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I graduated from WLS in the mid 2000s. It was an interesting time to attend, to say the least. Tuition has nearly doubled since I went and looks like it's harder to get a job than it was before, and that's saying a lot.

Look, I'm not here to shout "Don't go to WLS or don't go to law school". Y'all are responsible adults and there is a lot of information out there about the risks involved. I want to share the following for future WLS students but I'm sure most of it will also apply to those planning to attend similarly ranked schools as well (like Thomas Jefferson):

1) I assume most of you are going to WLS with the purpose of transferring to a higher ranked school after 1L. Before you do, you may want to look at the post-graduate employment statistics of the schools you want to transfer to. If you're thinking about transferring to Loyola Law School, University of San Diego or Southwestern after 1L, your job prospects will not improve that much, if at all. And yes, one of a class of 150-200 will transfer to Georgetown, UCLA, USC or Boalt - feeling lucky?

2) Google "Whittier Law School Summa Cum Laude", "Whittier Law School Magna Cum Laude" and "Whittier Law School Cum Laude" and see where these people ended up. In short, I saw two that work for biglaw and others that work for mid-sized law firms. But a surprisingly large number work for small firms or have gone solo. I know most of the smaller firms where they work and they pay less than $100,000/yr to their garden variety associates even with several years of experience.

3) If a WLS alum tells you that he works for a big law firm, I'd be very skeptical. Yes, there are a rare few that work as biglaw associates. But when a WLS alum claims to work for biglaw, it may be for a temporary document review project or as a non-law position like a file clerk.

4) Do not attend WLS if they demand full tuition. The school is extremely overpriced and it's very likely that tuition will decrease next year. If you threaten to walk away, you may get a scholarship.

5) If you have no other career alternatives, I strongly suggest taking the year off to read some books, network with people (it's pretty easy with LinkedIn and even Facebook nowadays), and if needed, develop social skills. Work for an attorney for a year - particularly at a small law firm or a solo practitioner.

I'll answer some questions and share some stories if you are interested.

Is this a real school?

Where do you work? Did you go into debt to attend?

What was the campus culture like?

are you a boomer?

Height?

NoWorries wrote:Is this a real school?

Haha. Yes. ABA accredited (although it almost lost it a few years ago, which was kinda amusing looking back), has a pretty nice law library and a lot of grads are barred and work in different states.

But if your question means "Do WLS grads get prestigious lawyer jobs?" then no. One federal district court clerkship every few years and this is for a judge that graduated from WLS. Very, very few go to biglaw, DOJ, bigGov, etc.

xylocarp wrote:Where do you work? Did you go into debt to attend?

I work as a solo practitioner doing various low-end shitlaw work. The money isn't bad, the problem is getting yourself established. A lot of WLS grads are solo as well, although I think they are just using it as a cover while looking for another job. If you're unable to find a job for 3, 6 or 12 months after graduation, this is pretty much what you have to do to avoid the "resume gap".

Like an idiot, I paid full sticker for tuition and living expenses and left with around $90,000 in debt when I graduated. In retrospect, this wasn't bad because it included my undergrad debt from a Cal State University. Looking back, I wish I learned more about student loan repayment schedules and how students loans are treated in bankruptcy. Nowadays, I hear of some WLS students graduating with $150,000 debt at least which I think is absolutely insane. So before you attend WLS or law school in general, you should look at this informative student loan financial planning calculator:

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... geid=61621

californiauser wrote:What was the campus culture like?

The class was not overly competitive as I thought. There was no book stealing, vandalism or similar shady behavior I have heard about. Most of my 1L classmates were friendly although it became very cliquish.

The average age of the full time day students were mid-twenties with a few older students. Most of them were well-adjusted people except for one or two really strange outliers - let's just say one was REALLY flaming and he made a point to sit next to every decent looking male before the semester was over.

And of course, the good thing about a TTT is that a larger number of students are pretty hot - and I mean objective hot, not "law school hot" - but they all stuck together. I recall a group of really attractive blondes that always sat together and a group of Asian females that also sat together. You will not see this at a 1L section at USC and UCLA - most of the girls there looked like Velma from Scooby Doo. And two from USC looked like Scooby from Scooby Doo.

f174635 wrote: let's just say one was REALLY flaming and he made a point to sit next to every decent looking male before the semester was over.

f174635 wrote:And of course, the good thing about a TTT is that a larger number of students are pretty hot - and I mean objective hot, not "law school hot" - but they all stuck together. I recall a group of really attractive blondes that always sat together and a group of Asian females that also sat together. You will not see this at a 1L section at USC and UCLA - most of the girls there looked like Velma from Scooby Doo. And two from USC looked like Scooby from Scooby Doo.

You do not sound pleasant.

shitlib in the house

f174635 wrote:
And of course, the good thing about a TTT is that a larger number of students are pretty hot - and I mean objective hot, not "law school hot" - but they all stuck together. I recall a group of really attractive blondes that always sat together and a group of Asian females that also sat together. You will not see this at a 1L section at USC and UCLA - most of the girls there looked like Velma from Scooby Doo. And two from USC looked like Scooby from Scooby Doo.

lold

You're a pretty funny dood OP

I should add one last bit of advice:

6) If you are going to take out students loans, do not take out private loans. Instead take out federal Grad PLUS loans. The interest rate will be higher but the loan payments can be deferred or reduced if you qualify for Income Based Repayment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMGoUXR3EUA

Thoughts?

ExBiglawAssociate wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMGoUXR3EUA

Thoughts?

Almost sad. Of all the cruddy toilets out there, Whittier actually has some grads actually practicing law in decent, not great, but decent smaller practices doing decent work here in Phoenix. I know one who works at a high end med mal defense firm for example. I know another in a decent construction defect defense firm. I figured there would be other schools closing first.

I'd be infuriated paying that tuition rate to be told too bad so sad were closing and that's all I have like that.