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Hello! I have until Friday to decide between Davis and GW, and I need some help! Davis has offered me $20k in need-based grants, whereas GW has offered me $3k and seems unwilling to negotiate. Davis was also more generous in their room + board expenses than was GW ($1375 month as a vegan in DC?!?!)

I've visited both schools, but my pros and cons list is pretty equal (pro Davis: library "never closes," prison clinic, affordable living; pro GW: reputation, beautiful campus, DC and its opportunities to intern, closer to family.) Relocating from NYC to DC is probably a more comfortable change than is from NYC to Davis. My biggest issue is this: attending UC Davis seems to pretty much lock me into living in California for at least some time after graduation, and I'm not entirely sure that I want to do this. I don't know if I want to move to NYC or DC either, but I want to feel like I have options. What do I do?! My impression is that going to GW won't really take much off the table. Am I right to assume this?

HELP. ME. PLEASE.

(Also, I've been waitlisted at Berkeley, which I feel is my #1 right fit. If I don't get off of the waitlist, do I go to Davis, bust my ass in hopes of transferring out if I don't feel Davis is the #1 right fit at the end of my 1L year?)

UCD will basically restrict you to Northern California (SF or Sacramento), while GW can take you to DC or NYC. Go with the location you prefer.

im_blue wrote:UCD will basically restrict you to Northern California (SF or Sacramento), while GW can take you to DC or NYC. Go with the location you prefer.

This is not entirely true. Generally the breakdown is about 2/3 of UCD grads work in Northern California and about 1/3 end up in Southern California. However even those numbers reflect a lot of self-selection: Most people I talk to want to work in SF, and I'd say at least 50% of students are from Northern California. Certainly it's not unrealistic to say that a JD from UCD will let you work anywhere in CA, and probably anywhere on the West Coast if you're willing to do a little extra legwork. For instance, I am looking at the possibility of working in Seattle after graduation.


OP: I had the exact same choice as you and picked Davis because I was 100% sure about wanting to work on the West Coast. If you want to be in CA, this is a no-brainer. Since you are unsure about location, I'd go with the best financial option, which is still probably UCD. Clearly, however, I am biased, and you should make the choice based on your own personal compass, but one thing I'd caution: If you make this choice based on rankings alone, you've made a really bad call.

This is Biggie v. Tupac.

You can't have both, you need to pick a coast.

SoftBoiledLife wrote:

im_blue wrote:UCD will basically restrict you to Northern California (SF or Sacramento), while GW can take you to DC or NYC. Go with the location you prefer.

This is not entirely true. Generally the breakdown is about 2/3 of UCD grads work in Northern California and about 1/3 end up in Southern California. However even those numbers reflect a lot of self-selection: Most people I talk to want to work in SF, and I'd say at least 50% of students are from Northern California. Certainly it's not unrealistic to say that a JD from UCD will let you work anywhere in CA, and probably anywhere on the West Coast if you're willing to do a little extra legwork. For instance, I am looking at the possibility of working in Seattle after graduation.


OP: I had the exact same choice as you and picked Davis because I was 100% sure about wanting to work on the West Coast. If you want to be in CA, this is a no-brainer. Since you are unsure about location, I'd go with the best financial option, which is still probably UCD. Clearly, however, I am biased, and you should make the choice based on your own personal compass, but one thing I'd caution: If you make this choice based on rankings alone, you've made a really bad call.

In your opinion, how do UCD/UCH fare against Loyola LA/Pepperdine/USD in SoCal?

OP,

Given your uncertainty about where you want to practice, I would go to the law school that gives you the most mobility after graduation: GW. UCD is an good law school, but it's very regional. GW isn't Harvard (or even Georgetown), but its graduates end up on both coasts. And, although I'm not sure what type of law you want to practice, I think GW is a slightly better overall law school than UCD. When in doubt, it's probably a good idea to go to the best law school you get into.

By the way, if you finish your 1L year and decide that you want to transfer to Berkeley, your odds are no worse at GW. In this (unlikely) scenario, the only downside of GW (as opposed to UCD) is that you'd have to pay an extra year of OOS tuition at Berk.

im_blue wrote:

SoftBoiledLife wrote:

im_blue wrote:UCD will basically restrict you to Northern California (SF or Sacramento), while GW can take you to DC or NYC. Go with the location you prefer.

This is not entirely true. Generally the breakdown is about 2/3 of UCD grads work in Northern California and about 1/3 end up in Southern California. However even those numbers reflect a lot of self-selection: Most people I talk to want to work in SF, and I'd say at least 50% of students are from Northern California. Certainly it's not unrealistic to say that a JD from UCD will let you work anywhere in CA, and probably anywhere on the West Coast if you're willing to do a little extra legwork. For instance, I am looking at the possibility of working in Seattle after graduation.


OP: I had the exact same choice as you and picked Davis because I was 100% sure about wanting to work on the West Coast. If you want to be in CA, this is a no-brainer. Since you are unsure about location, I'd go with the best financial option, which is still probably UCD. Clearly, however, I am biased, and you should make the choice based on your own personal compass, but one thing I'd caution: If you make this choice based on rankings alone, you've made a really bad call.

In your opinion, how do UCD/UCH fare against Loyola LA/Pepperdine/USD in SoCal?

Much like Mike Tyson would fare against an elderly man with kidney failure (in SoCal).

SoftBoiledLife wrote:

im_blue wrote: In your opinion, how do UCD/UCH fare against Loyola LA/Pepperdine/USD in SoCal?

Much like Mike Tyson would fare against an elderly man with kidney failure (in SoCal).

Mike Tyson would get pulled over and arrested for a DUI on the way to the fight, so the elderly man would win by default.

Similarly, the UCD student would get disoriented by the Central Valley tule fog on I-5, take the wrong road, and eventually end up at a bar in Bakersfield, thus missing his or her interview and ceding the precious LA firm spot to a Loyola student.

Dignan wrote:

SoftBoiledLife wrote:

im_blue wrote: In your opinion, how do UCD/UCH fare against Loyola LA/Pepperdine/USD in SoCal?

Much like Mike Tyson would fare against an elderly man with kidney failure (in SoCal).

Mike Tyson would get pulled over and arrested for a DUI on the way to the fight, so the elderly man would win by default.

Similarly, the UCD student would get disoriented by the Central Valley tule fog on I-5, take the wrong road, and eventually end up at a bar in Bakersfield, thus missing his or her interview and ceding the precious LA firm spot to a Loyola student.

At first blush, this scenario is plausible, but it rests on two severely flawed presuppositions:

1.) That the student would not, whilst drinking at a biker bar in Bakersfield, find himself in a far better situation, hanging a shingle somewhere off the 5 to represent the many, many meth addicts of Bakersfield in criminal practice.

2.) That the next in line at the LA firm would not simply be another UCD student.

Thank you very, very much for the mostly helpful replies! I'm leaning more toward GW at the moment, partly due to the fact that they boast a much, much smaller LRW class size than Davis. I'm also unsure of where exactly I'd like to end up after graduating, and GW seems to guarantee the East Coast and still allow me to flirt with the idea of relocating to the west coast.

GW will provide good mobility post graduation. I would select GW.

subwaystitches wrote:Thank you very, very much for the mostly helpful replies! I'm leaning more toward GW at the moment, partly due to the fact that they boast a much, much smaller LRW class size than Davis. I'm also unsure of where exactly I'd like to end up after graduating, and GW seems to guarantee the East Coast and still allow me to flirt with the idea of relocating to the West Coast.

1.) You can relocate to the other coast from either school, but it's going to take an assload of legwork either way. Again though, unless you really prefer CA (as I did), then GW is probably a wise choice BUT

2.) Don't ever make an important choice based on LRW. Our classes are like 25-30 people, which is plenty small enough. Besides which, it's a 2-unit 1L class. Worry about most other things first.