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I'm from the East Coast so I had no friends in LA when I moved here in August.

It is really, really easy to make friends in law school because you are around the same people all the time, and you have so much in common. Plus, people were really friendly the first month or so and willing to go outside their comfort zones to make new friends. NOTE: Sometimes it is a little weird to be friends with people who are in constant competition with you. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I've found some of my friends to be super cool when it comes to social stuff but then this weird side comes out in them when exams and memo times roll around and people can get super SHADY. It's weird. I guess that's what a curve does to people.

Outside of law school, however, I have met NOBODY. This isn't really an issue for me, because I would never have time to hang out with them anyway. It might be kind of nice to have friends outside of law school, but to be honest, at least your friends in law school know what you are going through.

They aren't going to rag on you to go out the weekend before your graded memo is due because THEIR memo is due also. Around the last month of school, nobody goes out at all here. It would be hard to blow off your non-law school friends for a month straight (they would have a hard time understanding and would prob just stop calling).

This summer I'm hoping to maybe meet some people outside the law school, but I feel like it might be fairly hard to do.

LA is kind of a big, chaotic city, and for whatever reason I think it is kind of harder than other cities I've lived in to meet people. Plus, people in general seem somewhat self-absorbed and flakey, in my opinion. I think smaller cities are actually more conducive to social networking.

If anybody else has questions about UCLA ask and I'll give you an HONEST answer.

I always got sick of the whole sunshine and roses routine when I was applying, where you felt like everyone was just selling you their school. i.e. the classes are awesome! the professors are awesome! everything is awesome! i love law school!
blah blah blah

If you want to know the truth about professors:

2 of my professors this year have been HORRIBLE. As in unbelievably bad. 2 of them actually have been really cool and I really liked them. The rest have been blah.

The professors that were horrible made me hate every day that I had to go to class.

One of them in particular RELISHED calling on people and embarrassing them. No matter WHAT you said she would make you sound like an idiot. She called on everyone at least once a week. It was horrible.

Here's one little gem of advice: don't ever bother asking professors questions in class. They will always turn it around on you and say..."I don't know what do you think"

One of the funniest moments of the year was when one of my classmates said in a really pissed off tone of voice...I DON"T KNOW...THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING YOU. It was hilarious

Also, one of my classmates inadvertantly dropped the F bomb in class. The look on the teacher's face was priceless. It was so great.

Oh yeah, and one of my profs is sex-obsessed. We regularly talk about fisting, sex toys, etc. in class. All his exams have these bizarre sexual scenarios in them. It is beyond weird.

.

The hardest class for me has been Civ Pro. That is what I've been studying all day and probably explains my pissed off mood.

The class that is the most work is by FAR your lawyering skills class. Writing memos and briefs for the first time is hard, there's no way around it. I was so confused by legal writing at first. Understanding how to break down elements and finding the "tests" will drive you crazy.

"WHAT'S THE TEST!?" - this is all you will here people talking about after your first memo assignment, and every memo assignment after that. People will literally meet up for hours trying to figure out the perfect test. It is absurd and ridiculous.

I realize you have no idea what this means, but you will. Going to law school is like joining a weird cult with all these rites of passage that you have to go through.

As far as job placement goes:

I guess I was slightly naive coming into UCLA and thinking that *everyone* gets good jobs. In a good economy, about 40% of the class gets a firm job. Top 40% is somewhere around a 3.3 GPA. I think the median GPA is a little over a 3.2. I looked at last year's OCI list and EVERY single biglaw firm lists a 3.3 cutoff + journal/moot court as requirements.

However, from 2L's I have talked to, most people who actually get offers have a 3.4 or higher, so a 3.3 won't necessarily cut it, it's just the minimum requirement. This SUCKS for me because I have a 3.3 GPA. What sucks more is that this fall's upcoming OCI is going to be really competitive because of the shitty economy.

The career office told us that firms were only going to take "high GPA's" and were going to be really choosy this fall. They also went into this bullshit routine about how getting a biglaw job isn't that important and that people who go into small firms are usually happier anyway! *ROLL EYES*

So basically I think I'm screwed if I can't substantially raise my GPA this semester. I've been studying so hard. I studied hard last semester though and ended up with straight B+'s. Getting A's is really tough because everyone here is so smart.

The problem I have with UCLA is that I think the student body is comparable to most of the schools ranked higher than us. Our median LSAT this year was a 168. However, firms still seem to want the top 1/3 or better whereas at Duke or somewhere they'll go to median or below.

The bottom line is I thought it would be easier to get a firm job out of UCLA than it really is. Basically, you have to outdo your supersmart classmates to get a good job... If I could do it again I think I would have maybe tried to get into a school that could GUARANTEE me something. It is so stressful always worrying about grades...and in this economy things look really bad...there is talk firms might only take 3.7's and higher (top 10%) this year.

If you are wondering what happens to the people who don't get biglaw they end up in small firms making $65k a year. I know someone who graduated last year and this is what he ended up doing...he had a 3.15 during OCI...he didn't end up getting a job until after he passed the bar

Thanks for the honest assessment of job placement. It concerns me a little that career services is downplaying the importance of big law jobs, especially since their rising in-state tuition rates almost force you to look for high-paying jobs to pay off those loans. How much of that is a function of the economy versus UCLA being just outside the T14, which is what you seemed to be alluding to with the Duke comparison? I agree, too, that UCLA students seem to have T14-caliber stats, so any thought that the competition would be easier would be misguided.

palmstar wrote:If anybody else has questions about UCLA ask and I'll give you an HONEST answer.

I always got sick of the whole sunshine and roses routine when I was applying, where you felt like everyone was just selling you their school. i.e. the classes are awesome! the professors are awesome! everything is awesome! i love law school!
blah blah blah

If you want to know the truth about professors:

2 of my professors this year have been HORRIBLE. As in unbelievably bad. 2 of them actually have been really cool and I really liked them. The rest have been blah.

The professors that were horrible made me hate every day that I had to go to class.

One of them in particular RELISHED calling on people and embarrassing them. No matter WHAT you said she would make you sound like an idiot. She called on everyone at least once a week. It was horrible.

Here's one little gem of advice: don't ever bother asking professors questions in class. They will always turn it around on you and say..."I don't know what do you think"

One of the funniest moments of the year was when one of my classmates said in a really pissed off tone of voice...I DON"T KNOW...THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING YOU. It was hilarious

Also, one of my classmates inadvertantly dropped the F bomb in class. The look on the teacher's face was priceless. It was so great.

Oh yeah, and one of my profs is sex-obsessed. We regularly talk about fisting, sex toys, etc. in class. All his exams have these bizarre sexual scenarios in them. It is beyond weird.

hehe, hilarious. Thanks for being honest. It bothers me too when law students portray the school as roses and sunshine all the time.

Do professors encourage students to interact with them outside of class (e.g. providing generous office hours)? Is such interaction helpful?

Do you think a school like USC that is slightly easier to get into would make it easier to place in a higher part of the class, hence making job prospects better since the two schools both place well in the area?

intrepidation wrote:Do you think a school like USC that is slightly easier to get into would make it easier to place in a higher part of the class, hence making job prospects better since the two schools both place well in the area?

No. Always go to the "better" school. You are guaranteed that UCLA has a better reputation. You are not guaranteed that you will do better at USC than you will at UCLA. Two variables (strength of school, strength of performance) will dictate jobs. One variable is fixed, the other is fluid. Take the better fixed variable because it guarantees a leg up. Don't depend on the idea that because they got 2 fewer questions on the LSAT at SC, you will miraculously move from being a B student at UCLA to an A student at SC. That's a dangerous game. Go to UCLA

How is it going still?

UCLA 1L,

How many ESL(foreign) students are in your class?
What are their numbers?

Thanks.

(1) Are you aware at all about the difficulty or ease for graduating students finding jobs in outside markets? I am thinking specifically of NYC and Wash. DC. UCLA has a great rep. of course, but I want to get a sense of how portable the D is.
(2) Can I survive at the law school with just my road bike, and without a car? (I go about 20 mph on the bike, so it can cover some ground, but not a ton of ground 5 days a week).
Thanks.

Did you get $$ even though you got off the WL?

tag