the 400 block of 115 is more dorm-like on the spectrum but also priced accordingly. I think ultimately the dorm feel will depend more on your roommates than on location. Lionsgate is nice but pretty pricey I believe. Also, the 400 block hosted a fair proportion of the parties this year, if that matters to you.

Anyone living in a studio/efficiency? If so, any opinions on those? Worth the price? Location? How easy/difficult is it for single students to get studios?

I have friends who thought it was worth it and those who did not. If you have the means, then living solo is great. I'm doubling my rent next year to live alone. Not excited about the price but loving the location and one bedroom status. I'm not sure how difficult it is to secure, but I think it's easier for incoming 1Ls then for current students to transfer. That's what I was told as I jumped through many a hoop over the last two months.

How difficult is it to get housing? If I list that 400 block and Lionsgate am I all set or should I provide backups beyond those?

Do many people, 1L's in particular, live in UAH?

the majority of 1Ls I know are in UAH or law school housing. and to the poster above, I would suspect that if you put down 400 block and lionsgate, you have a good shot at getting one of them. If they couldn't do it though, a good deal of the housing within a 5 block radius is very similar in all respects to the 400 block.

to answer your question more directly, I believe that housing is guaranteed for 1Ls. Maybe not your first choice, but something

I live on the 400 block and I'm staying next year. These are nice, big apartments - the only thing that's "dorm like" is the furniture, but that's easily fixed. And yeah, we party

Will I have a good shot returning to LA with ties to the city with a CLS degree?

From what I've seen, yes. We have a lot of alumni in LA, and a CLS student is a rarer commodity than someone who went to a local school. People with more CA experience/background should weigh in though, as I'm not from there.

I know it's not the most helpful response, but with top-third grades or so, I imagine it's pretty easy. After that, ties/work experience/interview skillz and all that are likey needed.

every person that I spoke to that wanted to return to CA to do big law, is doing so.

nobody I spoken to had to settle for shitlaw or working biglaw somewhere else.

This is all I hear from anyone. What about those of us who are destined to flail around at median/below? FML, I want job.

Regarding faculty: I just heard a terrible, awful, slanderous allegation from a 3L at Chicago. She tells me one of her professors recently said (no idea who, certainly biased), that Columbia Law was "intellectually dead" and that faculty there haven't contributed to legal academia or the legal profession since the 1970s. And sorry to bring it up, but...

by contrast, said professor commented that NYU is dynamic, always improving, acquiring new, talented faculty left and right.

I was inches from putting down my deposit at Columbia over NYU, but this stayed my hand. No doubt this professor has some axe to grind and is exaggerating. But, anyone out there care to offer their thoughts on the merits of faculty at Columbia (vs. NYU)?

THANKS!!!!!!!

Hi Leiter.

Just a sample:
http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Theodore_Shaw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Coffee
http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Nathaniel_Persily
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu
http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/C._Hemphill
http://www.law.columbia.edu/fac/Richard_Briffault
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Ginsburg
http://www.law.columbia.edu/center_prog ... ty/faculty

Come on now.

I have no idea but I think NYU has bigger names? I have no clue about the statement with respect to contributing to legal academia, but I know that in terms of contributing to the legal profession, we have some of the top dogs in their fields. But you probably shouldn't put too much pressure on how strong the faculties are relative to each other- from my first year, it doesn't seem like it would affect you much. If you want to get into academia or clerkships, all three of these schools have professors that are sufficiently well-known to write you good letters of rec for that kinda stuff.

I think where the faculty affects you the most is how good they are at teaching and how accessible they are- we have stellar and not so stellar professors for this (I'm sure the same is true of Chicago and NYU). Also, some of the more legendary names are sometimes iffy at teaching unfortunately. Good luck deciding (and don't stress too much about it, these are all amazing schools, congratulations on being admitted).

First, there is a tremendous amount of cutting edge scholarship going on here. Many professors are top of their field. I also just got an email about two, new, young hires.

Second, almost without fail, when I talk to admits, they say that Chicago and NYU spent some ungodly amount of their time bashing Columbia. Columbia on the other hand could give two shits about those two schools. I have never heard a single peep out of our faculty or administration comparing, bashing, whatever. I think you should keep the following in mind: Would you rather go to institution that is confident in who they are, or go to a school that sees itself through the lens of one of their "rivals." Honestly, this was a big reason I didn't pick NYU. No matter how good a school they are, and they are great, the vibe down their was very self-conscious regarding their neighbor to the north. I promise you this, we don't spend 3 seconds of our day worrying about them. To me, that mattered.

I don't care if my prof is the most renown researcher in the world (its definitely a plus though). I want someone that can teach or has connections (if you want clerkships/recs). What professors look at when judging other professors is not the same criteria that we should use when judging them.

Seriously guys, stop falling for Leiter's flame.

Our inferiority complex comes when talking about HYS. lol

ETA: Thanks for the links picco!

Chicago is mad because we poached Anu Bradford

I know this was jest, but I must say, besides the rare joke about grading, I have been pleasantly surprised at how little care about those schools too. When you are at the top school in the biggest legal market in the world, it seems silly to care about what is going on elsewhere. Perhaps that's just me.

Not just you. I think it's cus our class is cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Not just you. I think it's cus our class is cooler than the other side of the pillow.[/quote]
Good. I'm super stoked personally.