Top Law Schools

Hi,

My gpa/lsat is 2.67/160. I wasn't exactly confident I'd get into a good law school, but to my surprise I've been accepted to the University of Connecticut, Loyola Chicago, and De Paul(20gs per year scholarship).

I really want the loyola los angeles part time program but I haven't heard back yet and deposits are due soon. I would sincerely appreciate any advice. I want to be a juvenile public defender and work in los angeles.

thank u for ur time!

None of these schools. UConn if you want to work in CT. Loyola and DePaul if you want to work in Chicago. These schools are regional and don't offer the portability to take you back to LA.

Retake or don't go

Those are not good schools. Don't go to law school. Retake or whatever job you can.

already.a.miracle wrote:Hi,

My gpa/lsat is 2.67/160. I wasn't exactly confident I'd get into a good law school,but to my surprise I've been accepted to the University of Connecticut, Loyola Chicago, and De Paul(20gs per year scholarship).!

You didn't.

Just FYI, some people on this forum are snarky assholes, OP. (I don't know when this became such a thing, but TLS is really a cesspool of it. If you don't want to give people advice about where to go to law school, then don't hang out in the Choosing a Law School forum. If you just want to shit on people, then do everyone a favor and find somewhere else to do it. /rant)

That said, it's true that these are not good schools to attend if you want to work in L.A. If you want to be a public defender in L.A. you really need to go to school in or around L.A. The kinds of schools you'll be able to get into are highly regional and it will be very, very difficult to get a job outside of that region.

Loyola part-time would probably be a decent option, especially if you plan on working during the day to offset the cost.

I was just trying to deter the OP from committing financial suicide. None of these schools are good options at those prices, even for their home markets. They are especially bad options for working in LA. Sometimes being an asshole is necessary if it keeps people from making horrible life decisions. OP would be best served retaking the LSAT and trying to get good money at some T2/T3 LA schools. (GPA is too low for USC/UCLA)

bdole2 wrote:I was just trying to deter the OP from committing financial suicide. None of these schools are good options at those prices, even for their home markets. They are especially bad options for working in LA. Sometimes being an asshole is necessary if it keeps people from making horrible life decisions. OP would be best served retaking the LSAT and trying to get good money at some T2/T3 LA schools. (GPA is too low for USC/UCLA)

Alright dude.

This, however, is helpful advice.

While I realize these schools are not what u would want to attend, I also realize that not everyone can attend the top schools. Especially with my gpa. Id rather attend now, have a life experience, and deal with the obstacle of finding a job later. If I have to work in that region for a while that's fine, nothing in life is ever easy and everything requires sacrifice and hard work.

I was thinking of attending somewhere in chicago, because it has been my experience that similar working environments and experiences help make u more employable. However, I do realize that Connecticut is ranked higher and I guess what I wanted to know is if that has any weight on where I should go.

Dixie, I agree. If I get into loyola it's a done deal. Thanks for giving advice to us bottom feeders in law school world and doing it with kindness.

Thanks

According to the recent US News Graduate School 2013 Edition, Loyola Marymount's acceptance rate to its part-time program is only 4.9%. Can anyone confirm that this is accurate ?

already.a.miracle wrote:While I realize these schools are not what u would want to attend, I also realize that not everyone can attend the top schools. Especially with my gpa. Id rather attend now, have a life experience, and deal with the obstacle of finding a job later. If I have to work in that region for a while that's fine, nothing in life is ever easy and everything requires sacrifice and hard work.

I was thinking of attending somewhere in chicago, because it has been my experience that similar working environments and experiences help make u more employable. However, I do realize that Connecticut is ranked higher and I guess what I wanted to know is if that has any weight on where I should go.

Dixie, I agree. If I get into loyola it's a done deal. Thanks for giving advice to us bottom feeders in law school world and doing it with kindness.

Thanks

as earlier posters stated, these schools will give you a hard time finding a job after graduating. Ranks, for the most part, have significance amongst the top 14 schools in the nation, then from 15 maybe down into twenties, then down to the 50's, then the rest.

While normally ppl would say stay away from the schools you are looking at because you will graduate with huge debt and little chance at good paying job, your goals of working for the state juvenile system may be reachable in my severely limited opinion (aka I am guessing) what I do know is that you should check to see if working as such a lawyer would
Allow you to go through the loan assistance repaent
Program "LARP" because you would be working for the government. This would offset your loans obviously, and of you are comfortable working at the salary of the Juvi. Position (sure its nothing to spit on) then maybe, maybe you can pull everything off. But I would highly suggest going to a similarly ranked school (or higher) in LA if possible

already.a.miracle wrote: Id rather attend now, have a life experience, and deal with the obstacle of finding a job later. If I have to work in that region for a while that's fine, nothing in life is ever easy and everything requires sacrifice and hard work.
Thanks

How much debt are you going to have from each of these schools? What salary will you need coming out of law school to be able to pay this debt back in 10 years? These are things you should consider before going to law school.

You say everything requires hard work and sacrifice. Why not sacrifice going to law school THIS year and put in some hard working studying to take the LSAT again? If you want to work in LA, go to school in Cali. Please don't relocate to super regional schools in markets you have no ties to.

If you're set on one of these schools, I'd suggest looking closely at their LRAP (loan repayment assistance programs) and giving heavy weight to whichever school offers the best possibilities there. That's your best best for paying off loans if you're committed to gov work. Also, in terms of UConn being higher ranked than the others, I don't think it's that big of a deal as long as the other schools are in relatively the same tier (which I assume they are, but I'll be honest - I don't know much about them).