Top Law Schools

SEE: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2009/04/16/uc- ... -yale-zot/

Zot! That’s what fans of UC Irvine Anteaters’ baseball team exclaim after their team gets a strikeout (paying homage to the supposed noise an anteater makes after catching an ant). It also might be what Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the fledgling UC Irvine School of Law, is saying after bringing home the most selectively chosen incoming class of first-year students in the nation.

A press release just issued by the school reads:

The University of California, Irvine School of Law has chosen its inaugural class by accepting only 4% of its applicants, making it the most selective of any law school in the nation.

UC Irvine accepted only 110 of a total of 2,741 applicants to fill its 68 first-year positions, for an acceptance rate of 4%. By comparison, Yale Law School at 7%, and Stanford Law School at 9%, are the only other law schools with single-digit acceptance rates, according to the most recent data available from the American Bar Association (2007).

UC Irvine received more than 40 applications for each of its positions in its first class, which is also a first among law schools by a wide margin. The most competitive law schools typically receive around 20 to 30 applications per slot, according to ABA data.

And a tipster commenting on the story writes about the numbers medians:

The law school’s high selectivity allowed it to field a class mirroring that of top law schools. The incoming class will have a median grade point average of 3.65 and a median LSAT score of 167. That puts it on par with law schools rated in the top 20 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

UC Irvine School of Law’s inaugural class of 68 is 56% female and 44% male, 37% students of color, and its average age is 25. Almost half the students graduated from out-of-state colleges and universities.

sooo. they've got their inaugural class for sure, huh. *tear*

no miraculous miracle for me...

What's more interesting is the astoundingly high yield percentage: 61%. They must have selected their candidates EXTREMELY carefully.

I'm very curious about how they'll place.

darkarmour wrote:What's more interesting is the astoundingly high yield percentage: 61%. They must have selected their candidates EXTREMELY carefully.

TITCR. I am somewhat astounded that so many people with 3.6 and 167 are choosing Irvine over more established schools. Those are basically T20 stats.

UC brand helps. That said, it also helped that they limited class size to sixty only, to speak nothing of the value of free tuition offers ITE. Still, I rather marvel at the amount of enthusiasm they've managed to drum up. Even the ever-cynical TLS seems to harbor some respect for the school.

ugh. i woulda dropped everything to go. i know i am being immature here but i am srsly bummed.

hell yeah. im from uci! =) go eaters... ZOT ZOT ZOT motha fuckazzzzz

and dresden doll, no joke if that's how you reallly look, i would ravage you.

iheartlaw wrote:and dresden doll, no joke if that's how you reallly look, i would ravage you.

You need a timeout.

the accepted students' numbers are definitely a lot lower than Yale's.


It's all about QUALITY.

Now I am wondering how many of the 110 students are CA residents.

But...will it hold up next year? They most likely aren't going to be offering a full ride to the next class, so that'll probably deter some people from applying.

The economy *could* pick up between now and next cycle, which would also stop some people from applying.

Most importantly, the school could suck, which will certainly stop many people from applying.

What I'm saying is: the numbers look great for this first class, but it doesn't mean jack to me. What will mean something is if they can maintain for 5+ years.

Impressive. I'm curious what the class of 2013 will look like though, since they won't have the benefit of full-tuition scholarships.

naivekid1986 wrote:sooo. they've got their inaugural class for sure, huh. *tear*

no miraculous miracle for me...

got my rejection today!

This school doesn't even have a building yet, let alone the fact that it isn't even ABA- accredited. Why would these people who could have presumably gone to USC choose this school?

I really don’t get it.

iheartlaw wrote:and dresden doll, no joke if that's how you reallly look, i would ravage you.

That's Keira Knightley. I am just as tall and have the same hair and eye color, but that's it.

*while in timeout*

the fact that you can even draw ANY comparison between yale and uci, speaks a lot. i'm super proud of the class they recruited, dean chemerinsky is a straight up balller up in OC, people love him.

*** and to all the people wondering if it will hold up- i absolutely think it will say somewhere in the ballpark. maybe not 167, but UCI has a hugeeee OC support network that they fully intend to utilize. top firms are coming for sure, ive been to several pre-law events at uci with all the top firms talking about how excited they are for OCI.

dresden doll wrote:

iheartlaw wrote:and dresden doll, no joke if that's how you reallly look, i would ravage you.

That's Keira Knightley. I am just as tall and have the same hair and eye color, but that's it.

You're not fat right?

Whatisthis wrote:This school doesn't even have a building yet, let alone the fact that it isn't even ABA- accredited. Why would these people who could have presumably gone to USC choose this school?

I really don’t get it.

Oh they have a building alright.

KiwiApple wrote: Now I am wondering how many of the 110 students are CA residents.

Beats me, but I'm guessing ~35-40 out of the 68 0L students are Californians.

macattaq wrote: Most importantly, the school could suck, which will certainly stop many people from applying.

Thus far, they've hired a very impressive faculty which, qualitywise, definitely puts them in the top 20 overall. The question is if they can keep that quality as they continue to hire.

from http://www.law.uci.edu/press_releases/04-16-09.html

New UC Irvine School of Law Is the Most Selective of Any U.S. Law School

The University of California, Irvine School of Law has chosen its inaugural class by accepting only 4% of its applicants, making it the most selective of any law school in the nation.

UC Irvine accepted only 110 of a total of 2,741 applicants to fill its 68 first-year positions, for an acceptance rate of 4%. By comparison, Yale Law School at 7%, and Stanford Law School at 9%, are the only other law schools with single-digit acceptance rates, according to the most recent data available from the American Bar Association (2007).

UC Irvine received more than 40 applications for each of its positions in its first class, which is also a first among law schools by a wide margin. The most competitive law schools typically receive around 20 to 30 applications per slot, according to ABA data.

The law school's yield rate, or the percentage of admitted students who choose to attend, is 62%, with 68 students committing to come from 110 who were accepted. This is second only to Harvard Law School, which has a 68% percent yield rate, and Yale, with a 78% rate, according to ABA data.

The law school's high selectivity allowed it to field a class mirroring that of top law schools. The incoming class will have a median grade point average of 3.65 and a median LSAT score of 167. That puts it on par with law schools rated in the top 20 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

UC Irvine's founding dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, attributes the high number of applications per position and the high quality of the incoming class to the strength and support of the University of California, Irvine, to the high quality of the founding faculty, and to the three-year, full-tuition scholarship offered to each member of the first-year class.

“We are extremely pleased to have fielded such a high-caliber inaugural class,” said Chemerinsky. “Along with a faculty that was ranked in the top 10 in the nation in a recent study, this will allow us to be considered among the best law schools in the country from the very start,” he said. “Our goal and the university's goal was to be a top 20 law school from the moment we open our doors in August.”

UC Irvine School of Law's inaugural class of 68 is 56% female and 44% male, 37% students of color, and its average age is 25. Almost half the students graduated from out-of-state colleges and universities.

Contact: Rex Bossert, assistant dean for communications and public affairs, (949)824-3063, rbossert@law.uci.edu.

About University of California, Irvine School of Law

UCI School of Law seeks to create the ideal law school for the 21st century by doing the best job in the country of training lawyers for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession. Each member of UCI's inaugural class of 68 students will arrive in August supported by a three-year, full-tuition scholarship and a nearly 3:1 student to faculty ratio. The 15 members of UCI's founding faculty are drawn from top schools and have already been ranked in the top 10 in a recent study. The Law School's innovative curriculum stresses hands-on, interdisciplinary study and public service. About 70 law firms and employers have already signed on to interview on campus. http://www.law.uci.edu

Whatisthis wrote:This school doesn't even have a building yet, let alone the fact that it isn't even ABA- accredited. Why would these people who could have presumably gone to USC choose this school?

I really don’t get it.

There was a person that elaborated on their choice of UCI over Boalt in another thread. I actually went back and forth with them on it, and I came away with the impression that 1) money and 2) Dean's and faculty's decision to go out of their way to impress prospectives with individualized treatments were the two factors that made all the differences.

All that said, I would not choose to go to UCI over any T20 school.

darkarmour wrote:

KiwiApple wrote: Now I am wondering how many of the 110 students are CA residents.

Beats me, but I'm guessing ~35-40 out of the 68 0L students are Californians.

I think that's likely.

WORK IT UCI


that's awesome.

frotteur wrote:

darkarmour wrote:

KiwiApple wrote: Now I am wondering how many of the 110 students are CA residents.

Beats me, but I'm guessing ~35-40 out of the 68 0L students are Californians.

I think that's likely.

68? Isn't that over-enrolling?

On to other news:

Admission Denied Due To Unpaid Student Loans

The New York Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department denied the application for bar admission of an applicant who had passed the February 2008 bar exam. The applicant disclosed student loans with a total balance of $430,000. He professed an intent to repay and "attributed his nonpayment to the downturn in the economy and bad faith negotiations on the part of some of the loan servicers." The court noted that the loans dated back to 1985, he had not made substantial payments and "had not been flexible" in dealing with the loan servicers. (Mike Frisch)


How can you possibly get 430k in LS loans?