Top Law Schools

I am torn between these two schools. I need outside perspectives/arguments. Here are my criteria:

1. Financial Aid : Both are giving substantial scholarships but Univ. Pacific (UP) is offering more than Univ. of SF (USF)
2. Location: USF is 10 minutes from my place, where I enjoy really low rent ( I may not find another near UP with comparable rates if I move). UP is two hours each way and four hours round trip. yikes!
3. Programs/certificates: UP has immigration law pathway, which I am most interested in. USF does not appear to have it specifically.
4. Rank: UP ranks higher than USF
5. Network: I have met a lot of people from USF, alums, and friends. I don't know anyone at UP.


I am also thinking of the possibility of transferring to another school after first year. What do you think?

MS415 wrote:I am torn between these two schools. I need outside perspectives/arguments. Here are my criteria:

1. Financial Aid : Both are giving substantial scholarships but Univ. Pacific (UP) is offering more than Univ. of SF (USF)
2. Location: USF is 10 minutes from my place, where I enjoy really low rent ( I may not find another near UP with comparable rates if I move). UP is two hours each way and four hours round trip. yikes!
3. Programs/certificates: UP has immigration law pathway, which I am most interested in. USF does not appear to have it specifically.
4. Rank: UP ranks higher than USF
5. Network: I have met a lot of people from USF, alums, and friends. I don't know anyone at UP.


I am also thinking of the possibility of transferring to another school after first year. What do you think?

Everyone is going to tell you to retake --- and they're right. Neither are good options.

They might also tell you that it is improbable, at best, to plan on transferring.
Where do you want to practice, Sac or the Bay?

Real talk- Both schools are awful and should be shut down. The fact that a Catholic school is ripping so many people off and ruining their lives is shameful. Please don't go to either of these schools, it will almost certainly be the worst decision of your life.

Retake or don't go because of terrible job prospects.

MS415 wrote:I am torn between these two schools. I need outside perspectives/arguments. Here are my criteria:

1. Financial Aid : Both are giving substantial scholarships but Univ. Pacific (UP) is offering more than Univ. of SF (USF)
2. Location: USF is 10 minutes from my place, where I enjoy really low rent ( I may not find another near UP with comparable rates if I move). UP is two hours each way and four hours round trip. yikes!
3. Programs/certificates: UP has immigration law pathway, which I am most interested in. USF does not appear to have it specifically.
4. Rank: UP ranks higher than USF
5. Network: I have met a lot of people from USF, alums, and friends. I don't know anyone at UP.


I am also thinking of the possibility of transferring to another school after first year. What do you think?

As much as I hate to join the retake crowd, I think retake would be something to consider.

1. Keep in mind the stips
2. I doubt you can commute daily.
3. Look at employment
4. Rank on USNWR is useless based on the methodology. See employment
5. You develop network? Not sure why this is a factor to be honest. Who you know now does not dictate the future.

Transfer is very slim. Look into how many people schools take. Most schools take less than 30 people a year for transfers if that even.

MS415 wrote:I am torn between these two schools. I need outside perspectives/arguments. Here are my criteria:

1. Financial Aid : Both are giving substantial scholarships but Univ. Pacific (UP) is offering more than Univ. of SF (USF)
2. Location: USF is 10 minutes from my place, where I enjoy really low rent ( I may not find another near UP with comparable rates if I move). UP is two hours each way and four hours round trip. yikes!
3. Programs/certificates: UP has immigration law pathway, which I am most interested in. USF does not appear to have it specifically.
4. Rank: UP ranks higher than USF
5. Network: I have met a lot of people from USF, alums, and friends. I don't know anyone at UP.


I am also thinking of the possibility of transferring to another school after first year. What do you think?

The only positive I'm seeing is that you have a low-rent place in SF. The negatives are as follows:

At McGeorge or USF, you will be competing with Davis, Santa Clara, Hastings, Berkeley, Stanford, a substantial portion of USC and UCLA, and a surprising number of other T14 graduates for the very few legal jobs in the Bay Area. If you want to work in the Central Valley or in Nevada, your chances will be better, especially at McGeorge, but still, frankly, quite slim.

Something like 30% of graduates from these two schools end up with real, full-time legal jobs, and that 30% includes all the poor bastards who end up getting work at crappy 5-man slip and fall law firms.

Going to either of these schools yields a LOW chance of becoming an attorney. If you want to increase your odds to practice law, you need to retake and go to a better school with better job placement numbers.

I'm not sure if you think that you will crush the academia at either of these schools, but if you do think this, it is a common misconception shared with many 0Ls. Law school is incredibly difficult and there is really no guaranteed indicator of success early. Given this, the best thing anyone who wants to be a lawyer can do for themselves is go to a school with great job numbers and low debt. In order to achieve this goal you will have to retake that lsat.

See http://www.lstscorereports.com/ for ACTUAL job numbers, not the lies listed on their websites.

PS. I almost attended these schools before reconsidering. I thank the stars everyday that I didn't and took the advice on this forum.

Law school is certainly not incredibly difficult in terms of the material. It's being curved against peers that makes it tough to rise to the top of the class.

BigZuck wrote:Law school is certainly not incredibly difficult in terms of the material. It's being curved against peers that makes it tough to rise to the top of the class.

Yea thats the dangerous aspect of the game.