Avoid Pepperdine

To anyone considering Pepperdine for law school—don’t do it.

Law school is already stressful, but that stress is magnified when the school’s administration is deeply flawed and makes things far more difficult than they need to be.

I’m not talking about the typical law school challenges. The heavy workload, the unpredictability of curved grades, the fact that some students get weirdly competitive—I was prepared for these things. I knew what I was signing up for to that end. What I didn’t anticipate were the constant administrative obstacles that have done nothing to help me learn the law, pass the bar, or prepare for practice. If anything, they’ve hindered my ability to do all of those things.

At best, the school’s administration is negligent. At worst, it’s a nightmare. For me, it’s been more of the latter. I was able to overlook a few things at first, but the pattern became impossible to ignore over time. It wore me out and eventually took a toll on my mental health. At this point, the school has lost my trust.

To be fair, most of my professors have been great (aside from one). But professors aren’t the ones running the school—the administration is, and that’s where things fell apart for me.

I wish I could go into more detail, but I’d rather not dox myself beyond what I already shared in my initial post (probably too late, but whatevs).

Back when I was researching schools, I noticed there weren’t many personal stories about Pepperdine’s law school on reddit. Truth is, some drink the kool-aid, others are afraid to speak up, and some get by unscathed or don’t care enough to post. That said, I’ve recently learned that undergrads and grad students at Pepperdine are somewhat aware of the law school’s reputation for being “unfair.” While their experiences aren’t firsthand, they might be more willing to share their insights than law students.

If I had known then what I know now, I never would have chosen Pepperdine for law school. I realize that no law school is perfect, but it’s hard to believe that the majority of schools treat their students this way.

I can only speak for myself. I’m sure you could find at least one student who is happy there. But I also know a number of students who are miserable or have already left. I just wanted to share my experience and maybe spare someone else some unnecessary anguish, or at least offer a heads-up.

To those who responded to my initial post with even a modicum of understanding—thank you. Please know that my therapist is helping me work through things. To those who messaged me and haven’t heard back, I’m sorry. I needed a bit of time to re-ground myself so I could respond more thoughtfully.

*edited to update, clarify, include paragraph breaks and attempt to sound a little less “unhinged.”