UCLA $$$ vs Penn $ Forum

[boblawlob]

Take Penn and don't ever look back.

[Rahviveh]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

[jbagelboy]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

did you mean "gain nothing"?

[Micdiddy]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

did you mean "gain nothing"?

No, he meant lose nothing in terms of job prospects. If top third Penn will get Ca big law, and only top third UCLA gets big law period, he loses nothing in terms of Cali big law prospects by going to Penn, and gains an extra 1/3 cushion to get big law somewhere.
No question Penn is the better choice regarding getting any job basically anywhere. Questikn is if it's worth the extra money. Answer: yes.

[jbagelboy]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

did you mean "gain nothing"?

No, he meant lose nothing in terms of job prospects. If top third Penn will get Ca big law, and only top third UCLA gets big law period, he loses nothing in terms of Cali big law prospects by going to Penn, and gains an extra 1/3 cushion to get big law somewhere.
No question Penn is the better choice regarding getting any job basically anywhere. Questikn is if it's worth the extra money. Answer: yes.

that's one interpretation. I think you could equally say that if you need top 1/3 at Penn to LA biglaw, it gives OP the same chance as UCLA at the end goal with a $140,000 extra price tag. so you "gain nothing" towards that specific goal by attending Penn in this context.

That being said, and I know this conversation has occurred elsewhere in other threads, I think its less about where you graduate in the class and more about ties and networking to get back to CA. I don't buy that only top 1/3 of penn grads have a shot at CA biglaw. I bet median kids at Penn get back to CA too. I also think you could be top 20% at penn and strike out if you didn't make the right bids and have the right ties.

[Micdiddy]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

did you mean "gain nothing"?

No, he meant lose nothing in terms of job prospects. If top third Penn will get Ca big law, and only top third UCLA gets big law period, he loses nothing in terms of Cali big law prospects by going to Penn, and gains an extra 1/3 cushion to get big law somewhere.
No question Penn is the better choice regarding getting any job basically anywhere. Questikn is if it's worth the extra money. Answer: yes.

that's one interpretation. I think you could equally say that if you need top 1/3 at Penn to LA biglaw, it gives OP the same chance as UCLA at the end goal with a $140,000 extra price tag. so you "gain nothing" towards that specific goal by attending Penn in this context.

Thanks for taking exactly what I said and restating it to fit your semantics.

[Rahviveh]

I wonder what the grade cutoffs are for Penn at top LA firms. If its around top third, wouldn't the OP lose nothing by attending Penn over UCLA? I have no idea so that's why I'm asking

did you mean "gain nothing"?

No, he meant lose nothing in terms of job prospects. If top third Penn will get Ca big law, and only top third UCLA gets big law period, he loses nothing in terms of Cali big law prospects by going to Penn, and gains an extra 1/3 cushion to get big law somewhere.
No question Penn is the better choice regarding getting any job basically anywhere. Questikn is if it's worth the extra money. Answer: yes.

that's one interpretation. I think you could equally say that if you need top 1/3 at Penn to LA biglaw, it gives OP the same chance as UCLA at the end goal with a $140,000 extra price tag. so you "gain nothing" towards that specific goal by attending Penn in this context.

That being said, and I know this conversation has occurred elsewhere in other threads, I think its less about where you graduate in the class and more about ties and networking to get back to CA. I don't buy that only top 1/3 of penn grads have a shot at CA biglaw. I bet median kids at Penn get back to CA too. I also think you could be top 20% at penn and strike out if you didn't make the right bids and have the right ties.

I was talking about just LA big law prospects without regard to the financial aid situation. No doubt he would pay extra for the same chances (assuming that's true) but that's also mitigated by the substantial safety net Penn provides for big law period.... Which OP may or may not value

[Doorkeeper]

If CA biglaw > NYC biglaw > CA other, then Penn.

If CA biglaw > CA other > NYC biglaw, then UCLA.

OP needs to make up his/her mind whether he/she would prefer to have a non-biglaw job in CA or NYC biglaw.

[Dr. Dre]

OP needs to make up his/her mind whether he/she would prefer to have a non-biglaw job in CA or NYC biglaw want a legal jerb post-graduation

[Ibracadabra]

If CA biglaw > NYC biglaw > CA other, then Penn.

If CA biglaw > CA other > NYC biglaw, then UCLA.

OP needs to make up his/her mind whether he/she would prefer to have a non-biglaw job in CA or NYC biglaw.

You don't think money plays a factor?

[bruin91]

Go to UCLA OP. Save some $, build connections right here, graduate top of your class. No reason to go to UPenn if you want BigLaw in LA when the financial aid discrepancy is so high. I'm shocked that TLS is so anti-UCLA, even in this specific decision, that I find to be at best, a very difficult one to make. My vote is UCLA.

[bk1]

Go to UCLA OP. graduate top of your class.

That's the secret? Man why don't more people do this?!

[bruin91]

Go to UCLA OP. graduate top of your class.

That's the secret? Man why don't more people do this?!

LOL.... I'm not saying it will happen. Obviously I don't know the OP. But please spare me of this anti-UCLA diatribe. UCLA places well in Los Angeles--even in the hard hit CA legal industry. In a good economy, something closer to 40% get biglaw.

If OP wants portability, then by all means, go to Penn. But it seems like CA is a must, and socal in particular. Spending about 120k more for that would be just silly.

[bk1]

But please spare me of this anti-UCLA diatribe. UCLA places well in Los Angeles--even in the hard hit CA legal industry. In a good economy, something closer to 40% get biglaw.

If OP wants portability, then by all means, go to Penn. But it seems like CA is a must, and socal in particular. Spending about 120k more for that would be just silly.

If someone wants biglaw, UCLA is not the school for that since the most likely outcome from UCLA is not getting biglaw. That's not "anti-UCLA," that's just a fact. Whether it's worth it to spend more money to have a realistic chance at biglaw (but not necessarily in CA) is another question.

[bruin91]

But please spare me of this anti-UCLA diatribe. UCLA places well in Los Angeles--even in the hard hit CA legal industry. In a good economy, something closer to 40% get biglaw.

If OP wants portability, then by all means, go to Penn. But it seems like CA is a must, and socal in particular. Spending about 120k more for that would be just silly.

If someone wants biglaw, UCLA is not the school for that since the most likely outcome from UCLA is not getting biglaw. That's not "anti-UCLA," that's just a fact. Whether it's worth it to spend more money to have a realistic chance at biglaw (but not necessarily in CA) is another question.

But that wasn't the question... The question was which school should OP choose given his preferences for BigLaw in CA with the aid as it stands.

[bk1]

But that wasn't the question... The question was which school should OP choose given his preferences for BigLaw in CA with the aid as it stands.

Which is why doorkeeper asked the follow up. CA biglaw is not a likely outcome from either of these schools so the question becomes which part of CA biglaw is more important to OP, the CA part or the biglaw part?

[Ibracadabra]

But that wasn't the question... The question was which school should OP choose given his preferences for BigLaw in CA with the aid as it stands.

Which is why doorkeeper asked the follow up. CA biglaw is not a likely outcome from either of these schools so the question becomes which part of CA biglaw is more important to OP, the CA part or the biglaw part?

What I am curious about now is how UCLA compares to Penn solely when discussing CA big law.

[Micdiddy]

I think it's pretty clear UCLA places more Cali big law than Penn but I'm not sure there's anyway to evaluate which one has more appeal to employers. UCLA does not have national reach, almost all its graduates work in Cali. Penn grads likely want to work all over the country, so who knows how many of those 60%+ associates could have gone to Cali if they wanted to.

[Dr. Dre]

OP you should NOT aim for working in LA. I know that is what you want, but that is a misguided desire.

Retake or go to UPENN.

You don't want to be in california with a JD.

[jbagelboy]

You don't want to be in california with a JD.**

**unless its a Stanford JD

[Clearly]

OP you should NOT aim for working in LA. I know that is what you want, but that is a misguided desire.

Retake or go to UPENN.

You don't want to be in california with a JD.

I hate how you just take everything too far all the time. It's like you know your stuff, but you're just way too pushy about it.

[Dr. Dre]

I hate how you just take everything too far all the time. It's like you know your stuff, but you're just way too pushy about it.

[Lasers]

damn, tough one.

no debt though? that's huge.

what's the chances of not getting biglaw at penn? would be absolutely terrible for OP to not get biglaw, not be in desired region, and have 140k in debt.

[Clearly]

damn, tough one.

no debt though? that's huge.

what's the chances of not getting biglaw at penn?

Any big law, roughly 40% not accounting for self selection.

[Dr. Dre]

damn, tough one.

no debt though? that's huge.

what's the chances of not getting biglaw at penn? would be absolutely terrible for OP to not get biglaw, not be in desired region, and have 140k in debt.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=penn