American or Pepperdine!!!! HELP!!! Forum

[Matteliszt]

You may be a 28 year old woman living with her mother at the end of it.

with 200k debt.

i know that compared to top law schools my two options do come up short but they're what I got to work with. So the 'go somewhere respectable' comments are obviously useless but hey its TLS, I knew better than to expect anything more so feel free to be your cheeky selves.

They aren't being mean to be mean, they are being honest to be honest. Legal market is tough in both of the areas those schools are located and neither are particularly great. Please don't just go to law school because it seems like a good idea. If your biggest worry is being 25 and living with your mother, it's going to get much worse much, much more quickly. Retake or don't go.

[shutterbug]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

+1. Especially the part of the sticks up their you-know-whats. Damn elitists.

[AJRESQ]

Ok so I JUST got off the WL for Pepperdine but American already has my $900 deposit.

American is in D.C. which is a great market for lawyers (firms, gov, non-profit) and I want to study Immigration Law or International Law with a focus on human rights. So I know my 'save the world' complex goes nicely with American versus right-leaning Pepperdine.

But the ranking and the cost are pretty similar and I would be able to live at home in L.A. which would save me a lot of money. Though moving back in with my mom may make me want to die, she's an attorney so the tutoring assistance and future connections in L.A. are already set.

So feel free to tell me what to do because I'm supposed to be apartment hunting in D.C. like- NOW!

DC is a terrible market for lawyers, plus American isn't as good as George Washington or Georgetown. It's tiny, and you're at the third best school in a market that is not only saturated by other local law schools, but a market where people all over the country want to practice.

I would go Pepperdine in a heartbeat. I know way too many unemployed American grads. I would go to Temple (again!) before I went to American.

[romothesavior]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

+1. Especially the part of the sticks up their you-know-whats. Damn elitists.

Both schools are atrocious at sticker price. ATROCIOUS.

And the counter to our "elitist" claims about job statistics is that the campus is beautiful? Umm... no.

And AJRESQ is an actual attorney. I'd listen to him.

[AJRESQ]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

this may be true if you are in the top 1/4

a friend of mine graduated in the bottom 1/3. he has retaken his old job as a car salesmen (given he did make 55k a year before LS). american is a the second-to-last school in an oversaturated market. buyer beware.

+1. American is a horrible option. Horrible. An over-priced, overranked school with little portability that is trapped in an over-saturated market and dwarfed by a number of better schools.

You are goddamn brilliant. Seriously. That is the correct answer, well and succinctly put.

[Matteliszt]

How is Pepperdine any better? Pepperdine is actually slightly more expensive (41k v 40k) and is in an equally saturated legal market (UCLA/USC/Loyola/Stanford/etc) I guess the market is less saturated than DC, and you have the chance to work in Malibu, but both of these are horrible decisions.

[AJRESQ]

To be fair, I don't know anything about Pepperdine and the market in the Malibu area. I do know a lot of kids who went to American though. A lot of them are totally out of law in 3 years and never had hope to get full time legal employment.

Think about it: in DC, not only are you competing with all the local schools (Georgetown, George Washington, Catholic, I know there are others) but you are also competing with Harvard, Yale, Penn, and all the other law schools on the east coast. There are many elite graduates who would love to practice in the DC area. I know a lot of Villanova graduates who practice in the DC area, and Nova isn't even "elite".

By contrast, my market is Philadelphia and South Jersey. It's not a destination. People don't come here because it's cool or because there is something attractive about it -- people mostly stay here because they grew up here (that is why I am here. That is why I went to law school here. I grew up in Philly and have no desire to be anywhere else). You don't go to Harvard University and say "My dream is to practice in Philadelphia". That's why Penn grads don't "rule" the Philadelphia area -- most of them come to Philly for school and then move on. You can go to a T2 in Philadelphia and do pretty well because that's how the market works.

However, that isn't the case in markets like DC, NYC, LA, Boston (lately), etc. Those areas are destination spots where qualified people want to go. So you're not just competing with the locals, you're competing with everyone in the region. Considering American is the third best local school... yikes!

[Matteliszt]

Same in LA. The problem here is not that OP wants to go to law school but that the markets OP has selected are incredibly difficult to get into ITE from those schools.

[BigA]

Why not go to a lower-ranked school w/ full scholly then use your mom's connections with no debt?

[Barbie]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

+1. Especially the part of the sticks up their you-know-whats. Damn elitists.

Both schools are atrocious at sticker price. ATROCIOUS.

And the counter to our "elitist" claims about job statistics is that the campus is beautiful? Umm... no.

And AJRESQ is an actual attorney. I'd listen to him.

"our elitist claims" .
glad you're choosing to throw yourself in there.

[romothesavior]

"our elitist claims" .
glad you're choosing to throw yourself in there.

Yes... I am such an elitttist. Lower middle class white guy from bumfuck Illinois who went to an unheard of undergrad and is going to a non-T14.

[Matteliszt]

T19 BRAH

[romothesavior]

T19 BRAH

[savagecheater]

T19 BRAH

The home of mythical 9-5 midlaw....

[Grizz]

T19 BRAH

insurancedefenseshitlawSECURE!

[Grizz]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

+1. Especially the part of the sticks up their you-know-whats. Damn elitists.

Having a job is horribly elitist.

[CanadianWolf]

Easy choice since one law school is ultra-conservative with a West Coast location and the other law school is an East Coast ultra-liberal law school. I suspect that very few students apply to both schools.

[frecklesmclean0002]

You may be a 28 year old woman living with her mother at the end of it.

with 200k debt.

i know that compared to top law schools my two options do come up short but they're what I got to work with. So the 'go somewhere respectable' comments are obviously useless but hey its TLS, I knew better than to expect anything more so feel free to be your cheeky selves.

They aren't being mean to be mean, they are being honest to be honest. Legal market is tough in both of the areas those schools are located and neither are particularly great. Please don't just go to law school because it seems like a good idea. If your biggest worry is being 25 and living with your mother, it's going to get much worse much, much more quickly. Retake or don't go.

Spend enough time on TLS and you'll know that the niceties of polite disagreement are mostly dead here. But when you need advice you must welcome the good, the bad, and the annoying who think they're witty.

[romothesavior]

don't listen to either of those two above posts. they have sticks up their you-know-whats. pepperdine is beautiful, and american has better reach in my opinion, and also sets you up in DC. do you want to get away from home and make a completely new life? if you think you would excel more in your home environment, stay. if you think you would do better facing the world, starting on a blank slate and in a way taking on an adventure, then go!

+1. Especially the part of the sticks up their you-know-whats. Damn elitists.

Having a job is horribly elitist.