UC Davis Employment Prospects Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have deposits at a couple of schools currently. One of them is UC Davis, but I feel like I never hear much about job prospects from the school. They seem to have (artificially) high employment rates, but I can't help but think competition from Berkley, Stanford, and even UC Hastings hurts prospects in SF, likewise competition from UCLA, USC, and even Pepperdine hurts their prospects in SoCal.

I guess to their advantage, a large number of students end up in the public sector, making jockeying for ranking in the private sector a little less intense. But all of the above is simply my own guesswork. They always seem to be talked about MUCH less than equally ranked schools.

Anyone with any concrete knowledge of the subject care to inform?

[bk1]

This might help: http://californiabar.globl.org/report.p ... 0&g=2&pp=5

Their employment prospects are roughly equal that of Hastings (according to NLJ250 stats), I doubt that a Hastings student has a significant edge over a Davis student of equivalent class rank. As for SoCal, statistically Davis grads are a huge minority, getting beat out by UCLA/USC/Pepperdine/Loyola/Southwestern/USD/etc and Boalt/Stanford. Part of this is probably due to self-selection but I would still advise against going to UCD if you want to work in SoCal.

If you have deposits at other schools, I would say that those schools probably also have decent competition and it is unfair to just look at the competition that one faces. To be honest, I think the best thing to do here is to compare the schools that are your options in the places that you would want to work (i.e. U Dub doesn't face much competition, Fordham has better employment stats than UCD, Loyola is stronger in LA, etc).

[drdolittle]

About time to commence another Davis/Hastings debate on TLS, so a good one.

But why did you post anonymously? This is a perfectly legit question, as it would be for any school.

[bk1]

But why did you post anonymously? This is a perfectly legit question, as it would be for any school.

I was going to ask it but then I thought maybe the OP did so because he/she has multiple deposits down and is worried about this for some strange strange reason?

[Aberzombie1892]

Davis is a solid school, employment wise. However, it is pretty much tied for the 5th best law school in CA.

True CA is not like any other state, but the 5th best law school in NY gets a lot of...on these boards.

However it is best to decide on schools based on a comparison with other schools. As a result, we cannot really help you without knowing what you are comparing the school to. For example deciding between Hastings v. Davis will generally rely on geographical or personal preference.

However UC-Davis v. UCI would be a different conversation. If Davis manages to stay where it is, UCI will likely become another CA law school tied with Davis and Hastings (regardless of what US News places it as - Hastings is in the 40s and it and Davis are still peers).

So what other schools are you looking at?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry to hijack your thread. But if you wanted to work in Los Angeles, which one of these three would you take.

UC Davis
Pepperdine
Loyola

[ozarkhack]

competition from Berkley, Stanford, and even UC Hastings hurts prospects in SF, likewise competition from UCLA, USC, and even Pepperdine hurts their prospects in SoCal.

The competition is there, sure. But I would think that if you're, say, a median Davis grad itching to work in LA, you'll likely get the job over the similarly ranked grad from Pepperdine/Loyola and UCI (Ha! JUST KIDDING. Please don't call me names!).

Just a guess, though. On to facts ....

A plurality of Davis grads (16%) work in Sacramento. A little under 10% work in SF. And LA is the 3rd largest market for Davis grads (10% work in LA/San Diego).

Hastings has 20% of its grads in SF.

(From: http://californiabar.globl.org/report.p ... 0&g=2&pp=5)

What this handy tool doesn't tell us is where grads are getting their first jobs. Maybe the number in SF is inflated with mid- or late-career lawyers? Maybe the Sac number is? ... I'd wager, though, that the data is probably a good enough indication that you can get a first job anywhere in California with a Davis JD.

[ozarkhack]

Sorry to hijack your thread. But if you wanted to work in Los Angeles, which one of these three would you take.

UC Davis
Pepperdine
Loyola

Depends on $$ involved and where you want to live during school. But generally, as a Davis partisan, I'd say Davis.

[holydonkey]

Definitely Davis. Davis > Pepperdine > Hastings > Loyola

[HelplessinAZ]

No money from any of them, and no real preference in location. Just best career prospects coming out.

[davis3l]

As for SoCal, statistically Davis grads are a huge minority, getting beat out by UCLA/USC/Pepperdine/Loyola/Southwestern/USD/etc and Boalt/Stanford. Part of this is probably due to self-selection but I would still advise against going to UCD if you want to work in SoCal.

If you have deposits at other schools, I would say that those schools probably also have decent competition and it is unfair to just look at the competition that one faces. To be honest, I think the best thing to do here is to compare the schools that are your options in the places that you would want to work (i.e. U Dub doesn't face much competition, Fordham has better employment stats than UCD, Loyola is stronger in LA, etc).

hahaha this made me laugh.

OP, I posted a lot of info about Davis employment prospects in this thread:
http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 4&t=101455

[drdolittle]

No money from any of them, and no real preference in location. Just best career prospects coming out.

Of course Davis then.

[bk1]

No money from any of them, and no real preference in location. Just best career prospects coming out.

Of course Davis then.

+1

[bk1]

As for SoCal, statistically Davis grads are a huge minority, getting beat out by UCLA/USC/Pepperdine/Loyola/Southwestern/USD/etc and Boalt/Stanford. Part of this is probably due to self-selection but I would still advise against going to UCD if you want to work in SoCal.

If you have deposits at other schools, I would say that those schools probably also have decent competition and it is unfair to just look at the competition that one faces. To be honest, I think the best thing to do here is to compare the schools that are your options in the places that you would want to work (i.e. U Dub doesn't face much competition, Fordham has better employment stats than UCD, Loyola is stronger in LA, etc).

hahaha this made me laugh.

OP, if you want legitimate objective info about Davis, shoot me a message.

If I am wrong, just say it.

I am assuming that you mean the part about Davis and SoCal, possibly the Loyola comment. I could easily be wrong (merely using the CA bar data), and some reasons why would be nice for all on this board who are considering CA schools rather than just attacking me.

[davis3l]

Fair enough, my bad. It's just easier to laugh something off rather than get in petty argument (especially when someone mentions Southwestern and Davis in the same breath).

Bottom line, SoCal and NorCal firms view Davis the same. I have not found that SF is the "home market" for Davis. For OCI purposes, I felt like Davis students were treated equally by SF and LA firms. That is, it wasn't really a case of SF firms being more likely than LA firms to hire Davis students.

Schools like Loyola and USD don't have an advantage because less firms do OCI there than at Davis. There might be a few smaller SD/LA firms that do OCI at places like Loyola, but don't have the money/desire to drive up for Davis OCI. However, there are far more big LA firms that do Davis OCI, but not Loyola or USD. Loyola's closer proximity to LA doesn't mean anything. Barely anyone gets law firm jobs from "networking" and all that jazz.

Of course I'm largely only talking about law firm hiring.

[bk1]

That is good to know. So you would say the reason that barely an King Hall grads go to LA/SD is pretty much entirely due to self-selection?

Part of me found it hard to believe. My thoughts were that SoCal people would want to go back to SoCal for work and those who were good enough to get into UCD/UCH but not USC/UCLA would go to the former rather than Pepperdine/Loyola/etc and then work in SoCal. That is probably just a wrong assumption.

[davis3l]

That is good to know. So you would say the reason that barely an King Hall grads go to LA/SD is pretty much entirely due to self-selection?

Part of me found it hard to believe. My thoughts were that SoCal people would want to go back to SoCal for work and those who were good enough to get into UCD/UCH but not USC/UCLA would go to the former rather than Pepperdine/Loyola/etc and then work in SoCal. That is probably just a wrong assumption.

Yes it is 100% due to self-selection. A lot of Davis students absolutely hate SoCal.

If I remember correctly, my OCI was literally almost 50-50 SoCal and NorCal firms.

[20160810]

That is good to know. So you would say the reason that barely an King Hall grads go to LA/SD is pretty much entirely due to self-selection?

Part of me found it hard to believe. My thoughts were that SoCal people would want to go back to SoCal for work and those who were good enough to get into UCD/UCH but not USC/UCLA would go to the former rather than Pepperdine/Loyola/etc and then work in SoCal. That is probably just a wrong assumption.

Yes it is 100% due to self-selection. A lot of Davis students absolutely hate SoCal.

If I remember correctly, my OCI was literally almost 50-50 SoCal and NorCal firms.

TITCR

Except I'd argue that most UCD students I know except San Diego, which rules, from their SoCal hate.