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I'm hoping to get some input/thoughts into the decision I'm trying to make for next fall. I am accepted at both USC and UC Hastings and for many people this would be an easy decision based solely on rankings...but my thought process is going something like this:

I grew up in the L.A. area, and would much rather live/work/play in San Francisco than Los Angeles (currently live and work in San Diego). I've been up to San Francisco twice in recent months and see myself enjoying my time in law school and afterwards much more than in Los Angeles. Obviously I have in my head the negative aspects of L.A. and more of the positive (and naive) aspects of S.F. (but at least I'm aware of this).

A large part of my decision process is based on where I want to spend my life/career. But I also don't want to let this way of thinking lead to me shooting myself in the foot employment/job prospect wise. Even though USC is private at $46K+ and Hastings at $39K+ I think more $$ may be offered from USC (Hastings is stingy apparently). Tuition cost isn't really driving the decision here though...I'm more focused on job prospects. I think if I do well at Hastings I'll find work in SF (have 2 years of business/finance experience). And ditto for USC in LA. But I'm a bit worried about job prospects out of Hastings. And I don't feel that USC places well in SF, but does very well in LA (duh!).

What I'm really trying to determine is if I do well at Hastings, will my job prospects be worse than if I did well at USC, U.S. News rankings aside? Thanks in advance.

You might also want to add the different school cultures into your reasoning. Hastings has a reputation for being quite cutthroat.

To answer your question, your job prospects would be much better coming out of USC from what I have read. Best of luck to you and congratulations on your acceptances.

WayBryson wrote:You might also want to add the different school cultures into your reasoning. Hastings has a reputation for being quite cutthroat.

To answer your question, your job prospects would be much better coming out of USC from what I have read. Best of luck to you and congratulations on your acceptances.

Cutthroat at Hastings is not an issue. But USC is the clear winner....Hastings' current job prospects are not so good, and I am assuming that costs are approx. the same.

Most students outside the top 20% did not get anything from Hastings OCI. Many people inside the top 20% did not get anything. I have only heard of a handful of people that got anything. It is true that there are not many USC alums in the Bay Area, but it probably has more to do with USC people utilizing the alumni network in SoCal than it does to do with any weakness in perception or something.

I don't think Hastings is as "cutthroat" as many would have you believe. And even if it was, that isn't a concern or deciding factor. Thanks for the input guys.

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