Top Law Schools

As the offers have been coming in, I was hoping the descision process would get easier. Unfortunatly that just doesn't seem to be the case.

My Stats-
CCC Transfer
UCD Undergrad
4.0 Davis GPA (Honors Program, Summa Cum Laude)
3.66 Cumulative LSAC GPA
160 LSAT

Accepted:
-UC Hastings (waiting on financial aid package)
-Loyola LA ($37,500 Loyola Scholar merit scholarship, 2.85 gpa stipulation for scholarship renewal)
-USD ($43,000 Deans Honor merit scholarship, good standing requirement (2.0) for renewal)
-Santa Clara ($15,000 renewable merit)
-USF (Full tuition covered Provost Scholar, 3.2 gpa requirement for renewal)

Still Waiting On:
-Berkeley (likely no $$, if accepted at all)
-UCD

If by some miracle I got into Boalt, I imagine the job prospects would be so much better that it would be worth the loans, otherwise Im really just trying to balance minimizing loans/maximizing job prospects. The idea of walking away with only somewhere around 60-70K in debt seems reasonable to me (this is the picture Im getting from lawschool22's COA spreadsheet if I take USD or USF).

Im interested mainly in criminal/civil rights law, but have not made any hard decisions. I would not mind living and working in San Diego, but the bay area does have a particular draw to it. USF does not seem worth it, even with tuition covered, since Id come out competing against Berkeley/Davis/Hastings grads. Loyola's offer makes it somewhat compelling, but the cost of living in LA is a bit of a turnoff (plus its a very competitive job market). If Davis gave me a decent package (somewhere around half tuition), I would have a hard time saying no, since its one of the better ranked schools and I could transition to the Bay without paying to live there during law school.

I did get an email last week from USD, and apparently the Dean's Honor scholarship that I was offered includes some extra summer perks: a guarentee of either a paid internship with alumni/paid internship with faculty as a legal research assistant/or priority clinic placement for 1L and 2L summers. This makes the offer MUCH more compelling, but I am unsure about the specifics of the program (pay/hours).

SO, what would you do? If anyone has info or experience with this whole USD summer stuff I would greatly appreciate it (they included an office number I could call to find out more about the paid work and I will update after I contact them).

If by $43k scholarship, that's expressed as over three years (as is typical) you should expect to graduate about $205 in debt my man. It costs about $25k to live anywhere and you'd be borrowing that at 6.5%. You're still gonna need to put up the rest of the $150 in tuition and fees... So you're at $180k before interest my man.

If you improve your lsat from 160 to 168, you'll be able to get an extra $100k in scholly from these schools, or about the same in scholly as you currently have from schools that actually would get you a job. Soooo, you can make your choice brah on whether to attend a law school with an lsat score that's at a percentile designed for lifelong subordination to law grads from more prestigious places and less debt...or nah

Its $43K per year, total value being $129,000 over three years. Same with the other schollys I listed, each are per year and are renewable

If you are going for constitutional law, you should go to Harvard in the 1960s. Otherwise this is not a thing.

If you are going for criminal law, you need to keep your costs as low as possible. None of these options are particularly attractive, though.

- Loyola has just horrific job placement http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/loyola-la/2013/
- Hastings is among the worst schools in the country http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/hastings/
- USD is as bad as Loyola http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/sandiego/
- Santa Clara -- especially if you're not IP -- is just a raging dumpster fire http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/santaclara/ -
- USF is the worst school on the list http://www.lstscorereports.com/schools/sanfrancisco/

Davis with a very big scholarship (ie a final debt load around 60K) is an acceptable option. You're not getting into Berk.

Retaking for better scholarships at better schools is the obvious choice. If you're going to be stubborn, lazy, and want to sell yourself short and say no to that, just please take as little debt as possible and then network like a motherfucker.

Ok. Well retake anyway psycho. And a guaranteed clinic is worth about $60 to save you the 30 mins it would take you to apply, and hour for interview/prep.

I figured as much about the clinic, but guarenteed paid 1L and 2L summer work doesn't sound like something to complain about

Ok well that's worth about $25k - (1-probability of not finding paid work)*$45k.

Plug in .1 at Berkeley.

25K total over both summers or 25K each summer?

cannonball89 wrote:25K total over both summers or 25K each summer?

I'm guessing you get paid $1k/wk both summers. At berk you should expect about the same 1l and then 3k a week 2l summer

lacrossebrother wrote:

cannonball89 wrote:25K total over both summers or 25K each summer?

I'm guessing you get paid $1k/wk both summers. At berk you should expect about the same 1l and then 3k a week 2l summer

No. What the hell are you talking about? Absolutely not. Four to five grand per summer is the absolute max for this kind of thing.

Thats actually better than what I had imagined (although I was really just guessing). I need to call their office and see if I can solicit a hard number. Do you read much into the guarentee of work? Paid internships around SD for 1Ls seemed pretty competitive, so a guarentee of one from the school is a tempting offer

Ron Don Volante wrote:

lacrossebrother wrote:

cannonball89 wrote:25K total over both summers or 25K each summer?

I'm guessing you get paid $1k/wk both summers. At berk you should expect about the same 1l and then 3k a week 2l summer

No. What the hell are you talking about? Absolutely not. Four to five grand per summer is the absolute max for this kind of thing.

To be honest this number sounds a bit more likely

cannonball89 wrote:Thats actually better than what I had imagined (although I was really just guessing). I need to call their office and see if I can solicit a hard number. Do you read much into the guarentee of work? Paid internships around SD for 1Ls seemed pretty competitive, so a guarentee of one from the school is a tempting offer

Paid 1L work is very competitive and often untainable for good students at top schools. You're talking about going to schools where half of the graduates can't find paid work one year after graduation.

Ron Don Volante wrote: If you're going to be stubborn, lazy, and want to sell yourself short and say no to that, just please take as little debt as possible and then network like a motherfucker.

Truth teller

I dont really understand what OP said (besides unwarranted arrogance in the title) to make people attack him like this. Seriously, just wondering.

OP, simple answer is retake. None of those options are gonna be worth it for you, and you VASTLY overrate the summer internship thing. BTW, you have a 3.66 GPA according to law schools. Your 4.0 is basically invisible, as much as youd like it not to be

edit: nevermind. As I type that, OP says something that deserves it.

ilikebaseball wrote:I dont really understand what OP said (besides unwarranted arrogance in the title) to make people attack him like this. Seriously, just wondering.

OP, simple answer is retake. None of those options are gonna be worth it for you, and you VASTLY overrate the summer internship thing

Sorry op. Didn't mean to attack. I say psycho interchangeably with "bro".

lacrossebrother wrote:

ilikebaseball wrote:I dont really understand what OP said (besides unwarranted arrogance in the title) to make people attack him like this. Seriously, just wondering.

OP, simple answer is retake. None of those options are gonna be worth it for you, and you VASTLY overrate the summer internship thing

Sorry op. Didn't mean to attack. I say psycho interchangeably with "bro".

Its all good, Ive lurked TLS long enough to not be bothered

If you get UCD with a full ride and sincerely want crimlaw in that area of California, than I think that option would be fully acceptable.

The Dark Shepard wrote:If you get UCD with a full ride and sincerely want crimlaw in that area of California, than I think that option would be fully acceptable.

This was my thinking as well (as far as best case scenarios go). Something close to a full-ride offer is not completely outside the realm of possibility (I think) since I qualify for a lot of need based aid. While attending Davis for undergrad they covered my full tuition and housing simply on a need-basis, so Im hoping this means I will qualify for a decent number of grants (although who knows, info about Davis financial aid packages is very sparse). If I get accepted Ill be applying for many of the public interest scholarships they offer as well.

Anyone have any info on Davis financial aid? Seems like a bit of a black box

No. Retake.

Very few law schools do need-based aid (and they're clustered at the top of the food chain). It's very different from undergrad in that respect.

I wouldn't expect much money from Davis with only a 160. They won't dole out money to someone at their 25th percentile unless they know their class profile stats are very bleak and for some reason 160 is likely to be their new median next year.

Retake. The money you will be offered with even a 168 will make waiting a cycle 100% worth it.

One of the easiest retakes I've ever seen.

How did u get a full tuition scholarship to USD with a 160 when their median is 159? I am intrigued.