CUNY Law School--is it a good idea to attend?

[ahanu]

I have been accepted into several law schools in NY for Fall 2012--Touro, New York Law School, and CUNY. But the thing is, I cannot afford to attend full-time and pay a private school tuition (roughly $40,000 per year...adding up to a total of $120,000 after I graduate) based on my family situation (I am the oldest child and my parents have two younger siblings they need to put through school as well).

If I attend a private school like Touro or NYLS that costs $40,000 per year, I would have to attend classes part-time and work full-time during the day. So I would work 9-5 then attend evening classes, and my whole salary would go towards my law school education.

BUT, CUNY Law School costs $7,000 per year for NY residents, and I would attend full-time...allowing me to finish in 3 years with $21,000 in debt (although I would work a day or two a week then as well).

My question is--nowadays with the economy, you have to make top grades from any law school to stand out to future employers since there are less jobs than there were before, so no matter what, I would have to work very hard and get good grades and ALSO, if I were to attend a pricier school and work full-time, I would be unable to do internships during the summer since I'd be working (and in terms of law, I have heard from many people that internships are a MUST and that if you intern at a firm and they like you and have room to hire, they look at their previous interns for positions).

Anyone who went to CUNY Law or has some knowledge on this subject, I would DEFINITELY appreciate any of your replies. Please keep your opinions to yourself if you are not in law school, did not ever attend law school, or do not know about the subject at all--I am not interested in hearing negative opinions from people who just want to say something bad about a topic they do not know much about.

Thank you!

[webb]

Look elsewhere. CUNY is a joke among law schools and in the intensely competitive NY legal market, attending the worst or second-worst (depending on what analysis system you use) law school in the market is just not a smart idea. (This goes double for NYLS and Touro, by the way - I in no way recommend you dump CUNY to attend one of those schools.)

CUNY's (fake) employment statistics are abysmal and perhaps more worryingly, their bar passage rate is well below average - so much so that they're in danger of having their ABA accreditation yanked. If you can't pass the bar exam, you won't be working as a lawyer.

Working hard and getting good grades might have helped you get legal employment back in 2005, but these days that's not even remotely good enough. I suggest you do some research about the realities of law school and the legal job market. The very top students from poorly-regarded schools like CUNY are still unemployed.

Does your $21,000 in debt include cost of living considerations? Ordinarily I would say that if you could graduate with that little debt even a poorly-regarded law school might be worth it (assuming of course you are 100% sure you want to be a lawyer), but CUNY has such a terrible reputation in such a competitive market that in my opinion, it just isn't worth it.

A similarly-ranked school that is the top/only school in the regional market would be a much, much better choice.