- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 9010
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri Mar 27, 2020 1:09 pm
#74524
Below is a student, Oleh, who has a tough law school choice, and a response from PowerScore CEO Dave Killoran.
Oleh: "I am hoping you could help me in a pinch as I have to make my decision soon. I got accepted into Rutgers Law and Seton Hall Law. Seton Hall is giving me a $25000 Scholarship and Rutgers is giving me a $12000 scholarship. I live in NJ and would prefer to work in the NJ/NY area. With Seton Hall, I would be paying $25k-$27k per year while with Rutgers it would be $13-$15k, so basically about half. I would come out of Seton Hall law with about $35k more in debt but it is a better school. What would you do? I know the $35k isn’t that much of a difference but I wonder if even that is still worth it. My undergrad was at Rutgers and I’m not sure if that helps or hinders anything. Thank you so much and I would appreciate any feedback."
Dave Killoran: "Hi Oleh,
$35K is not a small difference, and I’d be willing to pay for it if the school difference was worth it. #59 vs #77? I’m not so sure it’s worth it. It might be but the ranking difference isn’t huge there, and while SH has better employment outcomes, they aren’t overwhelmingly better. I’d be on the fence here.
In those cases, then, it comes down to two things:
1. The school you like better and where you feel you will perform better. The undergrad at Rutgers doesn’t factor in to me because people do undergrad-grad at the same school all the time.
2. The type of law you think you might be interested in. SH has solidly superior biglaw numbers, so if that’s your goal, that makes a difference.
Here’s what that $35K would be buying you, by the way: Compare Seton Hall and Rutgers Head-to-Head.
Think about those two points above, and it should give you some additional clarity here. But I don’t think either is a “bad” choice given what you’ve said.
"
Oleh: "I am hoping you could help me in a pinch as I have to make my decision soon. I got accepted into Rutgers Law and Seton Hall Law. Seton Hall is giving me a $25000 Scholarship and Rutgers is giving me a $12000 scholarship. I live in NJ and would prefer to work in the NJ/NY area. With Seton Hall, I would be paying $25k-$27k per year while with Rutgers it would be $13-$15k, so basically about half. I would come out of Seton Hall law with about $35k more in debt but it is a better school. What would you do? I know the $35k isn’t that much of a difference but I wonder if even that is still worth it. My undergrad was at Rutgers and I’m not sure if that helps or hinders anything. Thank you so much and I would appreciate any feedback."
Dave Killoran: "Hi Oleh,
$35K is not a small difference, and I’d be willing to pay for it if the school difference was worth it. #59 vs #77? I’m not so sure it’s worth it. It might be but the ranking difference isn’t huge there, and while SH has better employment outcomes, they aren’t overwhelmingly better. I’d be on the fence here.
In those cases, then, it comes down to two things:
1. The school you like better and where you feel you will perform better. The undergrad at Rutgers doesn’t factor in to me because people do undergrad-grad at the same school all the time.
2. The type of law you think you might be interested in. SH has solidly superior biglaw numbers, so if that’s your goal, that makes a difference.
Here’s what that $35K would be buying you, by the way: Compare Seton Hall and Rutgers Head-to-Head.
Think about those two points above, and it should give you some additional clarity here. But I don’t think either is a “bad” choice given what you’ve said.
"