Top Law Schools

Davis wrote:•61.4% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. 0.5% of these jobs were school-funded jobs.
•70.8% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•71.3% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

Hastings wrote:•46.3% of graduates were known to be employed in long-term, full-time legal jobs. This figure includes no school-funded jobs.
•59.8% graduates were employed in long-term jobs.
•57.8% graduates were employed in full-time jobs.

Nova wrote:Davis is better

Neither are reasonable options without close to a full ride.

rickgrimes69 wrote:

Nova wrote:Davis is better

Neither are reasonable options without close to a full ride.

californiauser wrote:Depends. Do you want to be a paid lawyer? If yes, neither.

nebula666 wrote:

californiauser wrote:Depends. Do you want to be a paid lawyer? If yes, neither.

Yeah because those 61% from Davis are being paid in chocolate coins and monopoly money.


Davis with a good scholarship is not a bad option if you don't want biglaw.

californiauser wrote:50k yearly tuition for a 60% chance of getting any job is a terrible deal. OP did not disclose any scholarship information, so i'm working on the assumption that he's considering paying sticker cost. Davis at 100k+ cost is absurd.

apollo2015 wrote:Also, a big factor in favor of Hastings is the opportunity to live in the Tower. It is half a block from the campus, and about 1/3rd of the Hastings students live in it. The tower is fantastic for networking, socializing, and giving you more hours in each day due to the lack of a commute.

phillywc wrote:

rickgrimes69 wrote:

Nova wrote:Davis is better

Neither are reasonable options without close to a full ride.

apollo2015 wrote:I was considering west coast schools too, and decided on Hastings. Between Davis and Hastings, Davis is really pretty (and if you have kids, it is a better place to raise them), but its too far from San Francisco. Also, a big factor in favor of Hastings is the opportunity to live in the Tower. It is half a block from the campus, and about 1/3rd of the Hastings students live in it. The tower is fantastic for networking, socializing, and giving you more hours in each day due to the lack of a commute.

apollo2015 wrote:I was considering west coast schools too, and decided on Hastings. Between Davis and Hastings, Davis is really pretty (and if you have kids, it is a better place to raise them), but its too far from San Francisco. Also, a big factor in favor of Hastings is the opportunity to live in the Tower. It is half a block from the campus, and about 1/3rd of the Hastings students live in it. The tower is fantastic for networking, socializing, and giving you more hours in each day due to the lack of a commute.

SBL wrote:SF rent is a three-year ass-reaming. I paid about $500/mo for my own room in a decent place in Davis. The difference in rent alone could plausibly add up to ~$30,000 over three years, which is non-trivial.

There's an idea that Davis gets you stuck in Sacramento, which is pretty dumb. The same firms generally interview at both schools, and Sac firms are reluctant to hire people without ties to the area from either Davis or Hastings.

Also, firms use *the exact same GPA cutoff for both schools* which means that if you want a firm job and you're dead-set against retaking, it literally doesn't matter which one you pick.

FWIW, I went to Davis, had a blast, and now I have a pretty decent job despite good but not stellar grades. I'm sure a comparable experience from Hastings is equally possible, but I will say that professors from Davis went out of their way to help me get a SA gig and my first job out of law school, so I owe them a debt of gratitude. The faculty is really a high point at UCD, but again, I've never taken so much as a single class at Hastings, so it's not as if I really have a frame of reference here.

TLDR: I liked Davis, but you may as well just flip a coin.

BigZuck wrote:

SBL wrote:SF rent is a three-year ass-reaming. I paid about $500/mo for my own room in a decent place in Davis. The difference in rent alone could plausibly add up to ~$30,000 over three years, which is non-trivial.

There's an idea that Davis gets you stuck in Sacramento, which is pretty dumb. The same firms generally interview at both schools, and Sac firms are reluctant to hire people without ties to the area from either Davis or Hastings.

Also, firms use *the exact same GPA cutoff for both schools* which means that if you want a firm job and you're dead-set against retaking, it literally doesn't matter which one you pick.

FWIW, I went to Davis, had a blast, and now I have a pretty decent job despite good but not stellar grades. I'm sure a comparable experience from Hastings is equally possible, but I will say that professors from Davis went out of their way to help me get a SA gig and my first job out of law school, so I owe them a debt of gratitude. The faculty is really a high point at UCD, but again, I've never taken so much as a single class at Hastings, so it's not as if I really have a frame of reference here.

TLDR: I liked Davis, but you may as well just flip a coin.

How much did you pay in tuition at Davis? What was your debt at graduation? How many of your classmates have jobs that can service their debt?

SBL wrote:

BigZuck wrote:

SBL wrote:SF rent is a three-year ass-reaming. I paid about $500/mo for my own room in a decent place in Davis. The difference in rent alone could plausibly add up to ~$30,000 over three years, which is non-trivial.

There's an idea that Davis gets you stuck in Sacramento, which is pretty dumb. The same firms generally interview at both schools, and Sac firms are reluctant to hire people without ties to the area from either Davis or Hastings.

Also, firms use *the exact same GPA cutoff for both schools* which means that if you want a firm job and you're dead-set against retaking, it literally doesn't matter which one you pick.

FWIW, I went to Davis, had a blast, and now I have a pretty decent job despite good but not stellar grades. I'm sure a comparable experience from Hastings is equally possible, but I will say that professors from Davis went out of their way to help me get a SA gig and my first job out of law school, so I owe them a debt of gratitude. The faculty is really a high point at UCD, but again, I've never taken so much as a single class at Hastings, so it's not as if I really have a frame of reference here.

TLDR: I liked Davis, but you may as well just flip a coin.

How much did you pay in tuition at Davis? What was your debt at graduation? How many of your classmates have jobs that can service their debt?

(1.) Nothing, (2.) Not a lot, (3.) I don't know, but not enough.

I'm not saying it's a lovely idea to borrow $200,000 to go to UCD. I'm just saying that if you're dead set on picking one of these two schools, it's a coin toss.

rickgrimes69 wrote:

apollo2015 wrote:Also, a big factor in favor of Hastings is the opportunity to live in the Tower. It is half a block from the campus, and about 1/3rd of the Hastings students live in it. The tower is fantastic for networking, socializing, and giving you more hours in each day due to the lack of a commute.

I tried really hard to think of a worse reason for attending a school, but sadly I could not. Forgive me.

Moonlight wrote: And yea I haven't been admitted to either yet. I've been admitted to other Bay Area schools with Dean's Fellowships though. Hastings releases admissions in January usually right? I assume same is true of Davis?