2.6/164 - Trying to decide on ED (West Coast) Forum

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Anyone?

[kalvano]

Have you looked at LSN / LSP for some ideas? I don't know anything about California schools, but it might give you some guidance or where to start looking.

It's going to skew results for you on LSP because of the GPA, so make sure to browse LSN.

[NorCalBruin]

Where do you mean exactly when you say "West Coast"?

I can only speak about schools in the Orange County / Los Angeles / San Diego area because I've checked out all the schools down there. Unfortunately, UCLA, USC, San Diego, and Pepperdine are all probably out for sure. Your work experience and temporal distance from your GPA does help you a little, but probably not enough to have a worthwhile shot at those schools.

I would suggest checking out Chapman University, if you are interested in the Los Angeles / Orange County Area.
This is for a few reasons:

1. Your LSAT score is above their 75% percentile (160)
2. They are a school that is rapidly getting better. They've only been around for about a dozen years, but they just got into the top 100 (#93) and their bar passage rate and job placement rate has been increasing steadily over the last 5 years.
3. They are ranked #2 as "Best Classroom Experience", #3 as Best Quality of Life, and #7 for "Professors Rock, Legally Speaking". No, those rankings won't get you a job, but they do mean you're probably going to have a good law school experience. That's important to me, maybe it's important to you to.
4. They've got a nice facility. Like I said, the school is pretty new and everything is still nice and shiny.
5. The city of Orange is a nice little historic town, and most people seem to like Orange County.

Maybe also check out Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. Some people on this forum will tell you it's hard to get a job from there. It will be harder to get a job from there than USC and UCLA, whose graduates you'll compete with in downtown LA, but they do have a solid program. They are ranked 56th I believe. I know one of the professors there personally and he assures me that Loyola kids are competitive in LA.

According to LSP, your chances at Loyola aren't great... but I know they have a part-time / nighttime program thats significantly easier to get admitted to, and I'm pretty sure you can then become full time after a semester (don't quote on that though). Their campus is really fricken modern and cool (designed by famed architect Frank Ghery), but the school itself is in a kind of shady part of town.


Hope that helps. If you are looking outside of LA/Orange County... sorry to waste your time!

[nematoad]

uc hastings

[Aggiegrad2011]

Below 75th LSAT @ Hastings, way below 25th GPA @ Hastings... LSP has OP at a firm denial, even with ED.

Any particular reason you mentioned Hastings to the OP? The W.E.?

OP; how about Seattle (86) or Loyola (56) if you're dead set on the west coast? Any chance for a re-take of the LSAT and splitting?

[Grizz]

ED at an expensive California school with mediocre-at-best job prospects? Sounds like a bad idea. Get a 170+, ED to Northwestern.

[plenipotentiary]

ED at an expensive California school with mediocre-at-best job prospects? Sounds like a bad idea. Get a 170+, ED to Northwestern.