I know people at this board will consider me crazy but hear me out:

I've been wanting to go to Cali for about 3 years now but couldn't with the down economy. I've been working in patent law for about 8 years in D.C. as a Patent Agent, so getting a job out of law school will not be a problem.

Earlier this year I got into USD with 40% scholly, 2.0 stip. So, that was perfect, sunny Cali singing its sweet song to me, and so I started packing my bags.

I just got off the GW waitlist today. That throws me in a loop because a) the ranking b) its really good for patent law and c) my firm will cover about 40% tuition as well if I go to GW.

Just how much will I be shooting myself in the foot if I go to USD instead?

I'm not sure I understand your dilemma. So you believe you could get a job no matter what? And you want to live in CA? Go to USD then! GW is a good school, but isn't elite by any measure.

Since you're already a patent agent any school that's "good for patent law" is now negligible. You've already got the patent bar, experience, and prior job.

Go to Cali, enjoy the sun, save your $$, and go back into patent work in Cali. If you pass the Cali bar great--if not you can still work in patent law, you can still do firm work as a patent agent, and of course you can still go back to the USPTO.

If you don't want to do patent work anymore, but really still want to live/work in DC you should probably go to GW.

GWU. Patent people do awesome there during OCI. At USD they do not know what to do with people with science backgrounds.

So it seems like the consensus is that I won't be missing out anything sweet if I don't go to GW? I think USD will give me a better hold in the SoCal market than GW will #gut-feeling

If you weren't interested in patent law, I would say go to UC San Diego especially with the 40% scholly. But patent-law folks at GW do amazing.

I'd say that if your goal is practicing in California, you should go to USD. It's a great school, and pretty much the only law school worth mentioning in SD county. Moreover, with the Aerospace, Naval, and UCSD industries churning out patanable inventions, you shouldn't have any trouble finding someone willing to hire you once you get your JD and pass the bar. Also, a lot of San Diego firms would rather hire graduates out of USD than even other places in CA, much less a law school 3k miles away. That said, if you don't care about where you end up and just want to do patent law, then I'd say go to GW and save yourself some money on moving expenses.

What is your ultimate goal anyway? Where do you want to be 5yrs from now? If you can answer these questions, it should make your choice fairly easy.

I definitely want to be in the SoCal market. LA preferably, will a USD degree help me more for that than a GW degree in 5 years? How about making partner? I hear that a top tier school will be better for that?

Wont take you more pass OC. But Irvine will make that competitive

email UCSD and ask for a list of employers who interviewed on campus. not going to help u if the IP firms dont come to interview.

send me PM with ur email and i can send u GWs list if employers from 2011. i can assure u that u can get IP at CA big firm from GW. i 100% guarantee it. i cant say anything about ucsd bc i didnt go there.

Thanks, just sent you a pm with my email.

Wow, almost an even split between USD and GW. I did not expect that, especially at this forum!

I've heard that a lot, USD grads have a great lock on the SD market, at least that's what I hear from USD admins. Its very hard to project 5 years into the future but I've really wanted to move to SoCal for quite a while now. 5 years down I see myself doing patent prosecution, opening a patent boutique or going in-house with some tech company. USD might not be bad for that. Plus I think USD will be good for building contacts in SoCal.

The admins are telling a bit of a white lie that USD has a lock on the SD market and the problem is not that "A lot of San Diego firms would rather hire graduates out of USD than 3k miles away"... the problem is USC and UCLA have a heavy lock on the SoCal market outside of SD and have strong inroads into SD.

The career services have been pushing students out of the SD market heavily and encouraging us to go to remote markets like Utah, Arizona, and South Dakota.

But it seems like you have your heart set on SD and I can understand that. Just know that the San Diego market is suffering and is small. Furthermore, it is really an old boys club and not having gone to state or UCSD you may not have the inroads you think.

Edit: I did know a USD alumni who was in house counsel of a Pharma company in the bay area, but he also had a PHD in Bio or something like that. The thing is that the market it rather small and I have no idea who a lot of these companies contract with for there patent work. I worked for a company in Northern California who had there patent work done in NYC.

Just the toes.

Keep in mind folks, this guy has "8 years in D.C. as a Patent Agent". He's not some fresh-faced grad just out of his BA. Assuming he does well (which he would need to do regardless of whichever school he goes to) his previous work experience will be a significant boost to finding work in SD or wherever other place.

So, my recommendation is to go to USD if that is indeed where you want to live.

Be a big boy and keep showing up to work at your nice high paying job in DC and go to GW part-time... I think you would be really dumb to go to USD on a lark just because you think it would be cool to live in the sun.

I'm beyond confused as to why this is a question.

OP wants to live in Southern California
OP has credentials that make him a near slam dunk for IP anyway

Why wouldn't he go to USD?

What is the difference in cost if you include your firm helping to pay for it? I think GW at sticker is ridiculous, but you have a company paying for 40% of it, and you can stay where you are living already, maybe you should go to GW?

You realize that jobs are hard to find, so I would stay where I am if it isn't much more than USD.

I did not read this the first time around. You have an employer that will pay for you to go to law school???? I did not know this still happened. Stick with them for the love of god.

Good point. Many recruiters have already said that I'll be golden for IP in SoCal. Its just that San Diego is ranked at 67, GW is ranked at 20 (with its IP program ranked #3).

Yeah, the firm will pay for most of it. I've wanted to relocate to SoCal for a while, just wondering if going to GW will be a significant improvement to my resume for the longterm.

Do you know how they came up with this ranking?
I don't. I have no idea what criteria they use, but I'm skeptical that it will make even a small difference in your options coming out.

I can't imagine a scenario going something like this:

SoCal Employer: So I see you have an IP background.
DCPatentLaw: Yes, and experience, and I'm top ___ of my class.
SoCal Employer: But why didn't you go to GW Law, their program is ranked 40 places above SD?

Your employer paying 40% of your tuition is an interesting revelation and should weigh considerably on your decision. What's the math on that come out to be for each school? I assume you've calculated how much you'll pay at each school based on this.

As another former geedubber with a patent background, this is pretty credited. I got a handful of callbacks from Cali firms at GWs OCI with ZERO ties (ultimately got a bunch of offers on the east coast). That said, I was a transfer with a less than stellar 1L GPA and 0 years of patent WE. I don't see how the other school (UCSD or whatever that is) is a choice here, unless you absolutely cannot live in DC anymore. If that's the case, good luck rolling the dice and getting a fraction of the exposure to employers that you'll get at GWs OCI (for comparision, my T2 transferor school's OCI had 3 firms looking for patent people...GW had over 30, IIRC).

tl;dr, dood's advice is probably TCR, so long as you don't get shit 1L grades (which is probably an equal probability at either school...I'm not going to engage in a discussion/argument as to the relative parity between student-body quality at TTs/T20s, but in my experience, I didn't notice much of a difference, e.g., ended up in about the same portion of the class at both schools).

My thoughts exactly. OP should stay in his job, go to school at GW and then move to California. Going to California now just because he wants to live there is extremely foolish. The California economy is extremely shaky, it is not a paradise.

I can't recommend that anyone give up a good job like this just to go to USD...Possibly not even Harvard or Yale.....