law school advice, please!

Comments

• ddakjiking Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 edited April 2015 2116 karma

  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 Alum Member

  April 2015 359 karma

  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 Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 2116 karma

  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 Alum Member

  April 2015 359 karma

  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 Alum Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 8021 karma

  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 Alum Member

  April 2015 359 karma

  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!
• 2 Likes

  emli1000 Alum Member Inactive ⭐

  April 2015 3462 karma

  follow your heart!
• 1 Like

  Marie4lawschool Alum Member

  April 2015 359 karma

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