Bay Area market - worth fighting for, and from where? Forum

[lawstudento]

1L at Hastings, really want to work in the Bay Area but realize the market is tough. My grades, if they are the same at the end of the year, seem to have gotten people into UCLA/USC in previous years.

Considering that I'd love to stay in the Bay Area, is it worth sticking with Hastings as opposed giving a shot to trying to get UCLA/USC?

[BlueDiamond]

I have no idea, but if it were me I'd stay unless I could get Berkeley or Stanford or use USC/UCLA acceptance to try and get more money from Hastings (not sure if the second has been done or would work though)

[bhan87]

1L at Hastings, really want to work in the Bay Area but realize the market is tough. My grades, if they are the same at the end of the year, seem to have gotten people into UCLA/USC in previous years.

Considering that I'd love to stay in the Bay Area, is it worth sticking with Hastings as opposed giving a shot to trying to get UCLA/USC?

If you're going to transfer up, fight to get into Berkeley. Depending on what you're leaving behind at Hastings (if LR then stay, if half to full ride then stay), UCLA / USC might not give you that much of boost. Berk, on the other hand, is a different story.

[FireNextTime]

I'm in same boat.

My thoughts: if you're hoping to land firm job via OCI there probably won't be a dime's difference between your candidacy as a Hastings transfer at UCLA and a Hastings 2L standing at top 10-20%.

Also, I don't have the data to support this, but I'd wager that Hastings has more Bay Area firm/agencies/etc. at OCI than the other two schools. And proximity to Bay Area employers over the next 2 years would be tough to pass up merely for the chance to graduate at a higher-ranked school far far away.

A networked top 10-20% Hastings grad surely has better job prospects in Bay Area than a similarly ranked UCLA/USC grad who more or less is coming in cold. Unless I'm naive, which is possible. Law review and scholarships are also a factor, though I understand only the tip-top students get cash flung at them after 1L.

Let's just both knock out ridiculous exams over the next 3-4 weeks and transfer to Boalt instead.

[zomginternets]

^^ what BlueDiamond said.

If on scholarship, then definitely don't transfer. If no, then maybe worth it to transfer to Berkeley or Stanford. IMO, top 10-20% @ Hastings (I presume this is approx. where you rank based on your post) + LR puts you in just as good a position as top 20-30% @ USC/UCLA w/ no LR, or even better. Scholarship @ Hastings would definitely tip the scale in that direction. Plus you don't have to awkwardly explain to your OCI interviewer why you transferred from a Bay area school if you want to end up in the Bay Area (tip--rank whoring probably won't go down well as an excuse).

[amissionsix]

I'm in same boat.

My thoughts: if you're hoping to land firm job via OCI there probably won't be a dime's difference between your candidacy as a Hastings transfer at UCLA and a Hastings 2L standing at top 10-20%.

Also, I don't have the data to support this, but I'd wager that Hastings has more Bay Area firm/agencies/etc. at OCI than the other two schools. And proximity to Bay Area employers over the next 2 years would be tough to pass up merely for the chance to graduate at a higher-ranked school far far away.

A networked top 10-20% Hastings grad surely has better job prospects in Bay Area than a similarly ranked UCLA/USC grad who more or less is coming in cold. Unless I'm naive, which is possible. Law review and scholarships are also a factor, though I understand only the tip-top students get cash flung at them after 1L.

I completely agree. I am choosing Hastings over USC next fall because I want to work in San Francisco. I don't think that USC provides an advantage over Hastings in SF (LA is a different story).

And I would be careful about placing too much weight on the rankings (not saying you are) when comparing Hastings and USC. Obviously the top schools deserve their spots, but as you get further down the list other factors need to be looked at. For example, U.S. News conducted a survey of 750 recruiters and hiring partners (only 105 responded which is typical of surveys) where they were asked to rank the academic quality of each law school on a 5 point scale with 5 being outstanding, 4 being strong, 3 being good, 2 being adequate, and 1 being marginal. California schools ranked:

4.7 - Stanford
4.4 - Berkeley
3.9 - UCLA
3.8 - Hastings
3.6 - USC
3.6 - Davis

I wouldn't make a decision solely off this data either, but it is interesting to see some insight into the views of people that ACTUALLY HIRE LAW STUDENTS.

As a side note, I was at the USC Admitted Students Day yesterday and was talking with some of the current 3L's. They said that this year has been difficult for USC students outside of the top 10% to land the really good jobs. Not that they couldn't find jobs, but just weren't getting offers from top firms. Economy...

Just some things to think about.