WUSTL Recent Grad (and others) Taking Questions Forum

[TatteredDignity]

Thanks for the input!

[TatteredDignity]

That's where all the gay bars are.

From what I can tell rental options there are hit or miss. It wouldn't be my first choice but if you found a nice spot at a good price it might be worth it, kind of like Debaliviere.

After having visited most of these neighborhoods today, the bold confuses me. Isn't this area almost completely semi-ritzy? Didn't seem to me that there are any sketchy places in Debaliviere. But I mostly looked at some places on Clara st... maybe that wasn't a representative sample?

[seatown12]

Debaliviere is a dead zone as far as things to do, and it is real close to the hood. The townhouse type places on Clara seem pretty nice but I think that whole area is high-crime with lots of auto burgs. That area just doesn't seem worth it to me when the nice places are comparably priced to the CWE and more expensive than the Loop, both of which are more vibrant neighborhoods.

[deebs]

Debaliviere is a dead zone as far as things to do, and it is real close to the hood. The townhouse type places on Clara seem pretty nice but I think that whole area is high-crime with lots of auto burgs. That area just doesn't seem worth it to me when the nice places are comparably priced to the CWE and more expensive than the Loop, both of which are more vibrant neighborhoods.

The closer you get to the metro stop at Debaliviere, the worse it gets. Fellow 1L's apartment was robbed on Union a few apartments down from the stop on Pershing. I live on the eastern end of Pershing and my building is a lot of grad/med students, but yes, it is a dead zone. The closest places to go are in CWE, which doesn't have everything ppl says it does either. Most people I know all had the same feeling, the CWE gets old fast. The Loop can be fun, but I don't personally like going there on Fri/Sat nights because of recent crime down there - during the week and days are good times though. If you don't mind the drive to the school, I would look into living in Soulard/downtown.

And in case anyone cares, Bogart's in Soulard (relatively new BBQ place) smokes Pappy's. (pun intended)

[beachbum]

Debaliviere is a dead zone as far as things to do, and it is real close to the hood. The townhouse type places on Clara seem pretty nice but I think that whole area is high-crime with lots of auto burgs. That area just doesn't seem worth it to me when the nice places are comparably priced to the CWE and more expensive than the Loop, both of which are more vibrant neighborhoods.

The closer you get to the metro stop at Debaliviere, the worse it gets. Fellow 1L's apartment was robbed on Union a few apartments down from the stop on Pershing. I live on the eastern end of Pershing and my building is a lot of grad/med students, but yes, it is a dead zone. The closest places to go are in CWE, which doesn't have everything ppl says it does either. Most people I know all had the same feeling, the CWE gets old fast. The Loop can be fun, but I don't personally like going there on Fri/Sat nights because of recent crime down there - during the week and days are good times though. If you don't mind the drive to the school, I would look into living in Soulard/downtown.

And in case anyone cares, Bogart's in Soulard (relatively new BBQ place) smokes Pappy's. (pun intended)

Meh, I still like the CWE (lived there for a year). There are plenty of good restaurants and a handful of solid bars/hangouts, and the people are generally pretty chill. And the area is (mostly) safe. But maybe I'm just easy to please.

[PSUFB1114]

How about Richmond Heights? Is the area safe? Nice? Fun?

[seatown12]

Richmond Heights is another relative dead zone but it is safe and I think there are some nicer places there also. I'd stay as close to Clayton Rd as possible.

[thepanda00]

how are the job prospects out of wash u? what kind of law does it place best into? I know it has a great trial advocacy program (not interested in), what other programs is it well known for?

[romothesavior]

And in case anyone cares, Bogart's in Soulard (relatively new BBQ place) smokes Pappy's. (pun intended)

A silly thing to say since they are operated by the guy who runs Pappy's.

My boss hooked me up with some free Bogart's last week. Doing legal work for restaurant owners = free food. Winning.

[Jeffro]

So I'm trying to plan some important events for the summer after my 1L year. When do summer internships tend to start/stop? Is there flexibility (i.e., start a little late but end later than usual) or are summer programs fixed? I realize that this is going to be up to the specific placement site, but does anyone have any input on this in general? Thanks for any help.

[Total Litigator]

how are the job prospects out of wash u? what kind of law does it place best into? I know it has a great trial advocacy program (not interested in), what other programs is it well known for?

You might have to be more specific in your question... Answering that is a tall order....

[Rock Chalk]

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[romothesavior]

I'd say with the exception of biglaw and in-house, most 1L internships are pretty flexible. Rock Chalk is right with respect to SA positions; those schedules are usually set ahead of time, although I'm sure they'd permit some flexibility depending on what you are planning. However, getting a 1L SA is next to impossible without being a URM, having great grades, and doing some serious legwork (and usually it takes all three). Most law students will not be paid for their first year, and if you're not being paid, they likely won't care as much about your hours and start/end dates. After all, you're just free labor. This may not be the mentality of all unpaid employers, but it seems to be with a lot of them.

My job is very flexible... they let me come in when I want to, leave when I want to, and I set my start/end dates. Heck, I'm taking off this Friday to play golf and go to the Cardinals game, and my boss encouraged it. My job is probably a little more open about this sort of thing than others, but it seems like most RA, public interest, judges, local government jobs, etc. (which is what you will almost certainly be doing next summer) are pretty flexible and easygoing. Pretty much everyone I know in these types of positions is able to pick their hours, and their employer only cares about their hours to ensure they do their 350 hours for the stipend. I'd say just try to plan your major event at the beginning or end so you don't miss a chunk in the middle.

[Jeffro]

Thanks Rock Chalk and Romo, what you have said is reassuring. My plans are for the beginning of the summer, so I would probably be able to start on or about June 4th and work right up until school were to start, if need be.

[tls_je]

Is there any possibility for a law student to live on-campus at WUSTL? No dorm at all?

[840e]

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[stratocophic]

Is there any possibility for a law student to live on-campus at WUSTL? No dorm at all?

No dorms for grad students (unless maybe you were an RA? Not sure about that), but there are some very cheap studio apartments that are a 10 minute walk from the law school - less time than it took me to walk all the way across a fairly small campus in undergrad.

[Total Litigator]

Is there any possibility for a law student to live on-campus at WUSTL? No dorm at all?

No dorms for grad students (unless maybe you were an RA? Not sure about that), but there are some very cheap studio apartments that are a 10 minute walk from the law school - less time than it took me to walk all the way across a fairly small campus in undergrad.

This is true. From leaving out my front door to sitting in my seat in class, it takes me under 10 minutes.

[seatown12]

Thanks Rock Chalk and Romo, what you have said is reassuring. My plans are for the beginning of the summer, so I would probably be able to start on or about June 4th and work right up until school were to start, if need be.

Most programs seem to start end of May, run 10 weeks, and end in early August. I really would not recommend missing the first week(s) of your job/internship because there will probably be some sort of orientation that you will want to attend or you'll have no idea what's going on when you show up. If I were you I'd make my plans for mid August if possible.

[840e]

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[WSJ_Law]

Romo,

This may have been covered in the previous pages but what would you recommend for a 1BR/Studio in the Central West End?

Also: any housing options that are walking distance to campus/new-ish/safe? (Assume cost doesn't matter for purposes of this discussion)?

Thanks for your input over time; long-time reader here. Thanks.

[stratocophic]

I have had a few friends go to WUSTL and about 50% of them ended up transferring to schools on the east coast following 1L year.

Given I have only a small sampling for comparison, but is WUSTL known for losing a lot of their top kids to transfers after 1L year? Do you get the impression some kids go there with the goal of transferring out? (I have no desire to transfer... but in terms of 1L grades, it would be good to know if a portion of classmates trended as being extra motivated to transfer out...)

There do seem to be a lot of transfers. Motivation's important, but once you've hit a critical mass it doesn't really matter how much you have so don't worry about people that are "extra-motivated" or whatever. I know for a fact that if you have good grades at WUSTL, you can get good firms, even on the East Coast. This is just a suspicion, but I have a feeling that WUSTL would be a much better NLJ 250 school if it wasn't for the transferring. We don't re-rank after people leave, so if a quarter of the top 15-25% transfers out to T14/UT/Vandy/UCLA (and even GW, but I dunno why you'd do that) that would obviously explain why we underperform a bit (we have a very large east/west coast contingent, which is why more people seem to want to and do transfer). Not to mention the fact that people who are transferring are generally gunning for places where they're more likely to get Biglaw anyway, NYC/LA/DC, vs. somewhere like Chicago (seems like less Chicagoans want to transfer out, from what I've seen) which has gotten absolutely pwned ITE.

[thexfactor]

im not sure if that is right. According to the ABA only 12 people transferred out last year.

[stratocophic]

im not sure if that is right. According to the ABA only 12 people transferred out last year.

Still though, out of a class of 250 or so, 12 is 5% (and likely 20% of the top 25%, since you presumably have to have good grades to transfer). I guess it'd mostly depend on how the influx of transfers does for itself. If the incoming transfers do well it wouldn't matter/would make the school's number look better (depending on # of incoming/success rate/blah blah blah).

[tls_je]

I need to make a decision between WUSTL and ND.

As an international student with F-1 visa status, I really need to find a firm which can support my H-1 visa (working visa)-- meaning that the firm has to have enough money and willingness to pay the cost for supporting for my visa.

In this case, which one would be a better choice in your opinion? (Which one would be better for internationals in terms of getting a job?)

Do you have any idea how the CSO at WUSTL is working on this issue?

Desperately need some insight!

Thanks!!