Baylor Full Ride vs. Pepperdine 15k Forum

[RadMobile]

Baylor Scholarship Stipulation is maintain a 2.5 or above.
Pepperdine Scholarship Stipulation is be in top 1/3 of class.

I'm looking at Public Interest/Government work. The money at Baylor would be great and the cost of living in Waco is probably one of the lowest in the US. However, Baylor's reputation as the 'boot camp' of law schools and being ranked #1 by Princeton Review for Most Competitive Students worries me. Pepperdine's location is amazing, and their social entrepreneurship program sounds great. However, along with such an amazing location comes an exorbitant cost of living.

Give me some advice!

[General Tso]

unless you have a strong desire to work in CA, the choice here is too easy.

a 2.5 gpa should be very easy to maintain...at most schools that is bottom half to bottom 25%.

[Tuski]

I was told though (sorry, can't remember the source), that because of how competitive/difficult Baylor is, maintaining a 2.5 there was more like maintaining a 3-3.5 at other schools.

[ggocat]

unless you have a strong desire to work in CA, the choice here is too easy.

a 2.5 gpa should be very easy to maintain...at most schools that is bottom half to bottom 25%.

IIRC, Baylor curves to somewhere between 2.7 and 2.3. I don't recall where, though. Should be able to find out with relative ease. (Just ask the school).

So Baylor scholarship is probably more like top 50-33%.

Still, it's a better offer than Pepperdine.

[JOThompson]

The school didn't seem that much more competitive than other Texas T2s. I think Baylor capitalizes on the "Boot camp" image. You also may ask that they remove the GPA requirement.

If you're debt averse and don't particularly care about where you live/practice, then Baylor sticker is still the slightly better option since you'll be saving money on COL. If you do think you'll be able to retain the Baylor scholarship for all three years, then Baylor becomes the clear winner IMO.

[voice of reason]

These are regional schools in different regions, so the question I think you really need to answer is whether you want to live the rest of your adult life in Texas or southern California.

[lsatbdog]

unless you have a strong desire to work in CA, the choice here is too easy.

a 2.5 gpa should be very easy to maintain...at most schools that is bottom half to bottom 25%.

IIRC, Baylor curves to somewhere between 2.7 and 2.3. I don't recall where, though. Should be able to find out with relative ease. (Just ask the school).

So Baylor scholarship is probably more like top 50-33%.

.

This is not completely accurate. I am facing a somewhat similiar decision (Baylor free v. a few other schools), but the 2.5 scholarship offer seems pretty legit, the school says it is roughly top 2/3rds, but if you check this years class standings, it is about top 80% for 1L and top 90% for 2L, and it doesnt even go below 2.6 for 3L.

See: http://law.baylor.edu/CareerServices/CS ... alysis.htm. Of course, the curve could be changing or something though.

In all candor, I think that it will be very difficult to get a job out of the bottom 20% of a T2 in this economy, so if one goes there and loses the scholarship, I guess it just wasn't meant to be, and its probably time to go back to square 1.

I'm also worried about the whole "boot camp" thing though, and I think the 1L attrition rate is well over 10%, which I find troublesome. Would be nice if someone could elaborate on this.

[RadMobile]

Great advice.

Anyone have anymore on the whole 'boot camp' thing? Is there any truth to this?

[ggocat]

unless you have a strong desire to work in CA, the choice here is too easy.

a 2.5 gpa should be very easy to maintain...at most schools that is bottom half to bottom 25%.

IIRC, Baylor curves to somewhere between 2.7 and 2.3. I don't recall where, though. Should be able to find out with relative ease. (Just ask the school).

So Baylor scholarship is probably more like top 50-33%.

.

This is not completely accurate. I am facing a somewhat similiar decision (Baylor free v. a few other schools), but the 2.5 scholarship offer seems pretty legit, the school says it is roughly top 2/3rds, but if you check this years class standings, it is about top 80% for 1L and top 90% for 2L, and it doesnt even go below 2.6 for 3L.

See: http://law.baylor.edu/CareerServices/CS ... alysis.htm. Of course, the curve could be changing or something though.

In all candor, I think that it will be very difficult to get a job out of the bottom 20% of a T2 in this economy, so if one goes there and loses the scholarship, I guess it just wasn't meant to be, and its probably time to go back to square 1.

I'm also worried about the whole "boot camp" thing though, and I think the 1L attrition rate is well over 10%, which I find troublesome. Would be nice if someone could elaborate on this.

I stand corrected. My recollection must have been based on their old grading system (http://law.baylor.edu/pdf/CSO/gradingSystemChange.pdf).

I think Baylor is the way to go in this decision. Even if OP wants to work in California, I think the money saved is worth going out of state (assuming you have ties to California and can demonstrate a genuine interest when looking for summer work).

[HBK]

Great advice.

Anyone have anymore on the whole 'boot camp' thing? Is there any truth to this?

Baylor prides themselves on being very difficult and cranking out turn-key attorneys. If you're interested in litigation, Baylor is a great choice. When all other schools' 3Ls are taking it easy and coasting till graduation, Baylor's 3Ls go through hell. They have an extremely hard (as in a lot of work, not necessarily difficult) practice court in 3L.

I spoke with a handful of grads recently and if they had it to do all over again, they would not have attended Baylor because of its rigorous program. They did all agree that it gave them great experience and lawyering skills.

Depending on what you want to do post graduation, Baylor can be fairly limiting. It doesn't have a home market like SMU, UH, and doesn't have the rep of UT. Also, the class sizes are smaller than the other Texas schools, so the alumni network is not as strong. Because of the practice court program, Baylor is well regarded amongst prosecutors and some defense attorneys. It's reputation for being a hard school does not, however, seem to translate into biglaw jobs.

Plus, it's in Waco. Which is an awful place, if you've never been.

[RadMobile]

Plus, it's in Waco. Which is an awful place, if you've never been.

Hahaha, very true but it is sooo cheap

[lsatbdog]

Great advice.

Anyone have anymore on the whole 'boot camp' thing? Is there any truth to this?

Baylor prides themselves on being very difficult and cranking out turn-key attorneys. If you're interested in litigation, Baylor is a great choice. When all other schools' 3Ls are taking it easy and coasting till graduation, Baylor's 3Ls go through hell. They have an extremely hard (as in a lot of work, not necessarily difficult) practice court in 3L.

I spoke with a handful of grads recently and if they had it to do all over again, they would not have attended Baylor because of its rigorous program. They did all agree that it gave them great experience and lawyering skills.

Depending on what you want to do post graduation, Baylor can be fairly limiting. It doesn't have a home market like SMU, UH, and doesn't have the rep of UT. Also, the class sizes are smaller than the other Texas schools, so the alumni network is not as strong. Because of the practice court program, Baylor is well regarded amongst prosecutors and some defense attorneys. It's reputation for being a hard school does not, however, seem to translate into biglaw jobs.

Plus, it's in Waco. Which is an awful place, if you've never been.

Not trying to hijack the OPs thread, but as I stated I'm in a similiar situation and have a few questions that he may be interested in as well...

I'm curious as to their regret being based on how rigorous the program was. Were they able to score decent work as attorneys, or was part of their regret that they felt they didn't get good jobs relative to the work they put in? Could someone realistically expect a 50-60K job coming out of Baylor in San Antonio/Dallas/Houston in this economy?

Also, since Baylor runs on quarters and requires way more hours than other schools, do you know if you have to take classes full time in one summer, or are they spread out evenly over the three years?

[General Tso]

Plus, it's in Waco. Which is an awful place, if you've never been.

Hahaha, very true but it is sooo cheap

You should not underestimate the value of a cheap law degree. Pepperdine would probably still run you around 100k debt even with the scholarship. If you are okay living in TX for the rest of your life, Baylor is the way to go.

I also go to a school that has a 'cutthroat' reputation. I feel like those kinds of things are so often overblown. You should talk with Baylor students to get a real sense of the culture. People think that everyone at my school is a gunner who is constantly looking to stab their classmate in the back, steal a book from the library, etc. None if it has been true.

[RadMobile]

I also go to a school that has a 'cutthroat' reputation. I feel like those kinds of things are so often overblown. You should talk with Baylor students to get a real sense of the culture. People think that everyone at my school is a gunner who is constantly looking to stab their classmate in the back, steal a book from the library, etc. None if it has been true.

Aren't you at Hastings?

On a side note, I found out that Baylor graciously includes tickets to university sporting events in their tuition. I'm not sure if other schools do that, but it doesn't surprise me that a Texas school would do that.

In Texas, sports=religion

[General Tso]

I also go to a school that has a 'cutthroat' reputation. I feel like those kinds of things are so often overblown. You should talk with Baylor students to get a real sense of the culture. People think that everyone at my school is a gunner who is constantly looking to stab their classmate in the back, steal a book from the library, etc. None if it has been true.

Aren't you at Hastings?

On a side note, I found out that Baylor graciously includes tickets to university sporting events in their tuition. I'm not sure if other schools do that, but it doesn't surprise me that a Texas school would do that.

In Texas, sports=religion

Yup, Hastings. It is no more competitive than any other T1 school.

[RadMobile]

Shamelessly bumping to get some more votes