I could really use some advice from you guys...

First things first, under no circumstances should you choose to attend St. John's or New York Law School. This is a simple cost-benefit analysis and unfortunately the hiring from these schools is not sufficient to justify their cost (even simply just opportunity cost).

Second, Seton Hall, while Ranked 64 does not place significantly better than Rutgers. Especially given Rutgers connection to Judges in New Jersey and their placement into state clerkships. Would you rather be employed for $48,000 the first year out of law school with the potential, I'll be it limited, to leave to great position in a North Jersey firm or would you rather be returning to retail (which honestly doesn't pay to poorly these days). While Seton Hall has recently taken to giving out scholarships to equal students cost to Rutgers (namely in response to their student population being cut in half since 2008), they are notorious for pitting scholarship students against each other so they lose their scholarship for 2L.

Third, Brooklyn and Penn State are both decent enough law schools. That being said, if your objective is big law you are basically going to be buying a very expensive lottery ticket. Therefore you should attempt to get all of the scholarship money you can from these schools.

Fourth, and perhaps this terrible now that this appears on Reddit, you can obviously tell my bias for Rutgers. You have to look at Law School as an investment. When investing, people look towards return on investment. Rutgers cost is low for instate tuition (you can even get instate if you are out of state but sign a 12mo lease, which is disgusting and should be abolished but isn't). As a result of cost being low, if you perform well, you have the same potential as graduates of any of the aforementioned Law Schools but will have paid significantly less.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you should strongly reconsider or perhaps reevaluate your choice to attend law school. I wish I had. Jobs simply aren't there. Don't get me wrong, T14 kids will do just fine with their $160,000 salaries in NYC and working over 100hrs a week but, you basically have a higher chance of winning most state lotteries than ending up in one of these positions. Law school can be a trap. Once your in it, it is hard to get out of.

NALP for Seton Hall NALP for Rutgers NALP for NYLS

PM me if you want more insight.

/r/LawSchool Thread