Elie here. Welcome back to our Decision series on Above the Law. Here we try to help prospective law students pick which law school is right for them. If you have questions, please send them along to [email protected]. (Please note: we assume your queries are ripe for publication in these pages, on an anonymous basis, unless you state otherwise.)
Today we have a prospective law student who actually took some good advice and stayed OUT of law school during the nadir of the legal hiring market. He got a job, he learned a trade, now he can repair your refrigerator! Okay, not really, but he’s been working in Washington, D.C. and is now ready to go to law school:
I have been working for a few years after college during the law employment free fall, but I am finally ready to go into law and go into a more stabilized market.
I want to continue to work in Washington, D.C. using a law degree (but I am flexible on other states in the area like MD, VA, NY, and PA). I just do not know where to go. My top goal for work is a job involving immigration. I do not want Biglaw.
Here are my options:
1) Penn State – University Park – Full Tuition. I would have to move to State College, but they have clinics in immigration and a low cost of living for student loans (I have enough savings to limit my debt to $50,000 if I take out any loans); and
2) American Law – $105,000 scholarship. This is not enough to cover tuition, let alone cost of living in D.C. However, I would have the benefit of studying and doing internships and externships in DC. I would also have an immigration clinic and a regional school closer to the DMV.
3) Northeastern – Full Tuition. I would have to move to Boston, which is high cost of living, like D.C. I also have heard that it is more regional than other schools, but the co-op program is very enticing.
I love all of the schools but I worry about going to a small-town school or regional school in Boston, and losing out on networking events (or job opportunities) in the D.C. region. I also worry about going to American and having six-figure debt following me around. Of course, if I ended up in another city in the area I wouldn’t be complaining.
What is your advice on the matter?
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See, this is how they get you. American is offering the worst deal, by far. But they’re in D.C., they’re familiar. If you’ve already established yourself professionally, going to law school in the same area is a significant bonus. In most circumstances, I would strongly suggest going to American, building those contacts, and emerging in three years ready to take K Street by storm!
Except, you didn’t say you wanted to take K Street by storm. Instead, you said “job involving immigration,” which is secret code for “I want to feel good about myself while washing my underwear in the Dupont Circle fountain.” Asylum seekers don’t have a lot of money. Dudes trying to get work visas (often) do not have a lot of money. And, depending on who is elected, what government agencies there are to help sex slaves, undocumented laborers, and families fighting deportation do not have a lot of money. Unless your “top goal” is being the graft king for foreign princes looking to extend their student visas… you are not going to have a lot of money.
Given your goals, “free” is worth gold.
Penn State is free. Living in random-town Pennsylvania is cheaper than Boston. Penn State will keep your expenses down to the point where you can pursue your low-income goals. American will give you better contacts, but in three years you’ll be asking those contacts for cash, not clients.
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Kudos to both of you for following Kyle McEntee’s advice to ignore the U.S. News rankings. As an incorrigible prestige whore aficionado, I am not so high-minded; every conversation about where to enroll for law school begins and ends with rankings.
Ah, okay, now I see why rankings didn’t come up. In the just-released U.S. News rankings, these three schools are all pretty comparable: American is #78, Northeastern is #82, and Penn State – University Park is #86. (As for the Above the Law rankings, coming out very soon, these schools don’t quite make it — we rank the top 50.)
So where does that leave you? For starters, not American. The total estimated cost for attending American, including living expenses, exceeds $270,000 (compared to $238,000 for Northeastern and $240,000 for Penn State). American has the highest tuition but it’s offering the lowest amount in scholarship money, and its rank is not materially higher than that of the two other schools. Cross it off the list.
Which to pick as between Northeastern and Penn State? That’s a pretty close call, and I don’t have a strong opinion. Visit both schools, talk to current students and to alumni (especially alumni whose career paths you admire), and see how you feel.
Since Elie took up the cause of Penn State, I’ll dutifully play the role of Elie naysayer and argue for Northeastern. Students and alumni love the school — it has an A-plus grade from current students and an A-minus grade from alumni, compared to grades of A and B-minus for Penn State. (Note: those grades do not reflect the split in fall 2014 between Penn State Law – University Park, the school at issue here, and Penn State Law – Dickinson; they are for the formerly single school with two campuses.)
You mentioned an interest in immigration law, which to me reads as “public interest” (unless you want to represent Donald Trump). Northeastern has a great and well-deserved reputation as a leading school for public interest law, reflected in the achievements of alumni like the fabulous Mary Bonauto, who successfully argued the landmark marriage equality cases of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health and Obergefell v. Hodges. So that’s another point in its favor.
That’s what we think. Readers, how do you feel?
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Earlier: Prior installments of The Decision
The U.S. News Rankings Are Horrible. Stop Paying Attention.