To be honest, Hastings only makes sense if you have a desire to be in SF, either for school or for a career. It is clear that Hastings places much better than those schools in the Bay Area, for obvious reasons. But those schools most likely place much better than hastings in NY and D.C. If you are simply trying to be as risk adverse as possible, and you view those cities equally, take one of the t20 schools.pixy22 wrote:Hello. I was previously committed to UC hastings but got admitted of the waitlist to T20 (WUSTL/Vandy/Notre Dame). I was admitted to the T20 with the same amount of scholarship money as Hastings. I'm not sure what to do. Hastings will not give me more aid. I have free housing in SF if I live with my family, not an ideal situation. Also cost of living in the T20 city is very low. I would ideally like to practice in SF, DC or NY. No interest in practicing in south or midwest.
Hastings employment prospects are very dismal. However, it seems like a high number of the top 10% transfer to Berkeley or UCLA. Based on my lsat/gpa, I am in the top quarter at Hastings. However, it seems like being median at a T20 is better than median at hastings. And there is no guarantee that I will be top 10% at hastings. It is not possible for me to retake the LSAT (took it several times, studied for months, and took a course).
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The advice I received, and it seems to make sense, is to bank on not being in the top 10%. Like another poster said, everyone is just as smart as you, and law school grading is tricky. With that said, top 1/3 at Hastings will serve you decently well, just not as well as those other schools in their respective markets, and most likely NY (DC seems like a insulated market).
Hope that helps somewhat. I realize it was sort of a babble, but I'm too tired to attempt better.