Iowa vs. Houston Forum

[nickie]

Among school I received admission from, I would mostly choose between Iowa Law and University of Hoston Law Center (Both at sticker price) unless I hear good news from other schools. Please help me decide where to go.

Here are main conserderations.
1. Landing a job after graduation is important.
I don't mind where I practice law. But, as an international student who does not have regional ties whatsoever, I would prefer to work for a firm with an international clientele.
2. If I can, I would like to trasnfer to T14 school after 1L.
So, my question here is would top 10% at Iowa, which is tier 1, be much more advantageous than 10% at Houston, which is tier 2 in terms of transfer ?

Thanks

[Alan]

Hey Nickie. I know you have likely been top 10% at everything since you were born, but you can not assume you will be top 10% in law school. You will be amongst peers who have also excelled academically and think they will be in the top 10% too. Obvously 9/10 students will not be in that percentile.

It is much easier to score high on the LSAT, where you are up against the average joe, than it is to be at the top of either of these law school classes. Most posters will agree that attending a law school with the plan to transfer once you are in the top of the class is a bad idea.

Think about it. Plenty of UH and UI students got scholarships. They are the ones with higher numbers and who are more likely to assend to the top of the class.

As for location... Iowa and Houston are MUCH different places (I have lived in both). Both are rather humid... but Iowa has snow on the ground 6 months a year and is mostly white people, while Houston is 100 degrees seemingly all the time and is very racially diverse. Houston has 2 million legal residents in the city and suburbs while Iowa has only 3 million people in the entire state.

Where do you see yourself?

[nickie]

Thank you for the advice

I am aware that being top 10% at law school would be extremely difficult. I am just wondering if there is a big difference between two schools for being first tier and second tier school when it comes to transfer.

[bartleby]

to just answer your question - i think, maybe a little bit. but no one really knows. i had the same thoughts about UGA/UHLC. a lot of people have never even heard of uhlc

but all the other advice that will be given here will be sound

[rad lulz]

.

[tofuspeedstar]

Thank you for the advice

I am aware that being top 10% at law school would be extremely difficult. I am just wondering if there is a big difference between two schools for being first tier and second tier school when it comes to transfer.

Don't even think about transferring. Odds are very bad that you will be able to. I'd absolutely bet against you.

Also, At those prices, neither. I'd retake or don't go.

This.

But being a current student at UH for undergrad I can tell you the following:

Good:
-Cost of living is low
-If you want to do energy law or something like that Houston is one of the biggest energy cities in the US.
-If you plan to practice in Texas, UH can open some doors, but not as much as UT.

Bad:
-UH parking SUCKS, you have to get to class maybe an hour early to find a spot, unless you shell out $350 for garage parking.
-Traffic, everywhere, UH is a commuter school, and there's always some moron on I-45 that gets into an accident between 7-9am and 4-6pm.
-UH is right in the middle of third ward (read: ghetto) if you want to cut the commute you'll have to live in the ghetto. If you want to live off campus inside the loop you'll have to deal with the commute. (I commute about 45min-1hr each way)
-If you decide to practice out of Texas or go back home then you might be in a pickle as UH isn't as well known outside Texas (from my understanding at least)
-Houston weather is unpredictable, it'll be 56 degrees the one day, and 95 the next.

Don't know anything about Iowa.

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

Thank you for the advice

I am aware that being top 10% at law school would be extremely difficult. I am just wondering if there is a big difference between two schools for being first tier and second tier school when it comes to transfer.

Don't even think about transferring. Odds are very bad that you will be able to. I'd absolutely bet against you.

Also, At those prices, neither. I'd retake or don't go.

This.

But being a current student at UH for undergrad I can tell you the following:

Good:
-Cost of living is low
-If you want to do energy law or something like that Houston is one of the biggest energy cities in the US.
-If you plan to practice in Texas, UH can open some doors, but not as much as UT.

Bad:
-UH parking SUCKS, you have to get to class maybe an hour early to find a spot, unless you shell out $350 for garage parking.
-Traffic, everywhere, UH is a commuter school, and there's always some moron on I-45 that gets into an accident between 7-9am and 4-6pm.
-UH is right in the middle of third ward (read: ghetto) if you want to cut the commute you'll have to live in the ghetto. If you want to live off campus inside the loop you'll have to deal with the commute. (I commute about 45min-1hr each way)
-If you decide to practice out of Texas or go back home then you might be in a pickle as UH isn't as well known outside Texas (from my understanding at least)
-Houston weather is unpredictable, it'll be 56 degrees the one day, and 95 the next.

Don't know anything about Iowa.

+1 on houston traffic sucking. The only decent traffic plan in the state is in DFW, where traffic still gets super shitty on the 75 I-35 on/off ramps.

[iowalum]

Iowa. It's a nice place to live and much better ranked than Houston. Lots of connections and international students on campus, good professors. It is fairly easy to get residency (lower tuition) so that's something to take into account.

But sticker is expensive, consider waiting out a year and trying for a scholarship.

[bartleby]

okay how is CoL in Houston low? please explain that to me in relation to Iowa, which I imagine is a college town and cheaper.

houston isn't ny, chicago, sf, or la - but cost of living is a lot. and you'll be driving a lot. gas is seriously a factor to be considered these days at 4 bucks a gallon

[tofuspeedstar]

Actually, I forgot, the medical center side of 288 is fine to live on, and decently cheap, I think I paid like $900/mo for 2br 2bath apartment w/ garage.

so $500 mo w/cable, internet..etc. And just went down Old Spanish Trail and made a left on Scott and campus is right there..

That's probably the only decent place to live within 7-8 minutes of campus... stay away from 288/Holy Hall, or the UH side of Old Spanish Trail.


Gas is about $3.76/gal for Regular (89), and $4.10 for Supreme (93)..it's gone down a bit in the past week.

But yeah, just depends what kind of law you want to do.

Energy law, Health Law, Public Policy, IP/Information law..

[rad lulz]

.

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

Move to Texas, get a job, then retake. You may be thinking you can't get a job but they actually have jobs in texas. Seriously go work as a roughneck in the new fields north of Houston-- this would be mad cool points for an oil and gas firm. Get in to UH with money, and live in Houston.

By the way Houston sucks. Have you been there?