U Iowa 2010 App Cycle Forum

[JCougar]

New LSAT score, will be applying . I give props to Iowa for that "April 1st" e-mail. I probably wouldn't have thought about them otherwise.

I got a new one as well. Moved my 162 up to a 168 in February! I'm thinking this helps my chances a lot!

Congrats Cougs! I didn't go quite as far up as you (162 to 165), but my score now is probably the most reflective of my ability. Are you adding apps now that you have a new score? It's been a long way since September!

Yes, I'm throwing out apps to both WUSTL and Minnesota. Thinking about doing George Washington, too. DC is so expensive to live, but one of my best friends lives there. Of course my other best friend lives in St. Louis.

Even with a 168, my GPA will prevent me from getting into a T14, so I'm thinking WUSTL, UIUC, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota are the best I'm going to do. It all comes down to who gives me the most money. I get in-state at Wisconsin, though, so it would be hard to compete with that. Possibly, I can qualify for reciprocity at Minnesota as well. My super top-choice was Cornell since I want to do employment/labor law (and their clinic is awesome), but I feel like I'm a point or two away from having a chance there, and plus their deadline has already passed. I'm going to call their admissions office up tomorrow though to see if they will let me apply late. It's worth a shot. I have experience in corporate HR plus a MS in HR psychology and I want to use that experience to do labor law.

Edit: And a 165 should be gravy at Iowa. That was their cutoff for fee waivers this year, and looking at the profile shaping up on LSN, there seems to be something special about that number for them this year.

[Padimud]

Well nice to be back from my trip to Iowa City. I had quite the itinerary there including visits with Financial Aid, Career Services, a few professors, along with individual interviews with 3 students. I found my visit to be an overall success. The law school needs a slight face lift but as it was built in 1985 there was not much for expectations in that arena. The class I attended was very intellectual and thought provoking, and I gathered from my visit the overall educational quality is high especially if you are looking at corporate law, which I am. The journal seems to carry weight in the nation and much of the faculty are leaders in their field. The students seemed very open to sharing knowledge and notes and generally seemed very cohesive.

My discussions with Career services and the students revealed that OCI and the overall job market is leaving much to be desired. First years had only 8 OCI firms/positions for 200 students. It seemed like if you want to find a job you had better be ready to do all or at least most of the leg work. Job prospects I concluded are looking better moving forward the breadth and depth of available positions was lacking. CS said Public Interest offered many opportunities.

With that said, I was still impressed with the law school and blown away with Midwestern attitude. I realized while there that Iowa City would be an alright place to be long term. The town is literally Hawkeye land and outside of the University there is little in the way of things to do. Corralville which is next door was nice, but Iowa City seemed run down and old generally. (It may have something to do with the fact that the whole city was underwater in 2008).

I decided that the best way for me to rank the visit was to give a completely subjective IMO ranking of various variables. So here you go.

Overall: B
Housing: C (D for quality, A- for cost)
Law School Educational Quality: B+
Job Outlook: C
Student Body (Competition): B+
Faculty:A-
Weather: C- ( it was 8 below for an overnight low, 12 for a high while I was there)

I felt like overall Iowa is an above average school. Having done a few other visits (with upcoming visits to three other schools) I was not blown away but impressed. Hope that helps. Ask any questions you may have. I am no expert- just had 2 days there.

[robin600]

Also withdraw today. Hated doing it (turning down that money was hard), but a GPA requirement like that was not workable.

Cornell officially then? Thought you were 65/35 in favor of Iowa.

Congrats to everyone who scored higher on the new LSAT. I'm going to go shoot myself now (same score) because I now officially know that I am a complete failure.

Withdrew today. Was sorry to do it since Iowa's admissions office has been so awesome. Hope this helps someone else on here get an offer of admission and fellowship.

Also withdraw today. Hated doing it (turning down that money was hard), but a GPA requirement like that was not workable.

You should have written "I give all of my money to nyskidude." in your withdrawal letter. They totally would've known who I was, too . But in all seriousness, I am really hoping Iowa gives me something. 10k from UIUC and Wisconsin, 12k from tOSU. Show me the love, Iowa!

Dude when did you hear from Wisconsin? I got the same offer from OSU...

[evilxs]

Funny I had a completely different perception. I just drove there tonight and checked it out. I found the town to be beautiful, particularly loving all of the bridges and rivers through the campus. I felt like the campus was very safe and inviting.

I agree with the law building being a little dated, but overall it was a beautiful campus and everyone really seems to enjoy it there. It was 33 degrees though today

The town was not rocking with things to do but honestly in my mind that makes for a much better chance of success. i.e. less distractions when I know I need to focus on law school.

[Padimud]

Funny I had a completely different perception. I just drove there tonight and checked it out. I found the town to be beautiful, particularly loving all of the bridges and rivers through the campus. I felt like the campus was very safe and inviting.

I agree with the law building being a little dated, but overall it was a beautiful campus and everyone really seems to enjoy it there. It was 33 degrees though today

The town was not rocking with things to do but honestly in my mind that makes for a much better chance of success. i.e. less distractions when I know I need to focus on law school.

I will admit that the river running just beside the law school was nice. And I think the other three seasons would be beautiful. But I took the time to drive around the housing options on the East side of the river and was turned off by everything East of the river.

I hope my review didn't sound too over critical. Iowa was nice in every way, it just didn't blow me away.

[CyLaw]

Also withdraw today. Hated doing it (turning down that money was hard), but a GPA requirement like that was not workable.

Cornell officially then? Thought you were 65/35 in favor of Iowa.

Not official, I am waiting for offers from Cornell and Vanderbilt, and want to visit both.

I was definitely leaning towards Iowa the most, but the class standing requirement on my scholarship was a little much, and if I lost it I would be paying more for UIowa than I would for Cornell (3 semesters of new GI Bill will pay for full cost of attendance at Cornell for a year and a half, so I would only have to pay for the back end of school there). Lastly, there is a chance my wife can come and live with me for my last year and a half at either Cornell or Vanderbilt, but no chance at UIowa as all the jobs/academic opportunities for her field are on the wrong side of the state (where we are now).

Iowa was very very tempting, but in the end I decided that it was not the best offer for me.

[xeckosk8trx]

In at Iowa!!! Feels great to join the crew. Is anyone going to the admitted students day meeting on March 25-26th? What is the nearest airport to U of Iowa?

Thanks.

[ylee0331]

In at Iowa!!! Feels great to join the crew. Is anyone going to the admitted students day meeting on March 25-26th? What is the nearest airport to U of Iowa?

Thanks.

When did you hear the decision and via how?
I am still waiting to hear from Iowa but nothing so far...

[Padimud]

In at Iowa!!! Feels great to join the crew. Is anyone going to the admitted students day meeting on March 25-26th? What is the nearest airport to U of Iowa?

Thanks.

Cedar Rapids in closest. Moline, IL is an hour away. Des Moines is 2 hours away. I flew in via Moline, IL last week but would recommend going another route as Moline only flies out to a few cities and it seemed that everything was delayed (I missed a connection and spent the night in Atlanta). Go Des Moines and drive in my opinion.

[evilxs]

That is kinda funny. I fly out of Moline normally and I live in Des Moines, BUT that is mostly because the cost used to be so much higher. Now that Airtran is flying out of Des Moines (they just started last month), Des Moines is a much more reasonably priced airport.

[confused2013]

Hi All,

I have been admitted to quite a few schools, Iowa being one of them. I have about five full-ride offers to T3 and T4 schools, with some money in the top tier, and a few other random scholarships.

I visited U of Iowa last week. All staff members including the Associate Dean of Admissions were very helpful. Additionally, Iowa boasts many impressive statistics (99% job placement rate, 99% retention rate, 93% bar passage rate) and on top of that, is #26 in the nation (which I'm sure we were all aware of). I wanted to get some advice/answers about the benefit of attending a top law school and paying for that versus going for relatively cheap/free at another lower tiered institution. My goal is to end up as a corporate lawyer somewhere in the Chicagoland area.

Any advice or input anyone may have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[evilxs]

Do you have a full ride at one of the schools in Chicago?

[confused2013]

Do you have a full ride at one of the schools in Chicago?

I do have a full-ride to a school in Chicago (John Marshall) and acceptance to all law schools there except Northwestern (denied) and U of Chicago (I didn't apply). From what I understood from many lawyers in Chicago is that it is difficult to get a good job from a lower tiered school such as John Marshall.

[Panther7]

held

[dgsaudio]

In, but WAY too expensive for me, an out of stater with no scholarship....

[jaskat]

In, but WAY too expensive for me, an out of stater with no scholarship....

When did you find out about that?

[dgsaudio]

In, but WAY too expensive for me, an out of stater with no scholarship....

When did you find out about that?

The acceptance packet is dated 1/19, my application was in on 12/10. If Iowa didn't have such a lame residency policy, I would seriously consider going there, as it is the top school i've been accepted to.

[Padimud]

Partial scholarship information has not been released, so why give up before you know your full offer?

[xeckosk8trx]

In at Iowa!!! Feels great to join the crew. Is anyone going to the admitted students day meeting on March 25-26th? What is the nearest airport to U of Iowa?

Thanks.

When did you hear the decision and via how?
I am still waiting to hear from Iowa but nothing so far...

I received an e-mail from the Dean stating my admission to the University of Iowa. I received the acceptance letter yesterday along with the invitation to the admitted students day program. From the day I applied it took about a 5 weeks for them to get back at me.

[dt22]

In at Iowa!!! Feels great to join the crew. Is anyone going to the admitted students day meeting on March 25-26th? What is the nearest airport to U of Iowa?

Thanks.

Cedar Rapids in closest. Moline, IL is an hour away. Des Moines is 2 hours away. I flew in via Moline, IL last week but would recommend going another route as Moline only flies out to a few cities and it seemed that everything was delayed (I missed a connection and spent the night in Atlanta). Go Des Moines and drive in my opinion.

I've never used the Moline route, so can't speak for it...DSM is small and easy to get around in. It will take less than 2 hrs to get to IC in good weather...There are 2 malls on the way if you need to waste time due to an early flight, etc.

[dt22]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&start=25
Iowa 2013 thread, by the way - so we don't annoy people that are waiting for acceptances.

[Slimpee]

My request for the day off for Fri. of ASD was approved so i'll be there!

Are people staying Fri. night as well? TLS meetup?

[Jerome]

My request for the day off for Fri. of ASD was approved so i'll be there!

Are people staying Fri. night as well? TLS meetup?

I'll be there Friday.

[JOThompson]

I'll be arriving Thursday and leaving Saturday. I didn't want to stay so long, but the ticket was significantly cheaper with a later departure. We should have a TLS meet and greet

[Slimpee]

I'll be arriving Thursday and leaving Saturday. I didn't want to stay so long, but the ticket was significantly cheaper with a later departure. We should have a TLS meet and greet

I'll be driving so I could also stick around Sat. and bum around...