University of San Diego School of Law Forum

[rugbygal]

I am seriously considering USD....can someone explain how this:

"The one aspect that students (and faculty) do not necessarily like at USD Law School is the grading system. All grading is done on an asymmetrical bell curve, basically a 74 – 93 scale, which is not normal for ABA approved schools. The curve is adjusted for 1Ls, accounting for the fact that they are new to the law school system. However, even this system of adjusting does not always work and around 10% of entering 1st years are failed out of the school. This only makes competition more fierce and forced among students. Another source of competition comes from the fact that many of its students want to do law review, being that USD Law School has one of the higher ranked law reviews in the nation. "

is different from a traditional grading scale?

I'm pretty sure that USD changed their method of grading about a year ago. They now have a system that is the same as most other curves at other law schools. You can check out the actual grading system on their website...it has exact numbers.

[BigMcLargehuge]

I Just got back from USD 4 days ago. The campus is beyond gorgeous, student body too. The campus housing is really nice especially since they are starting a new peogram for law students that allows them to be RA's in the Manchester dorm and the rooms are huge. Not a bad gig at all considering cost of living in SD and everything is free. My biggest problems were with the job market after graduation. My aunt is a judge in SD and her husband is one of the more prominent private attorney's in the area and they both said unless I want to practice in LA there are no BigLaw jobs in SD and I REFUSE to live in L.A.. They both said it is a wonderful place for tax, patent, and government jobs as san diego has a huge retirement community and there is lots of production from tech and bio companies located in an around SD. Finally, for me, I decided I probably won't be attending but it is definitely one of my safety's due to the fact that I could probably get schoalrship and who wouldnt want to live in san diego and get a law degree for free.

[pali012]

Anyone know how difficult it is to obtain on-campus housing?

Any recommendations for off-campus housing?

[Ace23NY]

There are jobs in SD that pay the same amount as the BigLaw jobs. My buddy from UVA just interviewed for a couple firms in SD and a handful in LA (we're from LA originally) and the pay wasn't much different. But obviously LA is a MUCH LARGER legal market and, given the opportunities down the road, he took the LA job. On the other hand, I have vowed never to move back to that armpit of a city. I can't handle the traffic or the people.

With that said, I'm attending USD this fall and I've done a lot of research on the job opportunities. I know they're not stellar, but if you want to work in SD, then USD is a much better bet than almost any other law school in California (minus Stanford or Berkeley probably).

Also, to answer your question about off-campus housing, I'd live in Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach. I've been living in Pacific Beach for over 2 years now and its amazing. Young crowd, great bars, amazing beach, good surf, the list goes on and on...I pay $825 for my own room in a 2br apartment and we could probably throw a rock from our lawn into the water. Pretty nice.

[CWF V]

Bump.

[dan123456]

Anyone have any idea if most students are able to keep their scholarship for all 3 years? I have heard some schools put all the scholarship students in one section amongst other things so many lose them after their first year.

[wildcats12]

for those who have scholarships..what were your numbers? thanks

[dan123456]

Just a heads up USD has begun sending out financial aid awards. I received mine via email yesterday.

[wildcats12]

got mine...60k a year in debt. is USD worth it? I'm thinking no...

[TheRyanocerous]

got mine...60k a year in debt. is USD worth it? I'm thinking no...

From the people I have talked to USD's estimate of 20k a year for living is a bit high, 12-15k seems to be more realistic...

[TheRyanocerous]

Just a heads up USD has begun sending out financial aid awards. I received mine via email yesterday.

Did you fill out their financial aid forms?

[dan123456]

Yes

[beckysoc24]

got mine...60k a year in debt. is USD worth it? I'm thinking no...

+1. I was pretty upset about that. But I know a lot of people that go there and they said it's very easy to negotiate scholarships with USD, by showing offers from other schools. I'm thinking that they still won't give me enough to make it cheaper than in-state at Hastings. oh well. I'm going to miss sunny SD.

[cmaho9qy]

Hi All... My status checker at USD just chagned to "decision rendered" and says that my letter was mailed yesterday. I'm wondering - do they usually send out decisions by regular mail, or is it a bad sign that I haven't gotten an email? I think I've gotten a bit spoiled with my experiences to date. Idaho and Denver both emailed acceptances shortly after my status checker changed! I don't know why I look... it's guaranteed agony!

Anyway, any insight that those of you who are ahead of me in this process might have it very welcome.

[TheRyanocerous]

Hi All... My status checker at USD just chagned to "decision rendered" and says that my letter was mailed yesterday. I'm wondering - do they usually send out decisions by regular mail, or is it a bad sign that I haven't gotten an email? I think I've gotten a bit spoiled with my experiences to date. Idaho and Denver both emailed acceptances shortly after my status checker changed! I don't know why I look... it's guaranteed agony!

Anyway, any insight that those of you who are ahead of me in this process might have it very welcome.

They mail decisions. My status checker did the same thing and I got the decision in the mail 4 days later.

[wildcats12]

got mine...60k a year in debt. is USD worth it? I'm thinking no...

+1. I was pretty upset about that. But I know a lot of people that go there and they said it's very easy to negotiate scholarships with USD, by showing offers from other schools. I'm thinking that they still won't give me enough to make it cheaper than in-state at Hastings. oh well. I'm going to miss sunny SD.

yea i sent them a nice letter with copies of my other scholarships (couple low T1) but they didnt bite

[cmaho9qy]

Hi All... My status checker at USD just chagned to "decision rendered" and says that my letter was mailed yesterday. I'm wondering - do they usually send out decisions by regular mail, or is it a bad sign that I haven't gotten an email? I think I've gotten a bit spoiled with my experiences to date. Idaho and Denver both emailed acceptances shortly after my status checker changed! I don't know why I look... it's guaranteed agony!

Anyway, any insight that those of you who are ahead of me in this process might have it very welcome.

They mail decisions. My status checker did the same thing and I got the decision in the mail 4 days later.

Thanks for the input! You've put my mind at ease for at least a couple of hours, haha.

[beckysoc24]

got mine...60k a year in debt. is USD worth it? I'm thinking no...

+1. I was pretty upset about that. But I know a lot of people that go there and they said it's very easy to negotiate scholarships with USD, by showing offers from other schools. I'm thinking that they still won't give me enough to make it cheaper than in-state at Hastings. oh well. I'm going to miss sunny SD.

yea i sent them a nice letter with copies of my other scholarships (couple low T1) but they didnt bite

Really? That surprises me from what I've heard from the current 1L's and 2L's that I've talked to. Maybe they really are in much worse financial shape this year. I know people from last year with similar numbers to mine that were offered decent scholarships right off the bat though, so I was surprised to get nothing.

[Lotario de Conti]

Hey everyone, I am in at USD as well. Lot of stuff in here confirming what I've gone through - 60k in loans for the year in the aid package, unnervingly rapid response time, etc. Also, I can confirm that 20k in living costs is a high ball number - you can easily live for significant less in San Diego. Still waiting on the others, but USD looks like a good fit for me. Will be visiting in early April.

[savagedm]

Still waiting on them is that a bad sign? 2.75/167, decent softs?

It is a tough decision if I get in here and somehow Loyola

[cmaho9qy]

Accepted!! Still haven't heard from any of my top three choices, but it's nice to be wanted... without significant financial aid and dings from Oregon, Seattle, and Lewis & Clark I'm afraid I won't be able to justify spending my law student years in sunny San Diego. Sigh.

[CE2JD]

Still waiting on them is that a bad sign? 2.75/167, decent softs?

It is a tough decision if I get in here and somehow Loyola

Jesus Christ, how the fuck did you manage to get a 2.75? I know kids that played Halo every day in college who at least got 3.0s.

[savagedm]

Still waiting on them is that a bad sign? 2.75/167, decent softs?

It is a tough decision if I get in here and somehow Loyola

Jesus Christ, how the fuck did you manage to get a 2.75? I know kids that played Halo every day in college who at least got 3.0s.

Some non-college level classes I took at the community college while I was in high school factored into that (plus some repeats of a bad year)... long story short, the admissions and records people at this school refuse to note it as non college level and LSAC says unless it's notated as non-college level, it doesn't count. All in all though my GPA has been 3.0-3.8 every semester/quarter since that year. (Overall GPA according to my school is about 3.2)

[wildcats12]

anyone going to the admitted students day on April 20th?

[annapavlova]

I've been complete since early mid-November.

This is really annoying.