Are there any WNEC Law students posting here?

[bobbykurva]

I was accepted to and am considering attending WNEC Law. I live in CT so I presume I'll have a decent shot on job placement depending on how I preform in law school, but with this aside, what are people's impressions about the school? Any insight would be greatly appreciated, especially if anyone has any experience with the school's clinics, simulations and networking opportunities.

Thanks!

[jacy85]

Don't go.  There are so many great, good, and decent schools in New England (not just the Boston firms, but CT, NH, NY, etc), and WNEC is NOT one of them.

You won't have any job placement, unless you already have contacts and/or a job offer for when you finish.

If you don't get in anywhere else, or decide you just really like the school, just be aware that your job search is going to be an uphill battle, even if you do really well.

[bobbykurva]

Jacy85,

Thanks for your candid response.

Just out of curiosity, can you substantiate your statement? What is your personal experience with the school? Where do you draw your observations from? Any additional insight will be appreciated.

[jacy85]

I worked at a mid-sized firm in Boston for 2 years, so I knew about our hiring process.  We had one grad from the New England college of law (located in Boston) that's near the bottom of the 4th tier.  She had major connections.

I also have a few friends at Suffolk, and Suffolk grads tend to have a difficult time finding jobs due to the competition with other schools in the area.

Hit the nalp.org directory, and you can see what firms attend OCI on campus.  I'm in the middle of writing my brief, so I really don't have time to do a lot of research.

And aside from all of this, it's just a fact of life that the New England area is saturated with law schools.  Being at a T4 in a region with 2 T14, at least 3 T1, at least one T2, and probalby 3 or more T4 schools means that going to a T4 with little to no reputation is going to make getting a job an uphill battle.  (Suffolk being probably one of the more well known/respected T4s in the region)

[bobbykurva]

Jacy,

Thanks once again for your response. I appreciate your input!

[majorporcupine]

Why not UConn?

WNEC has an OK business school, but there are definitely other New England opportunities for law school.

[bobbykurva]

I'd love to attend UCONN - it's my alma mater. Unfortunately my LSAT isn't up to par for UCONN. I like WNEC because of the availability of hands-on experience available in clinics and simulations the school offers, especially WNEC's small business clinic, the area of law that most interests me at this point. If I choose to attend WNEC, I wouldn't mind graduating from there since it has a decent rep with some of the larger firms in Hartford, but I will jump at the chance to transfer to UCONN if my class standing warrants at the end of 1L.

Thanks for everyone's input, but can I get any first hand comments from students attending or that have graduated from WNEC Law?

[RoniDeutch]

Contrary to Jacy, as usual, WNEC is a very well respected, up and coming law school. I am currently a 1L at WNEC. I graduated from a T1 university and had my choice of law schools. WNEC is a very close knit, friendly, and supportive school. Everyone of my professors this year graduated from Harvard Law school. They are acclaimed legal scholars and very well-respected in their fields of study. They are also very approachable and willing to do anything to make law school bearable.

As far as job placement, as with any school in the 4th tier it is more difficult to get a job than a 1 or 2 tier school. this is normal. our career services office is outstanding and has a stellar record of placing graduates anywhere in the country. last years graduating class had a 90% job placement rate,6 months after graduation. In addition, the starting salaries from the class of 2005 ranged from $42,000 to $500,000. These stats are from the recently published survery of 2005 graduates.  WNEC is also going to be expanding within the next 2 years significantly.

As for as summer internship placement, despite being a first year student, I landed myself a paid ($15.00/hour) internship with the Attorney General's office in upstate NY. This was one of the many internships I was offered this summer. I beat out several Syracuse and Albany law students. Obviously, WNEC did not handicap me.

While Jacy may have valuable knowledge about the recruitment process, please do not take her posts as gospel. She is too quick to dismiss WNEC b/c of its ranking. I venture that in the upcoming years, WNEC will graduate to the 3rd and possibly the 2nd tier (perhaps a ways down the road).

[Western_MA_Law]

Don't go.  There are so many great, good, and decent schools in New England (not just the Boston firms, but CT, NH, NY, etc), and WNEC is NOT one of them.

You won't have any job placement, unless you already have contacts and/or a job offer for when you finish.

If you don't get in anywhere else, or decide you just really like the school, just be aware that your job search is going to be an uphill battle, even if you do really well.

You realize in Western Massachusetts that WNEC has a great reputation right?  Add to that head hunters love the school and in a loit of their rankings WNEC comes in as a solid T2 because of its history in producing lawyers vs. teaching to the bar like several of the schools in the Boston area. Is WNEC on par with Harvard, Yale, or UConn?  No, but it is on par with some of the smaller schools in the area.  I know MassMutual hires a lot of WNEC grads as do a lot of the firms in Springfield and Harvard.  In northwestern MA seemingly every lawyer is a WNEC grad and those who aren't have nothing but the utmost respect for the school, which has produced most of the best lawyers in the area.  Of course to someone in Eastern MA it will be looked down upon like every other aspect of Western MA, but the bottom line is WNEC is a fine school that will get you hired and actually cares about the students.

[njgal]

i agree that WNEC is a decent school. i didn't go there, but am from western mass and pretty familiar with the school. if you want to work in wmass, i think you'll be fine. if you want to work elsewhere, you probably won't be any worse off than if you went to any other T4 school. if you had an awesome LSAT and GPA, you probably wouldn't be considering WNEC in the first place, so it might be a good option for you.

while i agree it is a good school, i have just one quibble: a WNEC grad landed a job paying $500,000 right out of law school? did i read that right? i call bull.