California Western vs (wait for another yr) Forum

[risktaker]

z

[Great Satchmo]

So I am being offered admission to California Western w/ the first year's tuition paid in full. Second and third years will be contingent on maintaining at least 80th percentile, but only 1/2 of the tuition for the second and third years would be paid. I have a 157 LSAT and I recently graduated w/ 3.25 GPA cumulative. I would like to become a patent lawyer and work in San Diego. Should I accept this scholarship and go to California Western or take a year off, do better on the LSAT and reapply? I was hitting 165+ on my PT's and have an option to take it again in June or October. Would going to a school like University of San Diego be significantly better than graduating from California Western in terms of jobs related to patent law. Hope to hear some good responses. Thanks so much guys and gals.

People will tell you to retake and, for once, I may agree. Cal Western is, from what I can tell, fairly solid in San Diego. However, you're still going to be paying 1/2 tuition for 2 semesters assuming you keep your GPA up. Paying tuition at a T4 can be risky. Plus, if you were scoring significantly higher consistently on PT's, then it may behoove you to retake. It's not a guarantee that people will score higher if they retake, but if you are consistently PT'ing higher, it may be worth it.

As far as the USD vs. CWSL, I can't speak to that, it's something I've been trying to figure out myself.

Question about your interest in patents: do you have a hard science/technical background? My understanding is that it's pretty tough to get into that work without having that background.

[risktaker]

I have a biochemistry degree, but that's about it.

[BaiAilian2013]

Um, 80th percentile is a hell of a gamble. Also, not that it's directly relevant to the question of maintaining a certain percentile rank, but you should be aware that Cal Western flunks out 1/4 of its 1Ls by curving to a C and dismissing anyone with a C- or below. Details on this can be found in the Academic Policies and Procedures section of the student handbook here:
http://www.cwsl.edu/main/default.asp?na ... k/home.asp

[Great Satchmo]

Does it say that you need to stay in the top 20% or that you need to maintain an "80" (per their grading system)?

And yes, the curve is rough.

[juevonate]

Study your ass off and take the LSAT in June. If you score the same, you're stuck at Case, if you do better have another go at next year's cycle.

[BaiAilian2013]

Study your ass off and take the LSAT in June. If you score the same, you're stuck at Case, if you do better have another go at next year's cycle.

California Western, not Case Western. Big difference!