CALaw717 (2016-2017)

Lots of professional experience
Strongly uptrending grades
Good LORs/Softs

Listed 3.0 GPA to preserve anonymity. It's relatively close to 3.0.

California Western - full ride with the most insane stipulations I've ever heard of. "In the event that you transfer from CWSL at any time, or do not take the California bar exam as stated above, you will no longer be eligible for this scholarship and you must repay to CWSL the total value of the scholarship awarded up to that point." Buyer BEWARE!

McGeorge - Surprisingly low scholarship offer (especially considering they're now nearly in US News unranked territory) and they wouldn't negotiate.

Schools that entertained scholarship negotiations from original offer: Hastings, San Diego, Southwestern (I've listed original offers here)

Schools that didn't entertain scholarship negotiations: Chapman, McGeorge, Loyola.

I also visited a lot of schools and sat in on classes at many. For those who can't visit the school before deciding where to attend, I thought this may help:

McGeorge - At least for the last academic year, they have a no laptop in-class use policy for 1Ls. They say it's to keep students engaged in active discussion, but the huge 1L class I sat in on, the professor tried to get people to participate, but only one did. Largely, the group seemed really unmotivated and many people were playing around on their phones under their desks.

Chapman - Chatted with students before the class started, they asked me what other schools I was considering and as soon as I mentioned Hastings & Loyola, they asked why I was still considering Chapman. I said honestly, because of the better scholarship. They said pay more money and go to a better school, and that finding good legal jobs out of Chapman was extremely difficult. After class one of those students flat out recommended not to attend Chapman. That's from their own students! The engagement and caliber of the students is right where their numbers are - noticeably better than Southwestern and McGeorge, noticeable worse than San Diego/Pepperdine/Hastings/Loyola. Also, their median grades allowed for 1Ls is lower than for 2L and 3L, which has the effect of limiting the opportunity of higher-ranked students' abilities to transfer to better schools after 1L year. Other lower-ranked schools use similar tactics, so ask questions! One example is USF Law median GPA after 1L year is just over a 3.0 while at Hastings it's over a 3.2. At Chapman I believe the median GPA after 1L year is a 2.9 or maybe even lower than that.

Southwestern - Students were noticeably more engaged and frankly more interesting to chat with than McGeorge students, but still several checking their phones and not actively engaged in class.

Hastings/San Diego/Loyola/Pepperdine/Irvine - HUGE difference. Many students participating, better professors, all allowed laptops, and no one was regularly on their phone - most I didn't see touch their phone once. At Pepperdine, when I asked a non-Christian student (as I'm not religious) how it was attending as a non-Christian he said, "The administration doesn't so much care if you're Christian, as long as you're spiritual." So, there's that...