UC Irvine out of state 50% off or U of Illinois 100% off? Forum

[raf88]

UC Irvine out of state 50% off or U of Illinois 100% off?

These are my most competitive offers so far and I'm thrilled with each. I just wanted to get a sampling of pros and cons from tls...It would be nice to be debt free after law school, but Irvine is in a location better suited to my interests: immigration and entertainment.

[BenJ]

UCI is risky. They aren't well-established yet. Go with UIUC on the full ride, of those choices. I would only choose UCI if rejected from UCLA and USC and with no scholarship money from peer schools elsewhere. UCI is not necessarily going to get you a job in SoCal anyway as they have no alumni network and minimal employer connections since they have yet to even graduate a class.

[09042014]

UC Irvine out of state 50% off or U of Illinois 100% off?

These are my most competitive offers so far and I'm thrilled with each. I just wanted to get a sampling of pros and cons from tls...It would be nice to be debt free after law school, but Irvine is in a location better suited to my interests: immigration and entertainment.

You'd be able to find immigration work Chicago I'd imagine.

[doobelle]

Since UCI isn't even ABA-accredited yet, I would go anywhere else but there. I'm sure they *will* be eventually, and it looks like it's got a lot going for it, but I work in gov't law and they didn't even want to consider a great applicant from UCI for an summer internship because of its current status. And that's just an unpaid internship! Really something to consider.

[raf88]

Thanks for the responses. I think the decision is clear, although never easy to pass on sunny CA. Still waiting to hear from other T11, but with a full ride I think I'm pretty much decided.