Los Angeles Law schools

[Manwithaplan]

I have just been accepted to Southwestern Law school. I am pretty sure I got into pepperdine and Loyola also. Can Anyone tell me their impressions about each school? What are the campuses like and how do the social scenes compare? I applied to all these schools blind without knowing much about them accept their ranking and a couple mailers i got.

[redbottlecap]

Southwestern's "campus" basically consists of two buildings: the one containing the classrooms and right next to it, a refurbished department store (an LA historical landmark) that houses the law library.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's in a ghetto, but the neighborhood might get a little sketchy after dark.  Plus, I don't think Christopher Darden teaches there anymore, so you won't even get to hear any cool OJ stories.

Go to Pepperdine or Loyola.  Actually, scratch that.  Go to Pepperdine.  Stay out of LA.

[Groundhog]

FWIW, Loyola is pretty well-respected in LA outside of biglaw, probably better than either of the others.

[shae]

isn't southwestern on wilshire blvd east of west hollywood?

on my way from UCLA to chinatown, i drove by a building that said southwestern law school.

if that is where the school is- bad location.  parking must be impossible.

loyolas campus is in a bad location as well, but lls is well regarded in the LA area.

pepperdine has the best campus, by far.

if you get accepted to all 3 of those school, you should not consider southwestern.

[pinkybella]

For a top 100 school, pepperdine has mediocre job placement (check LSAC.org). I think that is because it is pretty far/isolated from the rest of LA. It seems to me that Loyola does VERY well in LA (and plus it's way higher ranked than Pepperdine). So if I had to choose than I would go Loyola over Pepperdine. And just as an FYI, Southwestern does pretty good in LA too, especially for entertainment law.

[shoppingaddict]

i am in LA right now looking at these schools (minus southwestern).
i was also at the loyola session on friday (snobord: we should have met up or someting) and i thought the campus was ok. not as bad as what everyone says, the architecture was kind of interesting, and even if you hate the way it looks, i don't think a school's appearance should be a deal-breaker. yes, the area did not seem wonderful, but again, it seemed like you go through the parking lot and the security is tight i think, it looked like it was pretty enclosed and secure. i personally am coming straight from undegrad so i'm used to a big campus-y feel, so i think i'd prefer a law school that's part of the bigger campus, but that's a personal thing. on the plus side, the stand alone law school campus seemed conducive to making friensd and stuff, there was a little grassy area and a basketball court (which was kinda random but cute).
then today i went to pepperdine... wow wow wow. i knew it was supposed to be nice, but nothing could have prepared me for the gorgeousness. my numbers are pretty high for pepperdine so i dont think i'd go there, i hope to get into a more highly ranked school, but it really was beautiful, felt like i was at a resort. for any fellow jews who might be concerned, i spoke to a jewish student who said that he was not at all disrespected, profs were good about missing class for holidays etc etc. and there are not crosses everywhere, contrary to my fears. my main problem with pepperdine (aside from rankings, reputations and all that stuff which i have no authority to comment on, i just want to talk about my persomal impressions) is that is IS far from LA, they seem to recommend living on campus which i personally wouldnt want.
i have to run but if anyone has questions about these 2 schools feel free to ask.

[r.]

Stay out of Malibu, Lebowski!

[eclair]

Stay out of Malibu, Lebowski!

i would not worry about being jewish and living like ANYWHERE in our near LA...there are so many jews in LA that it seems that most schools (even many christian ones) are totally understanding about the holidays, which is nice

[pinkybella]

isn't southwestern on wilshire blvd east of west hollywood?

on my way from UCLA to chinatown, i drove by a building that said southwestern law school.

if that is where the school is- bad location.  parking must be impossible.

loyolas campus is in a bad location as well, but lls is well regarded in the LA area.

pepperdine has the best campus, by far.

if you get accepted to all 3 of those school, you should not consider southwestern.

I would pick Southwestern over Pepperdine despite rankings, if you want to practice in LA.

From LSAC.org:


Percent employed after graduation:
Pepperdine: 80%
Southwestern 90%

JMO

[shae]

isn't southwestern on wilshire blvd east of west hollywood?

on my way from UCLA to chinatown, i drove by a building that said southwestern law school.

if that is where the school is- bad location.  parking must be impossible.

loyolas campus is in a bad location as well, but lls is well regarded in the LA area.

pepperdine has the best campus, by far.

if you get accepted to all 3 of those school, you should not consider southwestern.

I would pick Southwestern over Pepperdine despite rankings, if you want to practice in LA.

From LSAC.org:


Percent employed after graduation:
Pepperdine: 80%
Southwestern 90%

JMO

bad idea.  pepperdine >>> southwestern

if you like statistics:

bar passage rate:
pepperdine: 70.1%
southwestern: 56.9% (less than the state passage rate)

employed 9 mos after graduation:
pepperdine: 95.7%
southwestern: 88.4%

ranking:
pepperdine: #77
southwestern: tier 3

so even though southwesterns employment rate and salaries may appear to be higher, just a little over half of their class passes the bar.  i dont know what the other half of their class does for a job- but it is probably not law related.