UC Hastings - 2011 Forum

[mas528]

Sent in my deposit 2 days ago. Brandeis grad, lived in DC for 2 years, working in NY now and super excited to move to SF!! Also applied for a Tower room. Hopefully it'll be fun!

[j12alvarez]

Hey all,

Is anyone living in So. Cal that is also headed to Hastings?

Wanted to know which areas many of you are looking to live in during your time at Hastings.

Thanks!

JLA

[colbytim25]

getting pumped. i live south of market and will be biking it every day. was tough to withdraw from ucla, but i did the right thing.

[prettypithy]

Hey all,

Is anyone living in So. Cal that is also headed to Hastings?

Wanted to know which areas many of you are looking to live in during your time at Hastings.

Thanks!

JLA

I addressed this earlier in the thread so I'ma just repost what I said. HTH.

Rocktopus wrote:
Anyone thinking about living offcampus? If so, what neighborhoods would you recommend?


If I attend (99% certain), my fiance and I will be looking at Hayes Valley ($$$), Lower Haight, Inner Sunset, The Richmond as well as Oakland and Berkeley. I am all about the commute and cost. If we can get a decent price in one of those neighborhoods in the city, we'll take it. If we get pushed out to Oakland (not such a bad thing these days--Oakland has gotten younger and sassier since SF priced out so many young folk), BART access is a must, so perhaps something near 12th St. BART (Lake Merritt area). Although I love Berkeley, I don't like dealing with the Richmond BART line--its always strikes me as being a bit slower than other lines. Another downside of living in the East Bay would be the turning into a pumpkin at midnight factor--the last trains leave the city around 12:30 so that might put restrictions on your social life and study hours.

I love the idea of leaving class, walking over to the Main Library, getting my study on and then being able to hop on the N Judah, stopping off for Chinese takeout on my way home.

Ohhhh, how I've missed the city.

One thing though. Several of the students I spoke to lived in the East Bay and regretted it. They felt the commute took away from both study and social time. So, while I recommend Oakland and Berkeley in my earlier post, I will now recommend them with a word of caution: If you don't know people in the area and will be relying on Hastings for your entire social life, make sure you move to the city. The above listed neighborhoods are all good.

Also, I would not recommend the McAllister Tower for anyone who has been out of college for a few years. It is a DORM. I was almost fooled by the elegant lobby but the rooms are matchbook sized with popcorn ceilings. You have been forewarned.

Once again, HTH.

[colbytim25]

my .02=sell your cars....no need at all for one here!

[BioLaw]

Has anyone heard anything new about a possible change in the grading scale at Hastings? It was mentioned a while back, but I haven't heard anything since.

[prettypithy]

Has anyone heard anything new about a possible change in the grading scale at Hastings? It was mentioned a while back, but I haven't heard anything since.

It was mentioned at the ASD. Apparently, they are voting on it in May. The change would be in our favor. The professors emphasized that we shouldn't worry about it since it was such a tiny change (5% more A's or summat). My immediate thought was "A tiny change...in my favor? I'LL TAKE IT!"

Cross your fingers.

[Paladuck]

I submitted a deposit for McAllister tower.

Since I lived in a tiny triple at UCLA my first year and an insect-infected suite my second, I personally think the rooms there are luxurious. But to each his own.

[kevsocko]

after living in my friends living room and splitting rooms for four years in isla vista, any space to call my own is a reason for excitement...

[prettypithy]

I submitted a deposit for McAllister tower.

Since I lived in a tiny triple at UCLA my first year and an insect-infected suite my second, I personally think the rooms there are luxurious. But to each his own.

You had a triple? You've lived through hell and back and lived to tell the tale. I lucked out with a double with a girl who is still one of my best friends.

[BioLaw]

5% more A's sounds cool to me, although I guess it won't change how hard it is to achieve a high rank within the class.

The Tower seems alright to live in, not particularly nice, but serviceable for sure. I'll be commuting in from Berkeley, but I plan on playing basketball there as much as possible. I hope the court is usually more lively than it was when I visited a couple of weeks ago.

[prettypithy]

5% more A's sounds cool to me, although I guess it won't change how hard it is to achieve a high rank within the class.

The Tower seems alright to live in, not particularly nice, but serviceable for sure. I'll be commuting in from Berkeley, but I plan on playing basketball there as much as possible. I hope the court is usually more lively than it was when I visited a couple of weeks ago.

5% more A's won't affect your class rank but it will slightly affect your GPA.

[BioLaw]

Don't firms usually go by class rank, though, so the higher GPA won't matter so much? Or do they have certain GPA cutoffs at different schools?

[prettypithy]

Don't firms usually go by class rank, though, so the higher GPA won't matter so much? Or do they have certain GPA cutoffs at different schools?

I thought the main problem was that Hastings gives out a lot of C's--20%-so the students look kind of shoddy in spite of their ranks and GPA's because almost NO ONE gets C's in law school. So, I think the new curve seeks to reduce the number of C's.

[high4ever2008]

Don't firms usually go by class rank, though, so the higher GPA won't matter so much? Or do they have certain GPA cutoffs at different schools?

Almost all firms will go by class rank for UC Hastings but a few of the V20s will go by GPA.

[ChaDoRi]

5% more A's sounds cool to me, although I guess it won't change how hard it is to achieve a high rank within the class.

The Tower seems alright to live in, not particularly nice, but serviceable for sure. I'll be commuting in from Berkeley, but I plan on playing basketball there as much as possible. I hope the court is usually more lively than it was when I visited a couple of weeks ago.

Well, one of the reasons why I've chosen to live in the tower is so I can play basketball as often as my body will allow me. So you'll know that at least one person will be there.

[BioLaw]

Well, one of the reasons why I've chosen to live in the tower is so I can play basketball as often as my body will allow me. So you'll know that at least one person will be there.

Cool. I figure that in a class of 400-something (x3), there's gotta be enough for some fives.

[kevsocko]

yo chad, do you play soccer?

[ChaDoRi]

yo chad, do you play soccer?

Haha, not since the 3rd grade. I just jump on the "I LOVE SOCCER" bandwagon every time the world cup is on.

My s/n is actually Cha Do Ri (should be "Du Ri" but my Korean-to-English translation is horrible). He's the son of a very famous Korean soccer player and is on the world cup team.

[thebiggdawg55]

Cool. I figure that in a class of 400-something (x3), there's gotta be enough for some fives.

I'm always down. I can't shoot or dribble but I'm a beast on the boards! haha

[Hachi]

What drew everyone to Hastings? Like why did people choose to apply / accept their offer?

For me it was the fact that they were bay area, they have both PI Law and International law (the two fields at this point I am most interested in, bleeding heart and all that) and they were ranked reasonably well.

[thebiggdawg55]

What drew everyone to Hastings? Like why did people choose to apply / accept their offer?

For me, it was the career opportunities. I turned down a $23k/yr. and 3 years in Malibu for Hastings, primarily because of the better prestige and reputation among top law firms.

Oh yeah, btw, has anyone got their UC Hastings email yet? On the admitted students page it said my email and password would be in the admissions packet but no go. Am I the only one?

[Hachi]

Do you mean your financial aid password / username? If so you have to create it.

[thebiggdawg55]

No, I got my finaid stuff. I mean the Hastings email address.

[BioLaw]

Huh, I didn't realize we'd be getting a Hastings e-mail address so soon.