Hastings versus George Mason... Forum

[USMCMatt]

Pretend money is not a consideration.

The schools are ranked closely.


My lack of experience in this stuff has me in a tough spot. These are the top schools that gave accepted me and they both have good reps, although to the layman GMU has a better brand...

Any input is cool. Good. Bad. Ugly. Let's do this.

[PARTY]

what are your numbers? what do you want to do? where do you want to do it? have you maxed out your number of allowed lsats?

if not, retake.

[Tom Joad]

although to the layman GMU has a better brand...

Neither of these schools have lay prestige. AKA, you will never get laid by simply namedropping either. You are going to have to rely on your innate talent.

[bk1]

If you're taking out significant loans then neither.

If most of the costs are covered then the one in the area you'd rather be.

[RoseMVP]

Not taking finances into consideration, I would suggest going to the school in the area you want to work in. Hastings is a very regional school and I am assuming George Mason is in a similar boat.

[apollo2015]

although to the layman GMU has a better brand...

Neither of these schools have lay prestige. AKA, you will never get laid by simply namedropping either. You are going to have to rely on your innate talent.

In California at least, the University of California has what I would call "upper middle class" prestige. So, while you're not going to be viewed to be as presumably wealthy as the Stanford kids are, the University of California (Hastings) brand will basically establish that you went to a respectable top-tier school. (At the undergraduate level, the University of California system accepts the top 12.5% of graduating high school seniors, so the lay-perception is that you'd be somewhere between the 87.5th percentiles and the 99th percentiles in terms of competence.)

I am not sure what GMU's competence level reputation is. What it does have, is great branding as a go-to school for conservatives/libertarians. If you're a liberal, you might not find this useful, but if you are a conservative/libertarian this could be a superb way to tap into the nation's leadership network. (Particularly if you expect Romney to win the general election this year.) Hopefully, someone from the East Coast can chime in on how competent GMU students are viewed to be.

Ultimately, I would pick whatever school is in the region that you want to work in. If you have no geographic preferences than I would say that GMU is optimal if you are a conservative/libertarian.

[USMCMatt]

although to the layman GMU has a better brand...

Neither of these schools have lay prestige. AKA, you will never get laid by simply namedropping either. You are going to have to rely on your innate talent.

In California at least, the University of California has what I would call "upper middle class" prestige. So, while you're not going to be viewed to be as presumably wealthy as the Stanford kids are, the University of California (Hastings) brand will basically establish that you went to a respectable top-tier school. (At the undergraduate level, the University of California system accepts the top 12.5% of graduating high school seniors, so the lay-perception is that you'd be somewhere between the 87.5th percentiles and the 99th percentiles in terms of competence.)

I am not sure what GMU's competence level reputation is. What it does have, is great branding as a go-to school for conservatives/libertarians. If you're a liberal, you might not find this useful, but if you are a conservative/libertarian this could be a superb way to tap into the nation's leadership network. (Particularly if you expect Romney to win the general election this year.) Hopefully, someone from the East Coast can chime in on how competent GMU students are viewed to be.

Ultimately, I would pick whatever school is in the region that you want to work in. If you have no geographic preferences than I would say that GMU is optimal if you are a conservative/libertarian.

Me gusta. Gracias.