UC Davis: Should I still consider it? Forum

[HereWeGo!]

Hey! So I recently got off the wait list at UC Davis, and I'm wondering whether I should visit or not. They're only giving me a week to decide, and any round-trip flights between now and then are upwards of $630 from Chicago. Should I just call them instead of visiting? Should I even consider Davis at this point? My top options right now are Illinois and Iowa. Thanks!

[071816]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

[HereWeGo!]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

[071816]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

where are your ties? have you ever lived in California? Davis feeds into a very crowded legal market, and without a scholarship from Davis, Illinois sounds like a better option if you don't mind working in the Midwest.

what type of law do you want to practice/what are your career goals?

[HereWeGo!]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

where are your ties? have you ever lived in California? Davis feeds into a very crowded legal market, and without a scholarship from Davis, Illinois sounds like a better option if you don't mind working in the Midwest.

what type of law do you want to practice/what are your career goals?

My ties are primarily in the Midwest, though I do have grandparents and cousins in Utah, and then a few more cousins in California. I have never lived in California, personally. I grew up in St. Louis and am currently attending Northwestern University in Chicago. UC Davis's strong emphasis on Social Justice Law, including Native American Law, Asian Americans & the Law, Critical Race Theory, Women's Rights, etc. highly appeal to me as someone interested in Civil Rights and Human Rights work, but I am still unsure what area of law I will ultimately go into. If I do decide to go into Immigration, though, UC Davis has a much stronger program than Illinois.

[californiauser]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

Don't go to Davis unless they give you a full ride

You won't be competitive for decent paying Bay Area jobs unless you graduate at the top of your class, i.e. top 15%

[071816]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

where are your ties? have you ever lived in California? Davis feeds into a very crowded legal market, and without a scholarship from Davis, Illinois sounds like a better option if you don't mind working in the Midwest.

what type of law do you want to practice/what are your career goals?

My ties are primarily in the Midwest, though I do have grandparents and cousins in Utah, and then a few more cousins in California. I have never lived in California, personally. I grew up in St. Louis and am currently attending Northwestern University in Chicago. UC Davis's strong emphasis on Social Justice Law, including Native American Law, Asian Americans & the Law, Critical Race Theory, Women's Rights, etc. highly appeal to me as someone interested in Civil Rights and Human Rights work, but I am still unsure what area of law I will ultimately go into. If I do decide to go into Immigration, though, UC Davis has a much stronger program than Illinois.

honestly, I wouldn't even consider davis in your situation. I wouldn't bother visiting. are you dead set on attending law school this year? how many times have you taken the lsat and what are your scores?

[JonTheMandamus]

If you're not considering retaking the lsat and reapplying, then it's a matter of where you would be willing to practice. All three schools you have mentioned are extremely regional, so you will almost certainly end up settling down where you attend. If you're perfectly happy with living in any of these three places, then look at what the average person coming out of these schools is doing and ask yourself if you're okay with that. Illinois will have better Biglaw opportunities, placing decently well in Chicago. Davis has a pretty decent public interest route. Northern California market is pretty gutted, but at least you would have the opportunity to reach out to about 5 different markets all within 100 miles that are larger than a lot of secondary markets in other states. California is a weird one. I don't know much about Iowa.

[Mullens]

if you're from the Midwest, why do you want to go to school in CA? Do you want to work in CA? Either way, Davis is not advisable at sticker (especially if you're going to be financing it with debt i.e. loans).

also, what scholarships (if any) have you been offered at these schools?

Thank you for the feedback! I have been offered a half-tuition scholarship from Illinois. Nothing from Iowa yet. I don't have any student loans, but I still want to make a smart decision. In terms of location preference, I don't really have any.

where are your ties? have you ever lived in California? Davis feeds into a very crowded legal market, and without a scholarship from Davis, Illinois sounds like a better option if you don't mind working in the Midwest.

what type of law do you want to practice/what are your career goals?

My ties are primarily in the Midwest, though I do have grandparents and cousins in Utah, and then a few more cousins in California. I have never lived in California, personally. I grew up in St. Louis and am currently attending Northwestern University in Chicago. UC Davis's strong emphasis on Social Justice Law, including Native American Law, Asian Americans & the Law, Critical Race Theory, Women's Rights, etc. highly appeal to me as someone interested in Civil Rights and Human Rights work, but I am still unsure what area of law I will ultimately go into. If I do decide to go into Immigration, though, UC Davis has a much stronger program than Illinois.

If you go to Northwestern for UG, why would you want to attend an inferior law school? You should get some work experience, retake the LSAT, and reapply so you can attend a law school commensurate to your UG institution.

[Wingtip88]

When did you start applying? This seems pretty late in the game.

[jbagelboy]

If you go to Northwestern for UG, why would you want to attend an inferior law school? You should get some work experience, retake the LSAT, and reapply so you can attend a law school commensurate to your UG institution.

I agree about retake, but this is a stupid reason. It's not a competition between your degrees. Why so much emphasis on pedigree here. Who cares so long as you get the job you want in your target region.

[Mack.Hambleton]

If you go to Northwestern for UG, why would you want to attend an inferior law school? You should get some work experience, retake the LSAT, and reapply so you can attend a law school commensurate to your UG institution.

I agree about retake, but this is a stupid reason. It's not a competition between your degrees. Why so much emphasis on pedigree here. Who cares so long as you get the job you want in your target region.

he'd be better off trying to get a job with just that UG degree

[Johann]

he'd be better off trying to get a job with just that UG degree

[thebobs1987]

Don't go to Davis off the waitlist and especially if you don't have ties. Don't go to Iowa without a lot of scholarship money. If you go to NU now and are from St. Louis, UIUC is not a bad option since it feeds into Chicago and St. Louis. But as someone that goes to UIUC, only a half scholarship is not enough. That's still going to be at least $120k in debt, which is way too much for Illinois. Get a job, work for a year and retake the LSAT in October

[CanadianWolf]

With connections/relatives in Utah, did you apply to the University of Utah ? Would you like to live & work in Utah ?

Among your current three options, UC-Davis is the least desirable for the reasons shared above by other posters. Illinois with a 50% tuition scholarship is a solid offer if you want to practice in your home state of Illinois.

[JonTheMandamus]

If you go to Northwestern for UG, why would you want to attend an inferior law school? You should get some work experience, retake the LSAT, and reapply so you can attend a law school commensurate to your UG institution.

I agree about retake, but this is a stupid reason. It's not a competition between your degrees. Why so much emphasis on pedigree here. Who cares so long as you get the job you want in your target region.

he'd be better off trying to get a job with just that UG degree

depends on the degree. what if he's like a history or philosophy major?

[jbagelboy]

Or what if he/she doesnt want to work at a bank or consulting practice? Northwestern is a big feeder into certain fields but not so much into others. Sounds like OP is looking for something more progressively minded. Not to say law will offer this, but not everyone wants to work in finance or tech and that's totally fair IMO.

[arose928]

I don't really think you should be considering Davis, especially sight unseen. There is a world of difference between Chicago (huge urban metropolis) and Davis CA (small semi-rural college town). If there was a case for you to go to Davis, I would say cough up the $600 for a flight before making a huge six figure life decision. But, Davis seems like kind of a random choice for someone from the midwest with no real ties. At the price you'll pay for the field you want to go in, I don't think there's much of a case for Davis.