Law at Deakin Burwood or at La Trobe?

[Christiano]

I got a first round offer for commerce/law @ Deakin Burwood. I am waiting for a 2nd round offer from La Trobe for straight Law. However, I'm not quite sure what to do in the event that I do receive an offer; my plan originally was to:

-get into La Trobe, take science electives and transfer to Monash Law/Science after a year
-do the same thing, except transfer into Law/Science at la trobe and finish my studies there

However now that I am in Deakin Comm/Law, I'm not sure if I should stick with this degree or take the La Trobe offer (if I do get it). From what I gather, Deakin Comm/Law is making a name for itself especially on the corporate side of things. However, La Trobe is much more closer to me (25 min drive) as opposed to Deakin (almost an hour drive) and would be more convenient to travel to, plus I would know quite a few people there (I don't know anyone going Deakin).

I would love to transfer to Monash law after a year at either uni, but in case this doesn't happen, which university would be preferable to complete my law double degree? In terms of employability, opportunities, quality of teaching, etc? Or perhaps some anecdotal things you may have heard about either unis.

I am not really fussed about whether I do commerce or science for the other part of the degree, but I have a general feeling that the science faculty is 'better' at La Trobe and the commerce faculty is 'better' at Deakin.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[ninwa]

Stick with Deakin if you can't get into Monash

[grevenchorf]

Agreed. Furthermore, I'd way prefer Comm/Law over Law - you will actually drive yourself crazy doing a straight Law degree. You need something to break it up a bit.

[Christiano]

Yeah, I was never planning to complete straight law, but I have to do it for my first year at La Trobe because I didn't have methods prereq for Science/Law so the plan was to do straight law for a year + science electives and then transfer at the end of the year.

Would it be easy to transfer from Comm/Law to Science/Law at deakin midyear, in case I don't like commerce?

[ben92]

Here's another vote for Deakin over La Trobe for law. While it's not of Go8 quality, Deakin is the next best thing and certainly in the better half of Australia's law schools.

I'm afraid I can't help with your second question.

[TonyEcon]

Stick with Deakin, I wouldn't advise anyone to do straight law...

[Christiano]

I ended up getting a 2nd round offer for La Trobe straight law, and despite it being only law, I would still take finance/science electives in order to transfer to a double degree after a year. Since I live in the west, I think it will be difficult to maintain a social life with people I meet at Deakin; is it worth trading off the 'prestige' of Deakin for a more integrated social life and the closer vicinity of La Trobe? (Deakin is 50+ minutes by car whereas La Trobe is 30 minutes).

[lynt.br]

go for Latrobe if it is closer. don't underestimate how draining long travel times can be when you have to do it every day or something...
also making contacts is important so if you will find it hard to maintain contact with people at deakin i would prefer latrobe.