law school advice, please!

Marie4lawschool

Please could you share your advice related to law school choices? I most likely want to work in SoCal after graduation and am accepted at UC Irvine, but because of rankings should I go with WashULaw in St. Louis instead? Personally I'm really impressed with Irvine going straight in at #30 and I love the feel of the place and community.

Also, I'm wait listed for Northwestern's accelerated JD program. Should I hold out as long as possible in case a slot opens up?

Thoughts?? -- Many thanks!

ddakjiking

Hey @Marie4lawschool , I hope my opinion helps a bit.

I'm born and raised in socal and want to work here after law school. IMO, if you know for sure you want to work in CA, I would attend UCIrvine over WUSTL. Outside of the T-14, schools really do become more regional in their employment placement.

Did you receive some $ from UCI?

also, I probably wouldn't attend Northwestern unless you really want/have to go into Biglaw.

Marie4lawschool

Thanks, @ddakjiking! Yes, I received some $ from UCI though not the full ride I was offered from another (lower ranked) SoCal school...

I'm curious -- do you know which law school you'll be going to? I'm wondering if I'll come across other 7Sagers if I go to UCI!

ddakjiking

I will be applying next cycle tho I plan to apply to all lower and higher ranked schools.

I'm guessing the lower ranked school is Loyola/Pepperdine or Chapman. If your career goals are super modest, then I'd probably take the formers but Chapman's employment numbers are pretty iffy.

@Marie4lawschool

Marie4lawschool

Best wishes for the next cycle, @ddakjiking! There's nothing modest about my career goals so I'm looking at external scholarships and a part time job to boost my $. I can afford to pay my way through law school - just have to convince my husband that it's worth me spending now to reap bigger benefits later (hopefully)!

Pacifico

I had a friend who was in the inaugural class at UC Irvine and he had nothing but awesome things to say about it. He had the unique experience of helping to get a variety of student organizations up and running from scratch, and I think the school is still new enough that such opportunities still abound there. If I don't improve much beyond my diagnostic that will definitely be my top choice since I want to end up back in California after law school. They have an amazing faculty for a brand new school and I think they'll climb a little more before settling in the top 25 somewhere. I love SoCal and I'm personally not a huge fan of St. Louis, so I'm totally biased, but if you want to stay in SoCal I think UC Irvine is the way to go since you'll have much better networking opportunities by being in SoCal for the three years versus being in St. Louis. Even dropping to Loyola or Pepperdine is a pretty steep drop in my opinion, but I'd pay half sticker at UC Irvine over a full ride at either of the former.

Marie4lawschool

Thanks for your comments, @Pacifico! I'm now strongly veering towards UCI Law - both my daughters are there and are having great experiences. The faculty I've met or observed teaching have been wonderful - so dynamic they got me interested in topics I hadn't anticipated ever finding interesting! Also, the admitted students I met there were interesting in diverse ways and had a different vibe to them than at other admitted student events I've attended. Soooo -- guess this all points to UCI Law being a good match for me :-D

Maybe see you at UCI Law in a year's time!

emli1000

follow your heart!

Marie4lawschool

@emli1000 Thank you! I need to believe in my future and being able to make up the $$$