Law School Discussion

Eric.....

Cornell is a great law school whose recent entering class had a median GPA of 3.63 and a LSAT median of 168 which is not a heck of a lot easier than NYU which has medians of 3.71 GPA and 172 LSAT.

Your post that started this thread indicated that want to live in "NYC".  Although Cornell could certainly assist you in securing a job in "NYC" you should know that Cornell is located 3+/- hours outside of New York City in rural Ithaca, New York.

With all respect I believe you are "putting the cart before the horse" and should first take your LSATs before assuming you will attend either NYU, Cornell, Fordham (medians 165 lsat/ 3.53 gpa), St.John's (medians 160 lsat/ 3.49 gpa) or anywhere else.

Good luck.

You may have a pulse at the following schools with a 3.35 and 150 ( in no particular order):

Akron
Albany
Appalachan
John Marshall - Atlanta
John Marshall - Savannah
Ave Maria
Barry (warning high attrition)
Cal Western
Capital
Charleston
Charolette
Cleveland State
Creighton
Dayton
Detroit Mercy
District of Columbia
Drake
Duquesne
Elon
Faulkner
Florida A&M
Florida Coastal
Golden Gate
Hamline
John Marshall (Illinois)
Loyola (N.O.)
University of Massachusetts
Mississippi College
New England
New Hampshire
Northern Illinois
Northern Kentucky
Nova Southeastern
Oklahoma City
Phoenix
Roger Williams
St. Thomas - MN
St. Thomas - Fla (warning high attrition)
Southern Illinois
Suffolk
Texas Southern
Thomas Jefferson
Toledo
Touro (warning high attrition)
Valpariaso
Vermont
Washburn
Western New England
Western State
Whittier
Winder - Del (warning high attrition)
Winder- PA (warning high attrition)
William Mitchell

Don't go to a non ABA accredited school unless you have exhausted all other options.

You should consider recent ABA accredited University of Massachusetts School of Law which had a median LSAT of 144 for the class that started in August 2012.  The class profile is set forth in the below link:
http://www.umassd.edu/media/umassdartmouth/schooloflaw/admissions/law_profile_2011.pdf

Before you attend a Non ABA- California only accredited school you should first consider a law school that is committed to gaining ABA accreditation.  Law schools seeking ABA accreditation are frequently new law schools started by established colleges, universities or law schools which has the necessary financial resources to achieve ABA accreditation. 

The following law schools are seeking ABA accreditation:

** Belmont College is a respected 4 year College in Tennessee started a new law school and is working towards accrediation but to my knowledge it has not had the ABA site team review yet.
http://www.belmont.edu/law/index.html

** Concordia University is an established college with an enrollment of 3,100+/- studets in Portland Oregon.  Concordia statrted a new law school in Boise Idaho and welcomed its first law school class this falll (2012) . I am not sure why a school in Oregon chose to start a new law school in Idaho but it did.
http://www.concordialaw.com/

**  John Marshall Law School (Atlanta) was accredited by the ABA in 2005. John Marshall Law School decided to expand enrollment and this fall opened a new campus in Savannah Georgia as "The Savannah law School".
http://www.savannahlawschool.org/

** The Indiana Tech Law School will open in Fort Wayne in the fall 2013.  Indiana Tech is a private college founded in 1931.  It is a respected undergrad school with an undergrad enrollment of 5000+/- students. 
http://www.indianatech.edu/Academics/Law/Pages/default.aspx

** The Thomas M. Cooley School of Law with four (4) existing law school campuses in (i) Lansing Michigan, (ii) Grand Rapids Michigan, (iii) Auburn Hills Michigan, and (iv) Ann Arbor Michigan expanded enrollment by opening a fifth (5th) law school location in Tampa Florida this year.
http://www.cooley.edu/tampabay/

Let me repeat- -  only attend a non ABA accredited law school after you have exhausted all efforts and been rejected by the above established schools which are working towards accreditation.

Good luck & don't get discouraged.

.

In my opinion this is a no brainer- Arizona is a better choice for you.

There will be substantially better job prospect in Arizona than Upstate New York.  Also Arizona's in state tuition will be far less than $yracu$e's.

Good luck.

I formerly believed that the merger of the Southern New England School of Law into UMass created a certainty that ABA accreditation was a done deal.  I still believe that because of  the resources of the State of Massachusetts that in time the school will be accredited and grow into a respectable school but I now believe that that process may be longer and more painful than originally thought for the following 2 reasons:

- the ABA turned down the accreditation of Linclon Memorial University (LMU) in Tennessee in December 2100 and is being sued to reverse its position.  While that litigation is underway  the ABA will be very cautious to not admit a school whose may have a factor similar to LMU.  Reports indicate that LMU had LSAT numbers higher than 6 ABA accredited law schools and that its denial was over management of the school and its curriculum. Recall also that unaccrediated Massachusetts Law School (MLS)(still in existence) previously sued the ABA over accreditation.  Although MLS lost its lawsuit it nevertheless caused the ABA to change its accreditation proces.

-  UMass sacked their longtime Dean Robert Ward in October 2011 just prior to the ABA accreditation visit.  News reports indicate that Ward's dismissal  regarded personal  expenses ($2,500+/-)which he put on his expense account and was not related to the discharge of his duties as Dean.  It is unfortunate that Dean Ward who had quaterbaacked the merger process would be terminated at such a critical process and for such a small sum of money.  If in fact Ward's dismissal was solely related to some lousy unauthorized expenses then it would seem that UMass could have metered less severe punishment  that would have allowed him to complete the ABA accreditation  process since stability of a school is a critical,component of the ABA's decision.
 
The bottom line:  I believe that UMass will be provided provisional accreditation, perhaps as early as June 2012 but I would not be surprised,if it is delayed over the above 2 issues.  I will be surprised if an applicant that enrolls at UMass Law this Fall will not ultimately graduate from an ABA accredited but the process may not be a straight and easy as you think.  If UMass Law makes sense to you then proceed cautiously but proceed.

Good luck to all.

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Note:  I typed this on an iPad and apologize for the many typos.