefinite hiring freeze, as do most of the DA's offices and county Legal Aid programs.

I'd be curious to know who exactly you think is going to hire an R-N graduate in this economy? Mid-sized firms almost always hire strictly laterals with either portable business or specific, multi-year (5+) experience in niche practice areas. Everyone loves to slam and ridicule my posts, yet offer no credible rebuttal to the hard, cold truth of this job market.

[aidez-moi]

--ImageRemoved--

[jerseygirl]

BTW, McCarter & English, the largest law firm in NJ, had a 2010 summer associate class that consisted of 0 people:

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/08/canceled ... d-offices/


BTW the main offices of this firm are just a few blocks from R-N in the Gateway Center, across from Newark Penn Station.

Why shouldn't an admissions thread have at least some discussion of the ultimate purpose/goal of law school: a paying job as an attorney. I'd think it would at least warrant some concern among prospective students that the largest law firm in the state, located in the same city as your law school, hired 0 people from R-N (or any law school) this year. Yet other posters above consider this "useless crap." Sure guys, the fact that you'll likely be unemployed in 3 years is "crap."

Ditto the fact that the NJ AG's office has an indefinite hiring freeze, as do most of the DA's offices and county Legal Aid programs.

I'd be curious to know who exactly you think is going to hire an R-N graduate in this economy? Mid-sized firms almost always hire strictly laterals with either portable business or specific, multi-year (5+) experience in niche practice areas. Everyone loves to slam and ridicule my posts, yet offer no credible rebuttal to the hard, cold truth of this job market.

Ok, buddy. I'll bite.... what's your solution then? Give up on law as a career? Perhaps we should dismantle the court system since no attorneys are being hired and allow alleged criminals to go before a tribunal with no representation.

[scribblehead]

Ok, buddy. I'll bite.... what's your solution then? Give up on law as a career?

Yes. If R-N was the best school you could get into, you're unlikely to ever have a legal "career." I'm not picking on R-N per se: the same applies to all TTT schools in the tri-state area (Seton Hall, St. John's, Brooklyn, NYLS, Cardozo).

Just take a look at this article:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ ... l_of_them/

400 K in applications for only 1244 clerkships. Of course, some people applied for multiple clerkships, but it still gives a nice glimpse of what awaits you in 3 short years. The supply/demand curve is simply not in your favor. It's an easy choice: you either face this sober reality now, or you face it in 3 years. The jobs are just not out there. In this economy you'll be competing with Top 14'ers even for crappy Superior Court clerkships in NJ, and you'll likely lose out to them.

Do you think anyone enters law school thinking "I'll be a doc review temp for $25 an hour and no health benefits?" Of course not.

But make no mistake: those temp gigs are filled within minutes of being posted on craigslist. Actually working these jobs is even worse: seeing so many bright, capable, talented people wasting away for crappy $$$ and no chance for advancement or anything that resembles a "career." The quality of people out on the temp circuit would make your jaws drop: G'Town grads, NYU grads, lawyers with JD/MBA's, former law review editors, etc etc. It's a real eye opener, that's for sure.

[aidez-moi]

scribblehead, I get what you're saying, and it needs to be said. However I have two questions that stem from your points, and if you'd be up for answering them it might clear the lingering thoughts I always have after reading your posts.

(1) maybe I'm an idiot, but I cannot see too many T14ers coming out of law school and making a B line straight for Jersey. Are you telling me that Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc. graduates are simply giving up on the big markets they have control over and are flocking to small and mid-sized firms in Jersey? and (2) again, maybe I'm naive but if not Rutgers what school serves the NJ market? Granted it's not big, but from what you're saying it seems to me that anyone who wants to practice in Jersey is SOL if they don't get into T14.

(And please don't bring some random-ass link to make your point. That one story you brought in about the guy that was stabbed in Newark was over four miles from the law school and Newark Penn, in a residential area of town that most law students probably aren't going to call home or ever be around.)

[scribblehead]

Perhaps we should dismantle the court system since no attorneys are being hired and allow alleged criminals to go before a tribunal with no representation.

As a matter of fact, Jerseygirl, the state is well on the way to adopting that very position:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj ... brary.html



Granted this doesn't apply to major criminal cases like homocide/robbery etc, but in my county (Hunterdon), I've seen the municipal court judge in Raritan Twp. deny legal aid to nearly every DWI/shoplifting/other petty criminal defendant the past 6 months or so. If one has ANY job, even 5 hours a week at Mickey D's, they aren't getting legal aid. Period. The judge's favorite quote is "this is for people who live in poverty- you are employed and as such can work out a payment plan with private practice counsel." And yes, he has also recommended the "library" program in the article (Hunterdon is very old school GOP and the judge was a big GW supporter, so what do you expect LOL).

It's sad (and of course the effect is basically a denial of their rights), but hey, it's only DWI, right? Only the loss of driver's license for 6 months and about 8 K in surcharges, alcohol classes, and of course the loss of whatever crap job they do have (unless said job is w/in walking distance of their home, as Hunterdon has no viable public transit).

But again, this is the reality. We live in the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.

[BrownBears09]

Troll post.

We have a thread for this: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... =2&t=66974

Please don't interrupt and derail acceptance threads for this. You can start your own thread elsewhere if you want to discuss this.

Please don't interrupt and derail acceptance threads for this. You can start your own thread elsewhere if you want to discuss this.

I thought that was pretty clear.

You've been warned 2 times already by the admin, and you continue to troll?

Btw: Scribblehead = MTal = lawschoolblows = Scott Bullock

[NicRen]

In via email today with 8,000/year in scholarship money.

2.91(extreme upward trend)/162.

Good luck to everybody else.

[JennBNYC]

In via email today with 8,000/year in scholarship money.

2.91(extreme upward trend)/162.

Good luck to everybody else.

Congrats! If you don't mind me asking, in-state or out-of-state? URM?

[NicRen]

In via email today with 8,000/year in scholarship money.

2.91(extreme upward trend)/162.

Good luck to everybody else.

Congrats! If you don't mind me asking, in-state or out-of-state? URM?

I am out of state and not a URM. I was however able to check on the application that I went to an inner-city high school (if memory serves me correctly they defined it as a high school in a city with over 100,000 residents), and I did overcome some relatively serious challenges in my youth. On top of that, although my LSDAS gpa is very low, I actually graduated with a 3.59 from my degree granting institution.

[get it to x]

If anyone has any questions about RU I can try to answer them as best and as honestly as I can.