ConnD wrote:
I just got an updated scholarship to full tuition yesterday, making BLS one of my top choices. I want to live on-campus, any chance with negotiating they'll give me more for housing? I was accepted to higher ranked schools but the prospect of going to school debt free is really enticing.
Also, how do you feel about the school atmosphere/ classes/reputation? Do you feel you have good internship opportunities for your 1L summer and are you confident in being employed after graduation?
It can't hurt to ask, but I'd probably wait until a bit later in the cycle, especially if you've got other offers. I feel like you're always better off with more bargaining chips and other offers and time to fill the class running out are both pretty decent chips to play with.
As to atmosphere/classes/reputation...
I'm really, really happy here. I like the people, love my professors, and have only really had one class that was just sort of 'meh.' It wasn't bad, just not awesome.
Everyone I know got 1L summer internships/jobs last year- those are fairly easy to come by as you're working for free. Whether you end up working at Legal Aid or Skadden will depend largely on how much you hustle, I think. Most of my friends in this year's crop of 1Ls have jobs lined up this summer, many of them well paid. I'm not sure if this years 1Ls are doing better than last year's at finding solid summer jobs or if my 1L friends are more on-the-ball than my class of 2015 friends were last year, but they seem to be getting *better* jobs than my year did. That's entirely anecdotal, though.
Some 2Ls are still looking for this summer, some got SA jobs through OCI, some got jobs elsewhere. I think how 2Ls fare is a combination of grades, networking, hustle, interest, and luck.
I'm very confident in being employed after graduation, but I'm also in the top of my class with a summer associate job lined up. I know a few 2Ls below median who are starting to freak out. At this point, most of my 3L friends have jobs lined up, though not necessarily their first choice jobs and not, for most of them, Big Law. I know a few people with clerkships lined up and no idea what they're doing after that. I also know 3Ls - mostly median or below - who don't have jobs, and they're pretty freaked out about it.
That said, take this with a grain of salt and look at actual numbers. My sample size is small and anecdotal, and it's probably highly skewed because it's all coming from people I'm friends with, and I tend to think my friends are pretty awesome compared to the rest of the BLS population.
TL;DR: I'm really, really happy at BLS, really glad I decided against transferring after 1L, and feel good about my prospects but I recognize that anecdotal evidence is anecdotal so don't make choices based solely on anything I say.