Top Law Schools

I haven't received all of my decisions yet, but I'm trying to research and think about my current options so I can be prepared in the case that nothing else works out.

To give a little bit of background, I'm interested in public interest / education policy / possibly child advocacy, and ideally, I would want to practice/live in Southern California in the future. I don't mind living in another area for a few years after graduation if thats what its going to take, but I do see myself settling down in the OC/LA area later on.

I've lived in SoCal (most of my life), Norcal (4 years), and Boston (1 year), so I am somewhat familiar with the areas that the schools are in...
I was wondering if I could hear people's opinions on this, maybe the pros/cons of a particular decision.

Oh, and some information/opinions about UC Irvine would be greatly appreciated- because I feel a little uneasy about the fact that its such a new school and that I have no idea what its rank would be in the future...

Thanks in advance!

If you really want to be in CA, I'd eliminate BU.

Irvine is giving everyone a 1/3 tuition scholarship, right? I'd say it's a toss up between that and Davis. Davis has the alumni network, but UCI may be in a better location / price range. I think people commonly guess that Irvine will be ranked between 35-25 when it is ranked.

Scholarships?

If none at UCD/BU then I think UCI. I mean UCI is definitely a risk and a huge unknown, but Davis and BU at sticker are also pretty big risks.

bk187 wrote:Scholarships?

If none at UCD/BU then I think UCI. I mean UCI is definitely a risk and a huge unknown, but Davis and BU at sticker are also pretty big risks.

I got a 1/2 scholarship at Irvine, BU hasn't said anything about merit-based/need-based aid yet, and Davis gave me a need-based grant estimate of 25K for the coming school year. BU/Davis said their scholarships will continue to go out in batches in the next few months, so I guess I have to wait to hear about those...

http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 1&t=150315

That link might offer a bit of insight, since that person is deciding between Davis, Irvine, Hastings and Emory.

I'm going to choose Irvine, but the risk of where they open in the rankings doesn't bother me in the slightest. I believe that they will place strongly, but even if they don't, the difference between a few positions in the USNWR is usually offset by regional advantages. So even if Irvine opens at 30, you'd be better off there than Davis at 23 if you knew you wanted to get a job in Southern California.

Even if I didn't know I wanted to work in Socal, the draw of the top ten faculty is an absolute clincher. Getting a job out of LS is only part of the battle; the legal field does not become less competitive once you have practiced for ten years. However down the road, I believe one's success will be much more a result of that person's actual abilities, not the USNWR ranking of their law school. With that said, I don't believe there is a single greater factor in creating a good attorney than a good foundation based on excellent teaching.

Davis is renewable each year, right? I'd cross out BU. It seems like you would be deciding between UCI and UCD which will cost about the same (maybe cheaper for UCD based on cost of living). UCI is a greater risk with probably higher chances of ending up in SoCal. I think in this case I'd take UCD due to the smaller amount of unknowns but I think an argument can be made for either (and I'm even hesitatant to say UCD over UCI).

thegreatk wrote:Getting a job out of LS is only part of the battle; the legal field does not become less competitive once you have practiced for ten years. However down the road, I believe one's success will be much more a result of that person's actual abilities, not the USNWR ranking of their law school. With that said, I don't believe there is a single greater factor in creating a good attorney than a good foundation based on excellent teaching.

The difference between quality of education at these 3 places is marginal and I'm not even sure I agree with your premise here.

bk187 wrote:Davis is renewable each year, right? I'd cross out BU. It seems like you would be deciding between UCI and UCD which will cost about the same (maybe cheaper for UCD based on cost of living). UCI is a greater risk with probably higher chances of ending up in SoCal. I think in this case I'd take UCD due to the smaller amount of unknowns but I think an argument can be made for either (and I'm even hesitatant to say UCD over UCI).

thegreatk wrote:Getting a job out of LS is only part of the battle; the legal field does not become less competitive once you have practiced for ten years. However down the road, I believe one's success will be much more a result of that person's actual abilities, not the USNWR ranking of their law school. With that said, I don't believe there is a single greater factor in creating a good attorney than a good foundation based on excellent teaching.

The difference between quality of education at these 3 places is marginal and I'm not even sure I agree with your premise here.

My premise is based on working on a law firm for five years, so it's not just me making wild assumptions. (It doesn't mean I'm necessarily right, but at least my claims aren't baseless)

And you are right about the difference of quality of education overall being marginal; but I think that if there WAS going to be a significant difference between them, it would be Irvine's top 10 faculty.

It's also hard to truly guage the educational quality of Irvine right now (good or bad) without there being a graduated class who can be compared to graduates from top universities.

If the money is the same, I'd weigh how much SoCal REALLY means to you. If it's a dealbreaker, then UCI. Otherwise, Davis.

thanks for the replies everyone
i guess there are pros and cons to each option.
what do you guys think about hastings or george washington for someone in my position? because those are options too at this point...

For public interest in CA I'm leaning towards Davis here, though Irvine if they give you a lot of $$$ might be a good choice.

BU is out if you're certain you want to practice in southern California, just to echo everyone else. I'd ignore GWashington for the same reason.

I've heard Irvine does offer additional scholarships over the 1/3 in their admit packets to a select few applicants. Did you get an additional offer?

Davis or Irvine for public law: tough choice. I'm making a similar decision between Davis, Irvine and Emory in that topic which was linked in a previous post here (though I'm not aiming for public law but BigLaw).

Metaread wrote:BU is out if you're certain you want to practice in southern California, just to echo everyone else. I'd ignore GWashington for the same reason.

I've heard Irvine does offer additional scholarships over the 1/3 in their admit packets to a select few applicants. Did you get an additional offer?

Davis or Irvine for public law: tough choice. I'm making a similar decision between Davis, Irvine and Emory in that topic which was linked in a previous post here (though I'm not aiming for public law but BigLaw).

yea, irvine offered me a 1/2 scholarship- so its not too bad i guess.
i saw that link too- good luck with your decision
i just wish i could hear back from the schools i have left soon...

hellohello wrote:

bk187 wrote:Scholarships?

If none at UCD/BU then I think UCI. I mean UCI is definitely a risk and a huge unknown, but Davis and BU at sticker are also pretty big risks.

I got a 1/2 scholarship at Irvine, BU hasn't said anything about merit-based/need-based aid yet, and Davis gave me a need-based grant estimate of 25K for the coming school year. BU/Davis said their scholarships will continue to go out in batches in the next few months, so I guess I have to wait to hear about those...

Irvine is provisionally accredited is it not? Meaning you can practice within California. Anyway, it's a UC so it would be absolutely astounding if it did not get accredited. I think UCI is more of an unknown for the employment prospects than rankings-I think the projections have been anywhere between 18-40 (although that's mostly bloggers talking out of their ass). I would be surprised to see any UC campus ranked beneath high T2 level-by all accounts the name recognition is about equal to Davis, minus Davis' law school track record.

I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that you'd have good prospects in Orange County out of UCI, but I guess it depends on how risk averse you are. UCI is not a school I'd be ashamed to have on my resume certainly, but a virtually untested law school is a different story.

Medians look like they're on par with UCLA/USC. I don't think name recognition is an issue as anyone who lives in Orange County or frankly California who hasn't heard of UCI is a space cadet. They've also apparently attracted a badass faculty-I think that Chemerinsky is the dean or at least on faculty. You are going in sort of blind, but I don't think it's any larger a risk than attending any other regional school in a large legal market.

$25K/yr in grant aid for UCD plus in-state would seal the deal for me.

SBL wrote:$25K/yr in grant aid for UCD plus in-state would seal the deal for me.

just out of curiosity, has anyone been receiving grant offers from UCD yet? and if so, how much and what are your stats?

I'd be curious if people got UCD offers too, my admissions packet hasn't arrived yet (they notified me of my acceptance through email a few days ago).

I just got this email about them receiving my needacces app, and that they would send an official financial aid offer after dling and processing my fafsa..

cross out BU if you want to work in SoCal

Davis or Irvine would be good choices. Normally I'd advise against UCI, but it's in SoCal, and you want SoCal PI, so either are probably good. Davis $ +IBR+LRAP is probably the safer choice though.

sorry to bug everyone again,
but what do you guys think about pepperdine or loyola then? both with about 25k a year...
i pretty much crossed them off at first, but i guess it doesn't hurt to hear some more opinions.

hellohello wrote:sorry to bug everyone again,
but what do you guys think about pepperdine or loyola then? both with about 25k a year...
i pretty much crossed them off at first, but i guess it doesn't hurt to hear some more opinions.

They are giving you the same as UCD/UCI so I would definitely cross those off.

This is an easy call. Go to UCI and don't look back if you are sure you want to settle in So. Cal.

thanks for the advice everyone-
i guess i'll think about it a little more for a week or so before i really start narrowing my options down.
i'm actually still waiting for usc to give me my decision.. and i'm waitlisted at ucla, so i guess we'll see what happens.

If you're in-state, I wouldn't really look too hard at BU.

what are the pros and cons of going to davis over irvine?

i went to the davis admitted students and alumni reception in LA as well as irvine's admitted student day. as for first impressions, i think i liked davis a lot better, although i haven't been to the actual campus yet so i guess i'll have a better idea next week. the people at irvine were friendly/excited for us and the faculty seemed awesome, but i felt like whatever strengths they told us about were things that davis had as well??
but the fact that davis has more history and alumni, as well as its already ranked is also a plus, you know?
people at irvine also kept saying that irvine was going to rank higher than davis, and i know i shouldn't care THAT much about rankings in general- but it is still a measure that people look to for many things.. so i can't disregard it.

what do you guys think?