Texas 1L taking questions, 2010-'11 edition Forum

[de5igual]

What are some good/common apartment complexes that law students live in? I live in Austin right now and kind of want to scope out how that would work. Does anyone live near Town Lake/Zilker? Is that too long of a commute to campus most days?

If they are pet-friendly that would be pretty awesome too

I know a handful of people that live in downtown or south of townlake, but they are by far in the minority. Most (I'm almost willing to bet 90%+) of the law students live in north campus/hyde park. I haven't really heard of any complaints about commute time for those living downtown, but keep in mind that you'll have to drive to campus every day and will need to find parking close enough to the law school.

[akili]

What are some good/common apartment complexes that law students live in? I live in Austin right now and kind of want to scope out how that would work. Does anyone live near Town Lake/Zilker? Is that too long of a commute to campus most days?

If they are pet-friendly that would be pretty awesome too

I know a handful of people that live in downtown or south of townlake, but they are by far in the minority. Most (I'm almost willing to bet 90%+) of the law students live in north campus/hyde park. I haven't really heard of any complaints about commute time for those living downtown, but keep in mind that you'll have to drive to campus every day and will need to find parking close enough to the law school.

Yeah, I figured it would be a bit of a stretch. I'd rather walk/bike to campus anyways!

Do you know of any good apartment complexes in North campus or Hyde Park?

[Marionberry]

Anyone interested in renting a 3br house in Hyde park starting in August? If so, feel free to PM me as it gets closer to then. My parents own the house, and my fiancee and I will be moving out at the end of July.

[jhw123]

I was wondering: what's the average class size at UT? It seems like a great school, but a large hesitation I have is that the class sizes will be too big. It's hard to find data for class sizes for any school, safe the often deceiving "student to faculty ratio."

[Richie Tenenbaum]

I was wondering: what's the average class size at UT? It seems like a great school, but a large hesitation I have is that the class sizes will be too big. It's hard to find data for class sizes for any school, safe the often deceiving "student to faculty ratio."

1Ls are put into 4 different sections of around 90-100 people. Each section is divided into 4 smaller sections of around 25 people. You'll have 4 classes fall semester (one of which being legal research and writing), and LRW + one other class will be just your small section. The other two classes will be with your large section. Second semester you'll have 3 classes with the large section and still have your second LRW class with your small section only. I'm only a 1L so I can't speak for 2L and 3L classes, but I think they're typically on the smaller side, except for a few classes that most everyone takes.

Class size was a concern of mine before attending UT, but it's turned out to be a complete non-issue. All the professors I've had seem to have everyone's name memorized. All the professors I've had have been great with office hours and most have an open door policy. The high school and college I went to had pretty small classes, but I've come to like UT's bigger classes. Keep in mind--the more people in the class, the less times you will probably be cold-called. Also, while I love all the people in my small section, I really can't imagine how annoying it would get to have every single class with the same small group if it contained a douchebag or two. At least the bigger classes provide a buffer zone of sorts if that happens.

[jhw123]

Thank you so much; really helpful! Just to clarify, do you stay with your same larger section for all three years?

[de5igual]

What are some good/common apartment complexes that law students live in? I live in Austin right now and kind of want to scope out how that would work. Does anyone live near Town Lake/Zilker? Is that too long of a commute to campus most days?

If they are pet-friendly that would be pretty awesome too

I know a handful of people that live in downtown or south of townlake, but they are by far in the minority. Most (I'm almost willing to bet 90%+) of the law students live in north campus/hyde park. I haven't really heard of any complaints about commute time for those living downtown, but keep in mind that you'll have to drive to campus every day and will need to find parking close enough to the law school.

Yeah, I figured it would be a bit of a stretch. I'd rather walk/bike to campus anyways!

Do you know of any good apartment complexes in North campus or Hyde Park?

the triangle is a bit farther north, but it seems to be a nice (albeit pricy) complex

[akili]

It DOES have Yogurt Planet and gourmet grilled cheese too

[JazzOne]

Thank you so much; really helpful! Just to clarify, do you stay with your same larger section for all three years?

Not really. I guess technically we still belong to the same societies, but the section events are really for 1Ls. Also, 2Ls and 3Ls can choose whatever classes they want, so your section will pretty much split up after 1L.

[de5igual]

Thank you so much; really helpful! Just to clarify, do you stay with your same larger section for all three years?

Not really. I guess technically we still belong to the same societies, but the section events are really for 1Ls. Also, 2Ls and 3Ls can choose whatever classes they want, so your section will pretty much split up after 1L.

that's a bummer. save for a few people, i really like my section (both big and small)

[JazzOne]

Thank you so much; really helpful! Just to clarify, do you stay with your same larger section for all three years?

Not really. I guess technically we still belong to the same societies, but the section events are really for 1Ls. Also, 2Ls and 3Ls can choose whatever classes they want, so your section will pretty much split up after 1L.

that's a bummer. save for a few people, i really like my section (both big and small)

I know that I'm in the minority on this one, but I actually made more friends this year than I did last year. It felt very awkward to me to become friends with people with whom I was competing against for lucrative jobs. Now that the job search is over, I feel a lot more comfortable socializing with my classmates. Most of my friends are people from law review, not my 1L section.

[lisjjen]

I was just curious about where everyone who is defending UT's class size went for UG and if there was a big difference. It's something I've been worried about.

I go out to coffee and lunch with my teachers during the summer. These people are my mentors and the students are my good friends. We can tell if a student transfers in in the middle of a school year because we recognize everyone on campus.

Also, do any of the 1Ls or 2Ls on this thread know anything about Venturlabs? I saw that on the UT website and it has definitely caught my attention.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

I was just curious about where everyone who is defending UT's class size went for UG and if there was a big difference. It's something I've been worried about.

I go out to coffee and lunch with my teachers during the summer. These people are my mentors and the students are my good friends. We can tell if a student transfers in in the middle of a school year because we recognize everyone on campus.

Also, do any of the 1Ls or 2Ls on this thread know anything about Venturlabs? I saw that on the UT website and it has definitely caught my attention.

I mentioned this a little in my previous post, but to go into more detail: My high school graduating class was like 32 people. The college I went to had around maybe 4,000 people total, and class size was probably between 10-25 people for most of my classes. If you want to recognize every single other 1L, that is probably not going to happen. I still occasionally meet another 1L I haven't seen before, but that's just because I only have classes with 1/4 of the 1L class. If you are proactive about visiting professors during office hours, I don't think developing mentor-type relationships with professors would be too difficult.

[whitman]

I just got into Texas and have a couple of questions. OK, so Texas is my favorite of the schools, culturally, that I've gotten into so far. I really want to be lie in Austin for its music scene and sports and beautiful women, etc. However, I'm worried my career goals don't match up quite as well. I plan on working in PI in some capacity - environmental law, human rights law, etc. I wouldn't be opposed to working for a larger law firm for a while first, then transitioning into that. However, does Texas do well for people looking to go into PI, particularly environmental law? Or is it pretty much exclusively Texas big law focused? Thanks a lot.

[JazzOne]

I just got into Texas and have a couple of questions. OK, so Texas is my favorite of the schools, culturally, that I've gotten into so far. I really want to be lie in Austin for its music scene and sports and beautiful women, etc. However, I'm worried my career goals don't match up quite as well. I plan on working in PI in some capacity - environmental law, human rights law, etc. I wouldn't be opposed to working for a larger law firm for a while first, then transitioning into that. However, does Texas do well for people looking to go into PI, particularly environmental law? Or is it pretty much exclusively Texas big law focused? Thanks a lot.

I really can't answer your question because I wasn't interested in PI. However, I will offer the following observation. Don't count on "working for a larger law firm for a while first." I think legal employers really want to see your commitment to their program. If you want PI or biglaw or whatever, that should be your primary focus from the jump. There are no backup opportunities. Employers can smell it when you're faking interest in their firm/cause/organization.

[whitman]

Thanks for the response. The reason I said that was I'd actually heard that PI people often hire out of big law so they can avoid training costs. I have no idea though, just a 0L.

[JazzOne]

Thanks for the response. The reason I said that was I'd actually heard that PI people often hire out of big law so they can avoid training costs. I have no idea though, just a 0L.

That may be true, but biglaw partners don't often hire people who are really interested in PI. That's where you'll have the biggest problem. And PI employers definitely don't hire law students who wanted biglaw but struck out at OCI.

[Hank Chill]

Someone may have already asked this, but where is the curve set at for UT?

[JazzOne]

Someone may have already asked this, but where is the curve set at for UT?

3.3

[12thman2011]

What's the parking situation like on campus? I'm not a big fan of public transportation so I figure I'll be driving to campus daily. How much would a parking pass where I'm sure to have a spot cost?

[Richie Tenenbaum]

What's the parking situation like on campus? I'm not a big fan of public transportation so I figure I'll be driving to campus daily. How much would a parking pass where I'm sure to have a spot cost?

I have a parking permit for the garage next to the law school and that was around $550 for a year. Sounds expensive, but it's definitely been worth it for me.

[spacepenguin]

Best thing I ever purchased as an undergrad there was the nighttime parking. 70 dollars or so for the year with access to most parking garages from 6pm to 5am.

[awilson11]

Best thing I ever purchased as an undergrad there was the nighttime parking. 70 dollars or so for the year with access to most parking garages from 6pm to 5am.

Just read through this entire thread, it's been really helpful. I am in at UT and GULC and so far have been really underwhelmed by GULC and impressed by Texas (helps that they gave me money). I am coming from a large California school (hint: we beat UT), so the weather of Austin is appealing. I love being in an environment with a huge number of people (I can meet someone new any time) but I hate the 200 person classes I took throughout UG. UT seems like a decent blend of plenty of people to meet and smaller class sizes than I am used to. Anyway, just tagging the thread and thanking the students for their help.

[lisjjen]

Anyone interested in renting a 3br house in Hyde park starting in August? If so, feel free to PM me as it gets closer to then. My parents own the house, and my fiancee and I will be moving out at the end of July.

Maybe so. I'll probably be out to visit Austin in June if I can't make it to ASW.

[Swagz]

Hey, I was just wondering how accommodating Texas is for 1Ls that want to do a joint JD/MBA program. I mean is it easier to apply to McCombs as 1L - or would it not be any different than applying as a 0L to the joint program.