UCLA/ASU/TEXAS/GULC - Help! Forum

[BoyOhBoyle]

Was anything weird about your app or anything?
It seems likely that you will have some of these WL options come into play- especially with that LSAT.

I have a lot of transcripts, if that tells you anything A very strange academic journey, which I think definitely hurt me.

[BigZuck]

Poll could be helpful too OP. And I think what you really need to decide is if you are cool with Phoenix small law (which you seem to be).

haha I would add a poll, but I honestly haven't the slightest clue how to do that I'm somewhat of an amateur TLSer.

I guess the confusion here lies with "biglaw". In my mind, the firms that I named are big law firms. So maybe "Biglaw" is not really what I am looking for, because I don't know of any bigger firms than those in Phoenix. So if when you say Phoenix small law, you mean firms like the ones I named, then I am definitely cool with it. (sorry if I sound stupid here, maybe I am just not getting what constitutes "biglaw"?). Does BigLaw only constitute markets like NYC, Chicago, D.C., etc?

If those firms are the best/most prestigious in town then for our purposes, they are big law. And they will be very, very hard to snag from ASU. Really good grades will be necessary but not sufficient, and you might need to have other special things going for you too (good work experience, URM, smoking hot chick, etc.)

[BoyOhBoyle]

I guess the confusion here lies with "biglaw". In my mind, the firms that I named are big law firms. So maybe "Biglaw" is not really what I am looking for, because I don't know of any bigger firms than those in Phoenix. So if when you say Phoenix small law, you mean firms like the ones I named, then I am definitely cool with it. (sorry if I sound stupid here, maybe I am just not getting what constitutes "biglaw"?). Does BigLaw only constitute markets like NYC, Chicago, D.C., etc?

If those firms are the best/most prestigious in town then for our purposes, they are big law. And they will be very, very hard to snag from ASU. Really good grades will be necessary but not sufficient, and you might need to have other special things going for you too (good work experience, URM, smoking hot chick, etc.)

So if this is my ultimate goal (one of the bigger, prestigious firms in Phoenix), do you think I'd have a better shot at those jobs going to UCLA or GULC? Assuming of course, I am not a smoking hot chick, even though I like to THINK that I am I assume that most people who graduate from schools ranked higher than ASU are not fighting to come to Phoenix, so I feel like either of those schools would give me an edge for those jobs. Am I way off base? And if I'm not off base, do you think one of the schools would give me a bigger edge than the other?

[BigZuck]

I guess the confusion here lies with "biglaw". In my mind, the firms that I named are big law firms. So maybe "Biglaw" is not really what I am looking for, because I don't know of any bigger firms than those in Phoenix. So if when you say Phoenix small law, you mean firms like the ones I named, then I am definitely cool with it. (sorry if I sound stupid here, maybe I am just not getting what constitutes "biglaw"?). Does BigLaw only constitute markets like NYC, Chicago, D.C., etc?

If those firms are the best/most prestigious in town then for our purposes, they are big law. And they will be very, very hard to snag from ASU. Really good grades will be necessary but not sufficient, and you might need to have other special things going for you too (good work experience, URM, smoking hot chick, etc.)

So if this is my ultimate goal (one of the bigger, prestigious firms in Phoenix), do you think I'd have a better shot at those jobs going to UCLA or GULC? Assuming of course, I am not a smoking hot chick, even though I like to THINK that I am I assume that most people who graduate from schools ranked higher than ASU are not fighting to come to Phoenix, so I feel like either of those schools would give me an edge for those jobs. Am I way off base? And if I'm not off base, do you think one of the schools would give me a bigger edge than the other?

I think GULC would give you an edge on UCLA, no question. But you would need to be open to NY big law as well to pay off the debt if you strike out on AZ big law.

[Tiago Splitter]

Yeah the firms you listed are big law for the purposes of this discussion. GULC might give you a little more leeway but probably not much. And like zuck said, once you take on that GULC debt you can't be picky about geography. Phoenix has about 30-40 summer associate positions. NYC has 2,500.

[BoyOhBoyle]

So since everyone has been so helpful (seriously - thank you so much!) I am going to throw one more variable out there.

Let's say I can get UVA to give me money. I probably couldn't expect anything substantial, but if I could go to UVA for, say, $180K, would it be worth the extra money to go there? Or would I just be throwing my money away? (it would be a full $60K more than UCLA and $120K more than ASU).

As a side note, if Cornell has also offered me $60K, how much do you think I can realistically get from UVA, given my other offers as well? Will they just laugh at me if I ask?

I am really uncomfortable taking on more than $150K in debt (and even that is iffy for me), but if the extra money is worth the investment, than I suppose I should consider it. But if UCLA or ASU is good enough for my purposes, then I don't really consider the money to be worth it. Thoughts?

(Also, I would actually be much more open to CA biglaw than NYC biglaw as a backup, if that changes anything. Thanks again for all of your help everyone!)

[JuTMSY4]

I think in terms of the best chances to get a large law firm job in Phoenix, it's a push between ASU or any of the other schools. ASU will likely have OCI with several of them (if not all). You will have limited OCI potential from the other schools (save, maybe UCLA). My limited experience with the southwest is that they hire from within.

HOWEVER, if Biglaw is more important, then almost any other option is better than ASU (and I'd lean GULC). It's really a battle of what is more important to you, a better shot at Phoenix or a better shot at a big law job. The caveat might be that if you perform at median at ASU, you have a better shot of servicing that debt with a small law or state gov't gig than median at GULC without biglaw.