Washington and Lee C/O 2017, Applicants Thread (2013-2014) Forum

raininthedesert · Post by **raininthedesert** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:45 am

vtothesick wrote:Hey guys!

I just wanted to mention what I found out about the rankings drop. If you look at the methodology http://www.usnews.com/education/best-gr ... s-rankings - the ranking is based on the 2012 employment statistics. That was a terrible year for W&L based on their website statistics, but I have it on a somewhat solid authority that the 2013 figures are significantly better and that should bump them up next year. The school knew it was a problem because they made a big hire - http://news.blogs.wlu.edu/2014/02/14/cl ... at-wl-law/ - and are throwing a LOT of resources at it.

I think this is a one year outlier that is on an upward trend given the strong alumni network, the increasing strength of the economy, and the fact that they have a lot of resources and effort going into career services before 0Ls will need it. In some ways, this could make W&L a "bargain" because it is almost definitely going to increase in ranking from where it is now but the drop would be a good basis for negotiating more $$

Food for thought....

Food for thought??? This is flawed reasoning. The employment figures for 2013 are significantly better for most schools in the middle tier. In 1-2 years the current overinflated -- 2L is it? -- class of 200 students will be vying for jobs and the employment numbers will actually decline as well. W&L dropped for a variety of reasons. The ranking will not go up and you shouldn't be basing any decision on its ranking anyway. Either the school provides you with what you are looking for or it doesn't. There is no debating that the teaching at W&L is fantastic...the location, externship possibilities, and placement are not.

LurkerShirker · Post by **LurkerShirker** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:01 am

W&L has released its Class of 2013 figures, so we know for a fact that those are better than Class of 2012 upon which the new rankings are based, even though the class size is larger. Most others have not been released yet, although I think they are supposed to post by today. The Class of 2013 results will show up in the rankings released in 2015. So next year, the Class of 2014 is actually about 20 students smaller than the Class of 2013, and that is what the rankings released in 2016 will be based upon. The Class of 2015 is the large one, it will hit the rankings that come out in 2017, then we go to an even smaller class (Class of 2016, which is about 30 students smaller than the Class of 2013), for the rankings that come out in 2018. So over the next four year's rankings, only one will be affected by the large class size.

W&L is going to be disadvantaged in the rankings as US News counts employment because some other schools hire a lot of their own grads FT for a year, some as much as 22%, pays them something like minimum wage, and US News counts those as if they were biglaw placement. Those other schools would drop if US News changes its formula someday.

doge · Post by **doge** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:06 am

If I am not mistaken, doesn't ABA do it's own assessment of the numbers come April 1st? Could be totally wrong and I misheard someone say that. I figured I would just wait for that to confirm.

LurkerShirker · Post by **LurkerShirker** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:16 am

doge wrote:If I am not mistaken, doesn't ABA do it's own assessment of the numbers come April 1st? Could be totally wrong and I misheard someone say that. I figured I would just wait for that to confirm.

What the ABA does around April 1 is to take all the ABA employment forms from each school and put them on the ABA website. Every school is required to post their own on their own website, I think by today, a few have already posted. I do not think the ABA does any sort of assessment, although some people take all the forms and come up with their own analyses.

cricketlove00 · Post by **cricketlove00** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:23 am

Under review for 3 weeks. Ugh.

Annie787 · Post by **Annie787** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:25 am

cricketlove00 wrote:Under review for 3 weeks. Ugh.

I know right? I'm ready to hear from them. Probably will end up at Wake anyways, but I've been under review for a few days shy of a month.

cricketlove00 · Post by **cricketlove00** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:31 am

Annie787 wrote:
cricketlove00 wrote:Under review for 3 weeks. Ugh.
I know right? I'm ready to hear from them. Probably will end up at Wake anyways, but I've been under review for a few days shy of a month.

I'm in the exact same boat. Wake made their decision so quickly for me.

BankruptMe · Post by **BankruptMe** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:19 pm

Still waiting.

mec246 · Post by **mec246** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:31 pm

Has anyone who is attending admitted student weekend received any more information re: hotel reservations? I got the emails reminding people to RSVP so they could book rooms, but no information about where I am staying or how reimbursement works.

lhanvt13 · Post by **lhanvt13** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:03 pm

mec246 wrote:Has anyone who is attending admitted student weekend received any more information re: hotel reservations? I got the emails reminding people to RSVP so they could book rooms, but no information about where I am staying or how reimbursement works.

Hotel should be... Marriott ?? It's by Kroger in town if you wanna google map it. Reimbursement is through a form you fill out with copies of receipts up to $300

kaze950 · Post by **kaze950** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 3:21 pm

mec246 wrote:Has anyone who is attending admitted student weekend received any more information re: hotel reservations? I got the emails reminding people to RSVP so they could book rooms, but no information about where I am staying or how reimbursement works.

All I received as a confirmation e-mail when I initially RSVP'd a few weeks ago. Reimbursement is basically a mail-in form w/ receipts, but I'm not sure what the hotel is either. I just plan to shoot them an e-mail if I don't hear anything by next monday.

jaysgirl42671 · Post by **jaysgirl42671** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:21 pm

You should be booked at the Hampton for Open House, and you don't normally receive information until early that week, so probably by Tuesday at the latest. Then you have the coffee reception on Friday night and all of the Open House activities on Saturday (fun, right?!).

The Hampton is really great, and then, yes, you do submit a form later with travel receipts (plane fares, gas, etc.) and they send you a check. It's really a quick process - I went to one in the middle of March and got my check by the end of April.

I just want to make a comment on the rankings. The Class of 2013 has obviously gone up in employment. Many of my 1L friends (and me) have jobs/internships already lined up for this summer. Our Reputation ranking is #19, so obviously we're still extremely well-respected in the legal field. Our ranking from judges/attorneys/recruiters is 24. Still not bad. 3rd year curriculum isn't crap, then, if employers still think W&L students are prepared for practice. The bar passage rate is for students taking it in VA, which doesn't take into account the nearly perfect passage rates we have in other states (from what I learned, the VA bar deadline is super late and people may not necessarily study for it as hard as they would have if they had known they were taking it in VA in the first place). The Class of 2013's bar passage rates, by the way, were higher than the state average this year.

Annie787 · Post by **Annie787** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:27 pm

Accepted today!

Baby_Got_Feuerbach · Post by **Baby_Got_Feuerbach** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:41 pm

Annie787 wrote:Accepted today!

Email or status checker?

lhanvt13 · Post by **lhanvt13** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:43 pm

Annie787 wrote:Accepted today!

woop woop congrats

Annie787 · Post by **Annie787** » Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:48 pm

Baby_Got_Feuerbach wrote:
Annie787 wrote:Accepted today!
Email or status checker?

They emailed and said decision would be today so I checked the status checker and was admitted and got an email shortly after

PourMeTea · Post by **PourMeTea** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:49 pm

Post removed.

lhanvt13 · Post by **lhanvt13** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:08 pm

PourMeTea wrote:Current W&L students: how many full rides do they give out? Has anyone successfully negotiated from up from a full-ride to a full-ride plus stipend? I have personal reasons for wanting to attend W&L, but trying to make this a financial reality. I'd need COL covered at least somewhat. Thank you in advance.

I personally don't know anybody with full-ride+.
Also, I personally don't know how many people got full rides.
W&L has historically not negotiated scholarships. However, things could always change so try it out.

FYI: http://law.wlu.edu/admissions/page.asp?pageid=1286
No exact statistics though.

PourMeTea · Post by **PourMeTea** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 8:13 pm

Post removed.

kaze950 · Post by **kaze950** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:30 am

I don't think W&L offers full-tuition+stipend: http://law.wlu.edu/admissions/nalp/Std5 ... rt2013.pdf (had to search a bit for this, the actual page W&L has for their merit scholarships only shows retention data).

BankruptMe · Post by **BankruptMe** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:48 am

Anybody receive any acceptances/rejections lately?

Annie787 · Post by **Annie787** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:48 am

For anyone that was accepted, how long did it take for you to hear about scholl info? It says they'll mail it in a few weeks but I was hoping maybe it's faster

Creditisgood · Post by **Creditisgood** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:54 am

2 weeks for me.

Annie787 · Post by **Annie787** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:21 am

BankruptMe wrote:Anybody receive any acceptances/rejections lately?

I was accepted on Thursday

BankruptMe · Post by **BankruptMe** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:27 am

Annie787 wrote:
BankruptMe wrote:Anybody receive any acceptances/rejections lately?
I was accepted on Thursday

Status checker, email or both?