LSAC Forum Atlanta 11/6

[jjames]

Is it worth it to go?

Anyone plan on going or has been to one of these forums before?

Thanks for any information!

[Deuce]

I'm just excited for it to come and go so schools will stop e-mailing me about it.

[Sandro]

I was contemplating driving back to ATL for this, but I dont think i'm going to get enough out of it to justify going. Maybe some fee waivers, but gas there and back would probably be just as much as a few.

[MM326]

I'm just excited for it to come and go so schools will stop e-mailing me about it.

+1

I still haven't decided whether I'm going to go or not. But since I go to school in the area, it does seem kind of a waste of an opportunity. Anyone have any particular thoughts about going to these types of forums?

[NonTradHealthLaw]

I plan on going and am excited to pick up pens and pencils. My stash of pencils with erasers is running low after LSAT prep.

Seriously, I think would have been more informative to go as a -1L than 0L but I don't think (hope) it'll be a complete waste of time hobnobbing with some of the schools I'm quasi-interested in.

[Sandro]

The financial aid presentation was pretty boring and I left mid way. Picked up a bunch of view books and asked a couple of questions to some schools. People with their parents in tow at the school's booths was weird. I felt sorry for some of the people, very excited about taking out $120k+ in debt for T3's and T4s from some of the convos I overheard. Felt there needed to be some reality check, especially in this economy but expecting LSAC to offer one would be a stretch. The financial aid presentation made no mention of the reduction in legal employment or its effects on starting salaries - statements like "The average starting salary for those going into private practice in 2009 was 100k" is borderline lying because the average person there thinks they have a good shot at it....

[dutchtowner]

I went and it was ok, but I had a shopping list of things to do and people to see. It was a mixed bag basically; some schools had their Dean of Admissions available and some had a 2L only at their table.

The thing that I found out that was shocking to me was that Loyola NO will be charging somewhere between $38-40k per year for tuition?

I wonder why law schools don't reduce their tuition costs? After all, the job market is terrible, housing has lost value and some mortgages are adjusted to reflect the true value of houses, and many businesses charge less for services these days.

Yet law schools keep raising tuition costs?

Dutch

[NonTradHealthLaw]

One of the most entertaining things, to me, was listening to other students ask questions. The cluelessness was delicious.

I agree, wholeheartedly, that the financial aid presentation was worthless. Not sure entirely what I was expecting but there was nothing there that couldn't be found out with 5 minutes of research.

Fell in love with BC. Anyone want to buy a house in Atlanta and pay 10% extra to help me move?

[5823]

.

[ck3]

Thought it was helpful. Sure, most of the information I got from it probably could have been found through diligent Googling, but it was nice to speak to a warm body representing the school.

If you're close to a forum, I recommend you check it out. At the very least, you could get fee waivers and gain some insight into the admissions process. Don't bother with the speaker/presentations- if you read TLS, you know enough about applying for those to be worth your time. Just visit the tables for the law schools.

Highlights:

• Wash U said they would send out fee waivers based on the list of people who stopped by their booth. They also said that scholarships are based pretty much entirely on lsat score. If you're above a 168, you're looking at big $$$.
• UCLA really encouraged that you disclose where else you got in and what scholly packages you're looking at. If they like you, they'll fight to keep you. I didn't hear the same line from other schools.
• Duke's director of financial aid said that showing interest in the school prior to submitting an app can make the difference when you're being compared with someone else with similar numbers. If you're on the edge, adcomms look at things like you stopping by their booth, emailing in questions, reaffirming your interest, etc. Just don't go stalker on them.
• About 70% of MI, 65% of UVA, 70% of Penn, and 70% of Duke students have at least 1 year WE. The reps were quick to point out that they don't discriminate against students straight out of UG, and these numbers are merely reflective of the trends of the applicants they're seeing. Kinda weird that they all threw that caveat out there as soon as I asked out percentages of students with WE- apparently they get this question a lot.
• CCN were there (no HY present), but their responses to students seemed markedly cool compared to others. Perhaps they know they're hot shit so they don't need to slum around for applicants, but it was a little off-putting. The only exception I saw was when an AA male stopped by the Chicago booth and told the rep he had a 173. The rep kinda went nuts and rolled out the red carpet for him. Didn't see her react at all when non-URM applicants with similar/better numbers stopped by.

I also had a standard list of questions that I asked most of the schools, and listening to the different reactions was pretty interesting. For example, when I asked for a critique of my PS topic, UCLA gave me a helpful, 5 minute spiel about what he looks for, whereas Columbia's response to the same Q was that they don't give advice about PS because they believe that choice of PS topic is an element of the applicant's decision making abilities that they evaluate in their admissions process.

At the end of the day there was a session with 3 practicing attorneys 2 of whom were recent graduates. It was very informative and I would suggest that those who are in proximity to a forum take advantage of it for this type of session. Also, UGA was handing out fee waivers there. Lastly I did get some info from the financial aid session about different types of loans. I really enjoyed speaking directly to the Duke 2L who was at the table who is an AA male just as I am so I think it was very worthwhile.