UW 1L taking questions Forum

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Lunabell

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UW 1L taking questions

Post by Lunabell » Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:09 am

Feel free to ask about UW law, student life, Seattle housing, etc.

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jcl2

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by jcl2 » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:28 pm

I really don't have a lot of specific questions, but I thought I would bump this in case others do. I was actually going to be joining you in the class of 2012, but deferred and will be starting this fall.

I guess one thing I am curious about is how 1Ls did with finding jobs for this summer. What are you doing? What are most of your classmates doing?

Thanks

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A'nold

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by A'nold » Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:29 pm

How are the upper classmen doing as far as employment?

Edit: as a side note, I can't believe how many people love the aesthetics of the school. I visited a few months ago while I was in Seattle and I've been there a few other times and I have to say that I found it very cold, uninviting, and very much not what I'd like to see architecturally in a law school. When I think of good looking law schools, I think of like Michigan, UConn, Cornell, IUB, WUSTL, ND, etc. This is like some modern nightmare. Has anyone seen the weird sheet metal igloo thing out front? What the freak is that supposed to be? Art?

Lunabell

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by Lunabell » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:25 am

jcl2 wrote:I really don't have a lot of specific questions, but I thought I would bump this in case others do. I was actually going to be joining you in the class of 2012, but deferred and will be starting this fall.

I guess one thing I am curious about is how 1Ls did with finding jobs for this summer. What are you doing? What are most of your classmates doing?

Thanks
Will you be looking for a firm job or are you into public interest work?

I can't say much about the odds of getting a firm job your 1L summer, as I'm public interest oriented. I applied for an internship back in December and had it by January. Other people I know have also found internships and others are waiting to hear back from organizations they interviewed with. As long as you don't expect to get paid, you can definitely find something. If you want to get paid, I'd look into work study and minority fellowships, if you're eligible for either one. UW has had several career fairs since September and the career coaches will help you look for something. There is also a website you can access with updated listings of internships, externships, jobs, work study jobs, fellowships, etc.

In my opinion, it's about planning early and being proactive. It was certainly nice to have an internship by January, when most of my classmates were starting to worry about their summer prospects.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by Lunabell » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:37 am

A'nold wrote:How are the upper classmen doing as far as employment?

Edit: as a side note, I can't believe how many people love the aesthetics of the school. I visited a few months ago while I was in Seattle and I've been there a few other times and I have to say that I found it very cold, uninviting, and very much not what I'd like to see architecturally in a law school. When I think of good looking law schools, I think of like Michigan, UConn, Cornell, IUB, WUSTL, ND, etc. This is like some modern nightmare. Has anyone seen the weird sheet metal igloo thing out front? What the freak is that supposed to be? Art?
Hey A'nold,

Sorry, I can't say much about how the upperclassmen are doing as far as employment since I don't know many of them. I've heard a few talking about doing clerkships and firm jobs, but I don't know the details.

As for the architecture of the school, I guess you either love it or you hate it. I personally love it, since I find the ancient, dusty, and dark law schools extremely depressing. By the way, the "weird sheet metal igloo thing out front" lets much-needed rays of sunshine into the law library downstairs. It makes the library much less creepy and depressing :)

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jcl2

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by jcl2 » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:12 pm

Thanks for your responses Lunabell, at this point I'm figuring I'll take what I can get for 1L summer, I think I'd like to work for a firm or for state or federal government post-law school, with my goal being to eventually do natural resources litigation work if possible. So I guess my only goal for 1L summer is to get a job with an organization that does some natural resources/environmental work. Your experience sounds pretty much in line with what I expected and I will definitely be proactive in finding 1L summer work.

As for architecture, A'nold, I don't quite dislike the law school building, I'm kind of neutral on it, but I see where you are coming from. However, the fact that the building is located on the main University of Washington campus, which is one of the most beautiful college campuses I have ever seen, totally makes up for any of the law school building's shortcomings IMO.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by HerseyChris » Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:25 pm

Hey Luna, not sure if you're still answering questions.

1) There was some confusion between the two different level freshman course paths. Something about an 'A' and 'B', with B seeming to be more of a fast track? Can you elaborate on the differences?

2) How close is the law school class? After a year at the law school, how many of your 180 classmates would you say you can name?

3) I'm not sure if you personally participate in intramural sports, but how is the law school class participation?

4) The question that gets asked the most is probably 'how many hours do you study per week/day? On TLS its says on Cornell's page that they study the most according to Princeton, with roughly 6 hours per day. On a TLS thread, students claimed to study 86+ hours per week (including class). I've heard some people describe UW as 'non-competitive' as in, not too cut throat, and generally laid back, but I imagine you can be 'laid back' and serious about your academic course load at the same time, right?

5) JCL2 already touched on it, but how is the general employment vibe going? Are 2Ls and 3Ls flipping out about the lack of jobs, or are things not that bad?

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by MD/JD2B » Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:53 pm

I got into UW and chose Hastings despite their rankings. I find Seattle depressing and want to be in the Bay Area for schol and employment..hope I made the right decision.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by WestCoastGuru » Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:58 pm

Soon to be UW 2L here. If anybody has questions feel free to post them.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by HerseyChris » Tue Jul 27, 2010 5:57 pm

WestCoastGuru wrote:Soon to be UW 2L here. If anybody has questions feel free to post them.
Hey cool, can you answer my questions a few posts up? Thanks.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by WestCoastGuru » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:05 pm

1) There was some confusion between the two different level freshman course paths. Something about an 'A' and 'B', with B seeming to be more of a fast track? Can you elaborate on the differences?

2) How close is the law school class? After a year at the law school, how many of your 180 classmates would you say you can name?

3) I'm not sure if you personally participate in intramural sports, but how is the law school class participation?

4) The question that gets asked the most is probably 'how many hours do you study per week/day? On TLS its says on Cornell's page that they study the most according to Princeton, with roughly 6 hours per day. On a TLS thread, students claimed to study 86+ hours per week (including class). I've heard some people describe UW as 'non-competitive' as in, not too cut throat, and generally laid back, but I imagine you can be 'laid back' and serious about your academic course load at the same time, right?

5) JCL2 already touched on it, but how is the general employment vibe going? Are 2Ls and 3Ls flipping out about the lack of jobs, or are things not that bad?[/quote]

1. B is NOT a fast track. You can choose either to enroll in track A or track B, both end up at the same location at the end of 1L year but get there differently. One track is the "normal" track and the other is the "contorts" track. In the contorts track, contracts and torts are taught together by the same professor. This track takes a more theoretical approach to the law and examines how these two disciplines interesect. Thus, while the normal track takes torts in the fall and contracts in the winter, the contorts track takes property in the fall and civil procedure in the winter. There are some things to think about in you decision (fair warning I took the normal track). Like I said earlier, contorts is great for those who are interested in a more theoretical approach to the law. The contorts professor got rave reviews from the people I talked to. However, consider that those who choose this track took civil procedure in one quarter, I don't think many of them had fun with that. In addition, the contorts section is pretty isolated from the rest of the school. They do not have any classes with other sections in the fall or winter and thus seem to be removed sometimes from the rest of the class.

2. I'd say pretty dame close. I'm terrible with names but I know almost everyone based on their face. My section of 25 was very close. After finals every quarter we went out and got drinks and regularaly met up. We've also met up a couple of times this summer.

3. The law school class put something together for almost every major IMA sport. We had volleyball, ultimate, flag football, soccer and softball teams for sure. Outside of IMA sports there were always groups gong on weekend hikes, rock climbing, and bike rides.

4. You know it really depends, I think you're right though...Laid back but serious about academics. People put in their study hours but people don't hide books, e-mail their class notes at you if you are sick. Personally, I went to class in the morning and then worked until about 8 or so M-Th. I took Friday night off and then depending on legal writing took Sat. off as well. I then did reading and other school stuff on Sunday to prepare for the next week. There were lots of diiferent things that worked though. We had parents who pretended it was a full time job and worked 9-5 and then went home. There were also some people who stayed in the library for what seeemed like days on end.

5. Is it great ? No. Is it throw myself off a bridge? No. There is still a strong seattle legal market and UW is the first place that people look to over other schools in the area by a mile. I got a great gig for this summer and everybody I know got something that at least interested them for this summer as well. The number of firms at OCI is reasonable next to some of the other horror stories I've heard but I guess we shall see if that holds for callbacks and offers for next summer. In terms of the 3Ls I haven't heard anything tramatic.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by jcl2 » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:12 am

WestCoastGuru wrote:1) There was some confusion between the two different level freshman course paths. Something about an 'A' and 'B', with B seeming to be more of a fast track? Can you elaborate on the differences?

2) How close is the law school class? After a year at the law school, how many of your 180 classmates would you say you can name?

3) I'm not sure if you personally participate in intramural sports, but how is the law school class participation?

4) The question that gets asked the most is probably 'how many hours do you study per week/day? On TLS its says on Cornell's page that they study the most according to Princeton, with roughly 6 hours per day. On a TLS thread, students claimed to study 86+ hours per week (including class). I've heard some people describe UW as 'non-competitive' as in, not too cut throat, and generally laid back, but I imagine you can be 'laid back' and serious about your academic course load at the same time, right?

5) JCL2 already touched on it, but how is the general employment vibe going? Are 2Ls and 3Ls flipping out about the lack of jobs, or are things not that bad?
1. B is NOT a fast track. You can choose either to enroll in track A or track B, both end up at the same location at the end of 1L year but get there differently. One track is the "normal" track and the other is the "contorts" track. In the contorts track, contracts and torts are taught together by the same professor. This track takes a more theoretical approach to the law and examines how these two disciplines interesect. Thus, while the normal track takes torts in the fall and contracts in the winter, the contorts track takes property in the fall and civil procedure in the winter. There are some things to think about in you decision (fair warning I took the normal track). Like I said earlier, contorts is great for those who are interested in a more theoretical approach to the law. The contorts professor got rave reviews from the people I talked to. However, consider that those who choose this track took civil procedure in one quarter, I don't think many of them had fun with that. In addition, the contorts section is pretty isolated from the rest of the school. They do not have any classes with other sections in the fall or winter and thus seem to be removed sometimes from the rest of the class.

2. I'd say pretty dame close. I'm terrible with names but I know almost everyone based on their face. My section of 25 was very close. After finals every quarter we went out and got drinks and regularaly met up. We've also met up a couple of times this summer.

3. The law school class put something together for almost every major IMA sport. We had volleyball, ultimate, flag football, soccer and softball teams for sure. Outside of IMA sports there were always groups gong on weekend hikes, rock climbing, and bike rides.

4. You know it really depends, I think you're right though...Laid back but serious about academics. People put in their study hours but people don't hide books, e-mail their class notes at you if you are sick. Personally, I went to class in the morning and then worked until about 8 or so M-Th. I took Friday night off and then depending on legal writing took Sat. off as well. I then did reading and other school stuff on Sunday to prepare for the next week. There were lots of diiferent things that worked though. We had parents who pretended it was a full time job and worked 9-5 and then went home. There were also some people who stayed in the library for what seeemed like days on end.

5. Is it great ? No. Is it throw myself off a bridge? No. There is still a strong seattle legal market and UW is the first place that people look to over other schools in the area by a mile. I got a great gig for this summer and everybody I know got something that at least interested them for this summer as well. The number of firms at OCI is reasonable next to some of the other horror stories I've heard but I guess we shall see if that holds for callbacks and offers for next summer. In terms of the 3Ls I haven't heard anything tramatic.[/quote]

Thanks!

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A'nold

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by A'nold » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:05 am

Allright, I want to know everything about this school as I was a late transfer admit. I would like to know about the possibility of a secondary journal this late in the game, for one thing. Clerkship placement, especially at the lower state level would be great.

Btw- I admit I was totally way too dramatic about the law school's architecture. This was my first time there when all of the hallways were open and not blocked off and it really made a huge difference. There are a lot of great things about the law school that I overlooked before. The walls made everything very echo-ey and cold b/c there were less people there the other times I visited. There were many people there today and that really warmed the building up significantly.

That igloo thing is still horrific though! :wink:

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by HerseyChris » Sat Aug 21, 2010 12:10 am

jcl2 wrote:
WestCoastGuru wrote:1)

...

5. Is it great ? No. Is it throw myself off a bridge? No. There is still a strong seattle legal market and UW is the first place that people look to over other schools in the area by a mile. I got a great gig for this summer and everybody I know got something that at least interested them for this summer as well. The number of firms at OCI is reasonable next to some of the other horror stories I've heard but I guess we shall see if that holds for callbacks and offers for next summer. In terms of the 3Ls I haven't heard anything tramatic.
Thanks!
Sorry, I forgot about this thread, I'd like to echo jcl2 and say thanks as well!

Orientation is less than a month away. Can't wait!

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whitman

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by whitman » Wed Jan 05, 2011 3:34 pm

Anyone care to provide any more information about employment prospects in Seattle, Portland, and California? Public interest and private?

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yours

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by yours » Wed Jan 05, 2011 5:16 pm

whitman wrote:Anyone care to provide any more information about employment prospects in Seattle, Portland, and California? Public interest and private?
No. We r still just 1L. Though I presume the answer will be "wait and see".

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by deja » Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:24 pm

One of the big selling points when I was speaking with admissions was that UW is relatively non-competitive compared with other similarly ranked schools. I've heard this from a lot of schools (who is going to admit their students regularly sabotage each other?). Is it true at UW? What is the level of competition like among students?

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yours

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by yours » Wed Jan 05, 2011 9:00 pm

this is seattle. competition could be considered offensive. the first person to try too hard will be competing to find friends.

if you're happy where you are, it generally makes you pleasant to be around. there's no time for fighting because everyone's busy studying. and if you're not studying, you're just not a factor anyway.

it makes me happy to know that my friends want me to succeed. that's all the pressure i need.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by whitman » Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:11 pm

Any UW 2Ls, 3Ls, graduates around to provide some information on career prospects? I a very interested in working in the northwest after law school and am therefore considering UW over schools like Penn and GULC. Is this stupid? I did AmeriCorps in the region for a year after college, but otherwise have no ties.

Also, is it true that UW basically offers no merit scholarships?

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by jcl2 » Sat Feb 26, 2011 7:01 pm

whitman wrote:Any UW 2Ls, 3Ls, graduates around to provide some information on career prospects? I a very interested in working in the northwest after law school and am therefore considering UW over schools like Penn and GULC. Is this stupid? I did AmeriCorps in the region for a year after college, but otherwise have no ties.

Also, is it true that UW basically offers no merit scholarships?
I'm only a 1L, but I feel like I can tell you a little bit.

It seems to depend on what your goals are. If you are set on Big Law, it appears to be somewhere around top 20-30% that will allow you to be competitive, though not guaranteed. About the same for federal and state supreme court clerkships. Those numbers aren't too bad, especially given the current economy, but if getting a biglaw job is more important than living in the NW schools like Penn or GULC are probably better options. If you are interested in other types of work, there is not really anyplace better than UW if you want to work in the NW. UW is by far the best school in the region, and unlike Seattle biglaw, you are not really competing with any Harvard and Stanford type grads for state and local agency, prosecutor, and non-profit jobs.

Here is a list of employers for all of the graduates in 2008 (or 2009, the link on the carrers website says 2009, but it takes you to the page that says 2008). http://www.law.washington.edu/Career/2008employers.aspx Class of 2010 employers should be available soon, because it is based on employers as of February the year following graduation.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by aPosseAdEsse » Fri May 06, 2011 11:11 pm

.
Last edited by aPosseAdEsse on Fri May 27, 2011 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by geoduck » Sat May 07, 2011 1:12 am

whitman wrote:Any UW 2Ls, 3Ls, graduates around to provide some information on career prospects? I a very interested in working in the northwest after law school and am therefore considering UW over schools like Penn and GULC. Is this stupid? I did AmeriCorps in the region for a year after college, but otherwise have no ties.

Also, is it true that UW basically offers no merit scholarships?
I can answer the second point. UMN 0L here, but I just turned down a 45k scholarship from UW, so they do offer a small amount of merit.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by coldshoulder » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:05 pm

Resurrecting this thread, starting to look at PI or Biglaw in Seattle.
For PI, what do job opportunities look like? How's the LRAP? Is it difficult to establish residency to get in-state tuition?
For Biglaw, how do job prospects look? What percentage of class for call-backs/good luck at OCI? What about SA's and other summer jobs?

I love Seattle, and may prefer it over the East Coast if I were to get a scholly and job prospects are good.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by jcl2 » Sun Jun 12, 2011 2:22 am

coldshoulder wrote:Resurrecting this thread, starting to look at PI or Biglaw in Seattle.
For PI, what do job opportunities look like? How's the LRAP? Is it difficult to establish residency to get in-state tuition?
For Biglaw, how do job prospects look? What percentage of class for call-backs/good luck at OCI? What about SA's and other summer jobs?

I love Seattle, and may prefer it over the East Coast if I were to get a scholly and job prospects are good.
It is really easy to get in-state tuition the second two years, you just need to change your address and get a drivers license right away so that it will be at least a year by the start of your 2L year. It is not officially in-state residence, just a tuition waiver giving you the equivalent of in-state tuition. http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/ ... ional.html

Sounds like the last couple years 25-30% of the class got jobs through OCI. Most of those jobs are biglaw by my definition (starting close to or above 100k). Some people also get those types of jobs outside of OCI as well. Probably in total something around 30% of the class has ended up at bigger firms in recent years; from what I have heard it was a bit higher before the economy tanked. More like 10-15% at the really prestigious Seattle firms or V100 type firms elsewhere in the country. It is important to note also that those are not cutoffs in terms of class rank, because lots of people are not interested in aiming for those types of jobs, and definitely lots of people who do not want to leave the region. Sounds like about top half of the class puts you in competition for bigger firm jobs, and around top 20% for the really prestigious firms.

Lots of people here are interested in PI, especially if you are using that term broadly to include government and non-profit. As far as I can tell, the prospects seem pretty good. Aside from the most prestigious federal gov. jobs, and a few very sought after non-profit's where there is competition from HYS, etc., UW students are pretty much at the top of the pecking order for regional PI.

From what I know, employment outcomes seem like they are looking pretty good for the class of 2012, and It's looking like things should be getting even better for my class (more firms at OCI at least). All in all, things seem pretty good, especially given the still relatively awful state of the economy. If you really are interested in living in the NW, UW is definitely worth considering, even against some T14's. I am more than satisfied with my decision. Also, I can vouch for the fact that the school has a great collegial atmosphere, and pretty much everyone I know has enjoyed their experience. I have heard that the same cannot be said for many schools.

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Re: UW 1L taking questions

Post by ellieroot » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:45 pm

How happy are students? The ones that I talked to seemed more frazzled than at other schools?

Also, do quarters make things more intense?

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