any thoughts on Pepperdine?

[dreameca]

Does anyone know anything about Pepperdine? networking? faculty? diversity? reputation? their conservatism?Thanks! any input would be great!

[Ninja1]

Good school, good rep, obviously not cheap, but will serve you well.

[iamprov]

I've heard that they ask you on the application about how you'll contribute to the Christian mission of the school. 

[dreameca]

Yea I wrote the mission statement. I am not totally christian, but I agree with some christian values so I am ok with that part. But i am more concerned about.... say.... supporting abortion rights in class discussions. Is the school so conservative people will gang up against me if I support abortion or gay rights? I am from berkeley.... and thats all we talked about in legal studies.

[Ninja1]

Yea I wrote the mission statement. I am not totally christian, but I agree with some christian values so I am ok with that part. But i am more concerned about.... say.... supporting abortion rights in class discussions. Is the school so conservative people will gang up against me if I support abortion or gay rights? I am from berkeley.... and thats all we talked about in legal studies.

Avoid participating in those sorts of discussions if at all possible. You gain nothing and waste valuable time that could be spent screwing off on the internet.

[ihateattorneys]

Yea I wrote the mission statement. I am not totally christian, but I agree with some christian values so I am ok with that part. But i am more concerned about.... say.... supporting abortion rights in class discussions. Is the school so conservative people will gang up against me if I support abortion or gay rights? I am from berkeley.... and thats all we talked about in legal studies.

Were those who opposed homosexuality and abortion ridiculed at Berkeley? 
As stated by a previous poster, these are rather subjective topics that people tend to polarize on and are best left out of any scene that involves the future of your career.

[kenpostudent]

Well, Pepperdine is a decent school, but there are several other better schools in CA. I would think that the education is rather expensive compared to what you can get at other schools. The cost of living will be higher there than other CA schools, too.. afterall, it's in Malibu. Being from CA, I can tell you that the drive from Pepperdine into LA, where most of your prospective employers are going to be, will also be hell. You are looking at an hour to two hour commute into LA during rush hour. So, if you have a clerkship or job downtown during say your second year, you're going to eat up a three to four hours of your day in commute. Other than that, it's not so bad. You can't beat the view from outside the law school, though.

[dreameca]

thanks guys for suggesting that i should stay out of those kind of discussions altogether. i am just used to participating in these discussions coz we need to discuss to get a good participation grade in berkeley. but its ok to keep quiet in law school right?

[kenpostudent]

I don't know how often those kinds of issues will come up. I've sat in on a few law school classes... never at Pepperdine, though. In my limited experience, the classes revolved around what the courts ruled. I've never seen professors allow students to chase rabbits by engaging in controversial discussions on pet ideologies. I don't know if this is uniform at all law schools, though.