Villanova Law Class of 2012! Forum

[hypermeganet]

i'm definitely bringing the car, i've got two years left on the lease so might as well drive it.

drove by the new building today, it's looking good! but the weather did make me reconsider those nice florida schools that accepted me...

Wait until winter.

[ObLaDiObLaDa]

Hey everyone...my boyfriend and I went to visit a friend of his at Villanova UG this weekend and I stopped by the new law school to take a few pictures of its progress for you guys to see. Looks like they've still got a lot to do regarding the stairwells, but overall they've done a lot since many of us saw the place at the ASD in April.

[Jezebel]

wow, i really hope they're finished to the point where there is grass by the time school starts

[pinkanchors]

Hi All! I am new to the boards, but will also be a member of the 2012 class. So excited!

[rvill7]

Welcome pink!

[Mulliganstew]

What's the new curriculum going to be like?

From the letter
"Summary--You will still take the five traditional first year courses (Civil Procedure, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property and Torts) but in a new, intensive one-semester design. You will participate in a transactional practicum designed into one of the spring semester courses. You will study Constitutional Law in the spring semester and you will select an elective course from a menu of specially designed first-year electives, also offered in the spring semester. The practicum does not replace, but rather dovetails with our top-rated legal writing and research programs. You will learn research skills and strategies from our JD Librarian Legal Research Instructors in the fall, and you will take Legal Analysis, Writing and Oral Advocacy I and II in the fall and spring, respectively.

....

This redesign, the first phase of a major curriculum initiative, responds to current research into law curricula nationwide, major studies of legal education including the Carnegie Report and the CLEA Best Practices Report, the changing face of the profession, but most important an in-depth analysis of our own aspirations, culture and mission."

It goes into lots of detail about the changes but this is the basic outline

Sounds like Nova is going the way of Temple and Drexel. Apparently Philadelphia is the place to be for legal education.

[pinkanchors]

Thanks!

[mikeyp]

super excited!

oh, and for those on facebook, a group run by students: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75590024378

[n4sir1999]

hey, we should plan a philly TLS class of 2012 meet up before classes start in august... Penn, Villanova, Temple, and Drexel... anyone interested?

[rvill7]

hey, we should plan a philly TLS class of 2012 meet up before classes start in august... Penn, Villanova, Temple, and Drexel... anyone interested?

Yes!!!

[ObLaDiObLaDa]

I'm definitely interested. I don't know Philly too well so I wouldn't be much help in figuring out where to meet up or anything.

We should probably make a post in the Off Topic board about it so the people from the other PA schools will see it.

[scaredstiff165]

So I'm pretty sure I'll be in Radnor House. Anyone else?

[mikeyp]

So I'm pretty sure I'll be in Radnor House. Anyone else?

Yup! Signed my lease this week.

[sad truth]

You poor lemmings, suckered into this pathetic toilet that masquerades as a law school. Of course they're building a new building. The school sucks and needs some "carrot" to lure you fools in. All the Tier 2 dumps pull this trick. Like fish biting at a shiny lure, you'll end up with a bloody hook in your jaw and flopping around while you suffocate under massive piles of non-dischargable, soul-crushing debt. I've been to Columbia's campus and its a dump, as are most Top 14s. You see, Harvard and Yale could sell off the buildings and hold class in someone's garage and it wouldn't matter because the schools have prestige and rank. 'Nova is a classic Tier 2 ripoff diploma mill that will admit any mouth-breathing chimp who can drool on the LSAT and sign away their life in crushing student loans.

Hate to break it to you Law & Order/ Boston Legal fans, but you likely won't be cruising crime scenes picking up bullet casings with a pencil tip and captivating jurors with suprise witnesses and ballastics experts. Instead, you'll be begging for some $17 an hour document review where you pore over reams of the dullest crap imaginable (like sub-lateral broker dealer agreements), treated like subhuman garbage & wishing you'd listened to the JDU gang and steered clear of this glutted, miserable industry. Just wait until you miss the top 5% and have to scrounge craigslist for some awful job doing no-fault insurance defense or trip n' slip injury cases, making 40 K and often getting no health benefits. It won't be fun when your buddies who dropped out of high school are earning twice what you are as landscapers, garbage men, and scrap metal recyclers.

Just open up your local Yellow Pages and count the hordes of depserate loser attorenys in there begging for trip n' slip or DWI/ traffic cases. Ask yourself if the world really needs another ambulance chasing gutter lawyer. If the best school you got into was 'Nova, take that as a sign that you simply aren't cut out for a legal career. God knows you won't have anything close to a "career" if you miss the Top 5% / biglaw bus.

Small firms and solos are wise to the bear market for toilet grads and have cut salaries to sub-poverty levels because they know they can exploit and shit all over you losers and you'll have to take it. How can you so recklessly ignore the myraid newspaper articles, blogs, and other articles that so clearly state what a disaster law school is for non Top 14 students. Here are some helpful links:

--LinkRemoved--

--LinkRemoved--

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/01/16/law ... -naysayer/ (this chick went to a school you losers could only dream of getting into and most of her friends are making 40 K or out of law already)

http://endofesq.com/

http://temporaryattorney.blogspot.com/


Of course, you guys have all the answers. You'll just LOVE wasting your life shuffling reams of the dullest, most tedious shitpaper mankind has ever produced and dealing with nasty sociopaths all day. You'll enjoy getting paid 35-45 K and coughing up $500 of that in student loans.

Whatever you do, don't fall for the "get experince" trap. Shitlaw firms love to justify paying you 35 K with the idea that you can bank the "experience" into a better gig/higher pay. Sorry, that's not how it works. Working in a crappy area like insurance defense will get you nothing but more crappy insurance defense jobs. Most toilet lawyers jump around from one gutter firm to the other, never making much over 75 K even 5 years into practice.


Cue the stories about "my uncle graduated from 'Nova in 1974 and makes millions etc." Guess what: my great grandfather made money as a blacksmith in 1910, but I doubt he'd do that well today. Law has drastically changed for the worse and you guys will be among the most screwed-over in American history if you insist on adding a worthless credential like a Nova JD to your resumes. It's hard for you to imagine just how glutted it is out there. People piss around in undergrad getting degrees in utterly worthless areas like Poli Sci and Communications and then hope to bolster their resume with a toilet JD from an also-ran school like 'Nova. Big mistake.

You'll miss OCI and troll lame "networking" events with your spiffy toilet resumes freshly printed on that fancy Staples cottom cream paper and shove it in the face of some washed-up drunken alum who himself earns crap and is just there to get boozed and eat free food so he spares a few food stamps for the week.

Check out this ad from NYC craigslist: --LinkRemoved--

That's right, $15 an hour non-negotiable. This guy will get over 100 reusmes. When I gave notice in early 2006 at a notoriously bad insurance defense firm in NJ (which paid me a whopping 45 K for being Top 1/3 at SH and dual NY/NJ admission), they got over 120 resumes with people BEGGING for the job, and this was when the economy was actually good. Newsflash: you have zero leverage in any salary "negotiation" with shitlaw firms. You're all fungible commodities, just pack mules to grind out the bales of cut n' pasted slop and show up in court to get screamed at by obnoxious trailer-trash bailiffs and politcal hack judges. Miserable does not begin to describe the typical shitlaw lawyer's life. Did you ever think that the JDU gang were just like you guys once: excited at learning law, hoping for a better life and a chance for a bit of prestige and maybe satisfaction? Yet our friend from Econ 101, mister Supply & Demand, comes and kicks your teeth in.

There is no "market" for non Top 5% grads from Tier 2, just hordes of desperate, heavily indebted losers begging and scrounging for ANY job, much less one paying north of 50 K. I know it doesn't seem possible, since movies and TV (and family/friends/parents) drill into one's head that lawyers are powerful, successful, smart, etc. Sadly, in 2009 this is just not the case. Every single person I graduated with regrets the decision to attend law school. Just saw about 20 alums at a picnic last weekend, and everyone had a blast talking about how much they utterly despise the law and everything about it. Even the tiny handful who make god money have nothing but hatred for the hours, the partners, and the soul-crushing boredom of pushing the tedious shitpaper that is law.

I'm not kidding. Most of you will sorely regret this decision for the remainder of your adult lives.

[sophrosyne]

Thank you, sad, for posting these very original thoughts for us. Nowhere have any of us encountered similar warnings about the schools of our choice and the difficulties of the legal job market. I can tell you are motivated solely out of concern for others' well-being and that you are writing this purely with the best of intentions. Kudos for your utter selflessness and, most of all, your emotional maturity. Once again, thank you.

[mikeyp]

Thank you, sad, for posting these very original thoughts for us. Nowhere have any of us encountered similar warnings about the schools of our choice and the difficulties of the legal job market. I can tell you are motivated solely out of concern for others' well-being and that you are writing this purely with the best of intentions. Kudos for your utter selflessness and, most of all, your emotional maturity. Once again, thank you.

Well said.

[weare138]

Hello All! It seems I am a bit late to the party. Nonetheless, I'm glad to say that I will be heading to Nova this fall! Although I am new to the boards: I've joined the various Facebook groups,excited to meet some people before school, am amused by the trolling, etc... I am coming from a Jesuit school (really can't speak more highly of the quality of most Catholic education). Not horribly religious here--Irish Catholic=drinking/repressing -- and a product of a number of Catholic institutions, so I can say that I think Nova will be a none-too overbearing environment, if anyone is concerned about such.

Here is the catch: I received my acceptance a bit late (only applied DAYS before deadline ) and I am moving all the way from Denver, CO. I am originally from the East and am looking forward to returning. My trouble is going to be finding housing. I can afford/am willing to pay for a single; I could do without as many X factors as possible. Considering the monastic nature of our upcoming endeavor, I would like to live as close to both the school & as near to various amenities as possible (grocer, dry cleaner, bank, etc...)

I have been all over apartment finder.com and others and will be flying out next week to check out the area. I am looking for either recommendations or (more importantly) warnings about particular places or main-line life in general. I am planning on bringing my car and using the train often. What are other people's plans? Anyone coming from out west (or CO)? PM me and we can chat it up. Also, can anyone tell me what, if anything, I missed during admitted students day?


PS-- it seems Scared and Sober's problem is simply that he is not Gansta' enough. He'd have no problem if he just tried being as REAL as the streets.

[mikeyp]

Hello All! It seems I am a bit late to the party. Nonetheless, I'm glad to say that I will be heading to Nova this fall! Although I am new to the boards: I've joined the various Facebook groups,excited to meet some people before school, am amused by the trolling, etc... I am coming from a Jesuit school (really can't speak more highly of the quality of most Catholic education). Not horribly religious here--Irish Catholic=drinking/repressing -- and a product of a number of Catholic institutions, so I can say that I think Nova will be a none-too overbearing environment, if anyone is concerned about such.

Here is the catch: I received my acceptance a bit late (only applied DAYS before deadline ) and I am moving all the way from Denver, CO. I am originally from the East and am looking forward to returning. My trouble is going to be finding housing. I can afford/am willing to pay for a single; I could do without as many X factors as possible. Considering the monastic nature of our upcoming endeavor, I would like to live as close to both the school & as near to various amenities as possible (grocer, dry cleaner, bank, etc...)

I have been all over apartment finder.com and others and will be flying out next week to check out the area. I am looking for either recommendations or (more importantly) warnings about particular places or main-line life in general. I am planning on bringing my car and using the train often. What are other people's plans? Anyone coming from out west (or CO)? PM me and we can chat it up. Also, can anyone tell me what, if anything, I missed during admitted students day?


PS-- it seems Scared and Sober's problem is simply that he is not Gansta' enough. He'd have no problem if he just tried being as REAL as the streets.

Radnor House FTW.

[akbash]

Hi everyone!
I am one of the the late acceptees and have decided to go to Nova so hey hey hey!

Anyone still looking for housing?
I have my eyes on Radnor and need a roommate ASAP to sign a lease with! I've already found a sweet 2 br for $1200 + utilities. 20 minute walk from Nova.
I have pictures too from the dude that works there so message me and I can e-mail them to you!
Preferably female please- no offence boys!

[scaredstiff165]

Who is living in Radnor House? Just signed a lease on a 10th floor apartment!

[mikeyp]

Who is living in Radnor House? Just signed a lease on a 10th floor apartment!

i'm on the 4th!

[scaredstiff165]

We can finally register for parking but I'm getting a new car so have to hold off. We'll all get spaces, right? I don't want to wait and find that they're all taken!

Also, our schedules are posted on Novasis. Can someone please tell me why I'm in class from 8:40 to 4:40 on Fridays?

[CarliRose]

Lucky!
My schedule isn't posted yet, but that's probably because I needed a short extension on my second seat deposit and they only confirmed it yesterday...

[mikeyp]

Did anyone finish their loans process yet?

I did all of mine but it still says CERT on my award letter:

CERT: Loan has been processed by this office; go to Promissory Note Instructions Section of the website

On that section of the site it says that the Master Promissory Note needs to be signed. But isn't it e-signed when you apply for the loans? I haven't received anything in the mail.

[rvill7]

Did anyone finish their loans process yet?

I did all of mine but it still says CERT on my award letter:

CERT: Loan has been processed by this office; go to Promissory Note Instructions Section of the website

On that section of the site it says that the Master Promissory Note needs to be signed. But isn't it e-signed when you apply for the loans? I haven't received anything in the mail.

My Novasis also says "CERT," but I got a letter from the loan provider confirming the promissory note has been received. I would give it another week or so.