UC Davis vs. BC vs. WF Forum

[Walter_Sobchak]

Having a tough time choosing. I know these places are literally one end of the country to the other and that makes the decision more difficult.

Here are the schools I'm looking at:

UC Davis (estimated COA=79k/year)
Boston College (estimated COA=68k/year)
Wake Forest (estimated COA=59k/year)

I got scholarships at all 3: $30k/year at WF, $16k/year at BC, and $10k/year at UCD ($19k 1L because I'm out of state).

I am waitlisted at Emory and GW. Wrote a LOCI to both - really want Emory. Got turned down by Vanderbilt and WUSTL, but WUSTL indicated in their letter that if my first year went well I should consider a 2L transfer. After talking to my prelaw advisor I decided I'd bust my ass my first year and maybe shoot for a transfer there or even Vandy if I did well enough (it was my undergrad and I love Tennessee and Nashville).

Ideally I would like to practice in the mid-south but I am not really at all opposed to California either aside from the distance it would put between my entire family and me (only one person in my entire extended family lives on the west coast - and he's in Seattle). New England would be more difficult for me. Let me know what you think and if considering this transfer at all is a complete waste of time.

stats: 3.13 GPA, 163 LSAT (took twice), 1 year break in between law school and undergrad.

Thanks a lot guys.

[AT9]

You shouldn't go to law school with a plan to transfer. Not to mention if you do well enough to transfer from these schools to Vandy or WUSTL, you'd probably be better off staying at your 1L school anyway instead of taking on more debt. It's probably only worth it to transfer if you get a T14 or better school, and even then it might not be the best idea. Plus you have to be in the top 10% or so to transfer to a school that might be worth it.

Also, what is your expected debt at graduation for all 3, taking interest into account? Seems like they would be 100k+ which is too much for any of them IMO.

Are you from TN? If so, is UT-K on the table? That might be your best option if you want to end up in TN.

[Walter_Sobchak]

You shouldn't go to law school with a plan to transfer. Not to mention if you do well enough to transfer from these schools to Vandy or WUSTL, you'd probably be better off staying at your 1L school anyway instead of taking on more debt. It's probably only worth it to transfer if you get a T14 or better school, and even then it might not be the best idea. Plus you have to be in the top 10% or so to transfer to a school that might be worth it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Still, one of those ideas that couldn't get out of my head and I wanted to know if it wasn't completely impossible. Not going to bank on it.

Also, what is your expected debt at graduation for all 3, taking interest into account? Seems like they would be 100k+ which is too much for any of them IMO.

Are you from TN? If so, is UT-K on the table? That might be your best option if you want to end up in TN.

Should have specified this in the OP but I guess I forgot after calculating COA. I don't actually expect to have any debt when I finish. Financially I'm covered for law school by my family.

And I'm from Louisiana - did not apply to UT-K.

[AT9]

You shouldn't go to law school with a plan to transfer. Not to mention if you do well enough to transfer from these schools to Vandy or WUSTL, you'd probably be better off staying at your 1L school anyway instead of taking on more debt. It's probably only worth it to transfer if you get a T14 or better school, and even then it might not be the best idea. Plus you have to be in the top 10% or so to transfer to a school that might be worth it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Still, one of those ideas that couldn't get out of my head and I wanted to know if it wasn't completely impossible. Not going to bank on it.

Also, what is your expected debt at graduation for all 3, taking interest into account? Seems like they would be 100k+ which is too much for any of them IMO.

Are you from TN? If so, is UT-K on the table? That might be your best option if you want to end up in TN.

Should have specified this in the OP but I guess I forgot after calculating COA. I don't actually expect to have any debt when I finish. Financially I'm covered for law school by my family.

And I'm from Louisiana - did not apply to UT-K.

Ah, well that changes the analysis then. These three schools are peers (though BC has the best placement stats), but Wake would give you the best shot at practicing in the mid-south by virtue of actually being there. Haven't ran into many UC-Davis or BC grads around here.

Regarding transferring, yeah--it's definitely possible. People I know from Wake have been accepted as transfers to places like Penn, Chicago, Columbia, Berkeley, etc. But (a) you have to have really good grades (top 5-10%) have a shot at those schools and (b) even if you do get accepted, it's highly dependent on personal circumstances as to whether or not it's actually worth transferring. And if you do well at a southern regional like Wake, you probably won't enhance your prospects all that much by transferring 20 spots up the ladder to Vandy or Emory.

Disclosure: I go to Wake. PM me if you have Wake-specific questions.

[Walter_Sobchak]

You shouldn't go to law school with a plan to transfer. Not to mention if you do well enough to transfer from these schools to Vandy or WUSTL, you'd probably be better off staying at your 1L school anyway instead of taking on more debt. It's probably only worth it to transfer if you get a T14 or better school, and even then it might not be the best idea. Plus you have to be in the top 10% or so to transfer to a school that might be worth it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Still, one of those ideas that couldn't get out of my head and I wanted to know if it wasn't completely impossible. Not going to bank on it.

Also, what is your expected debt at graduation for all 3, taking interest into account? Seems like they would be 100k+ which is too much for any of them IMO.

Are you from TN? If so, is UT-K on the table? That might be your best option if you want to end up in TN.

Should have specified this in the OP but I guess I forgot after calculating COA. I don't actually expect to have any debt when I finish. Financially I'm covered for law school by my family.

And I'm from Louisiana - did not apply to UT-K.

Ah, well that changes the analysis then. These three schools are peers (though BC has the best placement stats), but Wake would give you the best shot at practicing in the mid-south by virtue of actually being there. Haven't ran into many UC-Davis or BC grads around here.

Regarding transferring, yeah--it's definitely possible. People I know from Wake have been accepted as transfers to places like Penn, Chicago, Columbia, Berkeley, etc. But (a) you have to have really good grades (top 5-10%) have a shot at those schools and (b) even if you do get accepted, it's highly dependent on personal circumstances as to whether or not it's actually worth transferring. And if you do well at a southern regional like Wake, you probably won't enhance your prospects all that much by transferring 20 spots up the ladder to Vandy or Emory.

Disclosure: I go to Wake. PM me if you have Wake-specific questions.

Alright, will be in touch later this week.