Top Law Schools

Tried negotiating my scholarship and was pretty much shot down today. I only got 8k a year from UCI and tried leveraging a 40k scholarship from a Top 30 school and 30k+ scholarships from two Top 50 schools. They said they might have some unused merit aid after they've finished accepting people but that it's unlikely (even then) that they'd be able to increase it more than a few thousand dollars.

I'd love to go to UCI but given the small scholarship and the fact that I think I'll be getting at least double that from Hastings and Davis I'll probably be considering them and my other acceptances more. To me it's just too much of a risk to go UCI without at least a 15-20k scholarship given that they haven't had a class take the bar and we don't know what their employment numbers will look like.

sorry to hear that negotiations didn't work but hopefully they have more than "a few grand" to hand out to ya

imadude wrote:

legalabogada wrote:imadude, did you get something in the mail? Are we all just being impatient or did we miss something?

I emailed and asked.

Thank you for doing this btw, much appreciated.

Beachbum89 wrote:Tried negotiating my scholarship and was pretty much shot down today. I only got 8k a year from UCI and tried leveraging a 40k scholarship from a Top 30 school and 30k+ scholarships from two Top 50 schools. They said they might have some unused merit aid after they've finished accepting people but that it's unlikely (even then) that they'd be able to increase it more than a few thousand dollars.

I'd love to go to UCI but given the small scholarship and the fact that I think I'll be getting at least double that from Hastings and Davis I'll probably be considering them and my other acceptances more. To me it's just too much of a risk to go UCI without at least a 15-20k scholarship given that they haven't had a class take the bar and we don't know what their employment numbers will look like.

Sorry to hear that Beachbum. I do understand that finances have to play a role in the decision-making process, as it certainly was an important factor to me. I do encourage you to visit all the campuses you are considering before making a decision. I will say Davis and Hastings have very different feels from each other and both feel different than UCI. I was really surprised at how different every school felt to me when I visited during my application cycle. But it sounds like you have some good options, including UCI, and you probably won't go wrong no matter where you choose.

So I've spent the evening researching job placement for UCI. Besides the great clerkship placement, the types of firms hiring this year's graduating class aren't too shabby. I've also spoke with several OC attorneys at large firms who confirm that the legal market in the area is very interested in making UCI succeed. I might get flamed for this, but one even told me that if I did well at UCI, I might even have a better shot at a good job in the OC than I would graduating from Georgetown (one of my other options). They've definitely placed some kids at personal injury offices, as well, but there are quite a few large firms on this list, and the OC has a surprisingly large legal market. Anyway, just thought some of my potential classmates might be interested. I'm still not completely set on UCI, but I'm trying to give it a fair shot, and the more I research, the more I like. Here is the link:

http://www.law.uci.edu/career_dev/offer ... yment.html

Beachbum89 wrote:Tried negotiating my scholarship and was pretty much shot down today. I only got 8k a year from UCI and tried leveraging a 40k scholarship from a Top 30 school and 30k+ scholarships from two Top 50 schools. They said they might have some unused merit aid after they've finished accepting people but that it's unlikely (even then) that they'd be able to increase it more than a few thousand dollars.

I'd love to go to UCI but given the small scholarship and the fact that I think I'll be getting at least double that from Hastings and Davis I'll probably be considering them and my other acceptances more. To me it's just too much of a risk to go UCI without at least a 15-20k scholarship given that they haven't had a class take the bar and we don't know what their employment numbers will look like.

Same here. I really liked what I saw when I visited UCI, but 10k/yr off of 45k/yr tuition + living is just too much for a school that's still a bit of a wildcard.

splitbrain wrote:

odetojefferson wrote:

odetojefferson wrote:

splitbrain wrote:...

Would you mind calling and asking sometime? I browsed around my UCINET but it didn't really say.

(I'm out of the country so it's kinda hard for me to call, sorry, not being extra lazy)

I called - they said that they select some students for verification (not sure how many, but I guess we were just "lucky"), and I assume they'd only need to verify people that qualify for the need-based grants based on the FAFSA alone.

Unfortunately, they need the verification before they send out the package, so the sooner we complete it the better...

Wow, this sucks. Considering we have to tell them if we want to attend by 4/13 and taxes aren't due until 4/17....Hopefully I can work something out with them because my mom's filing for an extension. uggghhhh. Thanks for investigating though!

I was waitlisted by mail yesterday, but I'm probably going to withdraw. Good luck to the rest of yous guys!

Just received 12k/ year scholly, friendly stips. Still waiting on Davis and Hastings, but UCI is the only CA acceptance I'm considering at this point. I'm wondering what sort of job prospects I might have in Norcal coming out of UC Irvine vs. Northwestern (and Davis/Hastings for that matter). I think I will head down for admitted students weekend and check this place out.

10K per year with just a 2.0 =))
Very happy with that offer.. hell I was ecstatic just get the acceptance!
Talking to my parents, but I think I'll be attending ASW.

20 members of the class of 2012 had SA positions/offers with a firm with 100+ attorneys (this is a little over 1/3 of the class, and a little over 1/2 of those that went for firm work).

Source: http://www.law.uci.edu/career_dev/offer ... yment.html

I wonder if there is information about 2L SA's at the other UC's because I have no idea what to compare this to.

It's not really valid to compare it to graduate employment data 9-months-out (even though I did that before ).

Maybe after the campaign to get schools to report better employment data proves successful we can toss in a quick "oh and would you mind also posting 2L data plz" - I really like having this data, although it's obviously no substitution for post-grad info.

Edit: hopefully ASW will have some valuable info regarding both classes of 2012 and 2013 (I think last year's ASW was when they released summer employment info?)

Granted...they do have a really damn good clerkship for their 3L's that would be fine if it remained constant for the next couple years, heh.

got my scholly letter today. 15k a year, same stips as everyone else. i am pretty stoked and surprised by this offer

10K, 2.0 stip.

in today through email from dean of admissions (app sent 1/23); hopefully, they give me good money as i need it badly.

Congrats to everyone in and getting scholarship! Does anyone know if they're attending ASW?

D1Swimmer wrote:Congrats to everyone in and getting scholarship! Does anyone know if they're attending ASW?

yep. already booked my whole trip for me and my fam. will be there for the whole week prior to also tour usc, ucla and take my kid to disney!

Do you guys think the class size will be about the same this year? (83-2013, 89-2014)

odetojefferson wrote:Do you guys think the class size will be about the same this year? (83-2013, 89-2014)

They intend to increase the class size significantly this year

brogoc wrote:

odetojefferson wrote:Do you guys think the class size will be about the same this year? (83-2013, 89-2014)

They intend to increase the class size significantly this year (~150)

Did they get a significant bump in applicants?

ttnguyen wrote:I just RSVP'd for ASW as well.

Yup...just booked my flight not too long ago. I can't wait to get out of the East Coast and get some "real" Mexican food...Tacos Mexico, here I come.

When is asw??

splitbrain wrote:

brogoc wrote:

odetojefferson wrote:Do you guys think the class size will be about the same this year? (83-2013, 89-2014)

They intend to increase the class size significantly this year (~150)

Did they get a significant bump in applicants?

I visited on Friday and I was told that the expected class size is 140 students. Last year they wanted to go up to 100 students, but they did not want to sacrifice student experience nor bring down their student/staff ratio so they have 87 or 89. Eventually they want the school to be ~220 students per class.

JDProspect wrote:

splitbrain wrote:

brogoc wrote:

odetojefferson wrote:Do you guys think the class size will be about the same this year? (83-2013, 89-2014)

They intend to increase the class size significantly this year (~150)

Did they get a significant bump in applicants?

I visited on Friday and I was told that the expected class size is 140 students. Last year they wanted to go up to 100 students, but they did not want to sacrifice student experience nor bring down their student/staff ratio so they have 87 or 89. Eventually they want the school to be ~220 students per class.

UCI 1L here. I'm surprised that you were told that number. In my meetings with the Dean, he said he anticipates ~100.

Any of the Valentine's day accepts get scholly info who live on the East Coast? Not sure whether to expect something or just give up on scholly chances.

Munchkin318 wrote:Any of the Valentine's day accepts get scholly info who live on the East Coast? Not sure whether to expect something or just give up on scholly chances.

I was accepted 2/14 and received a scholarship letter this past Saturday in the mail. I'm in Boston, so maybe if you're in a smaller town or city you could get it soon? Good luck!

aarias11 wrote:When is asw??

March 23-24 (Fri-Sat)