Brooklyn vs Cardozo Forum

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srg1027

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Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by srg1027 » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:13 pm

Deciding between these two schools for Fall 2019.

Brooklyn gave me 53K a year while Cardozo gave me 25K a year.

I am not big law or bust and I know Big Law is a tough goal at either of these schools, but I am wondering what numbers are important to look at when comparing these schools and what anyone's personal opinions are. Thanks!

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cavalier1138

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:15 pm

What's your total COA at each school, and how will you be financing? What are your career goals (beyond not being "biglaw or bust," which is already raising red flags for me)?

QContinuum

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by QContinuum » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:18 pm

What are your goals out of law school? You mention BigLaw, but both Brooklyn and Cardozo placed ~19.5% of their 2017 classes into BigLaw, meaning the odds are (very) slim. You'd need to be top 10% after 1L at either school - i.e., you'd have to outperform 90% of your classmates, who will generally have similar college GPAs and LSAT scores - to stand a good chance of landing BigLaw at either school.

srg1027

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by srg1027 » Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:55 pm

The total COA at each school should be around 60K a year, I'm hoping that after my first year I could get my scholarship bumped to a full ride. I'm located in queens so I will be commuting each day.

In terms of goals, I am not too sure. Big Law has great money but I value my time I feel too much to do that. I've been thinking about District Attorney but I know they do not make too much money, yet I know Big Law likes litigation backgrounds which I am interested in. I am starting to research jobs that deal with Law in Video Games which I think would be cool. Other than these thoughts I am pretty open but money is also important.

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LSATWiz.com

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by LSATWiz.com » Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:17 pm

srg1027 wrote:The total COA at each school should be around 60K a year, I'm hoping that after my first year I could get my scholarship bumped to a full ride. I'm located in queens so I will be commuting each day.

In terms of goals, I am not too sure. Big Law has great money but I value my time I feel too much to do that. I've been thinking about District Attorney but I know they do not make too much money, yet I know Big Law likes litigation backgrounds which I am interested in. I am starting to research jobs that deal with Law in Video Games which I think would be cool. Other than these thoughts I am pretty open but money is also important.
There is no such thing as a video game lawyer. You can have in-house counsels at companies that make video games, and an IP lawyer may be involved in a matter involving video games.

I'd say if the difference between the 2 is $90k, there's no question Brooklyn is the better call.

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cavalier1138

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:21 pm

I agree that Brooklyn is the better call, but I'm not sure it's a good call for you, given your vague goals (which mostly seem to be about making money). But 100% do not count on this:
srg1027 wrote:I'm hoping that after my first year I could get my scholarship bumped to a full ride
You have no idea how well you will perform in law school. Assume median, and if the outcomes for that portion of the class don't match your goals, don't go.

icansortofmath

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by icansortofmath » Wed Apr 17, 2019 7:54 am

I don’t know what you mean by video game law but if you’re looking for niche areas (startups?) and DA positions, neither school is a good idea. First group is harder than your average biglaw firm to crack (you’re basically looking at specialty groups/firms in big/midlaw) and second group, despite low pay, isn’t much easier to crack than average biglaw in NY.

And if you do well enough to get scholarship bumped up to full ride, you should transfer.

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by objctnyrhnr » Wed Apr 17, 2019 9:20 am

I continue to fail to understand why people go to law school in nyc if they can’t land Fordham. TCR is retake and land Fordham with $. Studying for the Lsat is way easier than figuring out how to take law school exams on the fly.

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CardozoLaw09

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by CardozoLaw09 » Wed Apr 17, 2019 11:46 am

Agreed with the above. Defer for a year and try to land Fordham

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LSATWiz.com

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by LSATWiz.com » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:24 pm

If Brooklyn is a full ride, I don't know. I might prefer that to Fordham. I'm not sure the difference in career prospects justifies the difference in cost.

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by QContinuum » Wed Apr 17, 2019 3:52 pm

LSATWiz.com wrote:If Brooklyn is a full ride, I don't know. I might prefer that to Fordham. I'm not sure the difference in career prospects justifies the difference in cost.
I think it depends on one's goals. If SmallLaw or state/local public interest, sure, Brooklyn on a full ride (or even close to full) is perfectly OK. If one wants something higher-paying, and their GPA locks them out of the T20, then I wouldn't feel comfortable advising attending Brooklyn. I'd advise going at the LSAT until it's possible to attend Fordham or Cardozo at reasonable cost.

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by LSATWiz.com » Wed Apr 17, 2019 4:09 pm

QContinuum wrote:
LSATWiz.com wrote:If Brooklyn is a full ride, I don't know. I might prefer that to Fordham. I'm not sure the difference in career prospects justifies the difference in cost.
I think it depends on one's goals. If SmallLaw or state/local public interest, sure, Brooklyn on a full ride (or even close to full) is perfectly OK. If one wants something higher-paying, and their GPA locks them out of the T20, then I wouldn't feel comfortable advising attending Brooklyn. I'd advise going at the LSAT until it's possible to attend Fordham or Cardozo at reasonable cost.
In fairness, I haven't really looked at the statistics since 2015 so may be way off. I'd imagine schools like Fordham would have disproportionately benefited from the improved economy.

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Re: Brooklyn vs Cardozo

Post by Dave118 » Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:42 am

QContinuum wrote:What are your goals out of law school? You mention BigLaw, but both Brooklyn and Cardozo placed ~19.5% of their 2017 classes into BigLaw, meaning the odds are (very) slim. You'd need to be top 10% after 1L at either school - i.e., you'd have to outperform 90% of your classmates, who will generally have similar college GPAs and LSAT scores - to stand a good chance of landing BigLaw at either school.
Having attended one of these or a similar ranked school in NY, I wanted to clarify something for future applicants. There are many people in top 25% (or even slightly out) who have landed biglaw. Conversely, even being a top 5 student at one of these schools is no guarantee of biglaw. Other factors applicants should take into account are whether they’re a woman, LGBTQ, URM, or have a likeable personality. These are all huge factors in determining your likelihood of getting a biglaw job from such schools assuming you do make it to the top 25%.
Having said this, I agree that banking on outperforming even 75% of your classmates is not smart. Personally, I chose a full ride at my school over a less than full ride at many better ranked schools because I was not set on biglaw (or even working in the legal industry) and just wanted a law degree.

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