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This might be a dumb question but as far as finding a job in socal, is Hastings or Davis a better choice? Or would it make more sense to chose a school in the area like U of San Diego, Loyola, etc.

minky wrote:This might be a dumb question but as far as finding a job in socal, is Hastings or Davis a better choice? Or would it make more sense to chose a school in the area like U of San Diego, Loyola, etc.

you can generate a report at globl.org

General Tso wrote:

minky wrote:This might be a dumb question but as far as finding a job in socal, is Hastings or Davis a better choice? Or would it make more sense to chose a school in the area like U of San Diego, Loyola, etc.

you can generate a report at globl.org

Oh wow this site feels kinda stalkerish but cool, thanks!

minky wrote:This might be a dumb question but as far as finding a job in socal, is Hastings or Davis a better choice? Or would it make more sense to chose a school in the area like U of San Diego, Loyola, etc.

I think both Davis and Hastings offer similar traction for SoCal too. I'd consider a lower ranked school in the area if it'd offer significant $, without GPA reqs. Which these schools probably won't, but if they do, then I think they're worth a serious look in today's econ.

drdolittle wrote:

minky wrote:This might be a dumb question but as far as finding a job in socal, is Hastings or Davis a better choice? Or would it make more sense to chose a school in the area like U of San Diego, Loyola, etc.

I think both Davis and Hastings offer similar traction for SoCal too. I'd consider a lower ranked school in the area if it'd offer significant $, without GPA reqs. Which these schools probably won't, but if they do, then I think they're worth a serious look in today's econ.

This is credited.

Also, moving to SF for your summer associate gig is a bit of a pain, but it's really no biggie. For one thing, they'll be paying you well. Also, there are TONS of Berkeley students looking to sublet so you can get a good deal.

I've noticed that Hastings has some really unique elective courses (makes sense with Hastings being a bigger school) but I was wondering how much that really matters. I mean, between your first year being set for you, and bar courses during your second and third year, how much flexibilty do students really have to take tons of electives?

minky wrote:I've noticed that Hastings has some really unique elective courses (makes sense with Hastings being a bigger school) but I was wondering how much that really matters. I mean, between your first year being set for you, and bar courses during your second and third year, how much flexibilty do students really have to take tons of electives?

not much really. law school is not like undergrad where you can load up on 18 hours of classes every semester. there arent that many joke classes that you can take (but there are a few). I have to keep my schedule around 14-15 hours, and I recommend no more than 3 (gpa) courses that have a final exam in any semester. I usually take 3 gpa courses and 2 non-gpa courses. Nongpa courses are things like Contract Drafting seminar, Negotiations seminar, Estate Planning seminar, Trial Advocacy, etc. In first year LWR and Mootcourt are nongpa. These classes require some work, but you don't have the pressure of getting a high grade. I've found that the median grade in these classes is a B+ (which looks nice on your transcript but again doesnt count for gpa).

So if you do a specialization (which I dont recommend), you are going to have to take 2 concentration courses a semester + one bar course and that doesn't leave you much room for electives unless you are going to kill yourself.

General Tso wrote:

minky wrote:I've noticed that Hastings has some really unique elective courses (makes sense with Hastings being a bigger school) but I was wondering how much that really matters. I mean, between your first year being set for you, and bar courses during your second and third year, how much flexibilty do students really have to take tons of electives?

not much really. law school is not like undergrad where you can load up on 18 hours of classes every semester. there arent that many joke classes that you can take (but there are a few). I have to keep my schedule around 14-15 hours, and I recommend no more than 3 (gpa) courses that have a final exam in any semester. I usually take 3 gpa courses and 2 non-gpa courses. Nongpa courses are things like Contract Drafting seminar, Negotiations seminar, Estate Planning seminar, Trial Advocacy, etc. In first year LWR and Mootcourt are nongpa. These classes require some work, but you don't have the pressure of getting a high grade. I've found that the median grade in these classes is a B+ (which looks nice on your transcript but again doesnt count for gpa).

So if you do a specialization (which I dont recommend), you are going to have to take 2 concentration courses a semester + one bar course and that doesn't leave you much room for electives unless you are going to kill yourself.

can you PM me these joke classes?

I have no interest in taking the harder Bar classes. I'll just take Bar Bri, I'm fairly set on what I want to do so all these other areas of the law seem... unnecessary

minky wrote:I've noticed that Hastings has some really unique elective courses (makes sense with Hastings being a bigger school) but I was wondering how much that really matters. I mean, between your first year being set for you, and bar courses during your second and third year, how much flexibilty do students really have to take tons of electives?

Not much. One useless class per semester is as much as you ought to be doing, at the most.

damn this decision is getting tougher the more i think about it.

i think it really will come down to my visits in a few weeks.

i have a question: is hastings' large class size a detractor?

does it matter?

Lasers wrote:i have a question: is hastings' large class size a detractor?

does it matter?

Not really because individual sections at the two schools are about the same size. That said, Davis clearly has a more tight-knit, community atmosphere by virtue of its smaller class size, single law building, arguably less outside distractions, etc. I think you'll get a decent feel for all this upon visiting the two schools, especially for ASDs. And then you'll probably get a resonable sense for how much this would matter to you.

Lasers wrote:i have a question: is hastings' large class size a detractor?

does it matter?

I like the smaller school feel of Davis. It's a great community. That said, class size doesn't really matter.

i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

Lasers wrote:i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

Probably the fact that UCD blew a huge wad of cash on King Hall? I dunno, but it is kinda crazy isn't it lol.

More ranks separate Hastings & Davis (19) than do Berkeley and Los Angeles from Davis (14 and 7 respectively) which is pretty damn cool IMO.

Lasers wrote:i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

96% employed at graduation, if you believe that you should totes go to Davis

It's like the Harvard of Sacramento

Borhas wrote:

Lasers wrote:i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

96% employed at graduation, if you believe that you should totes go to Davis

It's like the Harvard of Sacramento

yeah, Davis is the only school that has ever manipulated employment data before....

FuManChusco wrote:

Borhas wrote:

Lasers wrote:i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

96% employed at graduation, if you believe that you should totes go to Davis

It's like the Harvard of Sacramento

yeah, Davis is the only school that has ever manipulated employment data before....

nah brotato, it's all legit

if it's good enough for USNWR, gosh darn it, it's good enough for us!

Borhas wrote:

Lasers wrote:i was not expecting davis to jump up even further to 23 in the new us news rankings.

i know the rankings don't mean much, but almost 20 spots better than hastings now...what in the world?

96% employed at graduation, if you believe that you should totes go to Davis

It's like the Harvard of Sacramento

yeah, wasn't it at 98% last year? just crazy; no way it's possible.

i have always leaned towards going to hastings, but that was before davis broke the top 25...in MEANINGLESS rankings.

damn you us news, playing up to my elitist senses.

Employment prospects at either school are still probably more or less the same, but given that Davis actually costs less (due to much lower COL), is 20 spots ahead in the rankings and places into the same markets, I'd now probably tell people they might as well play it safe and come here unless they have an SO in SF or some other compelling reason to be in that city. I'm not a terribly unbiased observer though.

I'm actually with TLS poster "SBL" on this one. Unless you have a strong reason to be in SF, you should probably attend Davis. Hastings is something of a sinking ship.

Lasers wrote: yeah, wasn't it at 98% last year? just crazy; no way it's possible.

i have always leaned towards going to hastings, but that was before davis broke the top 25...in MEANINGLESS rankings.

damn you us news, playing up to my elitist senses.

meh

the same reasons why UCD students are happy about meaningless rankings by a TTT magazine are why UCH students are annoyed.
law students are like attention starved daddy's girls... always craving attention and affirmation, but never getting it... and so every little affirmation is seen like a huge deal. But such is the life of a prestige whore.

anyway, here's all there is to it:

if you want to work for a firm:
UCD has a very slight edge in that department overall I'd say (2% higher NLJ+clerkship) go to UC Hastings if you are willing to pay more to live in SF (14k COL at Davis 19k COL at UCH, though this is somewhat mitigated by UCH's lower tuition) If you don't care too much for living in SF if you want to save a couple g's a year instead of living in SF.

if you want to do PI, then UCH has a slight edge because of better LRAP and location.

On the most general level I'd recommend UCH for PI and UCD for BigLaw/Bust


there's really not much more to this question. There are only so many ways to split this hair.

General Tso wrote:I'm actually with TLS poster "SBL" on this one. Unless you have a strong reason to be in SF, you should probably attend Davis. Hastings is something of a sinking ship.

god you're a wuss

General Tso wrote:I'm actually with TLS poster "SBL" on this one. Unless you have a strong reason to be in SF, you should probably attend Davis. Hastings is something of a sinking ship.

I really can't explain the rankings difference as meaningful since firms TBMK use the same GPA cutoffs for both schools and I don't see 1-2 years of USNews changing that. I still think the schools are the same for all important purposes, but kids who are about to plunk down $1Bajillion for tuition might as well play i safe in case the rankings differential starts to matter over the next few years.

my worry about attending hastings is that if this gap continues to be as wide as it has been for the last two years, perception in regards to both of these schools will change, with davis being seen as clearly superior.

sigh...i was so excited to live in the city. i'm not making my decision until the end of the month, but instead of leaning towards hastings, i'm leaning towards davis now.

Lasers wrote:my worry about attending hastings is that if this gap continues to be as wide as it has been for the last two years, perception in regards to both of these schools will change, with davis being seen as clearly superior.

sigh...i was so excited to live in the city. i'm not making my decision until the end of the month, but instead of leaning towards hastings, i'm leaning towards davis now.

I mean, without question SF is the cooler place to live. But why not spend law school (when you're broke) living somewhere cheap and then move to SF when you have a job and can afford it?