UC Davis 1L Taking Questions Forum

[DavisPoster]

Go.

(Any other Davis 1Ls feel free to pipe in)

[gothamm]

do you truly feel that davis deserves its ranking?

[DanSB]

1.) In what parts of Davis do law students tend to look for living?

2.) What type of adjustments (in your life, finances, studying, etc) have you made since coming to Davis to study law that have helped you?

3.) I noticed they break up 1Ls into "groups". Are these groups randomly assigned? Although most (or all) of the classes are chosen for us incoming 1Ls, do we have a say in what Professor we get for any of them?

Thanks in advance for your answers!

[DanSB]

Ohh and before I forget:
4.) Any scholarships you have come across geared towards incoming 1Ls?

[r2b2ct]

How much in need based grants do you think is min/max/usual for a uc davis student?

[DavisPoster]

do you truly feel that davis deserves its ranking?

Honestly, I don't really know. When I first began looking at Davis it was ranked in the mid thirties. The last two years it has made huge jumps. I do know that each of the professors I had this year seem to be nationally recognized in their fields. But that isn't unique to top ranked schools. Look at McGeorge, which has Larry Levine and hell, Justice Kennedy.

So to answer your question: I don't know. But I do think that the Dean is highly committed to the "success" of the school, in that it continues its upward trend. I know that they hired three new professors from sister (UC) schools who will bring a lot of scholarship to the school. I wouldn't worry about the ranking going down much, if at all.

[DavisPoster]

1.) In what parts of Davis do law students tend to look for living?

2.) What type of adjustments (in your life, finances, studying, etc) have you made since coming to Davis to study law that have helped you?

3.) I noticed they break up 1Ls into "groups". Are these groups randomly assigned? Although most (or all) of the classes are chosen for us incoming 1Ls, do we have a say in what Professor we get for any of them?

Thanks in advance for your answers!

1. Students this year seem to be all over the place. Some of the places historically more popular for law students have been in either far South Davis, or far West Davis, like Tennis Club (now Clearwater) Apartments in South Davis and The Willows in West Davis. This year there are a lot of people at The Lexington and Tanglewood. El Macero Village is another good place for law students. I'm actually moving on campus next year.

2. Changes in my life: I was working a full-time job before coming to school, so I could leave it all behind when I went home at the end of the workday. My life is now pretty much centered around school. I am up early every day reading. I spend all day at school. When I get home I'm with my girlfriend, who is also a law student. After vegging for a little while, we start studying after dinner and continue til about midnight. Then the cycle continues. We do usually go out with friends at least once a week, but as you can see my life is pretty much all law school all the time. That is a big life change for me.

Changes in finances: Very different. I had a pretty good job before law school, so I was able to travel, buy whatever food I wanted, whenever I wanted. I am on a fairly strict budge now. I am very mindful when it comes to what I pay for food and what I pay for housing/utilities. I don't run heater/a.c. if I don't have to and I sometimes settle for pasta at home when I'm really craving Chipotle.

Changes to studying: I've never read or written this much before in my life. I expected the reading. Although maybe I should have, I didn't expect all the writing. Aside from lecture notes, which I have lots of, there's summarizing readings, writing up case briefs (I usually only do this when I know I'm on call), and outlines.

Other changes: Any other changes I think I pretty much included above in "changes in life."

3. The groups, as far as I can tell, are randomly assigned. Although it seems as though I have a lot of people in my property class, which seems to have an IP focus, who are interested in IP. I think that's just random though. We have no say in professor assignments.

Hope this helps. Feel free to either post more questions/ask for clarification either in this thread or via PM.

[DavisPoster]

Ohh and before I forget:
4.) Any scholarships you have come across geared towards incoming 1Ls?

Not that I have seen but there are so many scholarships out there in general that people need to take advantage of.

[DavisPoster]

How much in need based grants do you think is min/max/usual for a uc davis student?

There are typically two numbers I hear of. $12K, which is what I got (and I had a good income before coming to school), and $25K.

[somewherewarm]

Thanks for answering our questions! I was wondering if you could speak about the quality of life at Davis. What do you think of the weather? I read in one of your earlier responses that you try to go out at least once a week, what do you think of the bars/night life scene?

[LiveFreeOrLaw]

Go.

(Any other Davis 1Ls feel free to pipe in)

How will you pay off your debt?

[darkatillam2]

I live in Sac and I know Davis is a pretty small town.

My question is:
How and where do the grads from Davis go to get big firm type of jobs? Do they pretty much go to SF for their high paying median private sector jobs? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that the city of Davis itself would yield those types of positions simply based on how small it is.

Talk to any 2Ls about this?

[DavisPoster]

I live in Sac and I know Davis is a pretty small town.

My question is:
How and where do the grads from Davis go to get big firm type of jobs? Do they pretty much go to SF for their high paying median private sector jobs? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that the city of Davis itself would yield those types of positions simply based on how small it is.

Talk to any 2Ls about this?

Yeah, no big firm jobs in Davis. Most Davis grads go to Sac, SF or LA for big firm jobs; although Davis grads are represented in every major market. Safe to say though that most, if they're doing big firm work, are in the bay area.

[yo!]

Go.

(Any other Davis 1Ls feel free to pipe in)

How will you pay off your debt?

Prostitution. Next question......

[20160810]

I live in Sac and I know Davis is a pretty small town.

My question is:
How and where do the grads from Davis go to get big firm type of jobs? Do they pretty much go to SF for their high paying median private sector jobs? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that the city of Davis itself would yield those types of positions simply based on how small it is.

Talk to any 2Ls about this?

Yeah, no big firm jobs in Davis. Most Davis grads go to Sac, SF or LA for big firm jobs; although Davis grads are represented in every major market. Safe to say though that most, if they're doing big firm work, are in the bay area.

The 2Ls I know with big firm jobs are split pretty much 50/50 between SF and LA, with a couple in Sac.

[alexonfyre]

Despite having an entire website devoted to it, I have failed to understand the hype about the new building. Could you guys tell us what exactly was done and what type of exciting or unique features it has now? The video and blueprints made it look pretty similar to most T1 law school facilities, but I know that those type of things can't really convey the classroom and study experience. Any opinions?

[honeybadger]

I was wondering if Davis is fun...I see a lot of posts about whether or not it's a good school for married folk. This is great, but I'm worried Davis/Sacramento will not have much to offer in terms of social life. I live in Oakland and spend a lot of time in SF, and while I'm not a party animal, I like having good food/bars/shows around. Any thoughts?

[spicymeatball111]

I am curious to know if the California budget crisis is affecting the amount of classes offered? Are students having trouble taking the classes they need or when they want them?

*edited for grammar

[DavisPoster]

Go.

(Any other Davis 1Ls feel free to pipe in)

How will you pay off your debt?

Over time.

[DavisPoster]

Despite having an entire website devoted to it, I have failed to understand the hype about the new building. Could you guys tell us what exactly was done and what type of exciting or unique features it has now? The video and blueprints made it look pretty similar to most T1 law school facilities, but I know that those type of things can't really convey the classroom and study experience. Any opinions?

The new side of the building just has newer stuff. In my opinion, it's not much of a difference. It's just an expansion.

The construction was a little annoying at times last semester. For example, having limited access to entry (although admittedly this only lasted like a week) and construction noise disrupting class (which happened maybe twice).

So yeah, the building just got bigger. That's pretty much it.

[DavisPoster]

I was wondering if Davis is fun...I see a lot of posts about whether or not it's a good school for married folk. This is great, but I'm worried Davis/Sacramento will not have much to offer in terms of social life. I live in Oakland and spend a lot of time in SF, and while I'm not a party animal, I like having good food/bars/shows around. Any thoughts?

Davis isn't like SF in that it doesn't have all the entertainment and rave-like night clubs. Davis has college bars (The Grad, Sophia's, etc.). I think the bars are best described as "chill" in terms of the atmosphere. As far as daytime activities go, there is a farmer's market that is actually really cool (good food and gets a huge turnout), but I think most ppl go to either SF or Tahoe to get away.

[DavisPoster]

I am curious to know if the California budget crisis is affecting the amount of classes offered? Are students having trouble taking the classes they need or when they want them?

*edited for grammar

Maybe some upperclassmen can pipe in here cause I haven't had to deal with this yet. We register for classes next month, and our first year classes and schedules were chosen for us.

[cool of law]

In the TLS interview with the dean, he mentioned every student gets a key to the law school. Is this still the case? Can you stay in the library all night if need be?

[nonamebreakdown]

In the TLS interview with the dean, he mentioned every student gets a key to the law school. Is this still the case? Can you stay in the library all night if need be?

Yes, but instead of a key we now use our student IDs to get into the school.