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St. John's School of Law

Introduction

St. John’s School of Law is one of many different law schools that feed into the New York City market. Based in the neighborhood of Jamaica, the school is currently ranked 72^nd by US News and enjoys a better reputation than some of its peers (NYLS, Touro, etc.). However, that being said, prospective students should think twice about attending without significant financial aid. Job prospects out of St. John’s, especially in this struggling economy, aren’t great for the majority of students, and the tuition and cost of living are high. If you want to take a gamble and go for that big New York City paycheck, then St. John’s has a small chance of fulfilling that dream. However, it is important to keep a level head and know your exit options: if you don’t place near the top of your class, then job prospects could be dire. If you’re not sure about applying to law school or just beginning the application process, then please take the time to read some of the excellent pre-law articles found here. 

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Admissions

Tuition and Fees

As mentioned above, students should be prepared to spend a considerable amount for their education at St. John’s. For the 2009-2010 academic year, full-time students paid $42,200 and part-time students paid $31,650 in tuition. If you take into account the ABA Estimate of $19,810 for living expenses, students can spend over $60,000 for each year at St. John’s.

However, St. John’s does offer a considerable portion of its students financial aid grants. In the last data reported to the ABA, the school noted that it gave 32.6% of its student body financial aid grants (or 298/914 students). More full-time students received financial aid (38.4%) than part-time students (only 6.6%). Of those who were selected to receive grants, 35.9% received less than half tuition, 28.5% received half to full tuition, 31.5% received full tuition, and 4% received more than full tuition. The median grant amount was $25,000 for full-time students and $10,000 for part-time students.

For all academic scholarships at St. John’s, keeping your grant money is contingent upon remaining in the top half of your class. This is easier said than done! Students should be prepared to study hard in order to retain their scholarships. For a few other scholarships (the Vincentian and Ron Brown Scholarships), students must simply remain in good standing in order to continue receiving aid. To find out more about scholarships at St. John’s, click here. To read a TLS article about funding your legal education, click here. Also, if you plan on pursuing a career in public interest, click here to learn about the new program called Public Service Loan Forgiveness (or PSLF). Finally, to read about a new payment option for federal student loans called IBR (or Income-Based Repayment), click here.

The Numbers

As with most other law schools, the LSAT and undergraduate GPA (or UGPA) requirements for admission continue to climb. For the entering class of full-time students in the fall of 2009, the school reported that its LSAT median was 161, with its 75^th and 25^th percentiles being 163 and 156, respectively. However, taking into account both full-time and part-time students, the school reported that its LSAT median was slightly lower at 160, with its 75^th and 25^th percentiles being 160 and 154. Therefore, although the school does not report its part-time numbers independently, it is clear that the school’s part-time standards for the LSAT are slightly lower than its full-time standards.

Interestingly, the opposite holds true for UGPA amongst attending students. For the entering class of full-time students in the fall of 2009, the UGPA median was 3.48, with 75^th and 25^th percentiles being 3.70 and 3.16, respectively. However, when taking into account part-time numbers as well, the UGPA median was 3.53, with 75^th and 25^th percentiles being 3.73 and 3.16. This means that part-time students generally have similar (or higher) UGPAs than full-time students, and slightly lower LSAT scores.

If you start in the part-time program, it is quite easy to transfer into the full-time program. The school’s website explains:

Students who begin in a part time day program may seek to transfer to the full time program provided they have a minimum GPA of 3.0 after one semester or after one year provided they have a minimum GPA of 2.5. Part time evening students must complete one full year and have a minimum GPA of 2.5 to switch to a full time program.

As a side note, the school states in regard to applicants having multiple LSAT scores that, “If an applicant has taken the LSAT more than once, there will be an emphasis on the highest score during the review process.” To learn more about preparing for the LSAT from some of the highest scorers on TLS, click here. The application fee is $60 unless one obtains a fee waiver. To read more about how to obtain a fee waiver, click here.

Beyond the Numbers

Although your LSAT score and your UGPA are very important factors in your admission, other components can make a difference as well. The school writes:

… the Admissions Committee will also consider, among other factors, the nature and difficulty of the applicant's course of undergraduate studies; the applicant's entire undergraduate record, including ascending or descending trends in achievement; graduate work or degrees; significant extracurricular activities while an undergraduate or graduate student; community activities; work experience; and personal obstacles that may have interfered with the realization of the applicant's full potential and personal achievements.

For most schools, crafting an effective resume is an important part of the application process. Your resume is a good way of sharing those factors that make you different in a concise and accessible way. To read some advice about creating a professional law school resume, click here.

Personal Statements

Applicants are required to include a “personal statement or short essay” with their application. Suggested topics include:

• your decision to pursue a career in law
• your reaction to a recent current affairs event
• your feelings about a particular community service or extracurricular activity with which you have been involved
• your reaction to a particular item you may have read recently (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry), whether in an article or a book

It can be difficult to come up with a good topic for your personal statement, so make sure to give yourself plenty of time to brainstorm, write, and revise. Although the school doesn’t give a maximum or minimum length requirement, making your essay about two pages double-spaced in a reasonable font size is a safe bet. In addition, applicants can submit an optional diversity statement. The school’s application says:

If there are economic, cultural, or social factors that have been significant in your development and identity, or that have presented obstacles to you and you wish the Admissions Committee to consider those factors in evaluating your application, please provide a supplementary statement describing these obstacles.

It is important to note that nearly all students add diversity to the student body in some way. The number of different influences that fall under “economic, cultural, or social factors” is immense, so even if you can’t initially come up with something that makes you a unique applicant, keep thinking about it.

Finally, if you have encountered significant obstacles, then you should write an explanatory addendum. A low LSAT score or UGPA can be partially mitigated by a very good excuse (family illness, a history of poor standardized test taking, etc.), and this will help your application get the attention it deserves. Be sure to keep your addendum quite brief; only include details that are necessary. For more information about writing addendums, click here.

If you’re interested in improving your personal statement or even just looking for ideas to write about, Ken DeLeon, the creator of Top-Law-Schools.com, wrote a fantastic guide to personal statements which can be found here for free.

When to Apply

Unfortunately, St. John’s does not have an Early Action (EA) or Early Decision (ED) option. However, as with most law schools, the earlier you apply, the better. Applications for St. John’s open up in early September and have a priority deadline of April 1^st. This means that applications turned in after April 1^st “will be reviewed on a ‘space available’ basis.” The school further clarifies that, “We cannot guarantee space for applications received after April 1.” Even though the school continues to give applications full consideration until April 1^st, it is a fact that there are more spots open earlier in the application cycle.

Letters of Recommendation

The school had the following to say about applicants submitting letters of recommendation:

The Committee on Admissions will consider up to three letters of recommendation. Recommendations from college instructors familiar with the applicant's academic work are most helpful, but applicants who have been away from the classroom for several years might opt to submit recommendations from employers, supervisors, or business associates. The Admissions Committee prefers that letters of recommendation be sent as part of your Law Services report. However, they may also be included with your application in a sealed envelope, with the seal signed by the recommender. Alternatively, recommenders may send them directly to the Office of Admissions.

Even though the school doesn’t require any letters of recommendation, they will make your application stronger. Make sure that you give your recommenders plenty of time to write their letters, as they might be preoccupied with other matters. To get some additional advice on obtaining letters of recommendation, click here.

Waitlisted?

St. John’s doesn’t have much information about its waitlist on its website, but if you are waitlisted, be prepared for a long wait. You can improve your chances by sending in periodic LOCI (or letters of continued interest) with any significant updates to your application. These might include new publications, a new job, a new semester that improved your UGPA, a new LSAT score, etc. This will also show that you are interested in St. John’s, and they will appreciate the attention! That being said, don’t hound them with dozens of letters; just significant updates will do.

Transfer Students

A considerable number of students transfer into and out of St. John’s each year. In the last ABA report, the school reported that 12 students transferred in and 9 students transferred out. The school had the following to say about the requirements to transfer:

Based upon availability, admission is offered to transfer applicants who have demonstrated sufficient capacity to successfully complete the program of studies who generally have achieved grades at the "B" level or higher through the first year of attendance at another ABA-approved law school.

Students can submit applications to transfer in either the fall or the spring. For the fall, the priority deadline is June 1^st, and for the spring, the priority deadline is December 1^st. To find out more about transferring or attending St. John’s as a visiting student, click here.

URMs (or Underrepresented Minorities)

Because of their disadvantaged histories in the United States, certain minorities enjoy a significant boost in the application process. To read more about this boost and to see whether you classify as an URM, click here. In addition, there are many pre-law programs specifically created to help URM applicants get accepted to top schools. To read more about some of these programs, click here.

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Law School Culture

St. John’s is located in Jamaica, a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Although Jamaica itself isn’t the greatest place to spend three years, it is located near downtown New York City, one of the premiere social, cultural, and recreational capitals of the entire country. Students are just a short cab ride or subway trip away from the heart of the Big Apple, so there are plenty of opportunities available for students to have fun.

St. John’s is traditionally known as a commuter school, and current students confirm this stereotype. One student writes, “St. John's is definitely a commuter school, especially for the law school.” When further pressed about student life on campus, the same student responded:

No one hangs out near campus because no one has any affiliation with the campus. There are a couple bars somewhat close to campus that tend to have law school students there for happy hour immediately after classes, but most people hang out where they live (typically Brooklyn) or go into Manhattan. Queens is pretty bad, so people don't tend to hang out here much.

So, if you’re looking for a cohesive student body and exciting social opportunities on campus, St. John’s might be a poor choice. One student remarked, “I'm sure the undergrad has a good campus life, but the law school is very disconnected from them; everything is in one building right inside the gates.” That being said, the school does have extracurricular options for those who seek them out. For instance, the school offers clubs like the Muslim Law Students Association, the Women’s Law Society, or the Intellectual Property Law Club (or IPL Club).

Parking on campus should be relatively painless, and the school is quite safe. One student writes:

I've never really walked around campus, so I'm not sure about safety, but there seems to always be Public Safety officers around. Parking is alright, costs only $100 for the year, but if your classes are later in the day, you have to park farther away from the law school. Still, it’s a small campus, so no walk is terrible.

There are plenty of different dining options for St. John’s students on and near campus. For instance, students can take advantage of the new St. Vincent’s Café, D’Angelo Center Food Emporium, and Starbucks Café. And, of course, St. John’s is located right outside of Manhattan, which offers some of the most ethnically diverse food in the United States. To find out more dining at St. John’s, click here.

Housing

When asked about housing on campus, one student was largely negative. He writes, “The only possible housing you can obtain through the school is a mile from campus, and they treat you like undergrads, so the desire to stay in those apartments is very minimal.” He goes on to claim that the university’s treatment of law students is the “biggest negative” about the school:

The biggest negative is the involvement the university (not the law school) tries to have in the law students' lives. It is mainly only because of the housing, but they are overbearing and treat law students like undergraduates.

However, he concedes that living in the campus apartments is not “a completely terrible idea for 1Ls (first year law students) because you meet a lot of people from other sections (each class is separated into three sections, who you have all your classes with first year).”

The Student Body

The student body at St. John’s is reasonably diverse. The entering class in the fall of 2009 was reported to be 22% minorities, and the class was divided between 45% females and 55% males. One student writes about diversity at St. John’s:

In terms of ethnicity, it is relatively diverse. The largest percentage is of white Jews, then white Christians, but there are a lot of Asians and a good number of Indians and Arabs. The class is probably about half white, maybe a little more. As for sexual orientation, I am not too sure, there is an active Gay and Lesbian Law Association that allows people with alternative sexual orientation to meet and not feel alienated.

Thus, the student body seems generally accepting of different types of people. However, the school’s scholarship requirements make students slightly more competitive than they might be otherwise. The same student writes, “The students here are not overly competitive, relatively nice, but there is definitely a feel of needing to be better than the rest, because St John's gives a lot of scholarships and you only can keep your scholarship if you remain in the top half of the class.” So make sure that you study hard if you want to keep your scholarship money.

Also worthy of note is that part-time students are treated exactly the same as full-time students. One student writes, “I don't know who is part time and who isn't. So, I guess, yes, they are treated the exact same since I don’t even know who they are.”

Finally, some applicants may be wary of St. John’s being traditionally Catholic. However, the university’s religious background has no effect on the law school, according to one student:

It is traditionally a Catholic school. However, there is no religious affiliation in the law school whatsoever. The undergraduates apparently have to take a course on religion, and there is a church on campus and a priest specifically for the school. But the law school has absolutely no affiliation. In fact, there are more Jews than any other religion in the law school.

Facilities

One area where the school shines is in its state of the art facilities. One student writes:

The academic facilities here are nice. We have a very large library, a computer lab with state of the art Mac computers, and ample classroom space all equipped with projectors. Some classrooms have chalkboards, others have dry erase boards. The law school has its own network and a very helpful IT staff that really knows what they're doing.

In terms of recreational facilities, the school offers its students outdoor tennis courts, an outdoor track, locker rooms, a fitness center, and a gym where students can play basketball, volleyball, tennis, and badminton. To find out more about recreational opportunities at St. John’s, click here.

Journals

Likewise, St. John’s has many different journals that students can participate in and learn from. They include the St. John’s Law Review, the Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the New York International Law Review, the N.Y. Litigator, and the N.Y. Real Property Law Journal.

Requirements for membership differ from journal to journal, but generally students must achieve a high first-year GPA and do well in the school’s write-on competition in order to be accepted. For instance, for the most prestigious journal at the school, the St. John’s Law Review, “approximately 200 students” enter the competition each year, and “between 32 and 37 are asked to join the Law Review.” Members of the Law Review also staff the school’s Journal of Catholic Legal Studies.

Requirements are slightly more lax for the other journals: the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development and the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review require a 3.2 GPA and completion of the school’s write-on competition, and the New York International Law Review and the N.Y. Litigator require a 3.0 GPA and completion of the same write-on competition.

The journals give students a valuable opportunity to get hands-on experience in developing “their research, writing, and analytical skills through the scholarly treatment of current legal issues.” The above publications span a variety of subject matter, so students should be able to find something that they’re interested in. Above all, membership on a journal will help when it comes time to apply for a job, and in this economy, students can use all the help they can get!

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Academics

Besides its decent facilities, St. John’s struggles to distinguish itself academically. With a poor student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1 and no real outstanding academic programs, the school may prove a tough sell for those looking to maximize their educational experience. However, that being said, the resources are there for a great education if students are motivated enough to make use of them. For instance, the majority of professors at St. John’s are very accessible to students. One student writes:

The majority of professors are very good, but there are definitely some that you know are on staff only because they are good researchers. Even the dean teaches, and he is one of the best professors the university has to offer. All the professors are very available to their students and genuinely want their students to succeed.

This same student even wrote that, “The biggest positive about St. John's is that the professors are so accessible and involved with the students.” Thus, it is possible for ambitious students to form long-lasting relationships with their professors; this will of course help with getting letters of recommendation and finding jobs in general.

In order to graduate with a J.D., the school requires 86 credits, 56 of which must be completed while a member of the university. This takes three years for full-time students to finish, and four years for part-time students. The school offers both a part-time day program and part-time evening program, so students from all different stages of life should be able to complete a degree at St. John’s. To read more about the diverse selection of courses that St. John’s offers, click here.

LL.M. Degrees and Joint Degrees

The school also has two different specialized LL.M. degrees: the LL.M. in Bankruptcy and the LL.M. in U.S. Legal Studies for Foreign Graduates. Only thirty credits are required for these degrees, and they should only take one year to complete (or two years if you’re part-time). The school’s website explains:

We offer the nation’s only LL.M. in Bankruptcy and accept only about a dozen highly motivated students a year. Our intensive and comprehensive curriculum includes more than two-dozen specialized bankruptcy courses taught by a world-class faculty of leading professors, judges and practitioners. Our graduates are successful and are employed by leading firms and courts.

The LL.M. in U.S. Legal Studies for Foreign Law School Graduates provides foreign lawyers with an invaluable opportunity to come to St. John’s Law School and New York City to acquire new skills in U.S. legal studies and gain eligibility to apply for the New York Bar and to provide foreign law graduates full exposure to the core subjects of U.S. law.

The school also offers a variety of combined and joint degrees to its students. For instance, students can obtain a joint J.D. / M.A. degree in Government and Politics, a joint J.D. / M.B.A., etc. To read a TLS article about joint degrees, click here.

Centers

St. John’s has several different legal centers where students can participate in different academic pursuits. They include the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution, the Center for Labor and Employment Law, the St. John's University School of Law Writing Center, and the Center for Professional Skills. Sometimes indirectly, all of these centers play a significant role in the average student’s education at St. John’s.

The scope of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Justice goes outside of the St. John’s community. Each year, the school hosts a summer prep class for college students interested in going to law school. Those who are eligible are either “low-income or first-generation college students or members of a group underrepresented in law school education” and must have an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students must join the program as sophomores, although they can continue the program their junior years. The center also hosts symposia, presents “Trailblazer Awards” to members of the community that “demonstrate a commitment to uplifting under-represented groups and individuals,” and awards full-tuition Ronald H. Brown Scholarships to “law students with stellar academic records and acknowledged interest in civil rights and economic development.”

The Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution is a brand new creation, only being opened in the fall of 2009. However, its expansive plans for the future will make dispute resolution at St. John’s an even stronger program than it already is. The center plans to expand current course offerings on dispute resolution and give students more clinical and externship opportunities. The school’s Dispute Resolution Society (or DRS), described as the “student arm of the Carey Center,” has already “hosted two internal competitions and participated in several external competitions,” and the organization was only started in 2007! With different conferences and symposia and hands-on events for students like the Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon, the center is certainly improving the school’s resolution program.

The school’s Center for Labor and Employment Law plays a similar role in the school’s labor and employment law curriculum. Students can take courses in employment discrimination, labor and employment arbitration, and many other specialized areas. The center arranges externships in this field and hosts a “Distinguished Speaker Series” where “internationally renowned leaders” discuss “important issues and events in the field.” The center also offers a number of scholarships to students to help pay for tuition and (presumably pro bono or low paying) summer employment.

The St. John’s University School of Law Writing Center functions as a walk-in aid for those students who need help on any aspect of their writing. For instance, students can “brainstorm ideas, practice writing exam essays, edit scholarly pieces, submit papers to writing competitions, find publication sources for articles, polish briefs and memoranda for use as writing samples, practice proper citation form, hone grammar skills, or get help with any general writing problems.” The center also collects a list of current nationwide writing competitions that students can enter, and prizes can range from cash prizes (up to $10,000) to publication of your submission. More than a dozen St. John’s students have won these competitions in the past, and “winning a writing competition is a great way to hone your writing skills, explore a new area of law, and enhance your resume.”

Finally, the Center for Professional Skills plays an important role in organizing two clinics on campus as well as a few other programs. The center is behind the Domestic Violence Litigation Clinic and the Prosecution Clinic and operates an externship program that places students in civil externship sites, criminal justice externship sites, and judicial externship sites. Finally, the center operates the Trial Advocacy program, which gives students “an opportunity to develop trial skills in a simulated environment which allows for critique and demonstration by teams of experienced trial attorneys dedicated to individual student development.”

Clinics and Externships

St. John’s is proud of their clinical program, and the students see it as a pivotal part of their legal education. One 1L student explains:

The clinics here are supposedly excellent. My roommate is doing work in one and its very work intensive, but they really look good to future employers. There is a very large Public Interest group and the university is involved in Public Interest Career fairs in the city (hosted by NYU, but many universities are involved).

The school’s website further explains, “Clinics allow students to go beyond the theory learned in the classroom and take it into the real practice of law. Students will learn and develop essential lawyering skills and professionalism while representing real clients.” Second and third year students can participate in a variety of different clinics, including the Child Advocacy Clinic, the Domestic Violence Clinic, and the Securities Arbitration Clinic.

As previously mentioned, the school also has a number of externships available for students. The school’s website explains:

The St. John's Externship Program offers students the opportunity to work in pre-approved placements under the guidance of carefully selected mentor-attorneys while participating in a clinical externship seminar. Students work 140 hours a semester and receive a total of 4 credits, 2 pass/fail credits, for the placement component of the course, and 2 letter-graded credits for the seminar.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing academic programs at St. John’s is its Street Law Program. St. John’s students get the opportunity to go out into the community and teach “practical law” to high school students at Jamaica High School in Queens, NY. The school views this program as “play[ing] a critical role in shaping the community’s respect for and understanding of the law.” The school achieves this through “teaching inner-city students their legal rights and responsibilities, [encouraging] their participation in the democratic process, and [strengthening] their oral and written communication skills through advocacy training.”

Those who are interested in public interest can also make use of the school’s Public Interest Fellowship program. Each year, the school gives out a number of summer stipends to first and second year students who “show a demonstrated commitment to public interest law and public service prior to and while attending law school, and be an active participant in the SBA’s Public Interest Committee’s activities.” Although the amount per stipend and the number of stipends differs year by year, this is a useful program for those who want to get experience working with “non-profit organizations representing traditionally underrepresented clients, groups, or interests.”

Study Abroad

There are two different study abroad programs available for St. John’s students. They include the Summer Rome Program and the Summer Barcelona Program. Students can get a taste of international law as well as take courses in European legal history, international human rights, and comparative corporate governance. Unfortunately, while the trips might be intellectually stimulating, they are also quite expensive. The Summer Rome Program is estimated to cost nearly $9,000 in total (taking into account housing, tuition, and other expenses), and the Summer Barcelona Program is estimated to cost the same. Also, note that full-tuition scholarships do not cover tuition for the Summer Rome program (and the Summer Barcelona program, presumably).

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Employment

As with most ranked law schools, when students come to St. John’s, they tend to stay for the entire three years.The school’s 1L attrition rate in its last ABA report was quite low at 3.4%, rose slightly for 2Ls (6.3%) and nearly bottomed out completely for 3Ls (0.7%). In other words, you’ll be competing with the vast majority of your 1L classmates for jobs. In addition, more students transfer into St. John’s than transfer out. In the same report, it states that 12 students transferred into St. John’s, while 9 transferred out.

The vast majority of St. John’s students pass the bar the first time they take it. According to the latest ABA report, the school’s passing rate is slightly higher than the average passing rate in the state of New York. With all students reporting (100%), the average school passing rate was 87.71%, versus the average state passing rate of 85.56%. This is a difference of 2.15%. Additionally, in the latest fact sheet given out by St. John’s, the school reports that its latest bar passing rate was 92%. Thus, the school seems to be improving its bar passage rates.

In these troubled economic times, obtaining a job via OCI is never a sure thing. In February of 2009, the school received employment data from all 275 members of the Class of 2008. Of those graduates, 246 (or 87.3%) were employed, and 10 were pursuing post-graduate degrees. The following chart details the employment distribution from those graduates who found employment:

With only 58.1% of employed students finding work at law firms (or 56.9% of graduating students in general), the numbers aren’t looking too great for St. John’s. Let’s further break down the employment at law firms by the size of firm. Keep in mind that these percentages are of the total students that found law firm work (140 students).

Generally, the bigger a law firm is, the more it pays its employees. With only 25% of those who found law firm work (or 12.7% of the graduating class in general) placing into firms with more than 500 attorneys, it should be clear that getting a coveted “Big Law” position out of St. John’s is very difficult indeed. For the same class, the school reported that with 157 out of 241 employed graduates reporting (or 65.1%), the overall median salary was $73,000. In more detail:

With the legal market now struggling, current employment numbers are certainly worse than these ones. In addition, only 65.1% of those who were employed reported salary information; while this is a majority, one has to wonder how the other 34.9% is doing. Keeping in mind all of this information, it should be clear that placing well in your class is important in finding a good job and being able to pay off your potentially significant student debt. With tuition prices soaring, it seems that if you are unlucky enough to land in the bottom half of your class (and thus lose your scholarship), you could end up in a very sour situation indeed. Paying off sticker debt with any of the above median salaries (besides the inflated “Law Firms” one) will take a great deal of time and energy, so make sure that you study hard, meet with professors, and network well to increase the chance of ending up in a successful career after graduating. One current 1L does seem optimistic about his post-graduate chances:

It is only my first year, so I haven't thought much of post-graduation, but they promise our job prospects will be better than the prospects for the current graduating class. Nonetheless, especially if you want to practice in New York, St John's has a pretty high employment rate. While it is difficult to find jobs in today's economy, and while people aren't getting the exact job they would like, pretty much everyone is getting some kind of job. I have not talked to Career Services, but everyone that has says they are very useful and have helped them to find internships for the summer. The school was very honest about job prospects when I was applying; since their job turnout is very good, it would not behoove them to lie.

Thus, it seems likely that graduates will be able to find some form of employment after they graduate. However, if you are unable to find a firm job, paying off the substantial amount of debt that a student incurs at sticker price will be very tricky.

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Conclusion

St. John’s has a number of flaws that make it a hard sell. It has a high tuition and cost of living, mediocre academic programs, and a lack of student body cohesion. However, students who are ambitious enough can enter rewarding careers in law firms, public interest groups, etc. Your options will depend on maintaining your scholarships and placing near the top of your class, not easy tasks by any means. If you’re up for a big challenge and looking for that exciting New York City career, then St. John’s is an OK choice, but students who are looking for more certainty in their legal futures should probably look elsewhere.

Contact Information

St. John's University School of Law Admissions Office
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, NY 11439
718.990.6474
http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/law/prospective
lawinfo@stjohns.edu

Quick Reference

U.S. News Ranking: 72^nd
LSAT Median: 161 (Full-time), 160 (Combined full-time and part-time)
GPA Median: 3.48 (Full-time, 3.53 (Combined full-time and part-time))
Multiple LSAT scores: Higher score accepted
Application Deadlines: Priority deadline of 04/01
Application fee: $60
Entering class size: full-time 231, part-time 84 for entering class of 2009 2009-2010
Tuition: $42,200 (Full-time), $31,650 (Part-time)
Bar passage rate: 87.7% according to latest ABA report, 92% according to St. John’s fact sheet Percent of graduates employed nine months after graduation: 96% (Class of 2008, 100% reporting)
Overall median starting salary: $73,000 (Class of 2008, 65.1% reporting)