Top Law Schools

Stay at...

Pepperdine-Top 10%, Law Review, partial scholarship

Go to...

UCLA

Want to be in the best position for BigLaw on the west or east coast...
Seat deposit due next week and waiting on three top 10 schools.

Glad to see my post inspired your title!

I say go to UCLA. I wish I had a great reason why, but I don't. In general it seems as though you'll have much better opportunities from UCLA, particularly with respect to the East Coast. Remember there are many students at top schools on the East Coast (against whom you are competing) and UCLA will give you a better edge over Pepperdine purely from a rankings/prestige point of view.

That being said, most people voted for me to stay at my current T25 school (+law review) over going to a T14, which I had previously thought would give me an edge in searching for summer associate positions, particularly in NYC where I'd like to be. Given the opinions of those on this forum, maybe law review is more important than we are giving it credit for?

But then again, maybe the higher jump in rankings between Pepperdine and UCLA (than between T25 and T14) is making the difference in poll results between our two cases.

I voted for UCLA b/c the firms in the LA region will already be familiar with the school and will appreciate your ranking and transfer.

It's hard to give up top 10% ranking to go to a school in the same "area" just to start all over again and prove yourself. but if you do it- best of luck to you!

i donno man.... people were telling me LR is really valuable. One associate told me " they need to fill your bio"
It might be worth it to stay with Scholly and LR.