Top Law Schools

As of right now I am faced with this decision... WUSTL $10,000/yr vs UCI $20,000/yr. Both schools look awesome and I feel lucky to have even been accepted. I want to eventually work in Los Angeles or Orange County. Which one would you choose?

For CA, UCI no question at all.

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

Yes. UCI is the CR if you want to work in cali. If you are indifferent to working location then it changes things.

ogman05 wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

Yes. UCI is the CR if you want to work in cali. If you are indifferent to working location then it changes things.

CR?

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

Nothing outside of the T14 (maybe T10) is going to give you an advantage in CA because of its ranking.

ENGINEERD wrote:

ogman05 wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

Yes. UCI is the CR if you want to work in cali. If you are indifferent to working location then it changes things.

CR?

Correct/Credited Response

CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

romanholiday wrote:CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

Gotcha, UCI is really beautiful I took a few classes there for UG. I have been in SoCal all my life and Im thinking I want to experience something new.

ENGINEERD wrote:

romanholiday wrote:CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

Gotcha, UCI is really beautiful I took a few classes there for UG. I have been in SoCal all my life and Im thinking I want to experience something new.

I guarantee you, that "new" thing you want to experience is NOT St. Louis.

ughOSU wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

romanholiday wrote:CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

Gotcha, UCI is really beautiful I took a few classes there for UG. I have been in SoCal all my life and Im thinking I want to experience something new.

I guarantee you, that "new" thing you want to experience is NOT St. Louis.

Haha I see, thanks for the heads up.

bees wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

Nothing outside of the T14 (maybe T10) is going to give you an advantage in CA because of its ranking.

+1

I seriously doubt there will be a lot of CA firms doing OCI at WUSTL, not to mention doing any CA summer stuff would be logistically difficult (and if you were interested in public sector it wouldn't happen). Then again, who the fuck knows what is gonna happen with UCI?

If you had to pick one of these, I'd go with UCI. IMHO, UCLA or USC would be better options if you got into those.

Yep, 20k a year (over 100k total attendance) for a unaccredited school with no record in the most saturated market in America sounds really wise.

ughOSU wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

romanholiday wrote:CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

Gotcha, UCI is really beautiful I took a few classes there for UG. I have been in SoCal all my life and Im thinking I want to experience something new.

I guarantee you, that "new" thing you want to experience is NOT St. Louis.

Really? Don't most people say St. Louis is an awesome town? (obviously not east st. louis)

ENGINEERD wrote:

jks289 wrote:For CA, UCI no question at all.

I am very tempted to seriously consider WUSTL. I hate to be a ranking snob but 19 does look a lot better than the estimated 30 of UCI. Am I crazy to think it might be worth it to pay the extra 10k/yr for bump of 10 ranking spots???

I bet UCI's first ranking wouldn't even come close to 30. I don't know who 'estimated' that UCI will rank around 30, but I'm sorry but that person is pretty stupid. The biggest portion of US News rank comes from reputation survey. Without a single graduate working, how will judges and lawyers compare UCI to other law schools.

To be ranked 30, UCI will need to outrank some great schools with long history in the 30-50 range. I don't see that happening.

Although I do hear about some hype about UCI, remember that its numerical advantage, that it's extremely small school, and money will not last long to keep up with current median. People expect lower medians for this year than last year already.

UCI for sure.

The rankings aren't far enough apart to come anywhere NEAR making up for the geographical difference.

UCI is not a beautiful campus, at least not like UCLA, Boalt, Harvard, etc. are. The entire campus (including UG, b-school, other grad school buildings...) lacks the pretty and old patina of other schools, and the law school is definitely NOT beautiful. I've driven by it multiple times, it's a cluster of buildings in what used to be a parking lot or something at UCI. It was my UG school so I saw the law school being talked about, decided upon, and then built while I was there. Irvine the city however is nice, clean, and new-looking (it's not a myth that the police will actually pick up homeless people who may wander here and drop them off in Santa Ana).

RayFinkle wrote:

ughOSU wrote:

ENGINEERD wrote:

romanholiday wrote:CR=Credited Response

UCI's campus is beautiful from what I've heard.

Gotcha, UCI is really beautiful I took a few classes there for UG. I have been in SoCal all my life and Im thinking I want to experience something new.

I guarantee you, that "new" thing you want to experience is NOT St. Louis.

Really? Don't most people say St. Louis is an awesome town? (obviously not east st. louis)

That may be. I went there once and absolutely despised everything about it, and I'm from the miserable weather part of the country. I don't think someone from SoCal would be happy there, but I guess maybe some people would...