Top Law Schools

Are Davis and Hastings worth sticker compared to scholarships at USF, SCU, and McGeorge? I have visited all of them except Davis and feel like I could be happy at any of them. Santa Clara has a unique clinic that I am interested in, but not sure if that is worth passing on the other options. I would appreciate any advice!! Thanks

Any school outside of the T14 is scary to pay sticker for, but when compared to your other options, I would say you have to go Davis. McGeorge isn't a very good school and the price difference for the others is not significant enough.
This is all, of course, if retake/reapply is not an option.

BTW, are you an in-state resident? Davis at OOS is way too much at sticker

If instate, Davis or Hastings depending on your preference.

Are there stipulations on your offers from McGeorge/SCU/USF? And do you have any strong location preference?

If you can deal with the idea of working in Stockton/Modesto/Fresno/other smaller CA markets, McGeorge might be a decent option. McGeorge has traditionally placed grads in these areas more so than SCU or USF, so while all three are roughly peer schools (in terms of bar passage and employment at graduation) I'd say McGeorge>SCU>USF based merely on the concentration of alumni in these places. Also, assuming you don't have a free place to live in one of these locations, Sacramento COL is cheaper than SF and the South Bay.

If you want biglaw (still a relative longshot)/public interest/anything in a major CA city, Davis and Hastings have significantly better prospects. Do you want an "urban" environment (Hastings) or a "rural-ish/college town" environment (Davis)?

Thanks for the input!

My McGeorge scholarship has no stipulations, but SCU is top 25%. USF is $35k just for the first year only.

I have been a legal resident of CA for 4.5 years. I believe I would qualify as in-state, but I'm confused by UC's residency forms because it looks like you have to be a legal resident for 5 years to qualify for in-state tuition your first year. Do you guys know? Thanks!

I voted Davis. Go with Davis or Hastings, but I picked Davis because the COA will be less living in Davis than it will be living in SF during school.

WhiteCochran wrote: If you can deal with the idea of working in Stockton/Modesto/Fresno/other smaller CA markets, McGeorge might be a decent option. McGeorge has traditionally placed grads in these areas more so than SCU or USF, so while all three are roughly peer schools (in terms of bar passage and employment at graduation) I'd say McGeorge>SCU>USF based merely on the concentration of alumni in these places. Also, assuming you don't have a free place to live in one of these locations, Sacramento COL is cheaper than SF and the South Bay.

+1. I personally was pretty impressed by McGeorge after going to their Legal Scholar's Day with some pretty low expectations (I wrote a blog entry about it, the link is in my profile). Being from a small, Central California market, I can say that a lot of the grads at the mid-law firm where I worked were McGeorge grads making a comfortable salary ($75k - $90k in a pretty inexpensive area for California).

If you're looking at a bigger market (LA, SF, etc.) or want a biglaw job, go to Davis and gun for the top 10%.