UVa vs UCLA

[mozart1812]

Hey there. Now I have narrowed my decision to UVa and UCLA.

I know from the view point of ranking that UVa is definitely the winner.

However, I am a city guy and I am really worried about living in a small town such as Charlottesville. LA seems such a great place and I really like to give it a try.

Moreover, I kind of wanna to move and practice in California afther law school.

So how will you guys think of these two schools? How students from UVa perform in the CA's legal market?

Any advice will be helpful. Thank you.

 

[Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration]

Hey there. Now I have narrowed my decision to UVa and UCLA.

I know from the view point of ranking that UVa is definitely the winner.

However, I am a city guy and I am really worried about living in a small town such as Charlottesville. LA seems such a great place and I really like to give it a try.

Moreover, I kind of wanna to move and practice in California afther law school.

So how will you guys think of these two schools? How students from UVa perform in the CA's legal market?

Any advice will be helpful. Thank you.

 

first off, i can tell you that i visited ucla about 2.5 weeks ago and it was by far the most beautiful campus i've ever seen.  i've never seen a campus that can even hold a flame to ucla.  that being said, ucla is a better choice for you if you want to practice in california.  people around this board are obsessed with the T14 because we are all know-it-all 0Ls.  if you want to practice in california, ucla is your school.

hope the helps.  don't even think twice about it.

ETA: I went out in LA and it was totally sweet.  if you're the city type, youll love it.

[mozart1812]

Thank you Thank you Thank you for the reply.

Both school don't offer me any money so money will not be a concern (maybe I have to pay more living expense if I go to UCLA). Sorry I didn't mention it before.

I do like UCLA better (really that obvious??). However, the ranking is really a problem because one good friend of mine, U-Penn JD, now works in Shearman & Sterling(DC), told me not to go to UCLA directly when I brought this question to him (he said something mean about UCLA). I know I shouldn't be a ranking jerk but since I have to pay the same amount of money, of course I need to be careful of what I might get.

Anyway, have you guys ever met or talked to students from UCLA? People in this board mentioned that students from UVa are friendly. I believe that's because they gotta a decent ranking so students don't need to kill each other for the grades to get a good job.
How about UCLA? Will students in there harsh to each other to survive in the big law?

Thank you for your reply.

[krystal82]

if you're a CA resident, wouldn't UCLA be giving you instate tution? If costs come out to equal then UVA seems like the obvious choice. However, if your heart is set on UCLA, I would mention the UVA acceptance to get more money from them. Honestly, when you're this far up in the ranking, there is no 'bad' choice. Good Luck!

[gatornation]

Dude, Charlottesville may have a southern culture and technically be south of the Mason Dixon line, but it is NOT the "deep south".  There aren't law schools in the deep south, there are burned out gas stations, grocery stores with half their shelves empty, and endless lines of trailers and broken down one room houses... wait, does Auburn have a law school?

I have no opinion on the original question.

[SCK2008]

if you're a CA resident, wouldn't UCLA be giving you instate tution? If costs come out to equal then UVA seems like the obvious choice. However, if your heart is set on UCLA, I would mention the UVA acceptance to get more money from them. Honestly, when you're this far up in the ranking, there is no 'bad' choice. Good Luck!

http://www.jdunderground.com/thread.php?threadId=14894

I struck out at OCI, and foolishly didn't really look for anything else.


Why put effort into anything so trivial right?


But you're probably better off at the median with UVa...

[krystal82]

This is so scary. I wish I had applied to all the schools in the T14 now, even though it would've probably just added to my waitlist count.

[moonpie]

Go UVA.   I go to UCLA, and I really like it, but I place highly in the class. It's true not every student gets their job through OCI, but almost any job worth having in gov't or private practice is achieved through OCI. Law school isn't worth your time and effort if you won't be guaranteed a good career as a lawyer.  It's definately doable from UCLA, but your path will be a lot easier at UVA - go UVA.  You always want the statistics in your favor.  People have this tendency to say "well, I'll be OK" when anything could happen on law school exams.  Incoming credentials can help predict class rank, but there's plenty of variance, and the last thing you want to be is the exception who had a good GPA and LSAT coming in but bombed because it turns out you're not good at law school exams.

[procrastinator]

Go UVA.   I go to UCLA, and I really like it, but I place highly in the class. It's true not every student gets their job through OCI, but almost any job worth having in gov't or private practice is achieved through OCI. Law school isn't worth your time and effort if you won't be guaranteed a good career as a lawyer.  It's definately doable from UCLA, but your path will be a lot easier at UVA - go UVA.  You always want the statistics in your favor.  People have this tendency to say "well, I'll be OK" when anything could happen on law school exams.  Incoming credentials can help predict class rank, but there's plenty of variance, and the last thing you want to be is the exception who had a good GPA and LSAT coming in but bombed because it turns out you're not good at law school exams.

It sounds like your class placement gives you a skewed perception of what happens when you're not at the top of your class at UCLA.  There are plenty of people who are at or below medium at UCLA with a good job from OCI.  I know them personally.  They just don't advertize that their grades are "sub-par," particularly to people known to have high GPAs.  That's law school for ya   I know a lot of attorneys at LA firms and I have a really hard time believing that they place that much of a higher premium on UVA than they do on UCLA when controlling for all other factors.  Most attorneys I know in LA (from large firms) don't even realize UVA is ranked higher than UCLA according to USNWR.  They just know that UCLA is #1 in LA and UVA is just another good public law school in a different region of the country.  I think once you start working you'll realize how meaningless a few spots on an empty, sensationalized ranking system truly is.  UCLA is highly regarded in LA.  If you want something out here, you'll get it.  If you don't do well at UCLA, you probably would not have done well at UVA and hiring partners at LA firms STILL won't be impressed simply because your GPA comes from UVA.  And of course, again, people with non-stellar grades still get great jobs when they put in the time and effort.  The "UCLA 3L" who can't get a job sounds like a serious headcase and probably turned off employers with his lackluster (to say the least) personality.  I would bet he would not have fared much better at OCI with a 3.8.  Personality matters.  ALOT!

[JeNeSaisLaw]

if you're a CA resident, wouldn't UCLA be giving you instate tution? If costs come out to equal then UVA seems like the obvious choice. However, if your heart is set on UCLA, I would mention the UVA acceptance to get more money from them. Honestly, when you're this far up in the ranking, there is no 'bad' choice. Good Luck!

http://www.jdunderground.com/thread.php?threadId=14894

Most people don't get their jobs through OCI. This guy was an idiot. He admits that he did ZERO work on his own. Below median at UCLA is not a fantastic place to be, but it also doesn't equal jobless.

Just an interesting tidbit, but Mike Spivey told me a few weeks ago that 70% of people get jobs through OCI at Vandy. That number impressed the hell out of me.