Top Law Schools

Hey TLS-ers,

I've got two weeks to decide between these four law schools.
UC Davis (sticker)
Loyola ($$$)
Santa Clara ($...stingy)
USD ($$)

What was most important to me upon applying was being in CA (where I've lived my whole life and want to continue to do). In deciding between these I want to set myself with the best employment outlook out of college (with debt in mind). I have a strong passion for the sports and entertainment industry which was the main reason I applied to Loyola given their strong Sports and Entertainment Law Program (despite the fact that I wouldn't want to live longterm in the heart of LA, though would love to live nearby in SoCal, which made USD attractive). However, with that said I am very undecided on the type of law I want to practice and may change my mind which leads me to believe that the top ranked school (Davis) would be best. Another scenario I've considered is transferring into a school like USC or UCLA (which I just missed the qualification cut for but would prefer). With that in mind, if I had the grades to transfer I may be just as well off maintaining my scholarship and graduating near the top of my class at a T-2 school. Is it worth all that extra money to attend Davis if I'm not even sure that I want to practice the type of law (mainly Public Interest I believe) that Davis specializes in? Especially given the UC budget crisis and tuition hikes. The last concern is the risk of not staying in the top 30% of my class and losing my scholarship (which could on the other hand be a great motivator to push me to work/study that much harder).

Thank you in advance to everyone for your help and advice, it truly means alot to me and my future!

Also any written advice or reasons for your suggestion would be helpful. Thank you so much!

It really depends.

I think between Loyola, SCU, and USD you'll have to weigh out where you want to be post-graduation, the finances, and then whatever school you like the most (how you feel being in the classrooms, the facilities, the location, where you'd live around the school, et cetera).

No one can answer whether or not Davis is right for you. The debt will be higher, but on the other hand, if you KNOW you'll be doing public interest you can look at their LRAP program. However, the LRAP's require you to be in PI work for 10 years, from what I understand, so it's certainly a commitment.

As a note, I picked Loyola since it's still a strong enough school and you have the most money there.

I think you'll often see people on TLS, when picking poll options for situations like this, will almost always go with the top ranked school.

You need to be weary of this, choosing a school where you incur debt for decades to come is an easier choice when you don't have to live with it.

For myself, if I get into Davis, I'll go - but I've thought it out and to me, Davis is worth the debt (although I'm not necessarily committed to the idea of PI law, and I'd be interested in corporate or other types of law).

I choose Davis but I was yet to see the scholarship and actually read ur post...with the post in consideration I think I would go with Loyola, based on all the other factors...to bad I can't switch my pick

Thank you very much everyone for your advice and input! The Loyola scholarship is in the $80k range so it is certainly substantial enough to make me consider it over Davis. I will be visiting the Loyola campus sometime within the next few weeks to help make a decision. I guess my one concern is: with the job market being as it is, would the extra money spent at Davis really make it that much more likely for me to land a good job (not even considering Big Law). How would you say the current market compares between the Bay Area and LA area?

boardride23 wrote:Thank you very much everyone for your advice and input! The Loyola scholarship is in the $80k range so it is certainly substantial enough to make me consider it over Davis. I will be visiting the Loyola campus sometime within the next few weeks to help make a decision. I guess my one concern is: with the job market being as it is, would the extra money spent at Davis really make it that much more likely for me to land a good job (not even considering Big Law). How would you say the current market compares between the Bay Area and LA area?

That certainly is substantial. I am into Loyola with no scholarship, and I just got the financial aid information in the mail the other day and the COA is around $67k/year...that definitely made an impact.

As far as employment, Davis is going to give you more opportunity. However, it's going to be extremely variable and really depends upon your preferences and how you feel about debt. I think the wisdom is that, all things being equal, Davis will give you better opportunities.

I think the question remains, is the extra $80k at Davis worth that potential, above Loyola (whatever the difference would be for you individually) be worth it?