UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[thesealocust]

Nah, there really is very little correlation. The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

Guides like Xeoh85's actually do more harm than good in my opinion because they vindicate obsessive behavior in an isolated instance. Plenty of people who are every bit as obsessive (if not more) won't get good grades or be able to write guides about how moving into the library got them to the top of the class.

[Geneva]

The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

What does 1L year reward?

[joemoviebuff]

The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

What does 1L year reward?

Nothing aside from your alcohol tolerance.

[chem]

I was looking at the ivy and they dont allow pets. Is there any other apartment complexes (that are still open) where law students congregate that allow pets?

[Doritos]

The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

What does 1L year reward?

I think diligent preparation but only if you study the right stuff in the right way and apply it correctly. You want to know the law but only the relevant part of it. I hope this clears it up.

[StanleyF]

I think diligent preparation but only if you study the right stuff in the right way and apply it correctly. You want to know the law but only the relevant part of it. I hope this clears it up.[/quote]

As my LSAT instructor would say, a lot of hard work is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite to doing well in law school.

The fall is especially hard, because there are no grades along the way to let you know if you are doing the right things, but you have to keep slogging along.

But I think 1L year rewards people who come to law school with a natural ability to understand what the law that you study means beyond the four corners of the individual case, plus an ability to take that information and apply it to a set of facts on an exam.

I guess that means you have to understand the law, and then be able to perform well under a lot of pressure during a three or four hour exam. If you're good at one of these things, and really bad at the other, it's going to be hard to do well. But I think a plurality of people are okay at both, and they wind up in the median.

[Puttanesca]

I was looking at the ivy and they dont allow pets. Is there any other apartment complexes (that are still open) where law students congregate that allow pets?

I'm not sure about apartments within walking distance of the law school, but I know several people who live at the Woodlands and Jefferson Ridge who have dogs. I don't think law students congregate at either of those places in the Ivy sense but there are a number of students who live at both of those.

[ganggreen]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

[Doritos]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

Nope. Paying back a mortgage worth of debt for a piece of paper is not fun but I think going here has definitely opened up doors for me that a BU for free or something would not have. I think it depends a lot on your options and what you want. If you are looking at UVa full price or Duke w/ real nice money then that's a harder choice than paying sticker here or go T25 or something like that. I applied ED early in the process so I had a fair number of admissions but not a lot of scholarship info back yet so I had to kind of guess based on LSN/TLS where I was competitive for money and made the choice that way.

I also came in with my sights on big market big law which I knew would enable me to pay back the loans. If I wanted to go public interest or work at a small firm or something that may have changed how I felt about coming here full price.

I mean, take this decision very seriously. Its all theoretical play money until you are near the end of the law school journey and then you realize what 200k with 7-8% interest means to your disposable income for the rest of your 20s if you want to get that shit paid off quickly (no new Lexus on graduation day unless you got rich parents).

[desertlaw]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

Nope. Paying back a mortgage worth of debt for a piece of paper is not fun but I think going here has definitely opened up doors for me that a BU for free or something would not have. I think it depends a lot on your options and what you want. If you are looking at UVa full price or Duke w/ real nice money then that's a harder choice than paying sticker here or go T25 or something like that. I applied ED early in the process so I had a fair number of admissions but not a lot of scholarship info back yet so I had to kind of guess based on LSN/TLS where I was competitive for money and made the choice that way.

I also came in with my sights on big market big law which I knew would enable me to pay back the loans. If I wanted to go public interest or work at a small firm or something that may have changed how I felt about coming here full price.

I mean, take this decision very seriously. Its all theoretical play money until you are near the end of the law school journey and then you realize what 200k with 7-8% interest means to your disposable income for the rest of your 20s if you want to get that shit paid off quickly (no new Lexus on graduation day unless you got rich parents).

I agree with Doritos on this, like most things. We're like Thomas and Scalia. We only quabble on the most minor details. If you do land BigLaw, you can live like a student for a few years (have a roommate, don't upgrade car) and have the debt paid off quicker. And for many people with liberal arts degree from TTT undergrad (like us), it can be worth the risk. And models n bottles just sounds like a fun time, doesn't it?

But yes, staring at 6 figures of debt in a shaky economy (hopefully we'll get Ron Paul in the White House to fix things) is something to take very seriously. I'm not sure this post added anything worthwhile. The jokes weren't even that good.

[Doritos]

Now that UVa is a T7 law school I don't think you should have any apprehensions coming here at full price.

edit: desertlaw is hilarious and awesome

[chem]

Now that UVa is a T7 law school I don't think you should have any apprehensions coming here at full price.

Feel like Im going to bring their ranking down... lol

[dailygrind]

Now that UVa is a T7 law school I don't think you should have any apprehensions coming here at full price.

Oh shit, just noticed that. Insane to me how much I would've cared about this 2 years ago.

[joeshmo39]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

No regrets so far. I agree with what Doritos and Desertlaw said. I will tell you this question could be rewritten as "To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: did you land big law?"

Alternatively you could do LRAP which is very strong here so there's that option. The problem there is federal/DOJ has stopped hiring at a rate that makes the private sector look like America's post-Ron Paul economy. A lot of public interest, prosecution, public defender jobs don't hire for a very long time, probably not for another year and a half for current 2Ls. Thus, anyone who didn't do big law and is still planning on PI probably has some trepidation. Maybe they aren't regretting things, but they at least have some worries.

Or, we could always get no offered and thus everyone is scared. Also, now that we're T7, they ought to at least double tuition. It's called supply and demand and it's science.

[Morgan12Oak]

Yes, UVa LRAP is very strong and not the weakest in the T14 like some foolio_el_person has ranted about (unsubstantiated might I add) on this forum.

[paulinaporizkova]

Now that UVa is a T7 law school I don't think you should have any apprehensions coming here at full price.

Oh shit, just noticed that. Insane to me how much I would've cared about this 2 years ago.

LOL I was thinking the same thing

[paulinaporizkova]

The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

What does 1L year reward?

Nothing aside from your alcohol tolerance.

I drink literally every day

Oh, it has rewarded my figure because I hardly eat anymore due to constant stress

[t14fanboy]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

No regrets so far. I agree with what Doritos and Desertlaw said. I will tell you this question could be rewritten as "To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: did you land big law?"

Alternatively you could do LRAP which is very strong here so there's that option. The problem there is federal/DOJ has stopped hiring at a rate that makes the private sector look like America's post-Ron Paul economy. A lot of public interest, prosecution, public defender jobs don't hire for a very long time, probably not for another year and a half for current 2Ls. Thus, anyone who didn't do big law and is still planning on PI probably has some trepidation. Maybe they aren't regretting things, but they at least have some worries.

Or, we could always get no offered and thus everyone is scared. Also, now that we're T7, they ought to at least double tuition. It's called supply and demand and it's science.

--ImageRemoved--

[paulinaporizkova]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

No regrets so far. I agree with what Doritos and Desertlaw said. I will tell you this question could be rewritten as "To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: did you land big law?"

Alternatively you could do LRAP which is very strong here so there's that option. The problem there is federal/DOJ has stopped hiring at a rate that makes the private sector look like America's post-Ron Paul economy. A lot of public interest, prosecution, public defender jobs don't hire for a very long time, probably not for another year and a half for current 2Ls. Thus, anyone who didn't do big law and is still planning on PI probably has some trepidation. Maybe they aren't regretting things, but they at least have some worries.

Or, we could always get no offered and thus everyone is scared. Also, now that we're T7, they ought to at least double tuition. It's called supply and demand and it's science.

--ImageRemoved--

of all the things in this thread, that's what scares you?

[005618502]

The way exams work you just aren't rewarded for memorizing the most law, which winds up being a huge obsessive time sink for a lot of people.

It definitely takes hard work to do well, but lots of people who work hard won't do well and very few people will meaningfully slack. One of the worst aspects of 1L year is how it seems to not properly reward effort.

What does 1L year reward?

Nothing aside from your alcohol tolerance.

I drink literally every day

Oh, it has rewarded my figure because I hardly eat anymore due to constant stress

[joemoviebuff]

What does 1L year reward?

Nothing aside from your alcohol tolerance.

I drink literally every day

Oh, it has rewarded my figure because I hardly eat anymore due to constant stress

You laugh now...

[005618502]

Nothing aside from your alcohol tolerance.

I drink literally every day

Oh, it has rewarded my figure because I hardly eat anymore due to constant stress

You laugh now...

That was definitely a scared laugh

[dailygrind]

For what it's worth, she's lookin' great these days.

[t14fanboy]

To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: any regrets?

No regrets so far. I agree with what Doritos and Desertlaw said. I will tell you this question could be rewritten as "To people paying sticker and looking at huge loans upon graduation: did you land big law?"

Alternatively you could do LRAP which is very strong here so there's that option. The problem there is federal/DOJ has stopped hiring at a rate that makes the private sector look like America's post-Ron Paul economy. A lot of public interest, prosecution, public defender jobs don't hire for a very long time, probably not for another year and a half for current 2Ls. Thus, anyone who didn't do big law and is still planning on PI probably has some trepidation. Maybe they aren't regretting things, but they at least have some worries.

Or, we could always get no offered and thus everyone is scared. Also, now that we're T7, they ought to at least double tuition. It's called supply and demand and it's science.

--ImageRemoved--

of all the things in this thread, that's what scares you?

tl;dr

[paulinaporizkova]

For what it's worth, she's lookin' great these days.

wait, is lunch still on for Saturday then?