U. of Michigan Law School '11

[sockpuppet]

my god, they do everything right, dont they??

I concur. They have by far the most sensible, rational, and easy to deal with policies and processes on every front, of any law school I've dealt with.

[Lothar]

i'm going to back up everything britt said about michigan. i love it so much, i'm actually considering working in detroit this summer.

britt and seagull - are you all going to be around during the ASW? Can we meet you? It'll be a TLS 2011 meets the TLS 2010 moment

-Lothar

[Alexandria]

I haven't been here in awhile, but thought I'd stop by because I heard that this place had a big Michigan class! Hi from a current 1L, and let me know if you have any questions. I am definitely in finals freakout mode already (mainly because I have a big seminar paper due, and it is taking away all of my time to study for my main classes), but at a certain point my brain becomes fried and I have to take a break.

It was nice meeting those of you I met on Friday!

[awesomepossum]

Alexandria, did I meet you at the activities fair? I get you confused with one other person from TLS-LSD.

[Alexandria]

Yup! And you IMed me Saturday.

[Ulfrekr]

It was great meeting those of you I ran into at the ASW this weekend, and I'm happy to say my first experience meeting people from the internet was much less creepy and a lot more fun than I might have anticipated. I hope everyone had a fantastic time in A2.

By the by, this is an email my dad sent me. He went to Michigan law in the late 70's, but I thought it might be interesting to see his perspective on the school. He sent this after I mentioned to him the emphasis that they placed on collegiality at the school, and how by the end of the ASW I could see the value in that. Anyway:

One thing I saw many, many times that sort of captures the "collegiality" idea. Particularly your first semester, getting called on in class can be terrifying and traumatic. If someone did a particularly good job, lots of fellow students would congratulate them afterwards----not just their close friends, but other folks in the class as well. Conversely, if someone got raked over the coals, they would get a lot of "Cheer up, it can happen to anyone" comments from other students. Once in a while, if the professor allowed it, a student would volunteer to try and bail out a student who was having trouble--not to show off, but to try and get the first student off of the hook. It was only when the the true buttheads (and there were very few) screwed up that other students would smirk. Also, I heard stories from lawyers I knew who went to other schools about the key library books being hidden by other students, attempts at basically badgering students to get them to let the badger copy outlines the student had personally made, and similar "in your face" stuff. I never, ever heard any of that at Michigan. Even the moot court competition-----which is you and your partner against two fellow students, with only one team advancing----was not a "me versus you" mindset. Not to be too corny, but the feeling overall, especially when it most mattered (the first year) was very similar to being on a team. You and your classmates VS "THE LAW", as it were. I of course have no way of knowing how much of this was still true, but every comment you made seemed very familiar. Just as [another school] seems to attract and/or create A-holes, Michigan seems to attract and nourish truly decent people.

[awesomepossum]

holy crap! your dad went to michigan law?!?!?!?!

[Ulfrekr]

Yeah, my dad and my mom's sister. I mean, my dad and the sister of my mother, not the sister of my dad and my mom. That would be weird.

[stotan]

britt, are you the one on the DVD?

[just a girl]

yeah that's her.

[stotan]

awesome. she's like a celebrity.

[mildmannered]

I should be moved from the "undecided" list to the list for people starting in summer. i decided to commit after the ASW.

by the way - i went to the ASW and I missed both of the TLS planned meet-up times for one reason or another, and then after that i felt too shy to ask people if they were on TLS, so I don't know if I met any of you or not. I wanted to... it will just have to wait till summer I guess

Also, is anyone here planning to bring a car? I am thinking of driving my stuff up in summer, but then selling my car before fall. There's no room in the student budget for a $220 car payment every month! I hope I can get around well enough without one. It is very cool to finally be seeing what the actual financial impact of this education is going to be. I figure that I will have around $107,000 in debt when i graduate. That will be interesting!

[viv]

mild--yay for you knowing where you're going! Must relieve a lot of stress.

And I envy your positive outlook. Usually people don't use the words "cool" or "interesting" when describing the anticipated debt...

[elderberries]

--

[aguyingeorgia]

Ah, Michigan, how ye tempt me so.

[awesomepossum]

mildmannered added. Given the date, I'm only going to add people who are actually attending now....also because I'm lazy.

[mildmannered]

Thanks for updating my status!

Usually people don't use the words "cool" or "interesting" when describing the anticipated debt...

That's true. I think its just good to finally have everything becoming more concrete. I know where I'm going to school, what my loans will be, approximately how much my housing will cost. I know that if I want to pay off my loans in ten years, I will have payments of about $1300 per month after I graduate. I am pretty close to knowing where my daughter will be going to school. Its good to not just still be imagining how it will be.

[cooldog86]

Man....I'll prolly apply to Mich for next yr, done taking my LSAT, actually did my undergrad in Mich for Math and Econ, although I hear they're not too keen on picking their own for Law school, hope thats a rumor. But yeah, the Law school is fantastic, I took a few Econ classes in the law quad area, somewhat dimly lit classrooms but I think they're working on it due to student suggestions. My LSAT is pretty good but with my dismal GPA of 2.9...Im definitely going to keep my fingers crossed, but congrats to all of you and I hope to see some of you in Ann Arbor this fall..it is a great town, although football will probably suck next year...Terrelle Pryor is a lil b****. Eh..anyway good luck to those waiting on admission and congrats to those who got in!

[scarletmuse]

Man....I'll prolly apply to Mich for next yr, done taking my LSAT, actually did my undergrad in Mich for Math and Econ, although I hear they're not too keen on picking their own for Law school, hope thats a rumor. But yeah, the Law school is fantastic, I took a few Econ classes in the law quad area, somewhat dimly lit classrooms but I think they're working on it due to student suggestions. My LSAT is pretty good but with my dismal GPA of 2.9...Im definitely going to keep my fingers crossed, but congrats to all of you and I hope to see some of you in Ann Arbor this fall..it is a great town, although football will probably suck next year...Terrelle Pryor is a lil b****. Eh..anyway good luck to those waiting on admission and congrats to those who got in!

It's very much a rumor. A HUGE number of students here are UofM undergrads.

[Rayster]

Man....I'll prolly apply to Mich for next yr, done taking my LSAT, actually did my undergrad in Mich for Math and Econ, although I hear they're not too keen on picking their own for Law school, hope thats a rumor. But yeah, the Law school is fantastic, I took a few Econ classes in the law quad area, somewhat dimly lit classrooms but I think they're working on it due to student suggestions. My LSAT is pretty good but with my dismal GPA of 2.9...Im definitely going to keep my fingers crossed, but congrats to all of you and I hope to see some of you in Ann Arbor this fall..it is a great town, although football will probably suck next year...Terrelle Pryor is a lil b****. Eh..anyway good luck to those waiting on admission and congrats to those who got in!

It's very much a rumor. A HUGE number of students here are UofM undergrads.

http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestu ... ntbodydist

Umich is the only listed school with 100+ students, making Umich undergrads overrepresented.

[cooldog86]

lotta michigan undergrads? thats interesting, I usually hear how they want representation of different schools..but anyway... to the important part...bars and clubs discussion! Hmmm...do Ricks, as an undergrad last yr I saw a lotta law schoolers at Ricks, its kinda fratty but they're strict on IDs so its strictly over 21, it doesn't hop until a lil past 12 so get your drink on at the Brown Jug right next to Ricks...for the pervy guys(just jokin) who like younger girls you have scorekeepers, another bar/club, they check ID but usually its the 21 and under crowd which rolls in with fakes, fratty but girls look prime, you can dance if you want to but you can also drink by the bar. CAUTION:guys MAY grope..nasty look can work. The classy bars on Main St are mostly grad students and the townies, you wont find many UGs there, so if thats your draw venture there. Ah and then comes necto...good top 40 selection, dark club, good DJ, even has a gay night, so it definitely does draw a big crowd. Guys: Ladies may be bigger than expected. Girls: Guys WILL grope.

Now, why take my advice? My GPA, two years of these activities gives me good authority I feel. Nightlife in general is pretty good in Ann Arbor, but hey, you could always manage a fun trip to Windsor, Canada or always go the three hours to Chicago and enjoy yourself. Make sure to attend atleast one football tailgate.

[britt2010]

http://www.vault.com/lawschool/top25/

[awesomepossum]

britt...as much as I love that ranking......there's something off about it.

BTW, I guess J is happy no Terelle Pryor eh?

[britt2010]

I don't know. It's for firms. For each class 360ish we get 700+ employers for OCI, etc.

[awesomepossum]

I'm not saying that's not impressive. I'm just talking about what the whole list says.