Elon Law School?

[Eagles41]

Any word on Elon in North Carolina? I have friends who went there under grad and loved it but for the wrong reasons i fear. Any thoughts?

[Ninja1]

Avoid.

[SwampFox]

Even when compared to other "Tier 4" and other such schools, you should probably look elsewhere.  It's less than three years old, and just received its provisional accreditation last year.  There is no alumni network at all (literally -- the school has no alumni yet), so there is no shot of getting help there after graduation.  Even if this year's group of entering students were of a higher caliber, the previous two classes now there were not the pick of the litter, and I'm sure employers will figure that out.  Of course, because it's so new, few employers will have heard of it.  The school probably doesn't have much of an endowment, so not a lot of aid to give out, either.  All of this might not matter if cost wasn't an issue, but the school is just as pricey as any other private school.
You might get a fine legal education there, and scuttlebutt is the school is working really hard to become a good school, but if you have other options it's probably better right now to let someone else break the place in.

[JeNeSaisLaw]

They actually offer reasonably attractive scholarships without strings (i.e. just have to remain in good academic standing), unlike most other schools. The top few students do well in NC, but beyond that it will mostly come down to networking. If you want to live in Greensboro or Winston, it would be a fine choice (assuming your other options are similar).

[SwampFox]

The top few students do well in NC, but beyond that it will mostly come down to networking. If you want to live in Greensboro or Winston, it would be a fine choice (assuming your other options are similar).

What do you mean by "the top few students do well in NC?"  Do you mean internships and summer work?  I'm pretty sure the school just opened in the fall of 2006, so they haven't had a graduating class yet.

[JeNeSaisLaw]

No, they haven't graduated a class yet, but the 3Ls who are about to graduate have jobs lined up already (just like at any other school).

[SwampFox]

No, they haven't graduated a class yet, but the 3Ls who are about to graduate have jobs lined up already (just like at any other school).

Out of sheer curiosity (and at the risk of hijacking the topic), how do you know that?  Is there a Web site that tallies this sort of thing?  Do you know a lot of people there?

[JeNeSaisLaw]

My mom helped one of the people at (or near) the top purchase real estate in Greensboro. I also have friends who are 1Ls, though they weren't the source of the info about the top few students.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying the job prospects are any good. Just at the top, she was choosing from multiple offers.

[k0em9u]

No, they haven't graduated a class yet, but the 3Ls who are about to graduate have jobs lined up already (just like at any other school).

They may have had offers 6-9 months ago, but I can assure you sure as hell that nobody there is looking at any form of gainful employment at this time.

[JeNeSaisLaw]

Got any good reason for that speculation? Look, I don't have a horse in the race, just came here to say that if Elon is among the schools you're choosing from, and you have money from them, it could be much worse. But it's really just irresponsibly speculative to say that nobody who had an offer at Elon currently has an offer. Not all 3Ls have had their jobs revoked. I've heard at Vandy that many, many more than most haven't (last I heard only 20 were even delayed - which is about ~10% of the class). Again, any good reason to think there's a correlation between which schools people attend and which offers get revoked (generally and particularly with Elon)? I mean, they were good enough in Fall 2008 to receive an offer - and keep in mind these are local, market-paying firms. The whole "WE WANT A YALE DEGREE!" doesn't quite apply.