Can anyone help?

USC (with scholarship) vs Duke (full price)

I plan to sit California bar. Checked with Calbar both are ok.

Please help to advise. In addition I hope to enrol a good school so that I could get a short term job in the US before returning to home, Asia.

I have another 5 days to decide pls help.

If you want to take the CA bar and a short term job in CA, with your scholarship, isn't USC a no brainer? I feel like so many people on this forum underappreciate the value of networking.

The only way I'd seriously consider Duke here is if the money is no object to you and Duke has a much much better reputation in your home country. Duke Law is a big time name in the US but does it have the same reputation abroad? But for a short term job in the US, I'd still think USC. As a CA licensed attorney, the market is tough enough with the massive number of JDs flooding in here. I would bet it's even harder for an international LLM. Might as well increase your chances. I can't see it being easy getting a job here even with a Duke LLM although perhaps it would be a boon to you when you go back.

HI!

In Latin America the reputation of Duke and USC are nearly the same for employers, I do not in your home country.

If your intentions is to sit to CA Bar I think that the best option is USC (I read that for JDs have the best pass rate) and they have a strong network.

I think that the only schools that worth to pay full price is Yale, Harvard and Stanford.

Thanks for your reply !!

If you want to take the CA bar and a short term job in CA, with your scholarship, isn't USC a no brainer? I feel like so many people on this forum underappreciate the value of networking.

The only way I'd seriously consider Duke here is if the money is no object to you and Duke has a much much better reputation in your home country. Duke Law is a big time name in the US but does it have the same reputation abroad? But for a short term job in the US, I'd still think USC. As a CA licensed attorney, the market is tough enough with the massive number of JDs flooding in here. I would bet it's even harder for an international LLM. Might as well increase your chances. I can't see it being easy getting a job here even with a Duke LLM although perhaps it would be a boon to you when you go back.

Thanks !!

HI!

In Latin America the reputation of Duke and USC are nearly the same for employers, I do not in your home country.

If your intentions is to sit to CA Bar I think that the best option is USC (I read that for JDs have the best pass rate) and they have a strong network.

I think that the only schools that worth to pay full price is Yale, Harvard and Stanford.

Hi, I've been USC once and I could share some feelings about it for your reference. USC locates at downtown area of LA, I've been there last year around this time, people in CA are pretty nice and the living quality would be much better there than Duke. A friend of mine studied at USC last year, lived in Lorenzo, a GREAT apartment. Also, USC would organize some activities for law school students, it's a good way to do some social work. Considering you are going to take CA bar, it may have some edges being there I guess. The other friend of mine is enrolling in USC recently, I could ask him about more info of 2017-2018 class

[Edited by AndyHuo on Apr 11, 2017]

Aren't you the same guy who applied Duke and kept asking if there was any news? Hmm.. thanks !

Hi, I've been USC once and I could share some feelings about it for your reference. USC locates at downtown area of LA, I've been there last year around this time, people in CA are pretty nice and the living quality would be much better there than Duke. A friend of mine studied at USC last year, lived in Lorenzo, a GREAT apartment. Also, USC would organize some activities for law school students, it's a good way to do some social work. Considering you are going to take CA bar, it may have some edges being there I guess. The other friend of mine is enrolling in USC recently, I could ask him about more info of 2017-2018 class

USC is not downtown, but south of downtown by a few miles. The surrounding area is not good (you're not going to want to walk from USC to downtown, but the campus is beautiful and safe.

Duke is obviously in a much smaller city, a college town if you will. Again, both schools are fantastic but if you want to take the CA bar and work in CA, USC is going to be a better bet.

Employers in LA aren't going to say, "Well we have a Duke LLM candidate and a USC LLM candidate, I guess we will hire the Duke one because the Duke JD program is ranked a few spots higher." You're going to need all the help you can get landing a legal job in LA not having a JD from a top school, why make it harder on yourself? I am a CA licensed attorney with a domestic JD with significant connections and ties to LA, great experience clerking for judges and working at firms in NYC, and it was very hard for me to land a job in LA. Same goes for many of my friends. My point is you have a scholarship to the best/second best law school in LA, might as well help yourself out.