Will profs tell us what supplements to buy? I know the course listing will give us a book list to buy when we get to Cal, but what about supplements?

Well there two kinds of supplements. The only supplements that professors recommend are casebook supplements - basically, treatises on the material in class published by the same publisher as the casebook. Then there's the study guide-type of supplement like Gilbert's and E&E's, which teach the material to you in a plain English, no-nonsense style as opposed to the casebook method. Professors never recommend those kinds of supplements because they defeat the whole purpose of the casebook method of teaching by just telling you what the law is and why without making you reason dig through poorly written opinions to find it.

Using almost any kind of study guide-type supplement is helpful to learn the concepts, but if possible it's great when you can find a supplement that the professor actually wrote because then you're running less of a risk of getting sidetracked down the wrong cases or issues.

Thanks, this is very helpful! So we should wait till we get to Cal, talk to profs and students before buying anything at all? This is good for me becuase I'd hate to lug or ship books from NJ to Cal in august.

Depends on the person with all Ps. I don't want to get blown up here, but I know a lot of minority students who were great interviewers and very smart people in their own right who got BigLaw at OCI with all or all-but-one Ps. Aside from that I know a few people that got BigLaw with all Ps or all Ps and one H or so based on their relelvant work experience (business, CPA, etc.) and being personable people.

I also know people that struck out with all Ps or all Ps and an H or two that I thought were personable peopel though, so it's hard to tell. I think relevant work experience goes a LONG way, but that's just my impression from OCI.

Did anyone here take advantage of the pre-orientation orientation? Just wondering what was covered, if people found it beneficial, etc. Thanks in advance!

What is this?

I'm not quite sure--trying to find out! Got an email about it... which after a second read, says this year is the inaugural pre-orientation! So I guess no one here would be able to answer my question anyway. Withdrawn

If my goal is to end up in NY or DC at one of the Biglaws, would attending Berkeley put me at a disadvantage?
My only other option is to attend Cornell, which is ranked lower but it seems to place better in NY.
How important is the ranking when it comes to recruiting? I understand that grades are the most important factor in landing a Biglaw job, but I'm assuming my performance level would be about the same wherever I end up.. Thank you for your input in advance!

My understanding is that the US news ranks correspond to overall reputation, and that corresponds to jobs. Not a perfect correlation, but a correlation, nonetheless. Hence, in general a student at a higher-ranked school has a better outcome than from a lower-ranked school.

I picked Berkeley (0L) after speaking to alumns on the East Coast during several receptions and employers and getting assurances that the Berkeley name really carried weight on the East Coast with firms, govt and PI. Many people move back east after graduation. Some even said it was an advantage to have graduated from a school with comparatively fewer alumns on the east coast because employers like to have a diverse set of recruits. Many B students opt to stay in CA, and those who intend to find a job in NYC or elsewhere on the East Coast appear to be able to do so. So I've heard, but current students can probably say more...

And remember, comparing the number of grads from different schools that work in NYC/DC isn't NECESSARILY an indication of the quality of the school or the ease/difficulty of landing a job there. Fordham also places more grads in NYC than Berkeley but I wouldn't pick F over B. I'm not saying that Cornell is equivalent to Fordham, but that there is likely strong pro-NYC self selection going on at Cornell and that you shouldn't underestimate B's ability to place in NYC and DC students with an interest in going there.

I agree totally. Which receptions did you go? I probably met you if you went to the NYC one at the firm. They were good. Nice alumni. Wasn't intimidating as I had feared even though alumni were pretty big people.

I didn't attend the NYC reception. But DC and Boston folks were just as good.

is it true that there is very foggy? that the entire location is full of fog that you can't see someone?

Not in my experience. I had multiple DC/NY offers (All within the v25) coming out of Boalt's OCI. Non-URM male with roughly 50% P's.

Ditto (except I focused on DC/SF, not DC/NY)

No. Fog burns off noon-ish if it's even there at all. Usually more in SF than in Berkeley.

When people speak of "fog" in the San Francisco Bay Area, they're generally talking about coastal stratus. Basically, it's low cloud cover that burns off by late morning. You can see for miles. It's not thick, soupy fog.

To find the kind of fog you're thinking of, you'd have to drive 30 minutes to west of Twin Peaks in San Francisco in early morning or late afternoon in the summer. Or, if it's the winter, you can drive a couple hours east to the San Joaquin Valley, where you can wallow in the tule fog. You're rarely going to experience dense fog in Berkeley.

Like Dignan said - the East Bay isn't really foggy. In fact, if you come from nearly anywhere else in the Country you will think the weather is great (I'm from SoCal so sometimes I don't appreciate it as much as I should). San Francisco is extremely foggy but its San Francisco so I love it nonetheless.

Will it be harder to get a job in CA than in NY? I ask because a CLS student told me that there will only be 20 CLS students looking for jobs in SV, but 100 Cal students so there will more competition if I go to Cal. I want to work in SV, not east coast.

I think getting jobs in DC and CA is just difficult period. Shaggier nabbed some in DC, but I know a lot of people who struck out in DC. NYC is the seemingly safe bet, but our grads do very very well in SV, SF, and LA. I'd be surprised if it was any easier from CLS, even if less grads are looking to work here. I also think our IP program is better than theirs, so if that's what you're looking for I think employers will note that we have some big names and a great IP program.

If I were you and wanted IP, I would probably take the intro to IP class as the elective you get to pick your second semester. If you do well in that class, I think you'll be in very good position for a job in Silicon Valley.

thanks, very helpful!

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate.

http://www.law.berkeley.edu/1050.htm: "And a transcript with a rough mixture of Honors and Pass grades represents strong performance that would likely stand above the class median at schools of comparable quality."

From the same website, H's and HH's are comparable to A's in a traditional grading system. Just looking at the finite number of non-P's available, it would be mathematically impossible for median to be set at an even distribution of P/H, especially considering the fact that several people will take a disproportionate share of the non-P's.

I think median is probably somewhere around a majority P's and a couple H's. Of course, if CDO told you otherwise, I could be wrong. That's also assuming CDO knows wtf it's talking about...

A) Just passing along what CDO told me.
B) In my estimation our CDO is pretty competent. It may not be the cat's meow of such offices, but I never really heard any horror stories like you hear around TLS about other CDOs.
C) "Likely to stand above median at comparable schools" =\= clearly above median at B (and also = "could stand below median at comparable schools").
D) No one claimed the median was "set" at an even distro of H and P. The claim is that the outcomes of 1L year tend to put people with Hs/Ps around median. [this part edited out because it wasn't coherent. Thanks Barbri....]
E) That web page is written to help employers understand our grading system and it is in the school's and students' interest to say that H/P mix would be above median at peer schools.

I heard that ties matter for CA big law. I have no ties to CA, however, I am moving with my partner and child to Berkeley, giving up a house and job on the east coast and my partner is also giving up job. Is that good enough to tell CA firms, "I burned my boats and will stay in CA forever." Any tips for me?

I participated in a research collaboration 5 years ago with a prof from UCLA when I was working at a company. Is that a tie? I was on the east coast entirely, the collaboration was by e-mail, phone calls and papers. Is this a tie?

I will be leaving in Manville for my 1st year and I have been to Berkeley only once (during ASW). Any suggestions on affordable groceries, meat/fish, dairy products? I know that there was TJ's considerably close, but I am not into all organic food (mostly bcs. I cannot afford that). Are there any not so expensive and good quality grocery stores and food markets?