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I just recently was accepted off the waitlist at ucdavis, though I have put in my seat deposit at McGeorge. I am torn because I am going to have to get student loans to cover my tuition. At the moment, my parents are offering to help pay off my loans in the future, but my trust only goes so far and I must work under the assumption that the debt will be mine. Mcg is offering me a 20k renewable scholarship plus all my books, and I know that federal financial aid will cover the rest of my tuition as I have already received my aid packet from the school. Is UCD worth all that debt in this economy? Or should I stick with a low ranking regional school (I plan to work/live in that area anyway) that is offering me decent $$??

Went to UOP last year, gave me $$$$ and free books, which was nice, but I ended up transferring to Davis after my first year because I wanted Biglaw, which is nearly impossible from McGeorge. It will depend on what your career goals are, and if you do decide on UOP, you can negotiate for more money (they give out scholarship $$$ like candy there, although most have top 1/3 stipulations, which you should also consider).

GPA / LSAT?

2.79/169

I want to either work for public interest (non prof, etc) or get into the public sector.... Which is why I am doubly torn. Mcgeorge is a great way to get into California politics but ucd has an amazing public interest program

Calculate the total COA for each law school. Ask U of P for more money based on your UC-Davis acceptance. Recalculate COAs. Ask UC-Davis about loan repayment forgiveness & other options if pursuing public interest work.

P.S. If U of P doesn't substantially increase your scholarship, then UC-Davis is the better choice, in my opinion, simply because your chances of obtaining gainful employment as an attorney will be much greater.

McGeorge is notorious for having terrible stips on their scholarships and section stacking, and even at half tuition it's way too expensive. Davis is far and away the better choice here.

Does pacific have a top 1/3 stip on that scholarship? b/c that's problematic. But so is davis at sticker... It's a great school but in this economy you are not likely to get a high paying job out of Davis. 200k+ is way too damn much for anything that doesn't come close to guaranteeing a biglaw gig. Upac upped my scholaraship offer from 20k to 30k per year... and I'm a splitter as well, somewhat higher in both stats but that shouldn't matter to them regarding rankings. Ask them for a scholarship increase.

Davis is probably worth 60k more than Pacific, even if there were no stipulations on the scholarship. at 90k, I'd probably take Pacific over Davis, stipulations or no.

My scholarship is 20k a year with the top 3rd stip at McG. I know they tend to stack their sections, so I know I cant guarantee that scholarship will be with me all the way through school. McG is acting hesitant about offering me more money because davis didnt offer me a scholarship which I think is a load of crap but whatever. With Davis, I could over the next year seek out grants and scholarships for the following years, which may put a dent in the amount of debt I have coming out of school. I also know that davis has a lot of avenues to help students going into public service pay off their debt. So there is always that. At this point I am leaning towards Davis for a myriad of reasons. At least I have four more days to decide

Having been at both, Davis is much nicer. People are nicer, there's free food all the time from club events, and its got a nice college-town feel to it, rather than a sketchy urban-neighborhood feel.

If you end up in the top 10% your first year at Davis, you will get a 10k scholarship for the next two years. Its an incentive not to transfer out

Go to Davis, and be willing to drop out if you're not at least in the top half after your first semester (or maybe first year if you really want to roll the dice on improving your grades in the spring). McGeorge wouldn't be worth it if it was free--at 50% of their tuition plus COL you're still probably taking on close to 100K in debt for a horrible law degree. Even in Sacramento kids in the top 5-10% of the class at McG are lucky to get low-paying public sector gigs. Outside of Sac, forget about it.

balanz wrote: davis didnt offer me a scholarship which I think is a load of crap but whatever.

balanz wrote:2.79

It's rough being a splitter.

Davis EASY. That top 1/3 sTTTip is a joke. If you were not in the TTTop TTThird, you should probably drop out anyway. Davis is worth the 60k in scholarships.

Nova wrote:

balanz wrote: davis didnt offer me a scholarship which I think is a load of crap but whatever.

balanz wrote:2.79

It's rough being a splitter.

Davis EASY. That top 1/3 sTTTip is a joke. If you were not in the TTTop TTThird, you should probably drop out anyway. Davis is worth the 60k in scholarships.

I freely admit that both schools are gambles at sticker, but this is tcr. At least from Davis you know that graduating around the middle of the class you'll still likely get a full-time job as an actual lawyer. Not so from McGeorge.

Nova wrote:

balanz wrote: davis didnt offer me a scholarship which I think is a load of crap but whatever.

balanz wrote:2.79

It's rough being a splitter.

Davis EASY. That top 1/3 sTTTip is a joke. If you were not in the TTTop TTThird, you should probably drop out anyway. Davis is worth the 60k in scholarships.

I think you misunderstood--I think its a load of crap that McG didnt offer me further scholarship $, not that Davis didnt offer me any at all. I'm still in awe that they accepted me with my awful undergard GPA.

Update-- McG upped my scholarship to $25k a year but wouldnt budge on stips so eff that. Put in my seat deposit to UCD today, life is good. I went there as an undergrad and am seriously looking forward to going back

balanz wrote:
I think you misunderstood--I think its a load of crap that McG didnt offer me further scholarship $, not that Davis didnt offer me any at all. I'm still in awe that they accepted me with my awful undergard GPA.

Update-- McG upped my scholarship to $25k a year but wouldnt budge on stips so eff that. Put in my seat deposit to UCD today, life is good. I went there as an undergrad and am seriously looking forward to going back

Congrats and good luck!

who would want to live in stockton for 3 years anyways? Gotta love the smell of sewage..

woop sorry never knew that was only the UG

Mcgeorge is in Sacramento...

Non-Discounted Cost
Class of 2015: $261,378
Class of 2016: $268,650
Resident Cost
Class of 2015: $231,335
Class of 2016: $237,705
--LinkRemoved--

Retake, both are financial disasters. Also factor in the UC system is broke, tuition will increase at least 5% a year.

JamesChapman23 wrote:Non-Discounted Cost
Class of 2015: $261,378
Class of 2016: $268,650
Resident Cost
Class of 2015: $231,335
Class of 2016: $237,705
--LinkRemoved--

Retake, both are financial disasters. Also factor in the UC system is broke, tuition will increase at least 5% a year.

The law schools (Davis, Berkeley, UCLA, UCI) are somewhat insulated from the UC system's financial problems. Undergraduate tuition increases don't reflect law school tuition increases. No, UC Davis Law tuition will not increase 5% a year.

Davis does offer significant financial aid, to those who qualify for it. I know of many people receiving $20,000+ in grant funding, and they do a good job of spreading the money around based on need. Davis also doesn't attach stipulations to their scholarship funds. My $20k per year only requires me to remain in good standing.

OP made a wise choice choosing Davis. I know people at McGeorge. While it's certainly possible to get a good legal education there, you will be restricted to the Sacramento area upon graduating - and you probably won't find solid legal employment if you're in the bottom half.

How do they "spread the money based on need"? Nobody at 22 has any income to report and they don't have to provide parental data.

For UCLA, just last year there was a 9.6% tuition increase (although they were able to cover most of it). Hasting is up over 20 percent in the last few years. Expect more considering the huge shortfall (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 54927448/1). The taxpayers will not approve new taxes.

As for paying 200k+ to go to a fringe T30 in a super depressed local economy (nor cal/Sacramento)- well that is up to the OP. Bad idea if you ask me.