Top Law Schools

...anyone else?

Definitely one of my top choices!

Ill be at the preview day tomorrow! Anyone else going or in the area? Ive never been to tucson ..

vkgarrett wrote:Ill be at the preview day tomorrow! Anyone else going or in the area? Ive never been to tucson ..

I would have if I'd known of my acceptance before yesterday let me know what you think?

I'll be going to one of the later sessions, either on the 9th or 19th.

I will be at the end of the month one as this one of my final two choices.

Definitely one of my top choices as well. At this moment its between U of A and Loyola (LA).

Withdrew from Seattle U, Penn State and USD this morning, so barring an acceptance from one of the Waitlists (UW, UC Davis, William and Mary, Washington and Lee) it will be either Arizona or Loyola.

Couldn't take the time off work for one of the ASD, but did fly down to check out the campus and loved it. Would love to hear from anybody else who visited about their impressions.

chungachguk wrote:Definitely one of my top choices as well. At this moment its between U of A and Loyola (LA).

Withdrew from Seattle U, Penn State and USD this morning, so barring an acceptance from one of the Waitlists (UW, UC Davis, William and Mary, Washington and Lee) it will be either Arizona or Loyola.

Couldn't take the time off work for one of the ASD, but did fly down to check out the campus and loved it. Would love to hear from anybody else who visited about their impressions.

I went to the ASD & would love to give anyone a run down. I'll try and post a little summary on here later if I have some time...

Based on the awesome ASD, I'm sending in my deposit to just U of A now . I'm still going to wait out some waitlists, but as of now, Wildcat it is!

vkgarrett wrote: I'm sending in my deposit to just U of A now . I'm still going to wait out some waitlists, but as of now, Wildcat it is!

+1
sent my deposit yesterday

lenka-penka wrote:

vkgarrett wrote: I'm sending in my deposit to just U of A now . I'm still going to wait out some waitlists, but as of now, Wildcat it is!

+1
sent my deposit yesterday

+1
Sent in my deposit yesterday as well. Also waiting out some waitlists but if nothing else, super excited about U of A. Coming from Seattle, just thinking about having clear skies and sun 300 days out of a year puts a smile on my face!

I wonder if they will create a facebook group for us or if we should do it... I know... nerdy... but I'm excited!

vkgarrett wrote:I wonder if they will create a facebook group for us or if we should do it... I know... nerdy... but I'm excited!

+1
suuuper excited too=)
we need a facebook group

lenka-penka wrote:

vkgarrett wrote:I wonder if they will create a facebook group for us or if we should do it... I know... nerdy... but I'm excited!

+1
suuuper excited too=)
we need a facebook group

Pretty excited too! Would be nice to get to know my future classmates ahead of time. Any takers for creating the group?

chungachguk wrote:

lenka-penka wrote:

vkgarrett wrote:I wonder if they will create a facebook group for us or if we should do it... I know... nerdy... but I'm excited!

+1
suuuper excited too=)
we need a facebook group

Pretty excited too! Would be nice to get to know my future classmates ahead of time. Any takers for creating the group?

I don't want to be the nerdy kid who makes it... I wonder if the admissions dept will make one soon - it looked like they might w/ the email they sent out last time.

alright, I'm that kid --->

https://www.facebook.com/groups/334523639943046/

i put my seat deposit in!

im still deciding between U of A and Pepperdine... and then am still waiting to hear from ASU

do you guys have any opinions/words of advice for why i'd chose one over the other? i'm really stuck

aellio26 wrote:i put my seat deposit in!

im still deciding between U of A and Pepperdine... and then am still waiting to hear from ASU

do you guys have any opinions/words of advice for why i'd chose one over the other? i'm really stuck

Well, what are the factors that are drawing you to both schools? Have you visited them both?? Do you know where you want to live/practice law after law school? did you get scholarships?? Might be easier to help you then if you tell us a little about that

vkgarrett wrote:

aellio26 wrote:i put my seat deposit in!

im still deciding between U of A and Pepperdine... and then am still waiting to hear from ASU

do you guys have any opinions/words of advice for why i'd chose one over the other? i'm really stuck

Well, what are the factors that are drawing you to both schools? Have you visited them both?? Do you know where you want to live/practice law after law school? did you get scholarships?? Might be easier to help you then if you tell us a little about that

U of A has given me scholarship money each year and I will also have in state tuition... so tuition alone will be around $17,000-18,000 with those factors included. But for Pepperdine, I have no scholarship money so the tuition alone will be around $ 42,000. I have never lived in either California or Arizona, so as of right now I dont have a preference to where I would want to practice law, however, the beach and being close to a big city (LA) with Pepperdine really seem enticing. But there is the money factor, and in the end I don't know if it is worth it when I am probably getting just as good of an education at U of A.

aellio26 wrote:

vkgarrett wrote:

aellio26 wrote:i put my seat deposit in!

im still deciding between U of A and Pepperdine... and then am still waiting to hear from ASU

do you guys have any opinions/words of advice for why i'd chose one over the other? i'm really stuck

Well, what are the factors that are drawing you to both schools? Have you visited them both?? Do you know where you want to live/practice law after law school? did you get scholarships?? Might be easier to help you then if you tell us a little about that

U of A has given me scholarship money each year and I will also have in state tuition... so tuition alone will be around $17,000-18,000 with those factors included. But for Pepperdine, I have no scholarship money so the tuition alone will be around $ 42,000. I have never lived in either California or Arizona, so as of right now I dont have a preference to where I would want to practice law, however, the beach and being close to a big city (LA) with Pepperdine really seem enticing. But there is the money factor, and in the end I don't know if it is worth it when I am probably getting just as good of an education at U of A.

If you want my two cents (as a person who was deciding between 2 law schools in CA ranked about the same as Pepperdine (USD and Loyola) and decided to go with U of A) here it is:

Although CA (and specifically Southern California is somewhere I am hoping to eventually end up (not necessarily right after graduation, but eventually), going to any school in California you have to realize that the competition (although for a larger market) is insane. Coming out of Pepperdine, you would be competing with graduates from USC, UCLA, Loyola, UCI, USD and at least a few more, which is no easy task. I mean if you manage to graduate in the top 10% or better you might be all right, but otherwise it might be tough.

Arizona in itself is obviously a much smaller market, however you are also graduating out of the best they have to offer (either UA or ASU), and thus the competition for the places available are less intense. If you are at least considering transferring after your first year (or at least allowing the thought to creep into your head), UA might also be a better choice, because although it is not one of the top schools in Tier 1, it is nonetheless a Tier 1 school, and that helps.

Legal markets are not great anywhere (outside maybe of NYC) right now, so you have to at least keep a little bit of an eye on what kind of debt you are going to graduate with, and in that regard I also feel like you are better off going to either UA or ASU depending on who offers you more money, and which campus you prefer (as I don't think the job placement out of one will be significantly better than out of the other).

chungachguk wrote:

aellio26 wrote:

vkgarrett wrote:

aellio26 wrote:i put my seat deposit in!

im still deciding between U of A and Pepperdine... and then am still waiting to hear from ASU

do you guys have any opinions/words of advice for why i'd chose one over the other? i'm really stuck

Well, what are the factors that are drawing you to both schools? Have you visited them both?? Do you know where you want to live/practice law after law school? did you get scholarships?? Might be easier to help you then if you tell us a little about that

U of A has given me scholarship money each year and I will also have in state tuition... so tuition alone will be around $17,000-18,000 with those factors included. But for Pepperdine, I have no scholarship money so the tuition alone will be around $ 42,000. I have never lived in either California or Arizona, so as of right now I dont have a preference to where I would want to practice law, however, the beach and being close to a big city (LA) with Pepperdine really seem enticing. But there is the money factor, and in the end I don't know if it is worth it when I am probably getting just as good of an education at U of A.

If you want my two cents (as a person who was deciding between 2 law schools in CA ranked about the same as Pepperdine (USD and Loyola) and decided to go with U of A) here it is:

Although CA (and specifically Southern California is somewhere I am hoping to eventually end up (not necessarily right after graduation, but eventually), going to any school in California you have to realize that the competition (although for a larger market) is insane. Coming out of Pepperdine, you would be competing with graduates from USC, UCLA, Loyola, UCI, USD and at least a few more, which is no easy task. I mean if you manage to graduate in the top 10% or better you might be all right, but otherwise it might be tough.

Arizona in itself is obviously a much smaller market, however you are also graduating out of the best they have to offer (either UA or ASU), and thus the competition for the places available are less intense. If you are at least considering transferring after your first year (or at least allowing the thought to creep into your head), UA might also be a better choice, because although it is not one of the top schools in Tier 1, it is nonetheless a Tier 1 school, and that helps.

Legal markets are not great anywhere (outside maybe of NYC) right now, so you have to at least keep a little bit of an eye on what kind of debt you are going to graduate with, and in that regard I also feel like you are better off going to either UA or ASU depending on who offers you more money, and which campus you prefer (as I don't think the job placement out of one will be significantly better than out of the other).

So funny, I sent a message to him with almost the exact same reasoning... haha. I agree completely... there is something to be said about the competition aspect in california. I also think that the community at U of A is small & close knit, which of course might not be great for everyone, but it was a huge selling point for me. The california schools we all were looking at (pepperdine, loyola, and usd) seem to be a little bigger with not as "close knit" of a community as U of Arizona. That being said, I think that filters directly through our point about the job prospects... Also debt is huge

I was faced with similar choices (ASU, Pepperdine, U of A) with scholarship money, and University of Arizona really seems like the best fit personality wise and they have the strongest employment numbers. ASU employment percentage is a little inflated because they hired 10% of the class back on through fellowships. I got into emory too, but didn't want to go east coast because all my and my wife's family is out here in California.

While Pepperdine seems like a great school, California is arguable the most over-saturated market right now with lawyers and more law schools opening up every year it seems like. Going to Pepperdine is a reasonable option for those who finish in the to 5%-10%, but it gets much dicier for those who don't (which is most people). Like, I my dad's secretary has a son who just graduated top 5% of his class, got a big law job (150k+) that paid him to do nothing for a year because they didn't have work for him but knew they would want him next year. But definitely the exception to the rule, not the rule itself. You have to deal with Stanford, Berk, USC, UCLA, UCI, (Davis/Hastings?), plus top students from Loyola and even Chapman for jobs and anyone from a T14 who would like to come to southern california. I want to say their employed full time numbers for JD required was 68% or something versus 86% for University of Arizona. I felt Arizon had a strong Buisness Law program too, which is my interest.

The small size/community feel was also a big selling point for me too. It seems like you'll get as much attention as you want there and they still have plenty of law review/clinic opportunities to build up experience while there. In talking to career services it sounds like they give a lot of attention to finding work for 1L during the summer. She said something like 90% have something linedup for their first summer, though most of it is unpaid.