Loyola or USD (varying scholarships) Forum

[Law.3.2016]

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[zot1]

Yes. Go to UCI.

[Zotty11]

Post your stats. I would take the larger scholarship with the little info you provided. What kind of law? Where? If ou get to 90k consider UCI. I'm happy with my decision to go but the decision should be made based on a lot of factors other than what you gave.

[Law.3.2016]

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[Law.3.2016]

Also, I haven't tried to negotiate the UCI scholarship up

[Zotty11]

Also, I haven't tried to negotiate the UCI scholarship up to 90k yet but that is my intention...

Where do you want to practice? What type of law? Yes negotiate to 90k with that GPA and undergrad . Don't waste that GPA on USD. If you want LA, Loyola is okay. UCI gives you awesome OC opportunities, a little bit of San Diego (but not many schools work into this insular market), clerkship opportunities nationwide (faculty connections), and good LA opportunities. Outside of those areas, UCI is not very mobile.

[Zotty11]

Wash U if you want California doesn't make a ton of sense. They gave me a full tuition last year but it didn't make sense because I didn't want to practice over there.

[BigZuck]

You should wait a year and retake

These schools aren't justifiable with big law goals- UCLA and USC would be iffy for that, let alone these schools.

Also studying in law school won't be easy with kids either, when you end up with average grades from these schools you're not getting big law

Setting aside big law, these schools would be fine if they were cheap and you wanted to work at a small firm or local government job, things like that. I think you need to do a lot more research on what legal employment is like and what it takes to start your own law practice. None of these schools are justifiable if they're going to cost you much more than around 60K IMO.

Definitely don't throw away a good GPA and a Stanford degree

[Law.3.2016]

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[tsujimoto74]

Hey guys, thanks for your input so far! I would like to practice in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles area, or somewhere in between. I know law school with kids could be bad, but I won't be working like I am now, so will have more time. The LSAT games section is where I lag. I know a lot of gains are possible there, but it's been hard for me to really see that happen. (I've tried to study on my own and taken a BLUEPRINT class too). One friend pointed out that an additional year as a lawyer would bring in the 90k I would potentially save with a high LSAT. So, I'm thinking it's getting to be a now or never kind of thing.

I should mention that I will be leaving the option to continue from my MA to a PhD in education at Ucsb. But I think it's the right thing to do (job market for Professors is far worse than lawyers...like 1-10 percent get prof jobs!). Anyway, I will admit it is hard to leave because my tuition is paid for in this program and I work concurrently as a teaching assistant and earn a little bit of money (20k/year).

Re: big law, it would not be the end of the world if I could not get there (either bc of my law school choice, or grades when there)...if the rumors are true, it just wouldn't work with kids. (I don't think I could pull being in the office from 7am-8pm)...

That is by far the easiest section to learn imho. Don't let the games bring you down. Get the Powerscore logic games bible; study it religiously.

Not to be rude/snarky, but if you can't make time to study for the LSAT, how do you think you're going to find time to study in law school?

[zot1]

Also, I haven't tried to negotiate the UCI scholarship up to 90k yet but that is my intention...

Where do you want to practice? What type of law? Yes negotiate to 90k with that GPA and undergrad . Don't waste that GPA on USD. If you want LA, Loyola is okay. UCI gives you awesome OC opportunities, a little bit of San Diego (but not many schools work into this insular market), clerkship opportunities nationwide (faculty connections), and good LA opportunities. Outside of those areas, UCI is not very mobile.

Actually UCI has students working in the east coast and some others spread around the country.

However, most stay in SoCal because that's where they wanted to be to begin with.

[zot1]

Also, UCI places 20-30% of the class in BigLaw which it matters when you consider how small the classes are and how many people in the class don't want BigLaw because they are public interest oriented. Keep in mind that most if not all of the UCI students who go do a clerkship, already have BigLaw lined up, so I'm putting those numbers together. This number has also been increasing every year as more and more firms come to UCI.

But really OP, you don't want to waste the rest of your life in BigLaw.

[yunjh2725]

Sorry to take over, but if one is waitlisted for UCLA/Cal/USC but accepted to UCI with idk... like 90K, is it worth LOCIing to UCLA/Cal/USC, or just go with UCI? Not super biglaw pursuer and would be happy with PI sector.

Thanks!

[Zotty11]

Sorry to take over, but if one is waitlisted for UCLA/Cal/USC but accepted to UCI with idk... like 90K, is it worth LOCIing to UCLA/Cal/USC, or just go with UCI? Not super biglaw pursuer and would be happy with PI sector.

Thanks!

Yeah send LOCI's to the other schools IMO. Try and negotiate UCI up (if you end up going you will be happy with it I think). If you don't get 80k plus from the others, I think UCI at 90k can make sense. Most importantly though, it depends on what area you want to practice in I think. If you want big law that is a different approach.

[yunjh2725]

^ In Southern California. super drawn to UCI for the cost and current residence (25-40mins from UCI). Even if I get into USC/UCLA, their scholarships would be very minimal and I would have to live in LA... Don't have the guts to be in that much debt. I doubt that they will even give me 60K scholly, but if they do, is 85K in debt+Living Costs in LA for UCLA/USC worth more than UCI (55K debt+ living at home 2nd/3rd year)?

Thanks! hopefully i am adding more insights to this post and not just stealing it sorry.

[BigZuck]

^ In Southern California. super drawn to UCI for the cost and current residence (25-40mins from UCI). Even if I get into USC/UCLA, their scholarships would be very minimal and I would have to live in LA... Don't have the guts to be in that much debt. I doubt that they will even give me 60K scholly, but if they do, is 85K in debt+Living Costs in LA for UCLA/USC worth more than UCI (55K debt+ living at home 2nd/3rd year)?

Thanks! hopefully i am adding more insights to this post and not just stealing it sorry.

Everyone has to decide the personal stuff for themselves but yeah, I think UCLA/USC is definitely worth 30K more than UCI

[Law.3.2016]

Congrats on acceptances and scholarships. From what I've read, the chance of getting a big scholarship after coming off the waitlist is low...but I could be wrong. What is great about these responses is the generally good commentary about UCI and the opportunities available... and it did jump up a couple of spots in its second ranking (30 to 28!)

[Zotty11]

^ In Southern California. super drawn to UCI for the cost and current residence (25-40mins from UCI). Even if I get into USC/UCLA, their scholarships would be very minimal and I would have to live in LA... Don't have the guts to be in that much debt. I doubt that they will even give me 60K scholly, but if they do, is 85K in debt+Living Costs in LA for UCLA/USC worth more than UCI (55K debt+ living at home 2nd/3rd year)?

Thanks! hopefully i am adding more insights to this post and not just stealing it sorry.

Everyone has to decide the personal stuff for themselves but yeah, I think UCLA/USC is definitely worth 30K more than UCI

Yeah depends on the individual. 30k for what additional employment outcome...clerkship I don't think you are hurting yourself at UCI at all. Biglaw...then probably UCLA or USC. However living costs are about 15-25k a year that you have to attribute to USC and UCLA. In that case, I think UCI makes sense.

[yunjh2725]

^ Thanks guys! I guess I should still write those LOCIs to see how much they would offer!

[zot1]

If you have more specific UCI questions, feel free to PM me.