Top Law Schools

Hoping to get some guidance.

No geographic preferences, no stipulations on any of the scholarships. If I took Texas at sticker (terrible idea?), I would probably be aiming for biglaw (pay off hefty debt). If not, public interest (UCI or IUB), or perhaps a small or mid-sized labor/employment law firm (WUSTL or ND).

I have ties to California and Texas.

Also, anyone have any input regarding ND's assertion of being a "truly national" school? They claim to place a considerable number of grads in California. Considering my lack of post grad geographic preferences, should I maybe weigh the "portability" of an ND degree more heavily? Is an ND degree portable??

Thanks for the help.

Anyone care to elaborate on their response?

Tag, our circumstances are very similar

Irvine has good enough stats to warrant taking the full ride

2012 - 13/100 100+ Firms and 16/100 Federal Clerkships so about 29/100 "made it" which is pretty good and the school is only going to continue to accrue more standing and repute by the time your graduate. Compare with the other schools you'll find that UCI stacks up well give the substantial financial incentives you've been offered

according to the GoogleDocs spreadsheet 23% 2012 and 17% 2013 for Big Law fwiw

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0
http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

UT in or out of state tuition?

Nova wrote:UT in or out of state tuition?

Out of state

UC Irvine is a horrible option...even if you want to be in California. Please focus on either retaking the LSAT or taking the half scholarship at Wash U or Notre Dame.

None of your choices offer national portability but Wash U vs. UC Irvine still equals better California placement.

PrideandGlory1776 wrote:Irvine has good enough stats to warrant taking the full ride

2012 - 13/100 100+ Firms and 16/100 Federal Clerkships so about 29/100 "made it" which is pretty good and the school is only going to continue to accrue more standing and repute by the time your graduate. Compare with the other schools you'll find that UCI stacks up well give the substantial financial incentives you've been offered

according to the GoogleDocs spreadsheet 23% 2012 and 17% 2013 for Big Law fwiw

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0
http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

I suspect the decreased biglaw percentage from 2012 to 2013 is the effect of a larger class size. It seems to me that UCI's early success can be attributed to having a small group of qualified students on full-rides with a lot of professors prepared to back them. As that class size grows, it becomes harder to find jobs for students. And its hard to imagine their reputation increases significantly, since there won't be a single UCI grad holding a position of importance by the time you graduate.

PrideandGlory1776 wrote:Irvine has good enough stats to warrant taking the full ride

2012 - 13/100 100+ Firms and 16/100 Federal Clerkships so about 29/100 "made it" which is pretty good and the school is only going to continue to accrue more standing and repute by the time your graduate. Compare with the other schools you'll find that UCI stacks up well give the substantial financial incentives you've been offered

according to the GoogleDocs spreadsheet 23% 2012 and 17% 2013 for Big Law fwiw

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... ring#gid=0
http://employmentsummary.abaquestionnaire.org/

Thanks for the prompt responses.

raininthedesert wrote:UC Irvine is a horrible option...even if you want to be in California. Please focus on either retaking the LSAT or taking the half scholarship at Wash U or Notre Dame.

None of your choices offer national portability but Wash U vs. UC Irvine still equals better California placement.

Can you elaborate on this? Interested to hear your reasoning.

You should retake the LSAT.

Stats? How many times have you taken the LSAT?

Winston1984 wrote:Stats? How many times have you taken the LSAT?

Options like these almost always indicate a "reverse splitter" (person who needs to retake the LSAT).