?'s about Berkeley Forum

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:06 pm

Hey TLSers, I am a Berkeley 1L, LSAD (our version of BLSA). Any questions about Berk? Or 1L year? Good luck on your cycle!

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:38 pm

Thanks for doing that! I couldn't find a website for you guys and your 509 report is a little concerning. Is there a cohesive URM community at Berkeley? Do you partner with other local school groups?

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:41 pm

What is the learning environment like? Is it really as laid back as it seems?

Do you have any insight for URM hiring for 1/2/3L?

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:00 am

DiniMae wrote:Thanks for doing that! I couldn't find a website for you guys and your 509 report is a little concerning. Is there a cohesive URM community at Berkeley? Do you partner with other local school groups?

No problem! The LSAD community is a tight knit group, we are like a family. Partnering with other local school groups? At Berk, many of the affinity groups partner with each other. For example, La Raza and LSAD will host events together. Also, there is a Coalition for Diversity affinity group, for all diverse law students -- helps to bridge between the different groups.

For outside schools, we do events such as at the beginning of the year all there was a BLSA Bay Area picnic at Lake Merritt, great time to meet other BLSA members at our neighbooring schools.

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:08 am

DiniMae wrote:What is the learning environment like? Is it really as laid back as it seems?

Do you have any insight for URM hiring for 1/2/3L?

Yes, it really is as laid back as it seem. Clearly being a 1L you're always going to be nervous, worried, stressed whatever...but at Berk, I feel like I wasn't going as crazy as my friends at other schools. If you come to Admitted Students Weekend you will hopefully get a feel of the schools vibe. Definitley chill people. There are gunners! Don't get me wrong, but overall most people work together.

URM hiring, I was told by a current 3L, that every URM 3L who graduated last year had a job they were interested in (I was told that, I am not sure though). Hiring really depends on what you are interested in (Firm Life / Public Interest). At Berk it is really spread across the board.

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:47 am

Thanks for answering!!

I have a few more if you don't mind:

-Is a large portion of the student body interested in IP?
-What are three strengths of the school that you've observed thus far?
-What drew you to B over other options?
-Will LSAD have a presence at ASW?
-Have you been given the impression whether being from CA will impact employment?

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:29 am

DiniMae wrote:Thanks for answering!!

I have a few more if you don't mind:

-Is a large portion of the student body interested in IP?
-What are three strengths of the school that you've observed thus far?
-What drew you to B over other options?
-Will LSAD have a presence at ASW?
-Have you been given the impression whether being from CA will impact employment?

No problem! Keep them coming...

Yes, it seems that a lot of the students are interested in IP. 1L year spring semester you have the option to take whatever class you choose. Some students do Con Law, some do IP, and a few others do something else completely random. Also, there is a lot of money it seems like out there for IP, and as I was applying for summer jobs, I feel like 70% of them said "interested in IP" especially if its a firm.

Strengths, laid back culture (a huge plus as 1L year can be stressful), students really do run the school (great relationship with profs. and students, admins.), and the support system (I have developed with my classmates / affinity groups).

What drew me to B was a personal decision, multiple different factors --from location to AWS.

LSAD presence for ASW. YESSSSS! We are going to have events, you will be getting an e-mail in a few weeks of all the details. I hope everyone who is reading this ATTENDS ASW!

Personally, I am not from CA, so I do know not. But I have never heard of that impacting employment at all. Advice I have been given is, if you want to work in CA, apply to a bunch of places in that location, and tell interviewers that "I only applied to CA places b/c that's where I want to be." ... sell it! lol

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Wed Feb 04, 2015 10:09 am

Thank you so much! I can't wait to meet you all at ASW.

Atmosphere · Post by **Atmosphere** » Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:23 pm

I really love Berkeley, and my sister is an undergrad there, so it's one of my top choices.

Was Boalt your top choice? If not, what was? Are you entirely happy with your decision to attend/are there any negative aspects about it that you've seen?

Thanks!

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:55 pm

Atmosphere wrote:Was Boalt your top choice? If not, what was? Are you entirely happy with your decision to attend/are there any negative aspects about it that you've seen?

Thanks!

Bumping

180kickflip · Post by **180kickflip** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:43 pm

Does Berkeley require Need Access? It seems like FAFSA and the supplemental application are all I need, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Thanks!

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:17 am

Atmosphere wrote:I really love Berkeley, and my sister is an undergrad there, so it's one of my top choices.

Was Boalt your top choice? If not, what was? Are you entirely happy with your decision to attend/are there any negative aspects about it that you've seen?

Thanks!

Atmosphere wrote:
Just seeing these, I do love Berkeley. It was one of my top choices during the process, and at the end it was top choice (clearly that's why I am here). lol

I am very happy with my decision -- in various ways. For those that went to Cal undergrad and are now in the law school, they say that its completely diff. from the undergrad. Most say its better (IDK about that-- I didn't attend for undergrad.) Anymore questions, just let me know!

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:18 am

180kickflip wrote:Does Berkeley require Need Access? It seems like FAFSA and the supplemental application are all I need, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. Thanks!

I am not sure, I cannot quite remember. But just call the financial aid, they'll break it all down. Contact Jamal or Dean Tominaga they are very helpful.

compass · Post by **compass** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 9:32 am

smitten90 wrote:Hey TLSers, I am a Berkeley 1L, LSAD (our version of BLSA). Any questions about Berk? Or 1L year? Good luck on your cycle!

Thanks so much for doing this!

Playing around on LST, I noticed that Berkeley seems to have a lot of people going into PI/gov positions in comparison to other schools. Do you have a sense for why that might be? Is there a particularly strong PI culture? Do a lot of people come in with the intention of doing PI/gov?

smitten90 · Post by **smitten90** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:26 pm

Playing around on LST, I noticed that Berkeley seems to have a lot of people going into PI/gov positions in comparison to other schools. Do you have a sense for why that might be? Is there a particularly strong PI culture? Do a lot of people come in with the intention of doing PI/gov?[/quote]

Yea! Berk has a good number of people who are generally interested in PI. And there's so much PI work in the Bay area. I think it just speaks to the culture of the Berkeley area in general, that give back/ want to help/ advocacy mentality.

I think it goes to what you want to do in general. I came in firm and don't think thats changing. There are opportunities for PI/gov't/firms. We just had a spring OCI.. where one day there were PI/gov't agencies interviewing and the next day was firms. Some people participated in both days, some only did one.

180kickflip · Post by **180kickflip** » Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:46 am

How easy/difficult is it to get reclassified as in-state after 1L?

Also, were the recently proposed tuition increases accepted? Trying to get an idea of what tuition will be (and increase to for 2nd and 3rd years), but I haven't been able to find much info beyond 2014.

Thanks for taking questions!

Atmosphere · Post by **Atmosphere** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:10 pm

If anyone from Boalt/HLS sees this, how competetive is the 3L exchange between Berk & Harvard?

DiniMae · Post by **DiniMae** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:21 pm

Atmosphere wrote:If anyone from Boalt/HLS sees this, how competetive is the 3L exchange between Berk & Harvard?

At the asw Dean Tom said no one from Berkeley asked to go to H this past year, so it doesn't sound super competitive? Maybe call him and confirm?

Atmosphere · Post by **Atmosphere** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:27 pm

DiniMae wrote:
Atmosphere wrote:If anyone from Boalt/HLS sees this, how competetive is the 3L exchange between Berk & Harvard?
At the asw Dean Tom said no one from Berkeley asked to go to H this past year, so it doesn't sound super competitive? Maybe call him and confirm?

Thanks dini, will do

abc2018 · Post by **abc2018** » Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:34 pm

Any thoughts on how easy or difficult it is for Berkeley students to get jobs back east - particularly in NYC? do a lot of NY big law firms show up for OCI? How about PI (not public defense, but rather high impact litigation/advocacy/policy)?

Do you feel like Berkeley professors are available to mentor? Do student's serve as research assistants? co-author papers?

Any noticeable downsides to going to a public school with funding issues?

Thanks so much for the time!

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