observationalist wrote:
Provincial stereotypes about a diverse geographical region aside, this thread is on law students, not the general population. Tennessee has one of the highest illiteracy rates and one of the worst obesity rates in the country but those rates don't reflect the student populations at Vandy, Fisk or any of the other universities. The only way it impacts us is by providing more opportunities to engage in social justice work through externships, clinical offerings, the Street Law program, etc.
And yeah, Auburn and law schools like Ole Miss and UGA certainly make the cut for appearances. Too bad they have a hard time pulling in students from other regions because of the job prospects. If Ole Miss law received a complete overhaul, significantly boosted its national rep and started placing graduates around the country I bed they'd suck a significant amount of talent away from schools that don't have anything approximating the Grove to experience on the weekends. We think this is what's happening with Vandy and why incoming students are now regularly touting higher numbers than at least one school in the historical T14, but I guess we'll need to see how it all plays out. Right now we're focused on what employment prospects are going to look like for my class... jenesaislaw pulled together some good stats on how 2L OCI went so I'm hoping he makes those public once all the callbacks are wrapped up. It would be great if we come out with relatively strong firm placement for their class... maybe it would make some folks from other parts of the country less inclined to think that the south is full of inbreds.
None of this surprises me at all. Students in general are more attractive/better in shape than the over all population, and of course climate comes into play. Some of us are more paranoid than others, though. I'm not really happy that I shot up to 125 pounds (I'm almost 5' 8"). Too many Magnolia cupcakes, lol. I concur that southern students (at least the Virginians I knew) are very attractive.
Joshi is right about NYC students. At least one CLS girl I know looks like a model, as does my best friend here, a lovely Fordham MSW student. (The School of Social Service shares a building with us.) The South doesn't have a monopoly on pretty girls.
I am also reasonably pleased with the hotness of the male population here. The hottest boys go to HLS, IMO, but I was pleasantly surprised by the guys in my own classes. Lawcest is a horrible idea, though, and even a school this size is a small place when it comes to gossip. I'm not even sure how I feel about Fordham girls dating Columbians or NYU students. Fraught with peril, all of it.
Coolkatz: disagree, at least about the boys. All the UVA boys I know are as intelligent as they are cute, and Observationalist does a lovely job of representing Vandy in both respects. I also seriously doubt that girls who get into either school could lack brains. If you are talking about students at schools outside the T1, I'm not qualified to comment.