Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) Class of 2015 Forum

[me!0712]

bigtexmex did you go to UTEP?? I am graduating from UTEP this may!

[bigtexmex]

bigtexmex did you go to UTEP?? I am graduating from UTEP this may!

Very cool.

I graduated with my BA from UT and received my Masters Degree in History from UTEP. Worked as a TA in undergrad history courses.

Attending Berkeley or considering other schools? If you are and are attending the ASW, maybe we can get together ahead of time (when does the Chipotle on Mesa open?) to split costs of a room or something for the trip.

[me!0712]

bigtexmex did you go to UTEP?? I am graduating from UTEP this may!

Very cool.

I graduated with my BA from UT and received my Masters Degree in History from UTEP. Worked as a TA in undergrad history courses.

Attending Berkeley or considering other schools? If you are and are attending the ASW, maybe we can get together ahead of time (when does the Chipotle on Mesa open?) to split costs of a room or something for the trip.

Oh ok. Thats cool. My friend went to UT for undergrad then transfered to UTEP. Im getting my BA in Political Science in May. At this point Im pretty much set on Berkeley because they are the only school that has gotten back to me, but, I've been thinking about it alot and I think even if I were to get into some of the other schools I've applied to I would still probably choose Berkeley. How about you?

Yeah I am attending the ASW with my family though. But I can still meet up to discuss where I might be staying and prices and stuff. I dont know when the Chipotle on Mesa opens though

[bigtexmex]

bigtexmex did you go to UTEP?? I am graduating from UTEP this may!

Very cool.

I graduated with my BA from UT and received my Masters Degree in History from UTEP. Worked as a TA in undergrad history courses.

Attending Berkeley or considering other schools? If you are and are attending the ASW, maybe we can get together ahead of time (when does the Chipotle on Mesa open?) to split costs of a room or something for the trip.

Oh ok. Thats cool. My friend went to UT for undergrad then transfered to UTEP. Im getting my BA in Political Science in May. At this point Im pretty much set on Berkeley because they are the only school that has gotten back to me, but, I've been thinking about it alot and I think even if I were to get into some of the other schools I've applied to I would still probably choose Berkeley. How about you?

Yeah I am attending the ASW with my family though. But I can still meet up to discuss where I might be staying and prices and stuff. I dont know when the Chipotle on Mesa opens though

PM.

Anyway, that is really awesome. Congratulations.

[me!0712]

It is awesome! Congratulations to you too!!

[bigtexmex]

I'm starting to understand the "Berkeley Standard Time."

Still waiting...

[forward]

For what it's worth, I picked Boalt over NYU (and a number of other schools). I visited NYU and found the school to be a bit stuffy and somewhat arrogant. I'm also not convinced that New York is actually livable. I haven't regretted the decision once.

Right now I'm debating between NYU and Berkeley (and possibly Michigan with $), so I might be sending you some questions about your decision as I do more research on the schools. Would you mind explaining in more detail why you ended up choosing Boalt over NYU?

A variety of reasons; some specific to me, some with general applicability, and some that I'm not comfortable sharing here (but that I might be willing to discuss privately). But first, let me say that I have all the respect in the world for NYU and think it is a great institution. It wasn't right for me, but I'm not trying to diss it.

-$: NYU was going to be far more expensive. Boalt has a reputation for being stingy with merit aid, but I lucked out. The slight difference in ranking wasn't worth the significant difference in cost.
-Weather: I grew up in a cold place, and was thus tired of cold, long winters. It's in the 60s this week. It has hardly rained.
-Peers: Boalt isn't perfect, but no law school is. The very nature of the endeavor draws douchebags. But I think there are far fewer here than at most places.
-School environment: NYU just struck me as pretentious when I visited. Some people like that. It wasn't for me.
-PI: Obviously, NYU has a great PI reputation, but I think Boalt as an institution is more committed to it (IMHO). It permeates everything here. 1Ls get to do clinical stuff. Specifically, Boalt has a much stronger social & economic justice community than NYU (at least, this was my perception when I was visiting). I've been sufficiently satisfied with the people I've been able to meet and opportunities I've had. If I wanted to do government instead of public interest firms, I might feel differently. This one is a close call. TLS would say NYU wins here, but I think it's a coin flip.
-Location: I wanted to be near/in San Francisco more than New York. The latter seems unmanageable, and I didn't want to resort to (hella overpriced) dorm living at NYU. I'm really not sure how one can live affordably in New York and not be terribly far from school or in the dorms. For what I want to do, Boalt is a much better choice (though, admittedly, I didn't know that when I picked it).
-Grading System: it can cut both ways, but I think it's been to my benefit so far. It's competitive here, but people aren't awful about it (or, at least, as forthrightly awful) because there just isn't a chance to distinguish yourself here to the same extent. You have to make a judgment call, based on what you think you want to do and how confident you are in your likely 1L performance, with regard to the benefit or detriment of our system. It's worked out for me, and I'm not saying that because I'm racking up alot of P's (I'm not).

Happy to answer more specific questions, but email is better because I don't check TLS often with school in session. PM me with an addy and I'll be in touch.

[Genki]

For what it's worth, I picked Boalt over NYU (and a number of other schools). I visited NYU and found the school to be a bit stuffy and somewhat arrogant. I'm also not convinced that New York is actually livable. I haven't regretted the decision once.

Right now I'm debating between NYU and Berkeley (and possibly Michigan with $), so I might be sending you some questions about your decision as I do more research on the schools. Would you mind explaining in more detail why you ended up choosing Boalt over NYU?

A variety of reasons; some specific to me, some with general applicability, and some that I'm not comfortable sharing here (but that I might be willing to discuss privately). But first, let me say that I have all the respect in the world for NYU and think it is a great institution. It wasn't right for me, but I'm not trying to diss it.

-$: NYU was going to be far more expensive. Boalt has a reputation for being stingy with merit aid, but I lucked out. The slight difference in ranking wasn't worth the significant difference in cost.
-Weather: I grew up in a cold place, and was thus tired of cold, long winters. It's in the 60s this week. It has hardly rained.
-Peers: Boalt isn't perfect, but no law school is. The very nature of the endeavor draws douchebags. But I think there are far fewer here than at most places.
-School environment: NYU just struck me as pretentious when I visited. Some people like that. It wasn't for me.
-PI: Obviously, NYU has a great PI reputation, but I think Boalt as an institution is more committed to it (IMHO). It permeates everything here. 1Ls get to do clinical stuff. Specifically, Boalt has a much stronger social & economic justice community than NYU (at least, this was my perception when I was visiting). I've been sufficiently satisfied with the people I've been able to meet and opportunities I've had. If I wanted to do government instead of public interest firms, I might feel differently. This one is a close call. TLS would say NYU wins here, but I think it's a coin flip.
-Location: I wanted to be near/in San Francisco more than New York. The latter seems unmanageable, and I didn't want to resort to (hella overpriced) dorm living at NYU. I'm really not sure how one can live affordably in New York and not be terribly far from school or in the dorms. For what I want to do, Boalt is a much better choice (though, admittedly, I didn't know that when I picked it).
-Grading System: it can cut both ways, but I think it's been to my benefit so far. It's competitive here, but people aren't awful about it (or, at least, as forthrightly awful) because there just isn't a chance to distinguish yourself here to the same extent. You have to make a judgment call, based on what you think you want to do and how confident you are in your likely 1L performance, with regard to the benefit or detriment of our system. It's worked out for me, and I'm not saying that because I'm racking up alot of P's (I'm not).

Happy to answer more specific questions, but email is better because I don't check TLS often with school in session. PM me with an addy and I'll be in touch.

Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

[bigtexmex]

edit:
Never mind. Issue resolved.

[Rotor]

Anyone know if tuition is gonna keep increasing? Berk would be my undisputed top choice if I got even just a little bit of money

The graph of tuition increase was incredibly alarming (though obviously not predictive)... it was something like $30k a few years ago, and less than $5k up until a decade ago. I got the impression that this was for IS people, though.

Just for the record, the pace of tuition increases over the last three years was a planned move by the dean to make some vastly needed investments to improve student:faculty ratio and increase the financial aid coffers (primarily for LRAP, but others have benefitted too). The goal was to keep our tuition at five percent less than our private peers. Of course that's something of a guessing game so I don't think they have quite hit that number. BUT now that we are with/past those peers, I would anticipate things flattening out to match the increases of our peers.

I'm a 3L who missed out on all those cut-rate tuition bills, but in my mind the dean's plan is protecting my investment by keeping us in the top 10. Had we continued to spend a fraction of other peers, we would have fallen quite a bit.

[jtemp320]

I haven't posted on here since I started law school but I am happy to discuss my first year experience at Boalt if you want to PM me. I definitely have mostly very positive impressions to share but like all law schools (I think...or at least among my choices) its not without its drawbacks. I had a lot of good options and went through a really difficult decision process so I know how hard these decisions are so again happy to answer any questions w/ total honesty. The short answer is that there probably is not a wrong answer if you are considering Boalt and other T14 schools - go where you think you'll be happy and then don't look back, just work really really hard and have some fun when you can. Congrats, good luck with your decision, and looking forward to hopefully seeing you at admit weekend.

[Elliott_Smith]

Trying to put together plans for the ASW - How does lodging usually work? Are we on our own for hotels? Do current students help put us up?

[bigtexmex]

Trying to put together plans for the ASW - How does lodging usually work? Are we on our own for hotels? Do current students help put us up?

I decided to ask a family member to let me stay (lives near a BART station south of Oakland), but I'm guessing they will allow you to get in touch with students. 300 dollars is too little to offset flight/hotel costs. The flight alone for most is easily over 300.

[Tanicius]

::waves hand::

Totally willing to spot someone my couch for ASW. Just send me a PM if you've decided you're going to visit.

[smokeylarue]

Trying to put together plans for the ASW - How does lodging usually work? Are we on our own for hotels? Do current students help put us up?

Apparently student groups usually volunteer to help house students every year, so I'm totally banking on that instead of a hotel.

[Rotor]

Trying to put together plans for the ASW - How does lodging usually work? Are we on our own for hotels? Do current students help put us up?

Apparently student groups usually volunteer to help house students every year, so I'm totally banking on that instead of a hotel.

True(ish) statement. It's not just the student groups. The admissions office gets volunteers from all students--but they will try to hook you up with a group if you have a particular interest.

[AmandaPB]

Just purchased my plane tickets for ASW. See you all there!

[Real Madrid]

Just purchased my plane tickets for ASW. See you all there!

I did so a couple of weeks ago. I'll be flying internationally - about 15 hours total each way - to visit Boalt! I really hope I like it, because I've never been to the Bay Area.

[me!0712]

I bought my tickets a couple of days ago too!! Excited!!

On another note. I got a UT call today.... Decisions...

[bigtexmex]

I bought my tickets a couple of days ago too!! Excited!!

On another note. I got a UT call today.... Decisions...

Don't take UT.

No, you know I have a soft spot for my Longhorns.

Congrats on UT and I hope to see everyone at ASW.

[me!0712]

I bought my tickets a couple of days ago too!! Excited!!

On another note. I got a UT call today.... Decisions...

Don't take UT.

No, you know I have a soft spot for my Longhorns.

Congrats on UT and I hope to see everyone at ASW.

Lol! Thanks.


I hope to see everyone at ASW too!

[Champion]

Also just booked my ticket to ASW! Looking forward to seeing everyone.

[Elliott_Smith]

When are people flying back? It doesn't seem like anything happens on Sunday, so I was thinking about a Saturday flight so that I won't have to take more time off work

Edit:

So went ahead and booked through Sunday anyways.

Needless to say, I'm very excited.

[Elliott_Smith]

So, I still need to fill out the scholarship interest form.

Do I just check everything I'm eligible for? How did people approach extra essay/s?

[Champion]

So, yeah, the last day of ASW at Berkeley (April 15th) is the same day that my deposit to Chicago is due. Should get interesting.