Top Law Schools

Cost is relatively the same; with UCLA being about ~10k more
Offered 50k at UCLA and 111k at GW I estimate COA at GW to be around 150k and at UCLA to be 161k

George Mason has offered me a full ride meaning that total COA would be around 60k

I am also waitlisted at GT and UVA; GT I am not so interested in without an offer of aid and being on the non-pri waitlist; UVA is my top choice and if admitted would probably accept regardless.

I will be financing completely through loans.

I am from the east coast in general; I have lived in Maine, Arlington VA, and gone to school and lived the longest in NC; which frankly I am looking forward to leaving (NC). I loved DC when I lived there and have a decent amount of family, including an uncle who is managing partner at an influential lobbying firm. Almost my entire family did their undergraduate at GW and most almost received an MD or Masters. I also have family friends who work as lawyers in a variety of government positions. I think that I want to end up in DC but I also am open to trying out california it seems fantastic and if I could not live in DC my perception is that LA would be a great substitute, despite the common attitude that you cannot be portable without a t13 degree I think I could manage it if I really decided that I did not enjoy California (could also transfer).

My career goals are not completely set, I have taken classes at my university law school and generally enjoy reading court decisions. I find the logic a lot of fun and would love to argue cases. I would not mind litigation, especially international, I do not want to do criminal law, I also have been considering clerking and maybe working in the DOJ. I am also really passionate about Education advocacy and economic or behavioral law (I am a psychology major with a minor in philosophy, politics, and economics) but I am not sure how to fit this in, where I would practice or even what type of law this would really fall under.

LSAT 168 GPA 3.19

I have taken the LSAT twice 165/168

Thanks for the help; no need to be gentle; I really want some feedback to help me make up my mind in the next few days. I am currently leaning slightly towards UCLA but really feel as though I could use some better informed advice on the situation.

DOJ is tough to get, even from a school like UVA. And if you get in and decide to go to UVA at sticker, you have to be absolutely committed to the government/PI track and fully confident that UVA's LRAP and the PSLF program will cover your debt. If you decided to go into firm work, you'd be in for a very rough time with repayment. Sticker at any school is a lot to take on.

For your general goals (to the extent that they involve the law at all), none of your available options are particularly good. I know you think that you're going to be the superstar who can transfer schools at will and make their non-T14 degree portable, but so do a lot of students. It ain't happening.

So my general advice would be to retake/reapply for your goals, change your goals, or don't go to law school (which may not be a bad option, because it doesn't sound like you have the strongest grasp on legal career tracks).

cavalier1138 wrote:DOJ is tough to get, even from a school like UVA. And if you get in and decide to go to UVA at sticker, you have to be absolutely committed to the government/PI track and fully confident that UVA's LRAP and the PSLF program will cover your debt. If you decided to go into firm work, you'd be in for a very rough time with repayment. Sticker at any school is a lot to take on.

For your general goals (to the extent that they involve the law at all), none of your available options are particularly good. I know you think that you're going to be the superstar who can transfer schools at will and make their non-T14 degree portable, but so do a lot of students. It ain't happening.

So my general advice would be to retake/reapply for your goals, change your goals, or don't go to law school (which may not be a bad option, because it doesn't sound like you have the strongest grasp on legal career tracks).

I appreciate the advice. When I said transfer I simply meant to GW from UCLA if I did not like it in cali haha I am not at all expecting on 4.0ing it and going to yale.

AndrewPC wrote: I appreciate the advice. When I said transfer I simply meant to GW from UCLA if I did not like it in cali haha I am not at all expecting on 4.0ing it and going to yale.

I mean, great. But that's still not a likely scenario. UCLA still isn't going to take a transfer without a good GPA (because that's part of their calculation in accepting someone), and you would be looking at sticker wherever you ended up transferring.

OP, I went to UCLA and currently work at DOJ. PM me if you have any questions.

cavalier1138 wrote:

AndrewPC wrote: I appreciate the advice. When I said transfer I simply meant to GW from UCLA if I did not like it in cali haha I am not at all expecting on 4.0ing it and going to yale.

I mean, great. But that's still not a likely scenario. UCLA still isn't going to take a transfer without a good GPA (because that's part of their calculation in accepting someone), and you would be looking at sticker wherever you ended up transferring.

He probably meant from UCLA to GW, which is more often than not going to happen as long as he's somewhere around median after 1L.

I'm missing the reason to go to California other than it seems like it might be nice?

OP is gone and presumably already chose.

Went to GW, in transfer process now was just accepted to T14.

AndrewPC wrote:Went to GW, in transfer process now was just accepted to T14.

How many schools did you attempt to xfer to and what was your first year GPA?