I have received acceptance letters from USC and Pepperdine for LLM beginning i Fall 2014. Any suggestions which one is a better option?
Thank you

What will you be studying? I think that will be the key issue. USC is a great school and generally ranked higher. My problem with USC is that it's in a pretty gross area. But at least it's close to all the action in LA... Pepperdine is a very good school. It's out in Malibu so the setting is beautiful. The downside is that you're slightly removed from the city. Pepperdine has possibly the best Arbitration and Mediation programs in North America. If you plan to study Mediation/Arbitration then Pepperdine is by far the better choice.

Hi
Thanks for replying. I applied for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine and got through, however I am confused as to which one to pick as Pepperdine is ranked No. 1 in dispute resolution however USC is ranked higher overall even for its Graduate programs.

I can imagine. Basically you need to decide if the USC brand is worth more to you than the program itself at Pepperdine. People that are knowledgeable about Dispute Resolution know that Pepperdine has a better program in that specialty. Ultimately, it's always a personal decision. For me, I would take Pepperdine for the value of that specialized program. But if it were between say Pepperdine and Harvard or Stanford, my answer might be different. Congratulations on getting in. A lot of people could be envious of your dilemma.

Thank you GrumpyJD, that was valuable insight. Being an international student the task of selection becomes even more difficult as we are not really aware of the practical situations.
I will be waiting for a reply from a few more places, which are taking painfully long to respond and thus increase my dilemma. As of now I am again swinging towards Pepperdine :)

Hi Anushka,

How are you?

I just wanted to ask how was your overall experience at pepperdine, I too have applied and would be enrolling this fall. Anything you could share ?