Michigan Class of 2014 Forum

[wolverine2014]

Alright children, quit fighting. Wolverine2014, you should know Blowhard isn't stupid. Blowhard, you should know better than to pick on the admitted students.

For the record, I never said he sounded stupid.

[arism87]

call the office, but don't expect them to budge on the scholarship. and if they don't you should take the money at UVA.

Yeah, these are also my thoughts. Thanks!

[03121202698008]

Alright children, quit fighting. Wolverine2014, you should know Blowhard isn't stupid. Blowhard, you should know better than to pick on the admitted students.

For the record, I never said he sounded stupid.

No you didn't. I apologize if my subsequent posts sounded defensive/argumentative. A lot of people start out stressed because they think they should be able to answer questions in the manner you implied. While it may technically be possible to prepare every case for every class to that level...it'd be a waste of time. Conveying this message was my intent.

[wolverine2013]

ITT, blowhard convinces people to go to UVA.

[Tanicius]

Alright children, quit fighting. Wolverine2014, you should know Blowhard isn't stupid. Blowhard, you should know better than to pick on the admitted students.

For the record, I never said he sounded stupid.

No you didn't. I apologize if my subsequent posts sounded defensive/argumentative. A lot of people start out stressed because they think they should be able to answer questions in the manner you implied. While it may technically be possible to prepare every case for every class to that level...it'd be a waste of time. Conveying this message was my intent.

I just don't understand why people stress at all about answering professor questions when it's ungraded most of the time. The worst case scenario is that either the professor doesn't give you enough time to find an answer and moves on or you're forced to guess or say "I don't know." Why would that be such a bad thing? It's okay to be honest and say "I don't know," or "I don't remember" in other classes - why not law school? Do you think it's the social pressure alone that makes this so stressful?

[sarahh]

Got back safely, although a woman on the plane almost died. Everyone there was so nice, not just the people at the school, but everyone. When I was at the crosswalk, drivers waived at me to cross. Even the TSA agents at the airport were friendly. Anyone, back to school. The current students were very friendly and willing to discuss their experiences at Michigan. I talked to one student that regretted going to law school but no one who regretted going to Michigan specifically. The professors were also friendly and seemed geniunely interested in talking to me. I talked to one of the tax professors for 20 minutes or so. (A few students told me they did not like the dean that heads the office of public interest advising, though.) There seems to be a tremendous amount of school pride there. Lots of people were wearing school gear and when I was watching tv, there was a McDonalds commercial with the school marching band! Downsides: Ann Arbor seems kind of small. After the events were over, I walked through the downtown area, which did not take that long, and then sat in my hotel room because I did not know what else to do. One of the things I enjoyed most about college was exploring the city, so Ann Arbor was somewhat of a bummer for me personally (although I did like the stores and restaurants that were there - I ate a lot). Also, I got the impression that if you are not a summer starter or do not live in the lawyer's club, that you will feel a little left out (not that you can't make friends, but you are going to have to join clubs and put some effort into it - I thought it would be easier for me to make friends here than at Harvard, but it does not seem to be the case). Plus, students told me that the spouses who came did have a hard time finding a job. And 99% of the married students are male, meaning my husband is not going to have law school husbands to hang out with. If I was single, I think that I would go to Michigan, but with a spouse, I am leaning against it. I still want to process everything though.

[arism87]

Withdrawing today! I really liked Michigan but not nearly enough to cover the huge price difference between that and UVA. Meh, it was a fun vacation and it was nice meeting everyone!

[bannanagram]

Got back safely, although a woman on the plane almost died. Everyone there was so nice, not just the people at the school, but everyone. When I was at the crosswalk, drivers waived at me to cross. Even the TSA agents at the airport were friendly. Anyone, back to school. The current students were very friendly and willing to discuss their experiences at Michigan. I talked to one student that regretted going to law school but no one who regretted going to Michigan specifically. The professors were also friendly and seemed geniunely interested in talking to me. I talked to one of the tax professors for 20 minutes or so. (A few students told me they did not like the dean that heads the office of public interest advising, though.) There seems to be a tremendous amount of school pride there. Lots of people were wearing school gear and when I was watching tv, there was a McDonalds commercial with the school marching band! Downsides: Ann Arbor seems kind of small. After the events were over, I walked through the downtown area, which did not take that long, and then sat in my hotel room because I did not know what else to do. One of the things I enjoyed most about college was exploring the city, so Ann Arbor was somewhat of a bummer for me personally (although I did like the stores and restaurants that were there - I ate a lot). Also, I got the impression that if you are not a summer starter or do not live in the lawyer's club, that you will feel a little left out (not that you can't make friends, but you are going to have to join clubs and put some effort into it - I thought it would be easier for me to make friends here than at Harvard, but it does not seem to be the case). Plus, students told me that the spouses who came did have a hard time finding a job. And 99% of the married students are male, meaning my husband is not going to have law school husbands to hang out with. If I was single, I think that I would go to Michigan, but with a spouse, I am leaning against it. I still want to process everything though.

As a spouse (yes, I read TLS more than my husband does!), I have to say that while I had to take a pretty significant pay cut to move out here with my husband, it only took me about two months of good faith effort to find a job here in Ann Arbor- I limited myself to up to 20 minutes outside of town. The University moves at a glacial pace when it comes to hiring, but all of the spouses I am friends with have found jobs. If you start looking a few months before moving and your spouse has a decent amount of work experience, you'll find something. If I had been smarter, I would have started joining groups around Ann Arbor to network and would have found something much quicker. There is also a LOT of temp jobs that turn into permanent work if you stick it out.

As for downtown, yes, it's small, but that's only part of Ann Arbor- there is quite a bit 5 minutes outside of the downtown area. I moved here from a large city and was freaked out about the idea of moving to Ann Arbor because it seemed like a tiny place where I would never find anywhere to shop or any cultural events. I have been surprised by the number of quirky (and cheap) arts events and shopping expierences I have found here. Not to mention, Ann Arbor has a ton of little parks and outdoorsy expierences to explore (we even have an outdoor ice rink!).

In the friends department, I concur that it is a little harder to make friends if you live off campus, but in reality, you are in a different life stage than everyone living in the lawyers club and older singles and couples tend to gravitate towards one another and find themselves with no shortage of dinner party invites. I will say, though, that when the semester gets going, you have to make an effort to stay in touch with people. While you're correct that most of the married couples have the male in law school and the female as a "law school wife," I am not sure that would really hurt your social life as the couples tend to hang out with people as a couple.

PM me if you have any questions!

[Reinhardt]

I just don't understand why people stress at all about answering professor questions when it's ungraded most of the time. The worst case scenario is that either the professor doesn't give you enough time to find an answer and moves on or you're forced to guess or say "I don't know." Why would that be such a bad thing? It's okay to be honest and say "I don't know," or "I don't remember" in other classes - why not law school? Do you think it's the social pressure alone that makes this so stressful?

I say I don't know when I'm called on. I answer what I can and don't BS when I have nothing useful to say. I don't read the cases that closely either, but since I almost never get cold-called, it doesn't matter. Different strokes for different folks.

[03121202698008]

I just don't understand why people stress at all about answering professor questions when it's ungraded most of the time. The worst case scenario is that either the professor doesn't give you enough time to find an answer and moves on or you're forced to guess or say "I don't know." Why would that be such a bad thing? It's okay to be honest and say "I don't know," or "I don't remember" in other classes - why not law school? Do you think it's the social pressure alone that makes this so stressful?

I say I don't know when I'm called on. I answer what I can and don't BS when I have nothing useful to say. I don't read the cases that closely either, but since I almost never get cold-called, it doesn't matter. Different strokes for different folks.

Agreed. All of this is what I was trying to point out earlier...

[zjs4]

With each passing day I watch as my chances of acceptance approach zero. Meanwhile my chances of being perpetually wait listed approach infinity.

[vegenator]

... And 99% of the married students are male, meaning my husband is not going to have law school husbands to hang out with. If I was single, I think that I would go to Michigan, but with a spouse, I am leaning against it. I still want to process everything though.

Unless some miracle happens and I get un-held at harvard, I'll be going to ann arbor in the fall. And I'm a married lady, so there'll be at least one other "law-school-husband"

And job-wise for spouses, even if they take a pay cut, cost of living in ann arbor will be much cheaper than in the larger cities where it may be easier to find employment. so that helps even things out a bit.

[r6_philly]

Withdrawing today! I really liked Michigan but not nearly enough to cover the huge price difference between that and UVA. Meh, it was a fun vacation and it was nice meeting everyone!

I will probably do the same shortly. I guess I will see you at UVa this week?

[ziggie]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

[NZA]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Awesome!

[ATR]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Here are the rankings in case anyone else in interested.

[sarahh]

... And 99% of the married students are male, meaning my husband is not going to have law school husbands to hang out with. If I was single, I think that I would go to Michigan, but with a spouse, I am leaning against it. I still want to process everything though.

Unless some miracle happens and I get un-held at harvard, I'll be going to ann arbor in the fall. And I'm a married lady, so there'll be at least one other "law-school-husband"

And job-wise for spouses, even if they take a pay cut, cost of living in ann arbor will be much cheaper than in the larger cities where it may be easier to find employment. so that helps even things out a bit.

Does your husband like watching hockey and playing Call of Duty? Yeah, I think it would be easier for him to find a job in Boston, and he would get paid more, but on the other hand, with the expensive housing and me paying sticker, he would need to find a job fairly quickly. There would be less pressure in Ann Arbor.

[agora139]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Here are the rankings in case anyone else in interested.

im super pumped about this!

[AreJay711]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Here are the rankings in case anyone else in interested.

im super pumped about this!

Yeah, it is pretty cool when your school goes up. I don't really care about the rankings but still.

[agora139]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Here are the rankings in case anyone else in interested.

im super pumped about this!

Yeah, it is pretty cool when your school goes up. I don't really care about the rankings but still.

i know! also, it makes me a little more inclined to take mich over NYU when they're neck to neck and i have some money off at mich

[ziggie]

Michigan is now #7 wooo!!

Here are the rankings in case anyone else in interested.

im super pumped about this!

Yeah, it is pretty cool when your school goes up. I don't really care about the rankings but still.

Yeah but I feel like most of my friends and family know nothing about law school, so how high the school I'm going to is ranked is the only thing that matters to them

I think the small jump Michigan made has something to do with the new ranking criteria, it was rated 4th by firms

[Helmholtz]

I think the small jump Michigan made has something to do with the new ranking criteria, it was rated 4th by firms

Those law firm rankings did not play any part into the methodology of calculating the general rankings.

[calvmpv]

Should've posted earlier...but I had the most amazing time at ASW!

I'll write some more about my experience later when I'm at a computer.

[agora139]

I think the small jump Michigan made has something to do with the new ranking criteria, it was rated 4th by firms

i think 9 to 7 is a significant jump! considering there are only 8 possible spaces michigan could have moved up, moving up 2 is pretty damn good. and even holding onto a ranking that high is tough (see: Berkeley)

[Tanicius]

You guys need to realize this ranking shift means nothing. It is primarily because Berkeley suffered a delayed drop due to its lower-than-traditional median LSAT/GPA combo. Michigan didn't actually jump up two spaces, either; it traded places with Berkeley for a tie of 7th place with Penn. That's not significant.

I loved the Michigan ASW, and at this point I'd say it's more than a 50% chance I'll matriculate, but I'm definitely going to visit Berkeley first.