Hastings, Davis or UWash Forum

[chococookies]

Hi all,

Which one of the three would you pick (aside from scholarships and financial aid)?
They seem similar in job statistics although different in the rankings and I'm not really sure what to make of it. Would prefer to practice in Cali or NW.

Thanks.

[Bronck]

I would pick none of the above unless there was a substantial scholarship. Is this a hypothetical inquiry... or do you have actual scholarships from the schools?

[kenji]

uwash probably.

Depends on where you wanna work or where you have ties.

[chococookies]

I don't have scholarships. I wouldn't qualify. I'm admitted at all and trying to make a decision.
I'm wondering how difficult it really is to work outside the region you went to law school in, because I'm not sure how much I would like living in Seattle or Sacramento long term. I see myself ending up in the Bay Area again, but I also liked Seattle a lot when I visited. Looking at the rankings, UWash is ranked much higher than Davis or Hastings, but LST scores are similar, so I'm wondering if the rankings are really all that important/informative

[Bronck]

I don't have scholarships. I wouldn't qualify. I'm admitted at all and trying to make a decision.
I'm wondering how difficult it really is to work outside the region you went to law school in, because I'm not sure how much I would like living in Seattle or Sacramento long term. I see myself ending up in the Bay Area again, but I also liked Seattle a lot when I visited.

It's very difficult when you're dealing with non-T14 schools. None of your listed schools have reach outside of their region. Moreover, none of these schools are worth attending at sticker, because of their poor job prospects in relation to high debt load.

[chococookies]

I'm on the non-preferred waitlist at Georgetown. But can't count on that.
Sigh. I'm wondering what the thousands of law students that don't go to t-14 end up doing.

[WisemanAEKDB]

Essentially the same debate, although I was offered a small bit of $$. I know I'll end up taking one of the offers, even though 99% of TLS will tell you to retake and go T14. Go see the schools and see if the debt load is worth it to you. If not, I'm sure you've got good enough numbers to get a substantial scholarship to a T2. Take one of those if you're extremely debt-adverse.

[Bronck]

I'm on the non-preferred waitlist at Georgetown. But can't count on that.
Sigh. I'm wondering what the thousands of law students that don't go to t-14 end up doing.

A majority are unemployed or are working in non-legal jobs. Just because thousands go to non-T14 schools doesn't necessarily make that decision good. You have to weigh debt-to-employment rate, and sticker debt at these schools is simply far too much debt. When we're having debates over whether sticker at T14 is worth it, it becomes pretty clear that sticker is not worth it elsewhere.

[Rahviveh]

If you want to practice in the Bay I would probably take Santa Clara or another T2 in the area w/ $$$ over Hastings. UCH's employment stats aren't much better tbh.

[unclepete]

As everyone else will probably say- it depends on what you're looking to do more than anything. I know a few people in BigLaw in the bay area- all have said their firms hire from Hastings.

UW is an amazing regional school, but also has geographic flexibility (yes, I`m sure there will be plenty of people arguing that, but it does). The most flexibility of all the options listed.

If you want to try to fix California's effed up budget....Davis.

[Rahviveh]

As everyone else will probably say- it depends on what you're looking to do more than anything. I know a few people in BigLaw in the bay area- all have said their firms hire from Hastings.

So what? They don't hire many.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206368

Don't go to Hastings if you want biglaw

[unclepete]

As everyone else will probably say- it depends on what you're looking to do more than anything. I know a few people in BigLaw in the bay area- all have said their firms hire from Hastings.

So what? They don't hire many.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206368

Don't go to Hastings if you want biglaw

Touche- don't go to any of these if you want to be a SHOE IN for BigLaw, but I'd argue you don't have the drive for BigLaw if you can't make the top of your class at any school, so I disagree with your conclusion.

Anyhow, there's no proof OP wants that. I still say UW

[Nelson]

I'd argue you don't have the drive for BigLaw if you can't make the top of your class at any school, so I disagree with your conclusion.

This should go over well.

[stillwater]

As everyone else will probably say- it depends on what you're looking to do more than anything. I know a few people in BigLaw in the bay area- all have said their firms hire from Hastings.

So what? They don't hire many.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206368

Don't go to Hastings if you want biglaw

Touche- don't go to any of these if you want to be a SHOE IN for BigLaw, but I'd argue you don't have the drive for BigLaw if you can't make the top of your class at any school, so I disagree with your conclusion.

Anyhow, there's no proof OP wants that. I still say UW

Uncle Pete, you must be new here. Hi, I am Stillwater.

What do you think everyone else in OP's prospective 1L class will be doing? Sipping frozen dranks because they don't have the drive for BigLaw? Truth of the matter, law school exams are a skill. It is not about knowing the material, most will know the material, some won't...surprisingly. But the truth of the matter is applying law to fact. Most people suck at this. HTH.

[unclepete]

As everyone else will probably say- it depends on what you're looking to do more than anything. I know a few people in BigLaw in the bay area- all have said their firms hire from Hastings.

So what? They don't hire many.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=206368

Don't go to Hastings if you want biglaw

Touche- don't go to any of these if you want to be a SHOE IN for BigLaw, but I'd argue you don't have the drive for BigLaw if you can't make the top of your class at any school, so I disagree with your conclusion.

Anyhow, there's no proof OP wants that. I still say UW

Uncle Pete, you must be new here. Hi, I am Stillwater.

What do you think everyone else in OP's prospective 1L class will be doing? Sipping frozen dranks because they don't have the drive for BigLaw? Truth of the matter, law school exams are a skill. It is not about knowing the material, most will know the material, some won't...surprisingly. But the truth of the matter is applying law to fact. Most people suck at this. HTH.

Hi Stillwater, pleasure to meet you.

Didn't say it wasn't hard to make it to the top of your class. Said that it would be necessary to be there at any school to make BigLaw, not just these three schools. Also, OP never specified that this is what he/she wanted to do so this part of the conversation has dragged on long enough.

Also, is "truth of the matter" your favorite phrase?

[stillwater]

I wanted you to know i was a real straight shooter

[chococookies]

Thanks for the responses so far.
The impression that I get is that people are after greater promise for success in landing a job, but obviously it is not a guarantee anywhere and I would need to work hard in most programs to be at the top of the class. I mean it's not like I was guaranteed a job out of college either. It was rather hard despite the reputation/prestige of my undergraduate university.

I work at a big law firm in the bay area now and they have about equal number of attorneys from hastings and davis - not sure about UWash.
I'm interested in quality of education not just employment, do these schools really differ a lot in curriculum or how well they prepare you for the legal market? These two should be related of course. I've done a lot of research, looked at a lot of different kind of rankings and am more confused than before.

[Bronck]

Thanks for the responses so far.
The impression that I get is that people are after greater promise for success in landing a job, but obviously it is not a guarantee anywhere and I would need to work hard in most programs to be at the top of the class. I mean it's not like I was guaranteed a job out of college either. It was rather hard despite the reputation/prestige of my undergraduate university.

I work at a big law firm in the bay area now and they have about equal number of attorneys from hastings and davis - not sure about UWash.
I'm interested in quality of education not just employment, do these schools really differ a lot in curriculum or how well they prepare you for the legal market? These two should be related of course. I've done a lot of research, looked at a lot of different kind of rankings and am more confused than before.

1) Yes, you're not guaranteed a job out of college, but you also wouldn't be taking on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.
2) I'm not sure why you care about quality of education -- law school is a means to the end of securing employment. Regardless, schools are all going to offer the same courses. Your inquiry should be confined to level of debt upon graduation and employment prospects.