Top Law Schools

I've been offered full tuition scholarships from both California Western Law in San Diego and Chapman Law in Orange. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my law degree, but I think I'll be studying either business, intellectual property, entertainment, or international law. I'm having a very hard time deciding which school to choose. I'll give pros and cons for each choice.

Chapman:
Pros:

• A very good school, with a great local reputation (not sure about its national reputation).
  Known for its great programs.
  Has a nice campus.
  I don't have to pay for housing (will live with parents in LA).

Cons:

• It's located in Orange. Orange is an awful place.
  It may not be well known outside the local area? (Again, I'm not sure about this one).
  Commuting from LA to Orange is quite the ordeal.

California Western
Pros:

• A very good school, that also has a great local reputation as being profoundly underrated.
  Known for pursuing an exceptional education.
  An amazing location in the heart of San Diego and right next to the ocean.

Cons:

• It's a pretty unknown school outside of the local area.
  Have to pay for housing (although I certainly could afford it).

There are definitely things for both schools that I've overlooked, and I may have stated some facts here wrong. Corrections or additions are greatly appreciated, as are any pieces of advice you can give me. This will determine the next few years of my life, so please only respond if you know what you're talking about. Thank you so much!

If you have a full ride and you are willing to accept the job prospects that these schools offer you, then it basically comes down to geographical preference. They are both TTTs that will only have any influence in their immediate geographic area, so if you like san diego more than orange, that's your answer.

Also, have you had any luck negotiating away the stips for the schollies yet?

ETA: just saw the COL difference. If you can get chapman's stip removed, or negotiated down substantially, and you've done your homework about realistic job prospects, that's probably your best bet regardless of geographic preference. Chances are you won't have a job at either one when you graduate, so even small (by TLS standards) levels of debt could be very problematic.

Did you read all those pros off the school brochures? Because neither of those schools are known anywhere for being anything approaching "very good."

Educate yourself about the truly horrible odds of getting any kind of decent lawyering job out of either school.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... n&show=ABA
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=chapman&show=ABA

OP, before making this big investment in your future, please review the job data at these schools. Both have terrible placement:

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... n&show=ABA
http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=chapman&show=ABA

Cobretti wrote:If you have a full ride and you are willing to accept the job prospects that these schools offer you, then it basically comes down to geographical preference. They are both TTTs that will only have any influence in their immediate geographic area, so if you like san diego more than orange, that's your answer.

Also, have you had any luck negotiating away the stips for the schollies yet?

ETA: just saw the COL difference. If you can get chapman's stip removed, or negotiated down substantially, and you've done your homework about realistic job prospects, that's probably your best bet regardless of geographic preference. Chances are you won't have a job at either one when you graduate, so even small (by TLS standards) levels of debt could be very problematic.

I have a feelin that calling these school great = he didn't "do his homework."
But whatever, full ride at Chapman with free col, why not role the dice?

OP what are you doing now? What is your gpa and LSAT (so we can derail this bro another retake thread)?

MrStark wrote:I've been offered full tuition scholarships from both California Western Law in San Diego and Chapman Law in Orange. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with my law degree, but I think I'll be studying either business, intellectual property, entertainment, or international law. I'm having a very hard time deciding which school to choose. I'll give pros and cons for each choice.

Chapman:
Pros:

• A very good school, with a great local reputation (not sure about its national reputation).
  Known for its great programs.
  Has a nice campus.
  I don't have to pay for housing (will live with parents in LA).

Cons:

• It's located in Orange. Orange is an awful place.
  It may not be well known outside the local area? (Again, I'm not sure about this one).
  Commuting from LA to Orange is quite the ordeal.
  I'm not too excited to move back in with my parents.

California Western
Pros:

• A very good school, that also has a great local reputation as being profoundly underrated.
  Known for pursuing an exceptional education.
  An amazing location in the heart of San Diego and right next to the ocean.

Cons:

• It's a pretty unknown school outside of the local area.
  Have to pay for housing (although I certainly could afford it).

There are definitely things for both schools that I've overlooked, and I may have stated some facts here wrong. Corrections or additions are greatly appreciated, as are any pieces of advice you can give me. This will determine the next few years of my life, so please only respond if you know what you're talking about. Thank you so much!

see the bold part, WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?

don't go to lawl school

OP should immediately disabuse himself of the notion that these schools have "good reputations." They are objectively two of the worst schools in the country, much less in CA. I mean, Chapman's non-employment rate is nearly as high as it's employment rate. Who would go there?

Retake or don't go do to nonexistent job prospects.

flame.gif

Also, in b4 "what's a flame???"