Top Law Schools

I have received decisions from most of the schools I applied to and really need to start making decisions. I have only been able to rule out one school so far . Any help or advice would be greatly appeciated.

Accepted:

Denver Sturm: $20K/yr (top half stip)
Penn State: 15k/yr (top half stip; with COLabout the same price as Denver)
Cal Western: Full-ride (heavy stips, and heavy attrition rate!)
University of Arizona: Probably sticker

Waitlisted:
UC Davis
Loyola LA

Waiting on
University of San Diego
USC (fat chance)
Southwestern
Wake Forest
University of Washington
CU Boulder

Yes, I do realize that I am all over the place and schools that are outside of T14 are primarily regional so I have to figure out where I want to work. I am not strongly tied to working anywhere: I have been working in LA for a few years, l went to school in the bay and am originally from SD. I am ready for something new, but most likely leaning towards a school closer to the west coast, not necessarily CA. I guess I want to figure out if it is worth going to the school with the higher ranking (U of A) at sticker price vs. a school with a lower ranking with some $$ in denver or even a full ride at a TTTT (Cal Western). Does 40 in the rankings really make much of a difference over 80, or even TTTT? I would like some mobility, but more importantly want to attend a school that has a good reputation for quality of life during school, treat students like they matter (is that so much to ask?? ) and get their students jobs after they graduate.

Thank you for your input. It always seems easier to help other people with their issues...

Also feel free to respond with any questions.

cool of law wrote:I have received decisions from most of the schools I applied to and really need to start making decisions. I have only been able to rule out one school so far . Any help or advice would be greatly appeciated.

Accepted:

Denver Sturm: $20K/yr (top half stip)
Penn State: 15k/yr (top half stip; with COLabout the same price as Denver)
Cal Western: Full-ride (heavy stips, and heavy attrition rate!)
University of Arizona: Probably sticker

Waitlisted:
UC Davis
Loyola LA

Waiting on
University of San Diego
USC (fat chance)
Southwestern
Wake Forest
University of Washington
CU Boulder

Yes, I do realize that I am all over the place and schools that are outside of T14 are primarily regional so I have to figure out where I want to work. I am not strongly tied to working anywhere: I have been working in LA for a few years, l went to school in the bay and am originally from SD. I am ready for something new, but most likely leaning towards a school closer to the west coast, not necessarily CA. I guess I want to figure out if it is worth going to the school with the higher ranking (U of A) at sticker price vs. a school with a lower ranking with some $$ in denver or even a full ride at a TTTT (Cal Western). Does 40 in the rankings really make much of a difference over 80, or even TTTT? I would like some mobility, but more importantly want to attend a school that has a good reputation for quality of life during school, treat students like they matter (is that so much to ask?? ) and get their students jobs after they graduate.

Thank you for your input. It always seems easier to help other people with their issues...

Also feel free to respond with any questions.

figure out where you want to live.. if its in the west dont go to an east coast school.. then figure out which state youd like.. if arizona go to arizona.. if colorado then boulder.. if cal then a cali school.. you say you arent strongly tied to where you want to work but anyone who says that is lying to themselves.. figure it out and go to the nest regional school there

most importantly retake.. reapply T14.. have mobility

If you have never been to rural PA, I strongly, strongly suggest that you at least visit before chosing Penn State. There are schools that feed the Pittsburgh and Philly markets and rural PA definitely requires a certain taste and preference.

cool of law wrote:I have received decisions from most of the schools I applied to and really need to start making decisions. I have only been able to rule out one school so far . Any help or advice would be greatly appeciated.

Accepted:

Denver Sturm: $20K/yr (top half stip)
Penn State: 15k/yr (top half stip; with COLabout the same price as Denver)
Cal Western: Full-ride (heavy stips, and heavy attrition rate!)
University of Arizona: Probably sticker

Waitlisted:
UC Davis
Loyola LA

Waiting on
University of San Diego
USC (fat chance)
Southwestern
Wake Forest
University of Washington
CU Boulder

Yes, I do realize that I am all over the place and schools that are outside of T14 are primarily regional so I have to figure out where I want to work. I am not strongly tied to working anywhere: I have been working in LA for a few years, l went to school in the bay and am originally from SD. I am ready for something new, but most likely leaning towards a school closer to the west coast, not necessarily CA. I guess I want to figure out if it is worth going to the school with the higher ranking (U of A) at sticker price vs. a school with a lower ranking with some $$ in denver or even a full ride at a TTTT (Cal Western). Does 40 in the rankings really make much of a difference over 80, or even TTTT? I would like some mobility, but more importantly want to attend a school that has a good reputation for quality of life during school, treat students like they matter (is that so much to ask?? ) and get their students jobs after they graduate.

Thank you for your input. It always seems easier to help other people with their issues...

Also feel free to respond with any questions.

I wouldn't count on keeping the scholarship at Cal Western. I don't know what the stipulations are, but if they're heavy, assume you won't meet them. Paying sticker for 2 years at a TTTT is a really bad idea, and you'd be setting yourself up for problems.

Don't go to Penn State unless you want to work in shitty east coast cities where no one else wants to be.

With the scholarships, to Denver (and Penn), you still have a 50% chance of losing it. Would you still be happy going there if you were paying sticker for the last 2 years? Because it is entirely possible that will happen. If you're really debt averse and do well enough to keep the scholarship, then Denver may be a better option than U of A. But if you lose the scholarship, Denver won't end up being significantly cheaper.

IMO, the difference in rankings between Arizona and Denver is largely irrelevant. Going to Denver will largely limit you to CO. Going to Arizona will largely limit you to Arizona, and maybe a few other areas of the SW. U of A may have some portability advantage over Denver, but a lot will depend on your connections.

tl;dr: Pick where you want to live, then pick the school in that area.

Magnolia wrote: Don't go to Penn unless you want to work on the East Coast.

He's talking about Penn State, not Penn. He won't have options in the East Coast. He'll get to pick between Scranton ambulance chaser and Allentown divorce lawyer.

paratactical wrote:If you have never been to rural PA, I strongly, strongly suggest that you at least visit before chosing Penn State. There are schools that feed the Pittsburgh and Philly markets and rural PA definitely requires a certain taste and preference.

I know this is semi off topic, but I've been curious for some time now as to which markets Penn State feeds into. I figure it has a large alumni network (even if only from its UG), but it's not particularly close to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or even Harrisburg for that matter. Throw in the fact there are seven law schools in PA plus two (Rutgers-Camden and Widener) which send a lot of grads to PA, and as an outsider, I can't figure out what Penn St's primary market is.

paratactical wrote:

Magnolia wrote: Don't go to Penn unless you want to work on the East Coast.

He's talking about Penn State, not Penn. He won't have options in the East Coast. He'll get to pick between Scranton ambulance chaser and Allentown divorce lawyer.

You're right. I should've been more specific. When I said east coast, I meant Pennsylvania and maybe West Virginia. Will edit.

Magnolia wrote:

paratactical wrote:

Magnolia wrote: Don't go to Penn unless you want to work on the East Coast.

He's talking about Penn State, not Penn. He won't have options in the East Coast. He'll get to pick between Scranton ambulance chaser and Allentown divorce lawyer.

You're right. I should've been more specific. When I said east coast, I meant Pennsylvania and maybe West Virginia. Will edit.

And to continue my dumping on my birth state, I wouldn't call either of those two places "cities".

paratactical wrote:

Magnolia wrote:

paratactical wrote:

Magnolia wrote: Don't go to Penn unless you want to work on the East Coast.

He's talking about Penn State, not Penn. He won't have options in the East Coast. He'll get to pick between Scranton ambulance chaser and Allentown divorce lawyer.

You're right. I should've been more specific. When I said east coast, I meant Pennsylvania and maybe West Virginia. Will edit.

And to continue my dumping on my birth state, I wouldn't call either of those two places "cities".

LOL. My aunt lives in Allentown. I refer to it as a barren shithole, and that's being generous.

The Steelers are Pennsylvania's only redeeming quality.

Magnolia wrote:LOL. My aunt lives in Allentown. I refer to it as a barren shithole, and that's being generous.

The Steelers are Pennsylvania's only redeeming quality.

You, I like you.

I also like the quilts, whoopie pies, snickerdoodles, Middlesworth chips -- but I don't like where I have to go to get them.

Thanks for the help. If I wanted to practice in LA, and do not get into Loyola or Southwestern. Would USD or Calwestern be better than U of A?

cool of law wrote:Thanks for the help. If I wanted to practice in LA, and do not get into Loyola or Southwestern, would USD or Calwestern be better than U of A?

and sorry to quote myself, but how have I not heard back from Southwestern!?!?

paratactical wrote:I also like the quilts, whoopie pies, snickerdoodles, Middlesworth chips -- but I don't like where I have to go to get them.

Credited.

cool of law wrote:Thanks for the help. If I wanted to practice in LA, and do not get into Loyola or Southwestern. Would USD or Calwestern be better than U of A?

I think Calwestern should be off the table regardless of your goals, because you will likely lose your scholarship and it is not worth sticker.

I think LA is highly unlikely coming out of both U of A and USD, but USD is the better choice if you want to work in Cali.

U of A has better career prospects but OOS sticker ITE, I think not. Retake the LSAT and get some money there, then you will be good as long as you want to work in AZ. While the top of the class can bounce over to SoCal, that prob isn't going to happen for you if you can't muster the stats to get some $.

That's a solid point, but I had a decent LSAT, just poor UGPA due to some extenuating circumstances.

update

USD: decision rendered. I have a hunch its the waitlist for me...

cool of law wrote:That's a solid point, but I had a decent LSAT, just poor UGPA due to some extenuating circumstances.

update

USD: decision rendered. I have a hunch its the waitlist for me...

If you had a decent LSAT you would have gotten $ irrespective of your GPA, more likely you have what you think is a decent LSAT but really isn't.

Am I the only one who would move to Scranton because of The Office?

rman1201 wrote:Am I the only one who would move to Scranton because of The Office?

Yes.

So I just got my acceptance packet from USD. It was originally one of my top choices, but a 1L class of about 300 seems like a lot. University of Washington decision is in the mail...

I am noticing a lot of votes for denver -- most probably because of the scholarship. If, however, money is not a big factor and I am not too proud to pay sticker at USD or U of A, would those become better options?