Boalt 1Ls taking questions Forum

[avemundi]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

[Tanicius]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

Had a friend who got robbed twice in one year. Just really terrible luck on his part. The name of the game is, when you walk outside at night, you walk with friends. Never heard of a group of people getting into trouble that way.

[Kronk]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

Had a friend who got robbed twice in one year. Just really terrible luck on his part.

To counterpoint it I'd say I've never been robbed nor heard of anyone being robbed around campus (within 5 blocks) and I only know of one serious robbery and it was pretty far from campus.

I feel very, very safe on and around campus.

[Tanicius]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

Had a friend who got robbed twice in one year. Just really terrible luck on his part.

To counterpoint it I'd say I've never been robbed nor heard of anyone being robbed around campus (within 5 blocks) and I only know of one serious robbery and it was pretty far from campus.

I feel very, very safe on and around campus.

What was surprising about the guy's first experience was that it happened in the residential part of Berkeley just a few blocks from campus. Theory for why it happened there is that it was (1) dark, and that (2) he was by himself carrying a backpack.

[avemundi]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

Had a friend who got robbed twice in one year. Just really terrible luck on his part. The name of the game is, when you walk outside at night, you walk with friends. Never heard of a group of people getting into trouble that way.

eek whereabouts was he robbed, if it's okay to ask?

[Tanicius]

i'm curious how ppl find the crime at berkeley - i was reading the online version of the daily cal, and it seems like muggings/strong arm robberies are disturbingly frequent on/in direct proximity of campus. any empirical insight would be great...

Had a friend who got robbed twice in one year. Just really terrible luck on his part. The name of the game is, when you walk outside at night, you walk with friends. Never heard of a group of people getting into trouble that way.

eek whereabouts was he robbed, if it's okay to ask?

Residential area just south of campus late at night.

[L’Étranger]

To flesh the crime issue out a little more: There are really two things going on. First, in pockets of Berkeley there is legit crime, i.e. drug/gang violence. The second is more speculative and so I'll let you all come to your own conclusions but - due to Berkeley's egalitarian culture - we have a fairly large undisturbed population of itinerant people living in our streets and moving freely around campus (i.e. a homeless man was found living at Boalt this year).

BTW I'm not at all trying to crap on the school or community by posting this but I was (embarrassingly) caught off guard by these things when I came here. I would not call Berkeley a quaint safe college town, if that's what anyone is looking for.

[Tanicius]

To flesh the crime issue out a little more: There are really two things going on. First, in pockets of Berkeley there is legit crime, i.e. drug/gang violence. The second is more speculative and so I'll let you all come to your own conclusions but - due to Berkeley's egalitarian culture - we have a fairly large undisturbed population of itinerant people living in our streets and moving freely around campus (i.e. a homeless man was found living at Boalt this year).

BTW I'm not at all trying to crap on the school or community by posting this but I was (embarrassingly) caught off guard by these things when I came here. I would not call Berkeley a quaint safe college town, if that's what anyone is looking for.

I certainly wouldn't say drug violence is an issue anywhere even close to campus. The crime I know about is robbery and burglary and nothing else.

[L’Étranger]

I certainly wouldn't say drug violence is an issue anywhere even close to campus. The crime I know about is robbery and burglary and nothing else.

Agreed that violence not next to campus, but sadly it does exist in Berkeley.

[gymboree]

Hey 3Ls and older - what is your experience with wait lists? it sounds like it is a eye-roll worthy process everyone goes through, but that you pretty much always get the class you waitlisted for? I mean, I've heard that from like 2 people I think (who heard it from others, etc). This whole thing just seems so ridiculous. I'm #16 on a wait list for a class that only accepts 20, and 15 are enrolled. I just don't see how that math could work for me, but I really don't want to have to attend other classes I really don't want just in case. I mean, I guess I'll have to do that no matter what to be safe. But is this really the best the registrar/curriculum committee can do? Offering a bunch of classes that are half or less enrolled, and then a bunch that are 200% or more? I know I am by far not the only one having to do this, nor is this new this year, but going to a bunch of extra classes, when you really have a hard time making it to the most basic ones because of interviews is a stressful way to start off 2L.

Stay on the list. Go to the class. You can get in to even the most popular classes (e.g. Sklansky, Swift, etc.), but 1) go the first day, and 2) keep going.

[Triveal]

Former Cal undergrad here. Anything south of Channing after about 9 or 10 o clock is pretty dangerous without a small group. Small crimes are actually more frequent than you'd might think. When I was living in the dorms, I recall seeing new UCPD postings up on the security monitor booth every couple of weeks. I had a friend that got confronted and told to turn into an alleyway in broad daylight around Durant and Dana. He sprinted to the dining hall (lots of witnesses) and made it out, but yeah.

tldr; groups, avoid certain areas at night

[gymboree]

Buy your tix to Boalt's student-organized back to school party (the Launch Party) - it's this Saturday! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/255921

[Jaqen]

I've been planning to more or less blanket the T14 this upcoming app cycle. But I've become hesitant about Berkeley. I have no ties to California. I've never even been there. As Berkeley primarily places its graduates into CA firms, and CA firms, from what I've heard, strongly prefer ties... I'm uneasy with even applying there.

Does anyone have any perspective on this?

[Rotor]

I've been planning to more or less blanket the T14 this upcoming app cycle. But I've become hesitant about Berkeley. I have no ties to California. I've never even been there. As Berkeley primarily places its graduates into CA firms, and CA firms, from what I've heard, strongly prefer ties... I'm uneasy with even applying there.

Does anyone have any perspective on this?

You can get anywhere with a degree from Berkeley. We place so many in CA because it is a great place to live and people choose to stay. However, we also send a good number to NYC and DC (among other places).

[pkt63]

Also, coming to school here will create a tie here, if you want to practice in CA, esp the bay area

[Sav]

Prof. Iglesias has given us our assigned reading for the 1st day of class. There is a lot of optional assigned reading. How important is that and how many of those optional papers would you say we need to read?
Another question, for the required reading papers (3), should we print them out, mark them up, an take them to class or just read on our laptops? I mean will the hard-copies be needed later for outlines or exams?

[Tanicius]

Prof. Iglesias has given us our assigned reading for the 1st day of class. There is a lot of optional assigned reading. How important is that and how many of those optional papers would you say we need to read?
Another question, for the required reading papers (3), should we print them out, mark them up, an take them to class or just read on our laptops? I mean will the hard-copies be needed later for outlines or exams?

I pretty much never do optional reading. Optional really does mean optional.

[Jaqen]

Hmmm.

Also, coming to school here will create a tie here, if you want to practice in CA, esp the bay area

Ah that'd be nice. I think I'll apply there and look into this more deeply if I get in.

Thanks guys.

[pkt63]

Prof. Iglesias has given us our assigned reading for the 1st day of class. There is a lot of optional assigned reading. How important is that and how many of those optional papers would you say we need to read?
Another question, for the required reading papers (3), should we print them out, mark them up, an take them to class or just read on our laptops? I mean will the hard-copies be needed later for outlines or exams?

Who is Prof Iglesias?

Anyway, if you have time now, you might as well, if it helps you get more practice in how to read this stuff and more of a sense of what your professor wants out of you. But, yeah, once you get busier, concentrate on the required reading. No sense in watering down the material you are going to get tested on with material you will not, in your brain.

There are a few profs that don't let you use laptops in class, but this is pretty rare, I think. Having the choice, it's really up to your style. I don't print stuff out, but I'd annotate on the pdf or whatever, and save it and definitely use it for studying later. Whatever format you prefer.

[mushybrain]

Iglesias is teaching Property. I believe he's a visiting professor from USF.

[Sav]

Thanks, guys! We have been assigned two doctrinal classes. I know we will also have LRW. How many other doctrinal classes will there be this semester? It would be good to have just 3 doctrinal + LRW than 4 doctrinal + LRW.

I think they will give us the schedule for the other classes tomorrow.

[pkt63]

Thanks, guys! We have been assigned two doctrinal classes. I know we will also have LRW. How many other doctrinal classes will there be this semester? It would be good to have just 3 doctrinal + LRW than 4 doctrinal + LRW.

I think they will give us the schedule for the other classes tomorrow.

You'll get one more doctrinal class this semester. If I remember right, you will have Civ Pro, Torts for your small mod class, and one other (either Crim or Property?) large mod. I think I heard they weren't doing any Contracts this semester, so you'll have that, WOA, and the other doctrinal class you don't have now, in Spring, plus Con Law or some other 1L elective you pick.

[Sav]

Thanks, pkt66! Did any 2Ls or 3Ls have Bundy for Civ Pro and what is the best supplement for his teaching and exams?

[Kronk]

Thanks, pkt66! Did any 2Ls or 3Ls have Bundy for Civ Pro and what is the best supplement for his teaching and exams?

He's a great teacher. I just used the Civil Procedure E&E for his class as a supplement. I didn't really do that much with it to be honest, just went through it, did the practice problems, and sue the parts that talked about the cases that we went over in class. Outlined from there moreso than the class notes or anything and took the test.

[Sav]

Thanks, pkt66! Did any 2Ls or 3Ls have Bundy for Civ Pro and what is the best supplement for his teaching and exams?

He's a great teacher. I just used the Civil Procedure E&E for his class as a supplement. I didn't really do that much with it to be honest, just went through it, did the practice problems, and sue the parts that talked about the cases that we went over in class. Outlined from there moreso than the class notes or anything and took the test.

Thanks, Kronk. This is what bundy said today, "There are several overview texts that some students have found helpful. I have no personal experience, but some swear by J. Glannon, Civil Procedure: Examples and Explanations, while others recommend G. Shreve and P. Raven-Hansen, Understanding Civil Procedure." I was wondering which of the two to get.