Loyola vs. Pepperdine Forum

[hopeallison]

I have already seen all the negative posts about going to either of these schools, so I would rather not hear that I should retake or just flat out not go. I want honest answers about which school you think would give me a more competitive edge in the LA market.

I had a low undergrad GPA of 3.0. I scored a 165 on my LSAT in December. The odds of my getting into either USC or UCLA are astronomically low with those numbers, so I'm assuming my decision will come down to either Loyola or Pepperdine. I can't live at home as I'm from Alaska, and neither school has offered me any money yet.

At sticker, I know they're both rip offs, but I'm dead set on going to law school next year. I'm interested in knowing which school people think will give me more opportunities after graduation.

Thanks!

[ndirish2010]

You can't ask a question and then give choices A and B when the only rational answer is C.

[Nova]

why would you knowingly rip yourself off like that

[timbs4339]

(1) Retake
(2) If not 1, get a full scholarship
(3) If not 1 or 2, do not go to law school. Why do you want to go to law school? Is this a Brewster's Millions situation or something?

[unodostres]

>Both schools I'm considering are rip offs
>I'm dead set on going regardless

Masochism at its finest.

[Tiago Splitter]

I want honest answers

they're both rip offs

[Captain Rodeo]

People on here are not going to tell you which one to go to out of those two.

Pepperdine is ranked 54th.

Loyola is ranked 87th.

So, there's that obvious choice based solely on ranking.

People on TLS are, as I've said and you can witness, justifiably debt adverse. You'll see people suggesting others not to go to YHS, for amazing scholarship opportunities at lower ranked schools. Once again, justifiably so, since it won't have any effect on their future career in most cases (usually it's more of a desire to have the prestigious name of the school attached to their person) and less debt translates into more freedom.

Then you can be certain, a fortiori, hopeallison, that they will in no way advise you to choose to go to either school, when both are at full tuition.

And, this is wise counsel and good for you. You will have an enormous amount of debt from a law school that cannot guarantee you a means to pay off that debt in a way that is not going to substantially impact your life in a very negative manner.


Options:

(1) Retake. You'll likely perform 4-5 points lower on test day. This is the hard option, but doing the hard thing is often the best thing. Consistently score in the lower 170s and retake and get into a USC or UCLA.

(2) Do something to increase you GPA. This really isn't a great option because you'll have to go back to school, and you'll need to increase it above a 3.5 I'd say, to be safe. This would mean taking a significant amount of classes. Pretty much a very unattractive proposition, unless you want to take JC classes and get that boost, which means you'd have to transfer them to your undergrad institution. I don't even know how this would work.

(3) Transfer up after 1L. Go to one of those two schools, finish 1L as one of the top 5 to 3 students in your class (I'd say top 3 to be safe, but I really don't know) and transfer up. Bad part: you'll be paying full price all 3 years of law school. Good part? You can transfer to one that will give you much better opportunities to pay it all off.


Apologies for any misspellings, on iphone

[d cooper]

These schools have almost identical employment numbers. Neither are competitive in the L.A. market, and I would imagine that is especially true for Alaskan students or those who otherwise have no ties to L.A. except a poorly regarded local J.D.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/loyola-la/2013/
http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/pepperdine/2013/

[rickgrimes69]

>Both schools I'm considering are rip offs
>I'm dead set on going regardless

Masochism Idiocy at its finest.

FTFY

OP, these schools are both unjustifiable at sticker. If you really want to burn $250k that badly go buy a ticket to outer space - you'll be unemployed either way, but at least you'll have a cool story to tell interviewers

[BigZuck]

Neither. If you don't want to/can't get better options, don't go to law school.

[J-e-L-L-o]

>Both schools I'm considering are rip offs
>I'm dead set on going regardless

Masochism Idiocy at its finest.

FTFY

OP, these schools are both unjustifiable at sticker. If you really want to burn $250k that badly go buy a ticket to outer space - you'll be unemployed either way, but at least you'll have a cool story to tell interviewers

[Clearly]

People on here are not going to tell you which one to go to out of those two.

Pepperdine is ranked 54th.

Loyola is ranked 87th.

So, there's that obvious choice based solely on ranking.

People on TLS are, as I've said and you can witness, justifiably debt adverse. You'll see people suggesting others not to go to YHS, for amazing scholarship opportunities at lower ranked schools. Once again, justifiably so, since it won't have any effect on their future career in most cases (usually it's more of a desire to have the prestigious name of the school attached to their person) and less debt translates into more freedom.

Then you can be certain, a fortiori, hopeallison, that they will in no way advise you to choose to go to either school, when both are at full tuition.

And, this is wise counsel and good for you. You will have an enormous amount of debt from a law school that cannot guarantee you a means to pay off that debt in a way that is not going to substantially impact your life in a very negative manner.


Options:

(1) Retake. You'll likely perform 4-5 points lower on test day. This is the hard option, but doing the hard thing is often the best thing. Consistently score in the lower 170s and retake and get into a USC or UCLA.

(2) Do something to increase you GPA. This really isn't a great option because you'll have to go back to school, and you'll need to increase it above a 3.5 I'd say, to be safe. This would mean taking a significant amount of classes. Pretty much a very unattractive proposition, unless you want to take JC classes and get that boost, which means you'd have to transfer them to your undergrad institution. I don't even know how this would work.

(3) Transfer up after 1L. Go to one of those two schools, finish 1L as one of the top 5 to 3 students in your class (I'd say top 3 to be safe, but I really don't know) and transfer up. Bad part: you'll be paying full price all 3 years of law school. Good part? You can transfer to one that will give you much better opportunities to pay it all off.


Apologies for any misspellings, on iphone

Most people can't take more classes to shift gpa, once you get your first BA, your gpa is locked in. Also they wouldn't have to transfer credits anywhere, if you were just taking them to boost gpa lsac requires all your transcripts anyway. Plus your top 3 students thing is overly broad. Tls in general is too skeptical of transfers, but top 3 is just crazy talk.

[Captain Rodeo]

Ya, that's me being an 0L and reposting stuff I think I saw around threads. My bad OP. Sentiment is still the same, however: place high in class if planning to transfer.

Retake is probably just the best option though.

[Yea All Right]

OP, please do not go to either of these two schools at sticker price! It might not seem like it, but the users on TLS do want what's best for you. Picking one of these two schools in your current situation would be a terrible decision and could easily ruin your financial situation for the next several decades.

[NorCalLaw]

People on here are not going to tell you which one to go to out of those two.

Pepperdine is ranked 54th.

Loyola is ranked 87th.

So, there's that obvious choice based solely on ranking.

People on TLS are, as I've said and you can witness, justifiably debt adverse. You'll see people suggesting others not to go to YHS, for amazing scholarship opportunities at lower ranked schools. Once again, justifiably so, since it won't have any effect on their future career in most cases (usually it's more of a desire to have the prestigious name of the school attached to their person) and less debt translates into more freedom.

Then you can be certain, a fortiori, hopeallison, that they will in no way advise you to choose to go to either school, when both are at full tuition.

And, this is wise counsel and good for you. You will have an enormous amount of debt from a law school that cannot guarantee you a means to pay off that debt in a way that is not going to substantially impact your life in a very negative manner.


Options:

(1) Retake. You'll likely perform 4-5 points lower on test day. This is the hard option, but doing the hard thing is often the best thing. Consistently score in the lower 170s and retake and get into a USC or UCLA.

(2) Do something to increase you GPA. This really isn't a great option because you'll have to go back to school, and you'll need to increase it above a 3.5 I'd say, to be safe. This would mean taking a significant amount of classes. Pretty much a very unattractive proposition, unless you want to take JC classes and get that boost, which means you'd have to transfer them to your undergrad institution. I don't even know how this would work.

(3) Transfer up after 1L. Go to one of those two schools, finish 1L as one of the top 5 to 3 students in your class (I'd say top 3 to be safe, but I really don't know) and transfer up. Bad part: you'll be paying full price all 3 years of law school. Good part? You can transfer to one that will give you much better opportunities to pay it all off.


Apologies for any misspellings, on iphone

Please don't rely on the prospect of transferring in making a decision. Transferring is something you get to think about if and when you end up in the top 5% at any given school. It's incredibly unlikely that this will happen, and isn't really worth taking into account in a decision. It will only serve to mislead you. Assume that you will have an average GPA and go from there.

[cron1834]

Retake. Don't ruin your life out of stubbornness.

[Salsa]

I am struggling with the same decision. Luckily, I have been offered scholarship to both. But they offered basically the same amount, so I am struggling to decide between the two. I know pepperdine is now rank higher, but l don't think its logical to base a decision like this solely on rank. If you would like to discuss your decision more with me as we are in similar situations picking between these two schools, feel free to message me.

[yeslekkkk]

With a 165 and 3.0, I'm sure you could be accepted to SOME other school. Obviously, retaking is a good idea. But with your 165 and 3.0, I wouldn't go to either of those schools. Lewis and Clark seems like a better option even. If you're not set on practicing in CA and can't get accepted to a higher ranked CA school, don't go to school in CA. AND especially don't pay sticker for it. Why not go to University of Arizona or Lewis and Clark or somewhere else?

[zman]

retake regardless of how you feel about it.