Is it worth it to go to Whittier?

[bigs5068]

Sonofpickle I don't what to say, your uncle is a lawyer that's great. I worked in law offices for two years, got a paralegal certificate got 4 letters of recommendation from lawyers to go to law school. All that really means ja*k in terms of becoming a lawyer. One guy in my section is probably like you and all throughout out class he would mention all his "experience working as a paralegal" nobody gave a rat's ass about what he did and everybody dislikes the kid to say the least. He is also on the verge of failing out. 

Believe it or not law school is the first step to becoming a lawyer and you can't be a lawyer without going to law school. Whatever, you learned from your mentor or uncle will not even scratch the surface of what your learn in law school. Your confidence is very misplaced, whatever you did before law school is irrelevant. Nobody cares, what you did it is what you do in law school and when you work in your internships as 1L,2L,3L and as an actual lawyer.

You can tell yourself how great and special you are all you want, but at the end of the day it won't matter how great you feel about yourself. A law school admissions commitee is going to look at your LSAT I hope you get a 180 that would be great. Even if you do get a 180 it means jack sh**t in terms of doing well in law school. This one girl in my section got a full scholarship to GGU and got a 165 on her LSAT the only reason I know that, is because she told everybody and decided she was so smart that she could screw around on the internet in class and guess what that got her a 2.3 after the first semester and essentially no chance of keeping her scholarship.  One of the top student's in our section got a 147 on the LSAT and he only disclosed that after he did really well on the exams. Bottom line is it doesn't matter what your uncle told you, or your mentor, sure it is helpful, but trust if you walk into an interview during your 1L summer and tell them that your uncle is a lawyer and you even had a mentor so you know everything there is to know about the law, they probably won't be calling you back.

[sonofapickle]

I have been this way my whole life and I am not like the idiots in your descriptions. I have never slipped and won't.

[cooleylawstudent]

 

I have been this way my whole life and I am not like the idiots in your descriptions. I have never slipped and won't.

[legalized]

any ABA school from Harvard-Whittier will teach you the skills to pass the bar . 

This, OP, is NOT true.

The top 3 schools, and possibly the entire T14, are well known to teach more theoretical approaches to law and you are expected to cover the black letter law on your own.

The state schools in particular and, if I remember right, all non-T14 schools cover much more black letter law in their teachings, and that black letter is geared towards the state they are located in.  Therefore a state school teaches with more of a slant towards what's covered on their bar exam.

All ABA-approved schools from Yale to Appalachian will, if you pass their courses, grant you a JD from an ABA-approved law school, and for most states that is the first requirement to be able to sit the bar.

It is worth it to go to Whittier if it is the only school you got into, if it is the best quality school you got into (and how you determine that is up to you, for me it's feeder market, attrition rate, bar passage rate, and on a lesser note, customer service up to that point), and if it is the best financial aid package you got.

My feeling is people should have more than one two acceptances though to be able to even make a choice.  If it's the only school it's not a choice is it cause you have no other option.

You can also consider retaking the LSAT (using improved study methods) in October of this year and using the better score to aim for a school with lower attrition and higher bar passage rates.

But even if you decide to attend this year, Whittier is a regional school and you need to be sure that where the majority of it's students end up practicing is somewhere you are willing to live and work for likely the next 40 years after you pass the bar.  If not, don't go, because where most of its graduates feed is where your potential Whittier jobs are.  Only nationally known schools can place virtually anywhere (except perhaps really small towns that they are not from, who won't trust the extent of their commitment/connection to the area).

If you would like to live and work in a certain area go to a law school that feeds most of it's graduates into that area.  If you KNOW where you want to live and work, you could even move there this year, take the test this fall and apply to schools for that area this fall, and be classified in-state by the time 1L rolls around.

For example, if you live in Cali there may be no cheap schools instate, but if you are classified as a Georgia resident Georgia State's law school is only about $10,000 a year...and if you go parttime it's less.

That's the other thing, make sure even if you decide to attend Whittier that you consider going part time so you can work, otherwise go get a McDonald's job if you have to in order to save up money this summer for your books (which, unlike undergraduate, you will need, from what I read, before the first day of class hits, and which are SEVERAL books not just one textbook per class).  Save up money for your first month or two of incidentals and the move itself if you will have to leave the state.

Cheer up, you sound a little depressed about the job/financial situation, I know that feeling, but as long as you have a plan to change your status, there's a way out of the mess.

And PD offices are more popular options with unemployed students, and are also on constrained budgets due to the economy, so if you know you want to be a PD, get off the law school campus and get involved in local PD associations, get connected in the PD world, talk to people writing PD blogs about how to get a job, talk to PDs in the PD offices of the state(s) you want to live and work in about the pros and cons of their job and the best ways to get a job in a PD office in this economy...get out there, and remember to smile and not sound depressed and don't tell them how broke you are.

Good luck whatever you decide!  Also asking the career center at Whittier (now, before you get there) for names of grads who went into public interest/PD work, and contacting them (if you can find out what state they went to, look it up on their state's bar's website), is a good way to get the truth about Whittier for people with your interests...straight from the horse's mouth, instead of from us who never been there.  Make sure to ask them about their experience with Whittier.

Hope this helps.

[cooleylawstudent]

Concord and Taft, 

[bigs5068]

I have been this way my whole life and I am not like the idiots in your descriptions. I have never slipped and won't.

What have you been do you really think anybody goes into law school thinking they will fail? Does someone go into law school thinking I am going to spend 100k on this degree and I know I am going to fail out. My first day of class everybody was talking about how they were going to finish in the top 10% and demand scholarship money.  Shocking result happened only 10% of the people that were saying that finished in the top 10%. 

Law school is nothing like science and you getting a B in physics is the most unrelated thing do doing well in law school that you could name.  I got an A in contracts and civil procedure my first semester, but you can believe that on my second semester exams for those classes I couldn't just write I got an A last time so I am special give me an A again. Nope believe it or not I actually had to answer the questions that were on the test and now I am waiting for the results. I guess didn't try or even ask the professors If I could write that for the essay portion and put a giant give me an A on the scantron for multiple choice, but why don't do that on your LSAT if you take it, don't bother answering questions I got a B in physics, my uncle is a lawyer, and I know two languages. I heard they give an automatic 180 on the LSAT if you do that.

In all honesty if you ever do take REAL LSAT and actually make your way to law school on the first day everybody is confident that will be the best, but 90% of the people are not going to be in the top 10% that is the way it is.  You have a 10% chance of being in the top 10% of your class and if you go to law school I hope you do well. Telling everybody how special you are is not going to get you very in law school or life, nobody is that special particularly when it comes to law school. 

[Haynes7]

Thank you Legalized  I have actually found a job at a sandwich shop and am saving up for school.  The reality is, my parents will support me if I go to school THIS year but not next year.  I have tried reasoning with them but they think that there is no point taking the lsat again and that it is too expensive (I only took it once and did not study near as hard as I should have).  They are willing to help me buy books, move etc. so long as I go now! 
  I got into Willamette as well but it has a terrible reputation locally and I have actually met a person who failed out as 3L's (not until after I applied of course).  Willamette did not offer me a scholarship either.  I have visited Orange Country and I would like to live there.  They have a terrible attrition rate due to the fact that in 2007 the ABA threatened to remove their accreditation and everyone transferred elsewhere.  (this is according to the head of admissions).  The next year they had an 86% bar pass rate which is way above average.  My feeling is, the ABA has put a fire under them to maintain a good bar pass rate and they have taken steps to do just that.  I would like to benefit from this pressure.  I guess I'm taking things one step at a time.  Getting into law school doesn't mean a thing if you can't pass the bar and that is where my focus is.

Sonofapickle: Not everyone who is poor is a crack whore!  Where do you get your information?  I also happen to support Obama's health plan.  Are you really Anne Coulter?           

[cooleylawstudent]

The fire under the school thing I think is true, the cooley staff seems SUPER into making sure the students pass and upper classman tell me that it wasn't always that way.

As for the job, you get free food?

Thank you Legalized  I have actually found a job at a sandwich shop and am saving up for school.  The reality is, my parents will support me if I go to school THIS year but not next year.  I have tried reasoning with them but they think that there is no point taking the lsat again and that it is too expensive (I only took it once and did not study near as hard as I should have).  They are willing to help me buy books, move etc. so long as I go now! 
  I got into Willamette as well but it has a terrible reputation locally and I have actually met a person who failed out as 3L's (not until after I applied of course).  Willamette did not offer me a scholarship either.  I have visited Orange Country and I would like to live there.  They have a terrible attrition rate due to the fact that in 2007 the ABA threatened to remove their accreditation and everyone transferred elsewhere.  (this is according to the head of admissions).  The next year they had an 86% bar pass rate which is way above average.  My feeling is, the ABA has put a fire under them to maintain a good bar pass rate and they have taken steps to do just that.  I would like to benefit from this pressure.  I guess I'm taking things one step at a time.  Getting into law school doesn't mean a thing if you can't pass the bar and that is where my focus is.

Sonofapickle: Not everyone who is poor is a crack whore!  Where do you get your information?  I also happen to support Obama's health plan.  Are you really Anne Coulter?           

[legalized]

Thank you Legalized  I have actually found a job at a sandwich shop and am saving up for school.  The reality is, my parents will support me if I go to school THIS year but not next year.  I have tried reasoning with them but they think that there is no point taking the lsat again and that it is too expensive (I only took it once and did not study near as hard as I should have).  They are willing to help me buy books, move etc. so long as I go now! 
  I got into Willamette as well but it has a terrible reputation locally and I have actually met a person who failed out as 3L's (not until after I applied of course).  Willamette did not offer me a scholarship either.  I have visited Orange Country and I would like to live there.  They have a terrible attrition rate due to the fact that in 2007 the ABA threatened to remove their accreditation and everyone transferred elsewhere.  (this is according to the head of admissions).  The next year they had an 86% bar pass rate which is way above average.  My feeling is, the ABA has put a fire under them to maintain a good bar pass rate and they have taken steps to do just that.  I would like to benefit from this pressure.  I guess I'm taking things one step at a time.  Getting into law school doesn't mean a thing if you can't pass the bar and that is where my focus is.

Sonofapickle: Not everyone who is poor is a crack whore!  Where do you get your information?  I also happen to support Obama's health plan.  Are you really Anne Coulter?           

Honestly your family is probly just worried that you will lose your drive, your motivation to succeed, if you sit out another year and have too much time on your hands as well as more time to get even more depressed about the lack of options out here.

I don't know them, could be wrong, but them being willing to pay sounds like they want to you to strike while your iron's hot.  That said, they're willing to pay! Milk that!  lol

Well, at least the school was honest with you as to why their attrition was the way it was.  I would say with all the talk of law schools lying, there are nuggets of truth out there...so if you have a scholarship there and they are being straight with you and your parents are willing to pay and they feed into a market you want to live and work in...sounds like the start of a plan to me!  Just keep doing your research and make the final decision of whether to go or not YOURS. Cause if you get there and hate it none of us and none of your family will take over for you.

Once you decide, read Matthies' thread floating around here, advice to 1Ls, on how to get a job...it's good to know those things before the crush of 1L begins.

[legalized]

Oh and you're welcome! :-)