Should I apply only to California schools? Forum

[thelogicalconstruct]

Life scenario:
[*]Non-traditional law school applicant.
[*]5 Years of corporate work experience.
[*]Career locations limited to spouse's career (Vancouver, San Fran, LA)
[*]3.5 Undergrad GPA
[*]Looking to go to school as cheaply as possible.
[*]Would like to get out school making at least 100k so I'm presuming I would have to go big law. (Cost of living is a killer...)

Any suggestions of where should I apply? The recent employment data isn't too promising. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... d3c&gid=11

[duckmoney]

Take the LSAT, then we'll tell you where to apply.

[SunshineMagic]

Life scenario:
[*]Non-traditional law school applicant.
[*]5 Years of corporate work experience.
[*]Career locations limited to spouse's career (Vancouver, San Fran, LA)
[*]3.5 Undergrad GPA
[*]Looking to go to school as cheaply as possible.
[*]Would like to get out school making at least 100k so I'm presuming I would have to go big law. (Cost of living is a killer...)

Any suggestions of where should I apply? The recent employment data isn't too promising. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... d3c&gid=11

Well without your LSAT you should only apply to GGU and Stanford

[thelogicalconstruct]

I'm scheduled to take it in the fall and will study for the exam full time starting mid June. What is GGU?

[duckmoney]

Golden Gate University. Don't actually apply there.

[SaintsTheMetal]

One thing about basically all California Schools, is that they put a lot more weight on a higher GPA as opposed to LSAT, and schools in general are just MUCH harder to get into than similarly ranked schools in other states.

Sucks for a lot of us here, but without a 3.8+ you're locked out of t14 in Cali.. With a 3.5, you'll still need a pretty solid LSAT for UCLA and USC, both of whom again really prefer a high GPA.

In regards to your subject question... if you can get a 170+ on the LSAT, you could be in at other T14s no problem in other states, and probably some big scholarships in throughout Tier 1 schools

[thelogicalconstruct]

Actually I know of first hand a few individuals who got into USC with lower GPAs. Now I'm not sure if they received any scholarships but if necessary I'm prepared to pay the sticker price.

[bk1]

You're right, the employment data isn't promising. But that isn't a function of schools like Davis/Hastings being worse than GW/WUSTL/UIUC/etc, but rather that Davis/Hastings are trying to place into California (where the legal market sucks). If you're limited to only applying for jobs in CA because of your spouse then shitty employment prospects are inevitable.

If you really only intend to work in CA then I would only apply to non-CA schools to try and leverage possible scholarship money. And I wouldn't go to a worse school in CA than UCI/UCH/UCD, maybe Loyola/Pepperdine (but all of those schools require substantial scholarships to be worth it).

[thelogicalconstruct]

@bk187 Excellent advice. Thank you. I will most definitely apply to out of state schools and use that as leverage. I have been researching law firms (--LinkRemoved--) to get an idea of where they pool for their candidates. When I look at some websites I notice a few firms have office locations out of the country. Do you know if they employ American lawyers in these firms? How does that work?

[bk1]

@bk187 Excellent advice. Thank you. I will most definitely apply to out of state schools and use that as leverage. I have been researching law firms (--LinkRemoved--) to get an idea of where they pool for their candidates. When I look at some websites I notice a few firms have office locations out of the country. Do you know if they employ American lawyers in these firms? How does that work?

I believe they generally employ lawyers from that country, though they do sometimes employ Americans.

[pupshaw]

One thing about basically all California Schools, is that they put a lot more weight on a higher GPA as opposed to LSAT, and schools in general are just MUCH harder to get into than similarly ranked schools in other states.

Sucks for a lot of us here, but without a 3.8+ you're locked out of t14 in Cali.. With a 3.5, you'll still need a pretty solid LSAT for UCLA and USC, both of whom again really prefer a high GPA.

In regards to your subject question... if you can get a 170+ on the LSAT, you could be in at other T14s no problem in other states, and probably some big scholarships in throughout Tier 1 schools

This is a bit of an exaggeration. Berkeley's median is around 3.75. I think plenty of people get in with 3.6+ and a high LSAT/strong softs.

[Tiago Splitter]

3.49/178 here, got into UCLA but with no money.

If I was the OP I'd look to crush the LSAT and write an excellent Boalt-specific PS.