GULC Students Taking Questions Forum

[ChristineBaskets]

What should I be expecting from the LRW in-class examination?

And is the take-home just another memo?

[WhiskeyAndCupcakes]

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[WhiskeyAndCupcakes]

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[buckiguy_sucks]

What is the median range and generally how hard is it to achieve such grades? I understand the nature of the beast requires that 50% are below median, but can I assume that if I work hard enough at it, I will not fall into that bottom half? In other words, are people who are in the bottom quartile placed there largely because of extenuating circumstances, lack of effort, motivation, etc.?

I have a couple of friends below median - both are bright and worked their asses off in 1L, but evidently weren't the best exam takers. A number of friends in the top 10 or 15 % put in less effort overall, some put in more. I think it's incredibly hard to predict.

to answer the question median is something like 3.35ish depending on how it comes out in your section in a given year

see here and here

edit: also no effort will definitely guarantee you below median, but anyone in the minimal effort to shit tons of effort category will randomly fall on the curve and you won't be able to guess where that is for you until you have grades

[calpolisci2016]

Thanks for the answers everyone. All very helpful.

[EzraFitz]

From chatting with people in the top 10%, and echoing common advice, learn your professors! Old exams, talking to old students, paying attention to their teaching style (e.g. emphasizing minute black letter details vs over arching themes) are your best friend to try and best the median monster.

[MAPP]

How competitive (or collegial) is gtown? Do people form study groups and share notes? And why only 40% biglaw placement, do a lot of people not study corporate law at gtown?

[buckiguy_sucks]

How competitive (or collegial) is gtown? Do people form study groups and share notes?

as competitive or as collegial as you want it to be its a big school people aren't going to jam things down your throat if you want to avoid it but there will always be people who form study groups (even though studying with more than one or two other people is stupid and useless) and share notes if you ask for it

And why only 40% biglaw placement, do a lot of people not study corporate law at gtown?

lol

40% big law because its not as good a school for big law as Cornell or Northwestern, people gun for DC biglaw rather than NYC, and (again) theres a fuck ton of people and not a lot of big law jobs for the TTTT of the T14

whether or not you ~~study corporate law~~ is meaningless, law firms don't give a shit about what you study in law school just you proving to them you're interested in working for them. almost your entire 1L schedule is set at every law school anyway.

[EzraFitz]

The DC gunning definitely hurts more people than you'd think, I've heard multiple horror stories.

[TLSModBot]

The DC gunning definitely hurts more people than you'd think, I've heard multiple horror stories.

If you're comfortably above median and have a real reason/need to stay in DC and are not choosy about what firm you land, then DC is a likely option. But way too many people do not realistically pad their EIW slots with NY firms and that can cost them.

[TheSpanishMain]

How competitive (or collegial) is gtown? Do people form study groups and share notes? And why only 40% biglaw placement, do a lot of people not study corporate law at gtown?

Yeah, big firms don't give a shit what classes you take. The 40% BL placement is probably because A) Georgetown is at the bottom of the T14 B) A lot of people from other T14 schools target DC and C) Georgetown probably has a higher proportion of people who aren't interested in big law.

ETA: I will say that I was a median student who exclusively bid on DC firms and did fine. Anecdotal I know. I think the people who really struggled were k-jds. Almost all the people I know of who struck out were people who went straight through from undergrad.

[EzraFitz]

As a K-JD, anecdotally every other one I know did fine, but they all wanted NY. And I think where the DC gunning really gets people are those who bid top down, not really tailoring to what they could realistically land. And as always, GULC's evening program has a lot of people with jobs outside big law sending them to school for their JD.

[TLSModBot]

As a K-JD, anecdotally every other one I know did fine, but they all wanted NY. And I think where the DC gunning really gets people are those who bid top down, not really tailoring to what they could realistically land. And as always, GULC's evening program has a lot of people with jobs outside big law sending them to school for their JD.

Eh, in my class I'd say fewer than half ended up that route - many of us went for Biglaw just the same as the full timers.

[call-me-bubbles]

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[Glasseyes]

Recently accepted to the Class of 2020, and for a couple years now Georgetown has been my dream. I just love the vibe of DC, and I think it would be an incredible place to live and study. I know there are a lot of people who shit on GULC for their stats and employment outcomes relative to the rest of the T14. While I understand this criticism, I still can't help but imagine that GULC's location in DC and connections to government and NGOs makes it an inherently better option than some of the higher-ranked T14 (excluding YHS) for folks interested in PI, government, and policy work. In my mind, three years of law school in DC, with the ability to network "on the ground," would be a major leg up compared to someone with the same career aspirations who spends three years in, say, Ann Arbor, MI. I know this whole question is driven by confirmation bias, but is there anything to this line of thinking? Am I the only one on TLS who thinks GULC's location is worth something, despite the employment stats?

So far, I've also been accepted to UVA, which seems awesome and has solid stats, but I keep thinking to myself, "I just wish it were closer to DC..." (I know it's not *that* far, but still, it's not within [reasonable] commuting distance like Alexandria or Bethesda). Something about DC really has a hold on me, and I'm not sure how much I should take this into consideration when I ultimately make my decision about where to attend.

Any thoughts/insight?

There's something to it perhaps when you're comparing to schools like Cornell or Northwestern, and if you wanted a BigFed or DC Biglaw gig and nothing else will satisfy you, sure, GULC might give you some tiny edge if you actually make the most of the networking opportunities. But UVA still punches above GULC in just about every way, and even as someone who generally enjoys GULC for what it is, I would suffer through 3 years in Charlottesville, drowning in southern bro culture and everything else, to have a better shot at meaningful employment just about everywhere - provided the financials make sense. If you get good money from UVA, jump on it and plan to spend summers in DC.

[WhiskeyAndCupcakes]

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[call-me-bubbles]

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[call-me-bubbles]

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[elmar]

As a K-JD, anecdotally every other one I know did fine, but they all wanted NY. And I think where the DC gunning really gets people are those who bid top down, not really tailoring to what they could realistically land. And as always, GULC's evening program has a lot of people with jobs outside big law sending them to school for their JD.

Eh, in my class I'd say fewer than half ended up that route - many of us went for Biglaw just the same as the full timers.

And there's some "research" to show it, too: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=262951

Career Center also says that, if you strip out government and PI positions, biglaw placement for GULC grads is the equal between NY and DC, so I'm not sure the vibe of NY being a secondary market for GULC is even all that accurate, even though it certainly feels that way when people discuss it, at least outside Section 7.

[TheSpanishMain]

As a K-JD, anecdotally every other one I know did fine, but they all wanted NY. And I think where the DC gunning really gets people are those who bid top down, not really tailoring to what they could realistically land. And as always, GULC's evening program has a lot of people with jobs outside big law sending them to school for their JD.

Yeah, I've definitely seen k-jds do just fine at OCI (and it's not like I have a huge sample size or anything) but at least in my experience they generally needed better grades to compensate for a thinner resume.

[buckiguy_sucks]

There's something to it perhaps when you're comparing to schools like Cornell or Northwestern, and if you wanted a BigFed or DC Biglaw gig and nothing else will satisfy you, sure, GULC might give you some tiny edge if you actually make the most of the networking opportunities. But UVA still punches above GULC in just about every way, and even as someone who generally enjoys GULC for what it is, I would suffer through 3 years in Charlottesville, drowning in southern bro culture and everything else, to have a better shot at meaningful employment just about everywhere - provided the financials make sense. If you get good money from UVA, jump on it and plan to spend summers in DC.

I'd guess that if you got accepted at UVA, you have a reasonably good shot of $$ at GULC. GULC with $$ makes more sense than UVA without, in my opinion, especially if you aren't set on biglaw. If for some reason they end up similar cost, then UVA probably makes more sense. With that said, I actually DO think the location in DC is an incredibly real asset if you want to do policy or government work. I think you can use your school year semesters to intern at several places, which can be beneficial.

UVA has better employment stats so don't come to GULC for just the location. If you *DO* come to GULC, the location is great and you can use it for really meaningful networking, interesting internships, etc.

I think distance networking can certainly be just as effective. You're just having phone calls instead of coffees. Unless you do 2+ in semester externship then you're going to have the same opportunity from UVA because you can come to DC and full time intern for credit for one semester (I assume you can do this from UVA, tons of people at the agency I am externing at do it from schools across the country). There's also split summers etc. Sure there's a benefit to face time and if you're really dedicated you could do 2 or 3 in semester externships but I wouldn't oversell the difference.


Plus the government loves hiring former clerks just as much as anyone else and you're pretty much guaranteed to not get that outcome from GULC whereas a boatload of UVA people get it

[EzraFitz]

There's something to it perhaps when you're comparing to schools like Cornell or Northwestern, and if you wanted a BigFed or DC Biglaw gig and nothing else will satisfy you, sure, GULC might give you some tiny edge if you actually make the most of the networking opportunities. But UVA still punches above GULC in just about every way, and even as someone who generally enjoys GULC for what it is, I would suffer through 3 years in Charlottesville, drowning in southern bro culture and everything else, to have a better shot at meaningful employment just about everywhere - provided the financials make sense. If you get good money from UVA, jump on it and plan to spend summers in DC.

I'd guess that if you got accepted at UVA, you have a reasonably good shot of $$ at GULC. GULC with $$ makes more sense than UVA without, in my opinion, especially if you aren't set on biglaw. If for some reason they end up similar cost, then UVA probably makes more sense. With that said, I actually DO think the location in DC is an incredibly real asset if you want to do policy or government work. I think you can use your school year semesters to intern at several places, which can be beneficial.

UVA has better employment stats so don't come to GULC for just the location. If you *DO* come to GULC, the location is great and you can use it for really meaningful networking, interesting internships, etc.

I think distance networking can certainly be just as effective. You're just having phone calls instead of coffees. Unless you do 2+ in semester externship then you're going to have the same opportunity from UVA because you can come to DC and full time intern for credit for one semester (I assume you can do this from UVA, tons of people at the agency I am externing at do it from schools across the country). There's also split summers etc. Sure there's a benefit to face time and if you're really dedicated you could do 2 or 3 in semester externships but I wouldn't oversell the difference.


Plus the government loves hiring former clerks just as much as anyone else and you're pretty much guaranteed to not get that outcome from GULC whereas a boatload of UVA people get it

The clerking option definitely is a big difference if that is meaningful. A note, I did negotiate UVA with no cash into $$ at GULC, and could not be happier with the choice. Doubled my initial offer through the negotiation.

[pandapops]

I was looking at the list of 1L electives and International Law, National Security, and Human Rights looks interesting, has anyone taken it or had Professor Regan?

[EzraFitz]

I was looking at the list of 1L electives and International Law, National Security, and Human Rights looks interesting, has anyone taken it or had Professor Regan?

Regan in general is an awesome guy and professor (in my opinion). Good teacher, very fair test, and super helpful with LoRs and clerking stuff.

[pandapops]

I was looking at the list of 1L electives and International Law, National Security, and Human Rights looks interesting, has anyone taken it or had Professor Regan?

Regan in general is an awesome guy and professor (in my opinion). Good teacher, very fair test, and super helpful with LoRs and clerking stuff.

Awesome, thank you!!