Top Law Schools

Stats: 3.69, 162, URM Mex
Looking to go to UCLA, or USC. But Will possibly accept other schools in California.

Should I ED to UCLA?
Or better yet, what are my chances? lawschoolnumbers provided little input.

Please don't quote me, I would like to delete this later to keep my privacy.

There is really no privacy to keep

Don't ED UCLA, it's prohibitively expensive

A solid retake should do you wonders and might get you into Berkeley which could be a better option depending on goals. Or at least huge money at UCLA/USC

http://www.mylsn.info is the best place for your chances. I'm guessing you might sneak in RD as is.

dont do it kid; retake

Ron Don Volante wrote:dont do it kid; retake

I will. But in February.

I understand that 2-3 points will be helpful. However, my wife needs to be in So. Cali, and worst comes to worst, if its about money, I will go to UC Davis. But as a RD applicant - are my odds fairly good at UCLA as is?

BigZuck wrote:There is really no privacy to keep

Don't ED UCLA, it's prohibitively expensive

A solid retake should do you wonders and might get you into Berkeley which could be a better option depending on goals. Or at least huge money at UCLA/USC

http://www.mylsn.info is the best place for your chances. I'm guessing you might sneak in RD as is.

By sneak in, do you mean after a waitlist or simply straight acceptance?

calistats wrote:

BigZuck wrote:There is really no privacy to keep

Don't ED UCLA, it's prohibitively expensive

A solid retake should do you wonders and might get you into Berkeley which could be a better option depending on goals. Or at least huge money at UCLA/USC

http://www.mylsn.info is the best place for your chances. I'm guessing you might sneak in RD as is.

By sneak in, do you mean after a waitlist or simply straight acceptance?

I dunno, probably won't be worth attending either way unless you have some outside funding. MA URM bump is kind of hard to predict so it's tough to say. I'd imagine though that they would like an instate URM with solid numbers so maybe straight acceptance?

If worst comes to worst I just wouldn't go to law school unless, again, you have outside funding AND you have modest career goals.

BigZuck wrote:

calistats wrote:

BigZuck wrote:There is really no privacy to keep

Don't ED UCLA, it's prohibitively expensive

A solid retake should do you wonders and might get you into Berkeley which could be a better option depending on goals. Or at least huge money at UCLA/USC

http://www.mylsn.info is the best place for your chances. I'm guessing you might sneak in RD as is.

By sneak in, do you mean after a waitlist or simply straight acceptance?

I dunno, probably won't be worth attending either way unless you have some outside funding. MA URM bump is kind of hard to predict so it's tough to say. I'd imagine though that they would like an instate URM with solid numbers so maybe straight acceptance?

If worst comes to worst I just wouldn't go to law school unless, again, you have outside funding AND you have modest career goals.

I do have outside funding, and I would like to work maybe first two years in biglaw So. Cal, that's why I mentioned UCLA.

So ED would not be helpful?
This isn't very clear to me yet.

Wanting big law and attending UCLA isn't the best move. With someone else footing the bill I would set my sights higher just to increase your big law chances. But obviously I can understand wanting to be close to a SO so I guess ED UCLA if you feel like it/don't care about cost.

TLS usually says don't ED UCLA because unless you're extravagantly wealthy or have the GI bill or an employer paying for it or something it doesn't make financial sense to pay 250K+ for a UCLA JD. It's just not worth it, chances are you won't see a great return on that invesent. It's a good school but big law chances are iffy and usually that is the only kind of job that can service BIG DEBT.

BigZuck wrote:Wanting big law and attending UCLA isn't the best move. With someone else footing the bill I would set my sights higher just to increase your big law chances. But obviously I can understand wanting to be close to a SO so I guess ED UCLA if you feel like it/don't care about cost.

TLS usually says don't ED UCLA because unless you're extravagantly wealthy or have the GI bill or an employer paying for it or something it doesn't make financial sense to pay 250K+ for a UCLA JD. It's just not worth it, chances are you won't see a great return on that invesent. It's a good school but big law chances are iffy and usually that is the only kind of job that can service BIG DEBT.

Is a 32.5% Large Firm Score low? I compared to Duke and some others, and it seemed pretty good. Am I missing something here. I agree with Big debt - biglaw.
Well, what would you suggest instead then? Pepperdine for free? UC Davis? USC?

Low is all relative but it's clear that big law chances at UCLA are no better than a coinflip whereas at a school like Duke it's significantly better than that. Odds are unacceptably low if you NEED big law, IMO. With outside funding, you won't need it.

If you want LA big law I would aim for Berkeley. If you need to be in LA for the SO then I would go to whichever you prefer of UCLA and USC but be realistic about your chances. I wouldn't recommend a school like Pepperdine or Davis for the vast majority of candidates and definitely not for you based on what you have said.

This is anecdotal but, a friend of mine (hispanic non-urm) was rejected with 3.3ish, 164ish from UCLA but snagged some t-14s and ended up at a t-6.

Retake and aim north of 164 imo.
Also the only schools in CA that can give you a descent shot at Socal big law are UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford.
EDing to UCLA/USC is dumb because you will have to pay sticker and only have a 30% shot at big law. How will you service that debt if you strike out?

sesto elemento wrote:This is anecdotal but, a friend of mine (hispanic non-urm) was rejected with 3.3ish, 164ish from UCLA but snagged some t-14s and ended up at a t-6.

Retake and aim north of 164 imo.
Also the only schools in CA that can give you a descent shot at Socal big law are UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford.
EDing to UCLA/USC is dumb because you will have to pay sticker and only have a 30% shot at big law. How will you service that debt if you strike out?

Probably Pay as you go (10%).
I agree, those are the only choices for biglaw, but Berkeley and SLS, might be out of my reach - I suspect.

BigZuck wrote:Low is all relative but it's clear that big law chances at UCLA are no better than a coinflip whereas at a school like Duke it's significantly better than that. Odds are unacceptably low if you NEED big law, IMO. With outside funding, you won't need it.

If you want LA big law I would aim for Berkeley. If you need to be in LA for the SO then I would go to whichever you prefer of UCLA and USC but be realistic about your chances. I wouldn't recommend a school like Pepperdine or Davis for the vast majority of candidates and definitely not for you based on what you have said.

I guess my issue is SO location.
Also, doesn't sound like UCLA and USC would be willing to give me a scholarship.
What about UC Davis scholarship? Would it be a better option to go there, and aim for mid size?

calistats wrote:

sesto elemento wrote:This is anecdotal but, a friend of mine (hispanic non-urm) was rejected with 3.3ish, 164ish from UCLA but snagged some t-14s and ended up at a t-6.

Retake and aim north of 164 imo.
Also the only schools in CA that can give you a descent shot at Socal big law are UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford.
EDing to UCLA/USC is dumb because you will have to pay sticker and only have a 30% shot at big law. How will you service that debt if you strike out?

Probably Pay as you go (10%).
I agree, those are the only choices for biglaw, but Berkeley and SLS, might be out of my reach - I suspect.

Berkeley is a black box.
That friend of mine that ended up at a t-6 did not get Berkeley.
Some of my current peers didn't get UCLA but got Berkeley.
I would just apply. But SLS is out of reach for you.
If you really want biglaw, you need to consider the T-12 (not GULC or UMich) because those schools will get you NY biglaw.
Do you want any big law? or just So Cal big law?

sesto elemento wrote:

calistats wrote:

sesto elemento wrote:This is anecdotal but, a friend of mine (hispanic non-urm) was rejected with 3.3ish, 164ish from UCLA but snagged some t-14s and ended up at a t-6.

Retake and aim north of 164 imo.
Also the only schools in CA that can give you a descent shot at Socal big law are UCLA, USC, Berkeley, Stanford.
EDing to UCLA/USC is dumb because you will have to pay sticker and only have a 30% shot at big law. How will you service that debt if you strike out?

Probably Pay as you go (10%).
I agree, those are the only choices for biglaw, but Berkeley and SLS, might be out of my reach - I suspect.

Berkeley is a black box.
That friend of mine that ended up at a t-6 did not get Berkeley.
Some of my current peers didn't get UCLA but got Berkeley.
I would just apply. But SLS is out of reach for you.
If you really want biglaw, you need to consider the T-12 (not GULC or UMich) because those schools will get you NY biglaw.
Do you want any big law? or just So Cal big law?

Mostly worried about cost of living, and taking care of my SO. So if the salary is right I would take mid-size. But it has to be So Cal.
Obviously big law pays the most, so there s that, in most cases.

Interesting about Berkeley...

You said you had outside funding which would pay for law school but now you're saying you would rely on PAYE? That puts you in the same boat as everyone else. Don't ED UCLA and don't attend law school until you bring that LSAT up. You need a scholarship to UCLA/USC and all schools worse than that in CA are incompatible with your goals.

Also, I don't think legal hiring works the way you think it does. I'm sure the list of people who could have snagged what few LA midlaw jobs exist BUT could not snag big law is extremely small.

What specific midlaw firms are you thinking of? Can you post links to a couple firm websites?

The advice is retake. Other than that, what do you want people to tell you? Nobody here is on the admissions board at UCLA so we don't know your chances. Go play around with mylsn.info and lawschoolnumbers and see how other people like you have fared.

I should have been more specific. I own my own business and I do have outside funding.
I mentioned PAYE as to big debt, how does one pay for that without biglaw.

Only firms I have looked at are Biglaw. I have a connection with a midsize that is expanding to Cali, and would be willing to hire me. But their salary is not nearly as high as biglaw.

As stated before, I will be retaking as well, but I'm applying this cycle.

Not sure what more I can say, I'm tapping out. I don't know that I would pass on a successful business just to give a shot at becoming a big law drone but YOLO I guess. Also not sure that legal hiring quite works the way you think it does or that UCLA is worth 150K plus cost of living plus lost wages for an iffy shot at becoming a big law drone but again, YOLO.

Check out mylsn.info for chances