Top Law Schools

Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

alopez93 wrote:Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

If you want to end up in California, I would strongly recommend going to school in Californa!

If it is just between the two schools, there is not a 40k difference between Iowa and Indiana so I guess Iowa. But once again, I would only go to either school if you're fine being in the midwest. Lateraling from a small firm in Iowa to California is not going to be easy.

What's your GPA/LSAT and what CA schools have you applied to?

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alopez93 wrote:Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

If you want to get a job in Indiana or Iowa (though, why?), and have zero connection there other than law school, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your classmates who are from the region. If you want to go back to California after a few years, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your peers who did law school, summers, and networking in California the whole time.

Why would you elect to fight two uphill battles consecutively? For what reason?

Iowa and Indiana are regional schools that place people in the region. Most of those people are already from the region. They're not Yale, and doors aren't just going to magically open up for you in these circumstances. "Good regional jobs" usually can't afford to hire strangers who haven't lived in their state more than two years - it's too risky, and a hire is too much of an investment for them. It's not like a big NYC firm where they can just onboard 70 people at a time.

If you want to end up in California, retake the LSAT until you get a huge scholarship at USC or something.

cron1834 wrote:

alopez93 wrote:Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

If you want to get a job in Indiana or Iowa (though, why?), and have zero connection there other than law school, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your classmates who are from the region. If you want to go back to California after a few years, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your peers who did law school, summers, and networking in California the whole time.

Why would you elect to fight two uphill battles consecutively? For what reason?

Iowa and Indiana are regional schools that place people in the region. Most of those people are already from the region. They're not Yale, and doors aren't just going to magically open up for you in these circumstances. "Good regional jobs" usually can't afford to hire strangers who haven't lived in their state more than two years - it's too risky, and a hire is too much of an investment for them. It's not like a big NYC firm where they can just onboard 70 people at a time.

If you want to end up in California, retake the LSAT until you get a huge scholarship at USC or something.

What about Iowa (115K/3yr including living expense)vs WUSTL (240K/3yr including living expense) for an international applicant?

yenisey wrote:

cron1834 wrote:

alopez93 wrote:Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

If you want to get a job in Indiana or Iowa (though, why?), and have zero connection there other than law school, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your classmates who are from the region. If you want to go back to California after a few years, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your peers who did law school, summers, and networking in California the whole time.

Why would you elect to fight two uphill battles consecutively? For what reason?

Iowa and Indiana are regional schools that place people in the region. Most of those people are already from the region. They're not Yale, and doors aren't just going to magically open up for you in these circumstances. "Good regional jobs" usually can't afford to hire strangers who haven't lived in their state more than two years - it's too risky, and a hire is too much of an investment for them. It's not like a big NYC firm where they can just onboard 70 people at a time.

If you want to end up in California, retake the LSAT until you get a huge scholarship at USC or something.

What about Iowa (115K/3yr including living expense)vs WUSTL (240K/3yr including living expense) for an international applicant?

Are you independently wealthy? Where do you want to work and what kind of job do you want? They both sound like bad ideas in the abstract - if you have zero ties to a region, it's kind of risky to go to a regional school. If I was an international applicant I would want T14 for sure.

cron1834 wrote:

yenisey wrote:

cron1834 wrote:

alopez93 wrote:Not aiming for big law but rather a good job regionally for a few years and then looking to go back to California. I am an URM and can speak Spanish pretty fluently.

Iowa- would only cost about 60k for all 3 years this is taking living expenses into account

Indiana- would cost about 100k for all 3 years, again already taking living expenses into account

Any thoughts on the better move? Just go to the cheaper option or other things to consider?

Thanks!

If you want to get a job in Indiana or Iowa (though, why?), and have zero connection there other than law school, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your classmates who are from the region. If you want to go back to California after a few years, you're going to be at a huge disadvantage relative to your peers who did law school, summers, and networking in California the whole time.

Why would you elect to fight two uphill battles consecutively? For what reason?

Iowa and Indiana are regional schools that place people in the region. Most of those people are already from the region. They're not Yale, and doors aren't just going to magically open up for you in these circumstances. "Good regional jobs" usually can't afford to hire strangers who haven't lived in their state more than two years - it's too risky, and a hire is too much of an investment for them. It's not like a big NYC firm where they can just onboard 70 people at a time.

If you want to end up in California, retake the LSAT until you get a huge scholarship at USC or something.

What about Iowa (115K/3yr including living expense)vs WUSTL (240K/3yr including living expense) for an international applicant?

Are you independently wealthy? Where do you want to work and what kind of job do you want? They both sound like bad ideas in the abstract - if you have zero ties to a region, it's kind of risky to go to a regional school. If I was an international applicant I would want T14 for sure.

I'm not so wealthy. 115K is within my affordability but 240K is way out of my control. If I have only the two options, sounds like Iowa is the better of the two bads? I just heard that WUSTL is head and shoulder above Iowa in national portability, although their rankings are pretty close.

The rankings are irrelevant; if two schools are close enough, then you should totally disregard them.

WUSTL is *more* portable than Iowa based on the data ... but it's not a national school. It's not portable in an absolute sense, just more portable than a school that's not portable at all. It's a very bad investment to borrow $250k to go there.

Iowa is a good school for people who can go there for $100k or less AND have ties to Iowa or nearby markets. If you have zero ties to Iowa or nearby markets, then I wouldn't go there. About 18-20% of Iowa grads get very good jobs, and the rest get mediocre jobs (or none, in some cases). If you're not connected in any way, I wouldn't invest $115k plus 3 years of my life, because the deck is stacked against you even WITH connections, let alone as an international applicant.

Listen to Cron. Don't go to either. That goes for OP and the WUSTL/Iowa decider