UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum
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Re: UVA 1L taking questions
Hey guys
Admitted today, so still floating on cloud 9 etc etc.
For anyone that had to bring a SO to charlottesville, what did you find to be the best plan of action as far as them finding employment goes? My gf graduates in May, and I would love for her to find something good in town. Richmond is always an option but charlottesville is of course preferable. Don't want to have her resort to McDs or the like.
Admitted today, so still floating on cloud 9 etc etc.
For anyone that had to bring a SO to charlottesville, what did you find to be the best plan of action as far as them finding employment goes? My gf graduates in May, and I would love for her to find something good in town. Richmond is always an option but charlottesville is of course preferable. Don't want to have her resort to McDs or the like.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Edited
Last edited by djeter2 on Fri Jul 13, 2012 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- bluecrab5448
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Would like to know too.djeter2 wrote:Got all my grades back and received one A- and three B+'s, giving me a 3.4 GPA (one of my B+s was for a 3 credit class). Can any 2Ls/3Ls give me a sense of what this means for OGI? I have limited but relevant work experience and usually do well in interviews. I realize this isn't a specific question, but I don't know what to expect.
- Doritos
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
You have another semester to go so figure out what you did well and what you did wrong on your exams and do better next semester. That said, a 3.4 isn't a bad place to be as that is right outside of top 1/3. OGI is a bit of a blackbox and there are exceptions to everything and it really depends on the individual but my understanding (informed by career services) is that 3.4 is good enough to get you to NYC biglaw. 3.4 is sort of the hurdle you want to jump. This is a complete rule of thumb and there are countless factors that go into a hiring decision but there ya go. One guy on the internet's opinion.djeter2 wrote:Got all my grades back and received one A- and three B+'s, giving me a 3.4 GPA (one of my B+s was for a 3 credit class). Can any 2Ls/3Ls give me a sense of what this means for OGI? I have limited but relevant work experience and usually do well in interviews. I realize this isn't a specific question, but I don't know what to expect.
Where do you want to end up? With a 3.4 I expect you to do well in secondary markets that you have ties in (this is a general statement all secondary markets are not created equally). More importantly figure out how you can do even better this semester because a bad spring semester could tank your GPA and if you want biglaw I wouldn't be too excited if I ended spring semester with a 3.3 or below for realz.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
So I got a 3.25. What the hell do I do at this point?
Last edited by battle_tested on Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Anyone else still missing a grade? Had Duffy for torts and still a no show in SIS.
- thesealocust
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
+1 to all of this. Candidates with a 3.4 and solid interview skills and/or backgrounds and/or intangibles are competitive at almost every firm in the country. Won't get offers everywhere, but there are only a few firms (a few in DC, maybe 2 or 3 in NYC) that just don't really hire somebody with a 3.4. Obviously a 3.5 would improve odds, but a 3.4 puts you in play and gives you reasonably good odds.Doritos wrote:You have another semester to go so figure out what you did well and what you did wrong on your exams and do better next semester. That said, a 3.4 isn't a bad place to be as that is right outside of top 1/3. OGI is a bit of a blackbox and there are exceptions to everything and it really depends on the individual but my understanding (informed by career services) is that 3.4 is good enough to get you to NYC biglaw. 3.4 is sort of the hurdle you want to jump. This is a complete rule of thumb and there are countless factors that go into a hiring decision but there ya go. One guy on the internet's opinion.djeter2 wrote:Got all my grades back and received one A- and three B+'s, giving me a 3.4 GPA (one of my B+s was for a 3 credit class). Can any 2Ls/3Ls give me a sense of what this means for OGI? I have limited but relevant work experience and usually do well in interviews. I realize this isn't a specific question, but I don't know what to expect.
Where do you want to end up? With a 3.4 I expect you to do well in secondary markets that you have ties in (this is a general statement all secondary markets are not created equally). More importantly figure out how you can do even better this semester because a bad spring semester could tank your GPA and if you want biglaw I wouldn't be too excited if I ended spring semester with a 3.3 or below for realz.
Ideally try to bring up your grades next semester, but you're not dead in the water either. Everyone gets a mix of grades and the A- in contracts in particular means you've got the ability to do well you just need to work on being consistent.battle_tested wrote:So I got a 3.25. What the hell do I do at this point? B Civ Pro. B torts. A- contracts. B+ crim. I really don't know how to handle this.
Getting a job from median requires a lot more active hustle because relying in OGI will be dangerous, but many people with below median grades get jobs on their own or through OGI. If the economy keeps improving it might even be fairly likely, but it's hard to predict.
- Doritos
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
What do you want to do? biglaw? PI?battle_tested wrote:So I got a 3.25. What the hell do I do at this point? B Civ Pro. B torts. A- contracts. B+ crim. I really don't know how to handle this.
I would recommend you meet with your Civ Pro and Torts prof and talk about your exam. Figure out what you did wrong. If they have a model exam look at that. You are not in a terrible place if you work to improve your exam taking abilities. Did you do practice exams? Did you do a study group? Re-evaluate what you did to prepare last semester.
You got an A- in Contracts so you have it in you to beat the curve.
What classes are you taking? I would avoid seminars and shortcourses (vamedic has a post about this I believe) as they are B+ heavy and if I were you I would want to take classes where I have a shot at beating the curve in order to set you up better for OGI.
- bgdddymtty
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Everybody chill out. A 3.25 is barely below the mean. And the idea that one's BigLaw prospects are significantly hampered if one is (a little bit) below the mean is overwrought, to say the least. Go get some placement numbers from Career Services. After discounting for those folks who never had any significant interest in BigLaw to begin with, you'll find that well over half of Lawhoos who want BigLaw get it.
That said, of course you should do whatever you can to improve your grades next semester. But you already knew that.
That said, of course you should do whatever you can to improve your grades next semester. But you already knew that.
- 5ky
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
+2 to all of the above. On the whole, there's a relatively large jump from a 3.4 to a 3.48+ (top 25%, roughly). It'll be different for everyone, of course, but you really open up your options once you hit the latter. So hit it hard.thesealocust wrote:+1 to all of this. Candidates with a 3.4 and solid interview skills and/or backgrounds and/or intangibles are competitive at almost every firm in the country. Won't get offers everywhere, but there are only a few firms (a few in DC, maybe 2 or 3 in NYC) that just don't really hire somebody with a 3.4. Obviously a 3.5 would improve odds, but a 3.4 puts you in play and gives you reasonably good odds.Doritos wrote:You have another semester to go so figure out what you did well and what you did wrong on your exams and do better next semester. That said, a 3.4 isn't a bad place to be as that is right outside of top 1/3. OGI is a bit of a blackbox and there are exceptions to everything and it really depends on the individual but my understanding (informed by career services) is that 3.4 is good enough to get you to NYC biglaw. 3.4 is sort of the hurdle you want to jump. This is a complete rule of thumb and there are countless factors that go into a hiring decision but there ya go. One guy on the internet's opinion.djeter2 wrote:Got all my grades back and received one A- and three B+'s, giving me a 3.4 GPA (one of my B+s was for a 3 credit class). Can any 2Ls/3Ls give me a sense of what this means for OGI? I have limited but relevant work experience and usually do well in interviews. I realize this isn't a specific question, but I don't know what to expect.
Where do you want to end up? With a 3.4 I expect you to do well in secondary markets that you have ties in (this is a general statement all secondary markets are not created equally). More importantly figure out how you can do even better this semester because a bad spring semester could tank your GPA and if you want biglaw I wouldn't be too excited if I ended spring semester with a 3.3 or below for realz.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
First of all, don't freak out, don't think that the world is over, and don't start making decisions about your future based on one semester of grades.battle_tested wrote:So I got a 3.25. What the hell do I do at this point? B Civ Pro. B torts. A- contracts. B+ crim. I really don't know how to handle this.
Other posters have rightly pointed out that employers look for lots of things among candidates. The first is probably GPA, simply because it's an easy proxy that can help them narrow the list of candidates. But they will also look at things like work experience, other school activities, and extracurriculars.
My advice is to make your first priority doing better than --or at least as well as -- you did in the fall. But since law school grades can be random and hard to predict, do these things, too:
If you aren't doing pro bono that is giving you a good line on your resume, start now. Look for opportunities that would give you client contact (firms LOVE that) and give you a chance to do substantive work. The folks at the pro bono office would be thrilled to help you find something.
If you feel like you are doing well in LRW, apply to be a Dillard. This will look good on your resume and tell firms that you can write, which is something they really care about.
Do the journal tryout and join a journal. Even if you don't write on to Law Review, journal participation will show employers that you are serious about school and involved in something that, let's be honest, involves a lot of boring, not fun work.
Finally, make sure that you are doing work this summer that is going to give you good experience and something to talk about during interviews. The public interest OGI going on right now is a great place to start looking for summer jobs.
I know how you feel right now, but it's not the end of the world. You didn't do as well as you wanted, but that doesn't mean you don't have options. Even if your GPA is not what you want it to be, you can compensate by making other parts of your resume stronger. Good luck next semester and hang in there.
P.S. — As others have suggested, I would only enroll in large classes for the Spring. There are more good grades to get, and there are certain to be more 2Ls and 3Ls who aren't as eager to do well as you are. But I'm not sure I would avoid short courses. They are B+ heavy, but a B+ would help pull you toward median, so that may not be the worst thing in the world.
Last edited by StanleyF on Sat Jan 21, 2012 2:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
thx to the above 2/3L's for your advice.Doritos wrote:What do you want to do? biglaw? PI?battle_tested wrote:So I got a 3.25. What the hell do I do at this point? B Civ Pro. B torts. A- contracts. B+ crim. I really don't know how to handle this.
I would recommend you meet with your Civ Pro and Torts prof and talk about your exam. Figure out what you did wrong. If they have a model exam look at that. You are not in a terrible place if you work to improve your exam taking abilities. Did you do practice exams? Did you do a study group? Re-evaluate what you did to prepare last semester.
You got an A- in Contracts so you have it in you to beat the curve.
What classes are you taking? I would avoid seminars and shortcourses (vamedic has a post about this I believe) as they are B+ heavy and if I were you I would want to take classes where I have a shot at beating the curve in order to set you up better for OGI.
Last edited by battle_tested on Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- thatkid
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Re: UVA 1L taking questions
+1barneytrouble wrote:Hey guys
Admitted today, so still floating on cloud 9 etc etc.
For anyone that had to bring a SO to charlottesville, what did you find to be the best plan of action as far as them finding employment goes? My gf graduates in May, and I would love for her to find something good in town. Richmond is always an option but charlottesville is of course preferable. Don't want to have her resort to McDs or the like.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
3.15 gpa first semester, any advice about what to do going forward? I am really shocked because I studied hard but did not produce when it comes to exams.
I just don't know what to do now.
I just don't know what to do now.
- jawsthegreat
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Define studied hard.cct234 wrote:3.15 gpa first semester, any advice about what to do going forward? I am really shocked because I studied hard but did not produce when it comes to exams.
I just don't know what to do now.
- johansantana21
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Damn you UVA students have it easy if top 3rd gives you a competitive shot at almost every firm in the country.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
I did every practice exam available for each class. The class that caused my gpa to drop from a 3.45 to a 3.15 I did the most studying for, but my computer crashed in the middle of my exam so I was a bit spooked for the rest of the exam.jawsthegreat wrote:Define studied hard.cct234 wrote:3.15 gpa first semester, any advice about what to do going forward? I am really shocked because I studied hard but did not produce when it comes to exams.
I just don't know what to do now.
I memorized most of my outlines, at least for the class that I tanked in I had the outline down. I did E and E's. The law was not the problem, I think the way I approached the test was and the clarity in which I wrote the test was the issue. I think. But yes, I worked a lot. I could have worked harder, finished my outlines earlier and can improve, but I in no way slacked this semester.
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- thesealocust
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Performance on law school exams doesn't have much to do with how hard you learned the law. You'll have problems if you DON'T know (or know how to look up quickly) law for the exam, but knowing it all cold won't ensure even median performance. It's all about getting points by making arguments and counter arguments. Talking over exams with professors (most are approachable) and really thinking about how to maximize points when you do practice exams (by going over it carefully afterward) as opposed to just taking it and calling it a day is important.
At the end of the day though exams can just be really random. Sometimes you do or don't see a few key issues and that's the difference between a B and an A-. Try not to let it get to you and focus on trying to improve second semester.
At the end of the day though exams can just be really random. Sometimes you do or don't see a few key issues and that's the difference between a B and an A-. Try not to let it get to you and focus on trying to improve second semester.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
What is the likely distribution of outcomes for those who go K-JD, and land in the bottom 20% of the class after 1L of UVA. Any Input would be appreciated.
- jawsthegreat
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
What is your goal? Biglaw=probably screwed.Baum266 wrote:What is the likely distribution of outcomes for those who go K-JD, and land in the bottom 20% of the class after 1L of UVA. Any Input would be appreciated.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Thx for the response. Yeah, I guess the goal was big law, but the big picture goal is to get a job that will allow me to pay off student loans and live relatively comfortably.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
You could always go manufacture a forged transcript....?Baum266 wrote:Thx for the response. Yeah, I guess the goal was big law, but the big picture goal is to get a job that will allow me to pay off student loans and live relatively comfortably.
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Has anyone had experienced with switching classes around by just showing up on the first day? I'm interested in switching one but there's a waitlist with a fair number of people on it. It sounds unlikely but I've heard people doing it successfully in the past. Anyone have any insight? Is there a way I could access any enrollment info even though LawReg is closed?
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Edit: nvm
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Re: UVA Law Students Taking Questions
Use SIS to enroll (http://www.virginia.edu/sis). Enroll, stay on the waitlist, attend every class, and express your interest to the professor. You should be able to get in near the add/drop deadline.paulinaporizkova wrote:Has anyone had experienced with switching classes around by just showing up on the first day? I'm interested in switching one but there's a waitlist with a fair number of people on it. It sounds unlikely but I've heard people doing it successfully in the past. Anyone have any insight? Is there a way I could access any enrollment info even though LawReg is closed?
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