U of San Diego Fall 2010 Forum

[sigmachiev]

Hey all, 1L at USD, straight As last semester, willing to take questions. Fire away.

[rorystewart]

Did you have any free time? Where did you live?

[BruinsFan]

Where was your GPA and LSAT in regards to the medians?

[rorystewart]

Do you have a summer job?

[uwb09]

Hey all, 1L at USD, straight As last semester, willing to take questions. Fire away.

after some e-stalking, looks like you went to USD from Seattle.

As someone who might be going to USD from Seattle, how would you compare/contrast San Diego to Seattle? what did you like better there, what didn't you like, etc...

thanks!

[rorystewart]

Also from the Emerald City.

[sigmachiev]

As someone who might be going to USD from Seattle, how would you compare/contrast San Diego to Seattle? what did you like better there, what didn't you like, etc...

Seattle beats it on culture, food and things to do (not drunk). San Diego beats it on weather, women, and nightlife. For instance, there's nothing like Bumbershoot or Seafair in San Diego. But also for instance, there's nothing like the beaches here to attract so many girls. Some things are a toss up, like you're trading Dicks for In N Out. I think Seattle is a bit more laid back but there's not much difference there. If you live in PB you trade the coffee drinking hipster douche for the beer drinking frat douche bro-buddy. And that worked for me since that's more my scene. I think overall I like Seattle a bit better because that's home but it's not like I don't dig it down here. The adjustment is also pretty easy and I don't think you miss much. I miss Paseo (Cuban food in Fremont, check it if unfamiliar) and Husky sports but that's pretty much it.

Do you have a summer job?

I have a gig at a firm that starts after finals. I'd say half my section has at least some type of legal work (paid or unpaid), the other half is either doing summer school or they're still looking. I know maybe four people who are working at a law firm and I'm the only one I know who didn't land it through connections (it's their dad's firm, they have a family friend, etc). No one has BigLaw as a 1L summer but those gigs are hard to get even for tippy top schools so I wouldn't put much stock into that. The rest are doing stuff like JAG intern, Homeland Security, AG's office... I think a couple people are clerking but they're clerking in bumfuck nowhere like in El Centro, Arizona so discount that. Oh, and a couple people did land really sweet intern spots at major corporations and they're making legit money this summer, but those instances have been exclusively through connections. I think given the market we're doing fine but expect to have to hustle a bit.

Where was your GPA and LSAT in regards to the medians?

GPA was maybe .2 lower than the mean, LSAT was a couple points higher. Still scholarship, but I had to ask for it. On that note if anyone gets shafted with free money I suggest sending them an update, well written and polite, pointing out other offers. The school is receptive to helping you out but in my case (and some others) you might need to be proactive about it.

Did you have any free time? Where did you live?

I live in Pacific Beach, a block from Mission Bay and 4 blocks from the ocean. It's great in the sense you can walk to stores/bars/one of the thousand of 7-11s around here. It absolutely sucks though if you don't have a car, and I don't. I take two busses to get to campus when i can't bum a ride from a friend, which happens more than I'd like it to because I hate the library and don't like sticking around campus once classes get out. If you have a car, live in PB. If you don't and you live with people who aren't cool or don't have cars either, do not live far from campus because public transpo here is no good at all. The two bus deal takes me, during rush hour, over an hour to get to and from campus. It's maybe a 10 minute car ride max. Compare...

As for free time I feel like I have plenty. I go to the beach, gym, go out, sit around a lot and play vidya games and just generally do whatever. I think the whole "you have to study 14 hours a day" mentality is complete bullshit and frankly I find people who do that baffling. Either people psyche themselves out to do that or they don't pick up material very fast. I'm not trying to come off as either a slacker or a jerk but for me it's been easy. I do however make it my business to participate every class at least once; professors here do give bumps to gunners (bare in mind professors here are actually excellent and know a good gunner from a bad one), but after meeting with them to go over exams I found it didn't matter for me. But it could for you. Go to class, never skip, take good notes, get good outlines... but you don't need to spend your life in the library to get excellent results. I'm proof of that. (EDIT: To clarify, it's not like I sit around with a thumb up my butt. I study differently and don't mind having books or law review articles open all day and taking long breaks. That's just how I work. People here work very, very hard and I generally find most students pretty bright. There's a reason the school keeps going up in rank and it gets harder every year to get into. And no one in admissions is worried about Irvine or this UCSD nonsense encroaching on USD's turf. There will always be some talented people who want to study in the sun).

For the record, even though I think USD is cool I'm transferring to a T14 (already in at Georgetown) and I highly suggest if you don't get money from *any* school not in the T14, or maybe certain big state school T1s (I think for the Seattle people UW is a great option), or you are absolutely certain you want to stay in San Diego and MAYBE other parts of SoCal if you are a superstar student, you reassess your plans given the state of BigLaw and the general legal market.

[quickquestionthanks]

Thanks for the post. What was your UG major?

Also, is it true that SD offers full tuition to students in the top 10% after 1L?

And would you say that you're "built" for doing law school? I'm a little nervous because I'm much more math/numbers and don't typically spend a lot of time reading dense, abstract texts.

[sigmachiev]

Thanks for the post. What was your UG major?

Also, is it true that SD offers full tuition to students in the top 10% after 1L?

And would you say that you're "built" for doing law school? I'm a little nervous because I'm much more math/numbers and don't typically spend a lot of time reading dense, abstract texts.

1. Poli Sci/English at a big state school (although pretty easy to figure that out based on the last post).

2. You heard right on the general idea but you're stats are off. The full ride cut off is top 15 numeric which works itself out to be around top 7%. That might not sound like a big difference, but try telling that to the 8 or so people who miss the cut. One of my best friends here is a 2L and he was #17. My roommate, also a 2L, is fighting for his financial future as he's at #9 and the difference between dropping out would be a B+ on his last final (which since we're on a B- curve here isn't a gimmie at all). I'm not exactly sure what it'll be this year percentage-wise because the class is a bit bigger but I highly doubt they'll move the top 15 threshold back to accommodate the two or three more killer students that would be deserving.

You've probably heard this advice elsewhere, but read the scholarship offer very carefully. If it wants you to maintain top third to get the money to kick in the following year, I'd consider that decent. You can make top third here if you work hard enough/are naturally gifted without too much stress. If it says you need a 3.6 though, that's a big red flag because then you're flirting with top 10% and at that point there's honestly an element of luck given how the curve plays out, what section you're in, etc.

3. I would say I'm built for it. I love to write and it's what got me in here (did absolutely terrible in math classes at college, got straight As in my majors). I love the material and I've never viewed studying as a hassle - even now as I'm in the thick of finals and will be up for at least a few more hours (no matter who you are you're putting in major hours during finals if you give a damn) I'm not too stressed or hating my life or anything. I like my professors and enjoy class discussion. It's not a chore to me. For others it is and they're the ones who make the endless Facebook posts about how hard law school is.

Your math background will likely serve you well from a reading standpoint if you get into it. Math and engineering majors consistently perform the best both on the LSAT and once they're in law school because you've been trained to pay attention to detail and work through problems in a logical, organized way that suits answering a fact pattern well. Organization of an exam answer is the absolute key to a strong answer. I would suggest you flip through a few of the canonical cases to get a feel for what a judicial brief is like (Do *NOT* read supplemental material yet, terrible idea in my opinion to do that because you'll learn viewpoints that your professor might not agree with). See how it goes. Also if I had your background I'd be thinking Patent/IP because people with those skills are in much higher demand relative to other types of attorneys right now.

[uwb09]

question:

this isn't a law school class room is it?



I was just digging around Flickr under "university of san diego" and came across that, if that's a law school classroom, effin sign me up, i'd never skip a class

[primusux]

In off wait list. No LOCI or any contact after WL. How strange. Withdrawing. Hope the spot goes to someone here!

[uwb09]

In off wait list. No LOCI or any contact after WL. How strange. Withdrawing. Hope the spot goes to someone here!

think same thing happened to me, I wonder if what people were predicting earlier actually came to fruition

aka they were only accepting stellar applicants (who were most likely using san diego as a safety) and when they got into their top choices they dropped san diego. All the while leaving the rest of the applicant pool to just sit around and twiddle their thumbs

now that their stellar wave of acceptances is letting deposits pass by, they are accepting/expediting waitlisters in huge batches to compensate

[primusux]

In off wait list. No LOCI or any contact after WL. How strange. Withdrawing. Hope the spot goes to someone here!

think same thing happened to me, I wonder if what people were predicting earlier actually came to fruition

aka they were only accepting stellar applicants (who were most likely using san diego as a safety) and when they got into their top choices they dropped san diego. All the while leaving the rest of the applicant pool to just sit around and twiddle their thumbs

now that their stellar wave of acceptances is letting deposits pass by, they are accepting/expediting waitlisters in huge batches to compensate

No offer of money included with my letter, which is weird considering their rank.

[OrcinusOrcas]

+1 on the pic...is that really one of their classrooms?!? Even if it's just a conference room or something, I still looked forward to going on campus before Orientation to "ooo" and "ahhh" at such places...I went to a public university where most classrooms were, heh, falling apart

[twert]

+1 on the pic...is that really one of their classrooms?!? Even if it's just a conference room or something, I still looked forward to going on campus before Orientation to "ooo" and "ahhh" at such places...I went to a public university where most classrooms were, heh, falling apart

i've only been in one law school classroom, and it did not look like that at all. it was actually really underwhelming.

[uwb09]

officially in at san diego, no mention of scholarship in packet, gonna fill out financial aid form and hope for need-based aid at minimum

at least now i have a valid excuse to book a vacation to san diego haha

[CmonSD]

officially in at san diego, no mention of scholarship in packet, gonna fill out financial aid form and hope for need-based aid at minimum

at least now i have a valid excuse to book a vacation to san diego haha

Congrats!

[pegleg]

officially in at san diego, no mention of scholarship in packet, gonna fill out financial aid form and hope for need-based aid at minimum

at least now i have a valid excuse to book a vacation to san diego haha

Congrats! Re: scholarship, I didn't get mine until a week after I was admitted. Turn in the institutional form ASAP to get need assessed.

[uwb09]

officially in at san diego, no mention of scholarship in packet, gonna fill out financial aid form and hope for need-based aid at minimum

at least now i have a valid excuse to book a vacation to san diego haha

Congrats! Re: scholarship, I didn't get mine until a week after I was admitted. Turn in the institutional form ASAP to get need assessed.

just e-mailed it over today, also included a mini LOCI/personal update with it so i'm hoping that helps haha

[Oakley84]

What are everyone's numbers who have gotten off of the waitlist? A friend of mine was just offered a spot off the waitlist after being waitlisted first batch. I am still waiting after second batch waitlist.

[CmonSD]

Also to the people who got off the waitlist.....when is your deposit due?

Thanks!

[uwb09]

both deposits are due June 1st

the 2nd one ($400) is fully refundable if i withdraw by July 15th

[pegleg]

Just participated in a live webchat with USD financial aid. It's on again at 5pm PST and I highly recommend participating if you have any questions about that part of the process.

[Slimpee]

Forgot to officially withdraw and got a nice email today telling me that if I want to attend I need to call them. I filled out the withdraw survey, however, freeing up a spot and some $$$.

Good luck!

[uwb09]

said they can't offer me a scholarship right now, but may be able to in the future should i maintain my seat