Pepperdine or Loyola???

[yhbca]

Hi Everyone...

Can someone offer some input??? I was accepted to Loyola and Pepperdine (rejected from UCLA...bummer!) Anyways....Both are tier 2 schools but Loyola is ranked slightly higher than Pepperdine. However, Pepperdine is offering twice as much $$ as Loyola. Which one should I choose? Obviously if it was UCLA and Pepperdine...I would of course go to UCLA, but between Loyola and Pepperdine with $$$?


Please Help???

Thanks. Yhbca

[AaronRCheng]

Visit the campuses.  Loyola is in the ghetto of Los Angeles, but it does generally place better Pepperdine.  It has a larger network presence in BigLaw than Pepperdine.  If you graduate say in the top 30% of your class from Loyola vs. graduating the top 30% of your class at Pepperdine, you will probably have more opportunities, but either way, you'll need to hussle for placement.

I just visited Pepperdine today - The campus is pretty insane, sitting atop the Malibu Canyons overlooking miles of the Pacific Ocean.  The campus setting is much like a resort... HOWEVER, the facilities themselves (classrooms, apartments, library) are quite old.  You still have the ammenities such as wireless internet and such, but the buildings and the architecture are definitely dated. 

I am still waiting on Loyola, but if I'm admitted there, I would choose Loyola over Pepperdine.  What kind of scholarships are you being offered?  Now if Pepperdine offered me money, then I would have to reconsider.  If they offered me $10K a year more than Loyola, I would still go to Loyola.  If we're talking like a $20k/ a year renewable, thats just money in the bag and I would take Pepperdine.

[yhbca]

Hey thanks for the reply. Loyola is giving me $15,000 and Pepperdine is giving me $25,500 a year... So what do you think? I don't care much about the setting or where the school is located. What I do care about is being able to get a job after I graduate. So I want to know if taking the money at Pepperdine will actually hinder my ability to make money in the future by not being able to get a good job????Please help. Thanks. YHBCA

[AaronRCheng]

that extra $10K a year probably isn't guaranteed unless you place in the top 25-30% of your class, so you should really only look as the overall price difference being about $10,500.  Though thats considerable, you will probably make up for a good portion of it from cost of living expenses.  If you haven't started researching, housing around Pepperdine (Malibu) is RIDICULOUSLY expensive.  On campus apartment (your own bedroom, but share a bathroom and kitchen w/ 4 people) costs a whopping $11,500 per year.  Other housing around the area such as Santa Monica is a good 15-20 min drive and will still cost you about $1300-1500 for a single bedroom.  You do have a choice to live in Calabasas which is about 20 min away for about $1000-1200 for a single bedroom.

Loyola on the other hand is in the ghetto with no on campus housing, but because it is so central in Los Angeles, you have a variety of affordable choices from which to commute. 

And in the end, yes, it will be easier to land a job from Loyola simply because of its proximity to a majority of firms in Los Angeles.  Its network in those firms is extensive and will open up many doors for you.  I really hope they admit me, I would drop pepperdine in a heartbeat.

[wannaB1L]

It depends on you. I would choose Pepperdine. Start looking up Law firm employees, and in their bio's you will see alot of Loyola and Pepperdine, a good number from Southwestern, a few Whittiers, and even one La Verne in a good firm (La Verne just got ABA this year). Dean Ken Starr has a lot of contacts and is even the head of some LawSchool Dean thing. I like Pepp because I went to undergrad in commie north Cal (yes I am a former socialist)and grad school at underachiever lefty state school. I want to go to a school in the real world, not some bleeding heart school that is alienated from big business.Plus I surf, so I always go to a school near the beach, this is also how I chose my internship in the Carribean when I was an under-grad. This kind of thinking places Chapman and Whittier in the Tier 3 group in my own book, and it puts Pepp at about number 60, just above Loyola in the rankings. I think you would do as well or as bad (depending on you) at either Loyola or Pepp. My dad does business in Orange County mostly, and he knows a successful Western State grad- though I myself would never go there (I hope).

[flydog]

If the difference is only 10k I vote Loyola especially if you want to do any type of trial work

[ellay]

I'm taking Loyola PT over Pepperdine FT

[pinkybella]

I'm taking Loyola PT over Pepperdine FT

Unless there's a lot of $$$ involved at Pepperdine, I'd probably do the same.

Agreed.

[ellay]

 

[DrPepperGuy]

Hi Everyone...

Can someone offer some input??? I was accepted to Loyola and Pepperdine (rejected from UCLA...bummer!) Anyways....Both are tier 2 schools but Loyola is ranked slightly higher than Pepperdine. However, Pepperdine is offering twice as much $$ as Loyola. Which one should I choose? Obviously if it was UCLA and Pepperdine...I would of course go to UCLA, but between Loyola and Pepperdine with $$$?


Please Help???

Thanks. Yhbca

It really depends on what you are looking for in your law school experience and post law school jobs. Overall in your situation, I would go to Pepperdine and take the $$$. Some people say that going to Loyola in downtown LA doesnt affect them but I visited the campus and it really isnt in a nice area....actually, its a nasty area. Pepperdine is in Malibu, ENOUGH SAID! Rankings are pretty close to each other so it will depend on your class rank anyways to get a good job.

Go with Pepperdine, thats my vote for your situation.