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So I've been admitted to both schools with some sort of scholarship offer.

UCI has offered me a $8,000/yr scholarship renewable for the following two years so long as I maintain a 2.0 GPA.

Loyola has offered me a much greater at $23,000/yr. However, their criteria for renewal is different in that I must be at the top 30% of the class. I should mention that it is not the top 30% of the entire 1L class, but rather of the group you have been placed in. Speaking to previous and current students at Loyola, most scholarship awardees are placed in the same group thus many of them don't receive a scholarship for the next two years. Also, as I live close to Loyola, I will save money on rent as I will commute.

After all calculations, I would finish off Loyola with about $60,000 in loans vs $180,000 from UCI.

What do you guys think? Loyola has been around for a longer time, but UCI is very promising.
I would love to get input from Loyola students and UCI students as far as job availability and the Career Development Office for your respective schools. Thanks in advance for your input.

Good Christ, neither. Loyala is really TTT about their scholarship stips and I wouldn't be willing to incur T14 debt to go to a new law school in a super saturated market.

Try to get Loyola to remove the 30% stipulation.

Both sound terrible. Retake or don't go.

Have you tried to negotiate to get rid of the stipulation/up the scholarships yet?

LLS student here...Not that I dont like my school, but go to Irvine. Congrats.

Loyola if you like to gamble, lol. Honestly though, re-take your LSAT. Neither of those choices are good.

Shammis wrote:LLS student here...Not that I dont like my school, but go to Irvine. Congrats.

Care to elaborate? Curious as to what you have to say.

Loyola has now changed their stipulations to top 30% now? Earlier acceptances were all top 50%

splitbrain wrote:

Shammis wrote:LLS student here...Not that I dont like my school, but go to Irvine. Congrats.

Care to elaborate? Curious as to what you have to say.

+1

Buffer1212 wrote:Loyola has now changed their stipulations to top 30% now? Earlier acceptances were all top 50%

I guess so. I got admitted fairly early, sometime in early January.

vkgarrett wrote:Have you tried to negotiate to get rid of the stipulation/up the scholarships yet?

How would I go about negotiating the scholarship? What can I use as leverage?

I'm in a similar situation as you (by the way I want to go into entertainment or media law)

Loyola with $32,000 scholarship per year dependent on a 3.2 GPA stipulation. However, I will save money by living at home and I want to practice law in Los Angeles.

UCI with $30,000 per year dependent on a 2.0 GPA stipulation. And I will have very expensive housing costs, all of the housing at UCI is super expensive people!!

I am on wait list at UCLA Law, and have yet to hear back from USC. Chances are if I do get in, there won't be any money for me and I will be doing it all on loans.

Worried about that GPA stipulation at Loyola, but I really really don't want to be all the way in Irvine for living costs and personal reasons. I know UCI class size is better at Loyola.

Which is the best decision? Those are big scholarships, the tuition at Loyola and UCI is around 43,000. So this makes it super hard to decide.

decisions/are/hard wrote:I'm in a similar situation as you (by the way I want to go into entertainment or media law)

Loyola with $32,000 scholarship per year dependent on a 3.2 GPA stipulation. However, I will save money by living at home and I want to practice law in Los Angeles.

UCI with $30,000 per year dependent on a 2.0 GPA stipulation. And I will have very expensive housing costs, all of the housing at UCI is super expensive people!!

I am on wait list at UCLA Law, and have yet to hear back from USC. Chances are if I do get in, there won't be any money for me and I will be doing it all on loans.

Worried about that GPA stipulation at Loyola, but I really really don't want to be all the way in Irvine for living costs and personal reasons. I know UCI class size is better at Loyola.

Which is the best decision? Those are big scholarships, the tuition at Loyola and UCI is around 43,000. So this makes it super hard to decide.

I have the same Loyola scholarship, $10K/yr at Irvine, UCLA Waitlist, waiting on USC and I want to get into entertainment/sports law. Some might suggest we are in a similar situation. That being said, I visited Loyola and sat in on a class and also went to the UCI Admitted Students Weekend.

The professor at Loyola was great, but nothing at Loyola stood out to me, maybe just because I was only there for a few hours. But if you for sure want to stay in LA to practice, it's not the worst choice, b/c they place well in LA.

"And I will have very expensive housing costs, all of the housing at UCI is super expensive people!!"
Living costs at Irvine are not bad at all. There are a few luxurious apartment buildings that are quite expensive and somewhat far from the law school. However, adjacent to the law school they also have some very economical apartments. 3BR/1BA for 3 ppl at $353/month and for 2 people in a 2 BR/1 BA it is $450/month. There is no 100% guarantee you will be able to get the cheapest housing option, but it all depends on how many units are available. (Nothing is as guaranteed as a parent's house.) Also, law students commonly get matched up with other grad students, (MBA/PhD), so you can have a roommate who is similarly studious but able to provide a break from 24/7 law discussions.

UC Irvine blew me away, I almost could not have been more impressed. Going in, UC Irvine was a long shot at best, but their incredibly genuine and approachable faculty and current students made the weekend fantastic. By all accounts, Irvine is positioned to debut in the top 10-20 for more reasons than I can count...(incredible community support, prestigious/approachable faculty, everyone goes the extra mile to help you (LOR, clerkships, jobs, etc), small class size, admitted students with the same numbers as the first 3 classes). The momentum they have seemed pretty unstoppable.

If you really mean 30k/yr at UCI, and not just 30K total, UCI is a no-brainer to me.

PS Definitely not a troll. UCI is my new frontrunner. I may not even attend law school b/c of a stellar job opportunity that may be coming my way, but I felt compelled to weigh in to at least convince you to take a closer look at Irvine. It's the least I could do to thank them for how they treated their admitted students.

UCI upped my scholarship so I am more than considering them! Just worried about entertainment firms being hesitatn to hire a UCI grad over a Loyola grad, simply becaue they've never heard of UCI.

What are you numbers? I want to apply to Loyola next cycle and receive a package like that (aside from being admitted).