GULC Students Taking Questions Forum

[Gray]

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[TLSModBot]

Does anyone have any experience being in DC for inauguration? What's my likelihood of hitting traffic from Hill East --> Union Station at 6 AM?

There is going to be a massive influx of people who stupidly drive into the city along with road closures and blockades.

If this was 3 AM I'd say maybe. But 6 AM? Eh.

[buckiguy_sucks]

Does anyone have any experience being in DC for inauguration? What's my likelihood of hitting traffic from Hill East --> Union Station at 6 AM?

School is closed

I assume you mean for something else though.

I'm not helping.

I have a train at 6:30 for the purpose of getting the hell out of dodge

[Hand]

Does anyone have any experience being in DC for inauguration? What's my likelihood of hitting traffic from Hill East --> Union Station at 6 AM?

School is closed

I assume you mean for something else though.

I'm not helping.

I have a train at 6:30 for the purpose of getting the hell out of dodge

union station area is not a place I'd want to be going at that hour

I'd think you're gonna have to leave home well before 6 (also because union station itself will presumably be terrible)

[call-me-bubbles]

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[votebuilder1]

This may seem 'petty,' but everyone was a 0L at some point so I know in your hearts you'll understand this question:

Georgetown is the lowest T14, sure, but it is a T14. Do current students (or recent grads) feel as though the stigma of being the "lowest T14" carries any weight? That is to say, do you feel like you can compete with students at the "higher T14s"? By compete, I specifically mean intellectually, in terms of opportunities, and in terms of having your JD carry weight. I am not so much interested in employment opportunities for the purposes of this question because I can see the stats.

I also want to know if people are truly PROUD to have gone to GULC. I know every school and law school has aspects of the administration which frustrates them, but I went to a T50 undergraduate institution that really lacked pride.

To my eye (ear), GULC's name actually carries further than UVA, Michigan, etc. to 'outsiders' (non-lawyers). Amongst lawyers, obviously, I know that isn't the case.

I just want to get a current student or recent grads' perspective on this. Happy to clarify, if necessary.

[buckiguy_sucks]

Do 1Ls taking Curriculum B/Section 3 still use outlines and brief cases? (Admittedly, I don't know exactly what this means since I'm still 0L, but just curious if the studying process is basically the same.)

Yes it is the same

[BmoreOrLess]

Georgetown is the lowest T14, sure, but it is a T14. Do current students (or recent grads) feel as though the stigma of being the "lowest T14" carries any weight? That is to say, do you feel like you can compete with students at the "higher T14s"? By compete, I specifically mean intellectually, in terms of opportunities, and in terms of having your JD carry weight. I am not so much interested in employment opportunities for the purposes of this question because I can see the stats.

Didn't really interview in DC, so I can't speak to that, but in NYC, based on my and colleagues' experiences, you can absolutely "compete" at any firm not named Wachtell if you have sufficient grades.

I also want to know if people are truly PROUD to have gone to GULC.

Just wanted to LOL at this, and specifically the question not anyone's subjective feelings about their experiences at GULC.

[elmar]

This may seem 'petty,' but everyone was a 0L at some point so I know in your hearts you'll understand this question:

Georgetown is the lowest T14, sure, but it is a T14. Do current students (or recent grads) feel as though the stigma of being the "lowest T14" carries any weight? That is to say, do you feel like you can compete with students at the "higher T14s"? By compete, I specifically mean intellectually, in terms of opportunities, and in terms of having your JD carry weight. I am not so much interested in employment opportunities for the purposes of this question because I can see the stats.

I also want to know if people are truly PROUD to have gone to GULC. I know every school and law school has aspects of the administration which frustrates them, but I went to a T50 undergraduate institution that really lacked pride.

To my eye (ear), GULC's name actually carries further than UVA, Michigan, etc. to 'outsiders' (non-lawyers). Amongst lawyers, obviously, I know that isn't the case.

I just want to get a current student or recent grads' perspective on this. Happy to clarify, if necessary.

I have some time this afternoon, so I'll take a crack at this. You're right that this line of questioning does seem petty, because it is quite petty, but as you say, we were all 0L's at one point, which is potentially the most petty stage of life for the typical law student, and will put you in good company as a 1L. Read around these forums a bit more and you'll find that, beyond straight outta law school recruitment, the consensus is that rankings like T14 do have a relationship with reality as to prestige, but that is mostly a substitute for things like your work experience and other professional achievements. I'm not sure what you're getting at by asking how GULC competes intellectually for opportunities by some metric other than employment opportunities, and I doubt there is such a metric. You ask about pride and reputation among outsiders, but again, there is no such metric. Given that there are 700ish of us graduating a year at this point, you'll never get a consensus, but the level of cynicism among senior students is such that asking about pride does cause a chuckle, because no one much cares by the end in my experience. I know this ranking seems important at the law school application stage, but attorneys with whom I speak about law school routinely have no idea where GULC is in the rankings, because it's not relevant in their lives. If you want more info on this, go mine the archive here, because there's no shortage of threads full of hand-wringing about GULC as compared to other schools.

Oh, I should also point out what is probably obvious if you've spent any time on TLS: these rankings should have little to no influence over your law school attendance decision. That should be driven entirely by your projected cost of attendance and school job outcome statistics. This conversation regarding pride and prestige is meaningless chatter in the context of whether you should enroll at GULC. If you don't believe that now, you will.

tl;dr version: Q: Are people are truly PROUD to have gone to GULC? A: Shades of gray, but no. Q: Do GULC grads feel inadequate compared to grads from other schools? A: No.

[votebuilder1]

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[Anonnonnon]

Does anyone know what letter grades translate to class ranking? Like is B median, B+ above median, A-/B+ together higher still?

[WhiskeyAndCupcakes]

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[buckiguy_sucks]

Does anyone know what letter grades translate to class ranking? Like is B median, B+ above median, A-/B+ together higher still?

https://www.law.georgetown.edu/campus-s ... 5-2016.cfm

above is last years cutoffs. below is the myLSN class rank estimator

https://mylsn.info/rank-estimator/

[Throwaonetwothree]

1L here - Did worse than I thought I would - All Bs across my 3 classes. Am I sunk? I thought I had a more than solid grasp on all my classes. I want to end up in NYC biglaw. I already emailed my professors to meet with them about my final exams. What else should I be doing to pick things up? How can I turn this around? I realize networking is even more important now - how can I maximize all my odds of success here?

[unsure1234]

Longtime lurker. I got a C on one of my 1L courses ( Overall GPA below 3.0). Does the "C" effectively disqualify me from working in biglaw? Thanks

[buckiguy_sucks]

still lots of classes in the spring folks (more credits than the fall in fact). really focus on (where available) reading through old exams, feedback memos, and best answers and make sure you're prepared to answer the kinds of questions your professors ask in the way they want to hear them answered.

having a 3.0 or sub 3 GPA will make it tough sledding at EIW but not impossible sledding. for now networking can be helpful but not so helpful as to get you a job at say Cleary or Wilmer Hale with your 3.0 so make sure you're putting your networking efforts into where it can really count. come EIW time it'll be really important that you're a stellar interviewer but that's not something to worry about yet

you should really not be very focused on EIW or big law hiring yet your #1 priority should be bumping up that GPA as much as possible

as to a C specifically I can't imagine it being an automatic disqualifier

a lot of (most of? all of?) law school grading is about learning the system rather than learning the material. really focus on knowing how to take a good test, specific to each of your professors, this semester.

[Mr. Blackacre]

I also want to know if people are truly PROUD to have gone to GULC. I know every school and law school has aspects of the administration which frustrates them, but I went to a T50 undergraduate institution that really lacked pride.

I'm going to hammer the nail in a little further. I have absolutely zero pride for going to GULC. Law schools in general, and definitely GULC, are in it mostly for your money. The professors might care (some care a lot), the staff might care (similarly to professors, some are very invested in students' success and in furthering the school's public interest commitment or reputation), but at the heart of it, what the school wants to see is some nice green bills coming in every semester. The administration basically tries to extract as much money from students as possible. Tuition increases by 5% like clockwork every year, because they can. In the meantime, we get e-mails about the wonderful $20M donation campaign the school has conducted and offers to attend $600-a-ticket galas with the dean. Somehow, despite all this money the registrar is still a big joke.

I'm not bitter - I'm graduating this spring with a great job lined up. But the school basically treats teaching law as a business, so I treat my relationship with it as business. I made an investment and it will hopefully pay off. I heavily suspect that other schools function the same way, T14 or not T14. In choosing your schools, I'd suggest you focus more on where and what you want to practice, debt figures, and employment stats than on the perceived prestige of the schools that have accepted you. On top of that, some schools are just better at certain things than others. For instance, GULC places people fairly well in public interest positions, so it would be a mistake to head to Cornell over Georgetown if you want to do PI because zomg T13! Or maybe more to the point since you've been admitted to both UVA and GULC, despite UVA having the reputational advantage and doing much better in clerkships/biglaw positions, I'd probably still head to GULC over it if I was interested in public interest.

Anyway, /rant. You seem to have had a really good cycle, so I hope you'll look at other factors than just relative prestige in selecting your school.

[Thelaw23]

0L with another question -

GULC is also known for graduates being employed in Fed government.


What kind of positions are these, usually?

I know that the much-coveted BigFed such as SEC/AUSA require experience. So it is highly unlikely, from any law school, to start working there straight out of school.

Would you say going to GULC might give you the upper-hand in attaining these BigFed jobs in the future?

[votebuilder1]

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[buckiguy_sucks]

0L with another question -

GULC is also known for graduates being employed in Fed government.


What kind of positions are these, usually?

I know that the much-coveted BigFed such as SEC/AUSA require experience. So it is highly unlikely, from any law school, to start working there straight out of school.

Being a lawyer at any federal agency involves things like enforcement and investigations, rule making/rule interpretations, litigation by or against the agency, or just normal internal legal stuff like you would be at a company like employment or something

Would you say going to GULC might give you the upper-hand in attaining these BigFed jobs in the future?

no

[desiballa21]

^^ Idk, my friends with pretty median-ish grades, struck out at EIW then got jobs at HUD, DOT, FERC... idk how hard those are to get but them externing there during the semesters and being in DC, making connections there surely played a role in getting them into those fed jobs. I don't think you get that other schools, not even close.

[buckiguy_sucks]

^^ Idk, my friends with pretty median-ish grades, struck out at EIW then got jobs at HUD, DOT, FERC... idk how hard those are to get but them externing there during the semesters and being in DC, making connections there surely played a role in getting them into those fed jobs. I don't think you get that other schools, not even close.

Would you say going to GULC might give you the upper-hand in attaining these BigFed jobs in the future?

In addition to the down the road thing, you can get in-semester internships from other schools. I interned at an agency last semester and there were people from all over the country. Sure its a hell of a lot easier here but its not unique to Georgetown. Networking is similarly possible, if more difficult, from other schools. I wouldn't make government networking my tipping point to choose Georgetown over other schools.

[Hand]

^^ Idk, my friends with pretty median-ish grades, struck out at EIW then got jobs at HUD, DOT, FERC... idk how hard those are to get but them externing there during the semesters and being in DC, making connections there surely played a role in getting them into those fed jobs. I don't think you get that other schools, not even close.

Would you say going to GULC might give you the upper-hand in attaining these BigFed jobs in the future?

In addition to the down the road thing, you can get in-semester internships from other schools. I interned at an agency last semester and there were people from all over the country. Sure its a hell of a lot easier here but its not unique to Georgetown. Networking is similarly possible, if more difficult, from other schools. I wouldn't make government networking my tipping point to choose Georgetown over other schools.

should not be the tipping point, but it's a legitimate factor to take into consideration I think - there's tons of graduates going into all kinds of agencies every year, although this includes places like the DOT and such, no clue what a lawyer does there

also I assume entry level hiring by the fed. gov't will be close to nil for the next four years, especially in desirable agencies, so it's everyone from c/o 2017 till c/o 2020 who'll probably not be getting to suck on that BigFed tit straight out (and it's not clear you'd want to, under the incoming administration)

also there may not be a fed. gov't left after trump is done so maybe this shouldn't be a factor at all on second thought

[ChristineBaskets]

Hey guys: DeLaurentis/LRW question...

For the Spring semester, we have an Appellate Brief due in March, a Pro Bono Project ongoing throughout April, and a Take-Home Exam due on April 24th. Is the take home exam the only one of these that actually counts toward the final grade?

[usn26]

Hey guys: DeLaurentis/LRW question...

For the Spring semester, we have an Appellate Brief due in March, a Pro Bono Project ongoing throughout April, and a Take-Home Exam due on April 24th. Is the take home exam the only one of these that actually counts toward the final grade?

Yes, but the others go to "participation." Unless LRW has changed radically since last year.