Michigan 1Ls/2Ls/3Ls taking questions Forum

[Joan Hollaway]

Thanks! That's really helpful. Do people living in LC ever have overnight guests? (My boyfriend will be living elsewhere in the country and coming to visit soon.) Am I right in assuming that a double suite would not be ideal in this case?

Sure, this is much better than doing conlaw reading. While living in LC while reminiscent in many ways to a college dorm, it operates more functionally as an apartment. So there's no worry about overnight guest at all - they can definitely stay with you etc. In fact, they would not need to sign in or anything either as you can enter into your block of the LC separately from the front office. The only difference I can see with a double suite is how having an overnight guest would influence your roommate. As such, all the double suites have two bedrooms and a shared living room type space so I couldn't really foresee any problem there either, but I guess if you had a really particular roommate maybe.

Do the bedrooms share a wall?

Some of them do, but you'll probably be sharing at least one wall with someone anyway even if you're in a single. I will say most of the noise I notice is from the hall. I can only rarely hear anything from the girl next to me.

This

[TheStrand]

Some of them do, but you'll probably be sharing at least one wall with someone anyway even if you're in a single. I will say most of the noise I notice is from the hall. I can only rarely hear anything from the girl next to me.

haha. <3 this entire series of Q&As

[Excellence = a Habit]

Sure, this is much better than doing conlaw reading. While living in LC while reminiscent in many ways to a college dorm, it operates more functionally as an apartment. So there's no worry about overnight guest at all - they can definitely stay with you etc. In fact, they would not need to sign in or anything either as you can enter into your block of the LC separately from the front office. The only difference I can see with a double suite is how having an overnight guest would influence your roommate. As such, all the double suites have two bedrooms and a shared living room type space so I couldn't really foresee any problem there either, but I guess if you had a really particular roommate maybe.

Do the bedrooms share a wall?

Some of them do, but you'll probably be sharing at least one wall with someone anyway even if you're in a single. I will say most of the noise I notice is from the hall. I can only rarely hear anything from the girl next to me.

This

Hahaha, that is an excellent point. Oh dorm life. How I've missed you.

Guys, I can't say how grateful I am for all of this. The level of feedback from current Michigan kids has been insanely helpful and way higher than that of students at other schools. It means a lot. If you're looking for someone to buy you a drink on the weekend of March 10-12, I'm your lady.

[Trequartista]

Hahaha, that is an excellent point. Oh dorm life. How I've missed you.

Guys, I can't say how grateful I am for all of this. The level of feedback from current Michigan kids has been insanely helpful and way higher than that of students at other schools. It means a lot. .[/quote]
+1

[die Zauberflote]

Hi, I have another question. Some schools have a chunk of their prospective students site dedicated to describing the awesomeness of their legal writing program (e.g. Chicago/Bigelow). I can't find a whole lot on Michigan's site. How's the legal writing program at Michigan? I don't have a particular emphasis or niche in mind, but the quality of the schools writing program is very important to me. Can someone weigh in on this? I really want to develop my writing while in law school. Is Michigan a good place for that? Who teaches writing? Is it 3Ls or dedicated staff?

[Joan Hollaway]

Hi, I have another question. Some schools have a chunk of their prospective students site dedicated to describing the awesomeness of their legal writing program (e.g. Chicago/Bigelow). I can't find a whole lot on Michigan's site. How's the legal writing program at Michigan? I don't have a particular emphasis or niche in mind, but the quality of the schools writing program is very important to me. Can someone weigh in on this? I really want to develop my writing while in law school. Is Michigan a good place for that? Who teaches writing? Is it 3Ls or dedicated staff?

http://www.law.umich.edu/aboutus/facult ... ogram.aspx
This might be helpful.
As for the quality, I'd say it varies vastly by professor. My professor is amazing: very dedicated, helpful, and available but I also have a lot more work than most of my friends in other sections. Anecdotally, I've heard he places 1/3 of his class on Law Review. I really can't weigh in on what the other section's professors are like but I can say that mine is definitely doing his best to give us the best foundation for becoming good writers. Another good thing about our program is that it is Pass/Fail which takes off a lot of pressure.

[Joan Hollaway]

Hahaha, that is an excellent point. Oh dorm life. How I've missed you.

Guys, I can't say how grateful I am for all of this. The level of feedback from current Michigan kids has been insanely helpful and way higher than that of students at other schools. It means a lot. If you're looking for someone to buy you a drink on the weekend of March 10-12, I'm your lady.

No prob, glad to help.

[die Zauberflote]

Yet another question. Can you participate in the summer start program if you didn't directly apply to it in you application? What are the benefits of the summer start?

[thelaststraw05]

Any information on Phid House? The idea of a room for $400 a month is tempting... anything I should know? Do they often throw wild parties? What kind of people live there?

[TheStrand]

Any thoughts on Sherman Clark or Ed Cooper? We have them for Civ Pro and Torts this summer. Or Philip Frost, Rachel Croskery-Roberts, or Mark Osbeck for legal writing?

Thanks again for doing this all =)

[GMVarun]

Any thoughts on Sherman Clark or Ed Cooper? We have them for Civ Pro and Torts this summer. Or Philip Frost, Rachel Croskery-Roberts, or Mark Osbeck for legal writing?

Thanks again for doing this all =)

Professor Clark is amazing. I have him this semester and he's really great. He has a great way of interacting with the class, and he can boil down bll and policy very succinctly. I also had Professor Osbeck last semester and I can say that's he's a great legal practice professor - he's very chill, very approachable, tells you exactly what he's looking for your in your memo. He's exactly what you want in a legal practice prof. It took me a while to get used to his laid-back style, but it was awesome once you got used to it.

[wolverine2014]

So do we share rooms with other preview participants during preview weekend? Where do they usually place students?

[TheStrand]

Any thoughts on Sherman Clark or Ed Cooper? We have them for Civ Pro and Torts this summer. Or Philip Frost, Rachel Croskery-Roberts, or Mark Osbeck for legal writing?

Thanks again for doing this all =)

Professor Clark is amazing. I have him this semester and he's really great. He has a great way of interacting with the class, and he can boil down bll and policy very succinctly. I also had Professor Osbeck last semester and I can say that's he's a great legal practice professor - he's very chill, very approachable, tells you exactly what he's looking for your in your memo. He's exactly what you want in a legal practice prof. It took me a while to get used to his laid-back style, but it was awesome once you got used to it.

Thanks. Good to know. Man, is there anyone at Michigan who isn't awesome?

[thelaststraw05]

Any information on Phid House? The idea of a room for $400 a month is tempting... anything I should know? Do they often throw wild parties? What kind of people live there?

Bumping this.

[thalassocrat]

Any thoughts on Sherman Clark or Ed Cooper? We have them for Civ Pro and Torts this summer. Or Philip Frost, Rachel Croskery-Roberts, or Mark Osbeck for legal writing?

Thanks again for doing this all =)

Professor Clark is amazing. I have him this semester and he's really great. He has a great way of interacting with the class, and he can boil down bll and policy very succinctly. I also had Professor Osbeck last semester and I can say that's he's a great legal practice professor - he's very chill, very approachable, tells you exactly what he's looking for your in your memo. He's exactly what you want in a legal practice prof. It took me a while to get used to his laid-back style, but it was awesome once you got used to it.

Seconding all of this. They're both fantastic professors, though Osbeck did take a bit of getting used to.

So do we share rooms with other preview participants during preview weekend? Where do they usually place students?

So last year there were two or three hotels they placed people at, all very nice places. They were the Campus Inn, the Michigan League, and I think the Bell Tower? You'll probably share the room with another preview participant, unless maybe there's an odd number or something.

@thelaststraw05 I only know a few people living at Phid right now, but they're pretty cool people. They usually throw one huge party a semester. The house residents might do some other smaller things, idk about that.

[wolverine2014]

So do we share rooms with other preview participants during preview weekend? Where do they usually place students?

So last year there were two or three hotels they placed people at, all very nice places. They were the Campus Inn, the Michigan League, and I think the Bell Tower? You'll probably share the room with another preview participant, unless maybe there's an odd number or something.

Thanks....do you know if we get special pricing if we book as future MIchigan Law students?

[lisjjen]

I have some good options kicking around in my cycle, so I was wondering if current UMich students could answer a couple of questions, and have patience if these have already been asked.

How is Ann Arbor as a college town? Considering my front runner is UT, I've heard everyone gush over how great Austin is. Is Ann Arbor comparable in terms of places to eat, bars, music, etc.

Secondly, my fear is that I get 200k in debt, graduate bottom half of my class and then drive taxis the rest of my life because I can't find work. The thing that balances that out is the fear that I'll get 100k in debt at Texas, graduate in the bottom 3/4ths of my class and then drive taxis the rest of my life because I can't find work.

Somebody please start trolling for UMich's employment stats.

[michigan_man]

This is the most transparent I've ever seen a law school be with career statistics. Dean Z's blog is full of good stuff. She doesn't BS on there.
http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z ... aspx?ID=49

[tralinds]

Any thoughts on Sherman Clark or Ed Cooper? We have them for Civ Pro and Torts this summer. Or Philip Frost, Rachel Croskery-Roberts, or Mark Osbeck for legal writing?

Thanks again for doing this all =)

Professor Clark is amazing. I have him this semester and he's really great. He has a great way of interacting with the class, and he can boil down bll and policy very succinctly. I also had Professor Osbeck last semester and I can say that's he's a great legal practice professor - he's very chill, very approachable, tells you exactly what he's looking for your in your memo. He's exactly what you want in a legal practice prof. It took me a while to get used to his laid-back style, but it was awesome once you got used to it.

Thanks. Good to know. Man, is there anyone at Michigan who isn't awesome?

YES, there are profs that are NOT awesome. I think my results have been about 70% awesome/30% not awesome.

[logan]

.

[tralinds]

How's Michigan's placement (no market in particular, just something east of the Mississippi)? I keep hearing horror stories about how Mich is a TTT in decline.

I can't speak conclusively- but OCI went well this year I think. People that wanted biglaw jobs in whatever market they wanted seemed to be okay. There are obviously exceptions to this, but many people had their choice of job, and some had scholarship offers as well. I don't think that as long as you have a decent personality and don't seem boring as hell in an interview you would have no problem finding a job in any market. The alumni network for MLaw is crazy dedicated to the school, and consistently try and recruit from here.

hope this helps!

I love Michigan, but disagree on this point.

Judging from past years' stats (as inadequate as they may be for ITE), I think Michigan does about as well in terms of BigLaw placement as any other T14 (outside of HYS). I definitely know people who tried for BigLaw and didn't make it (especially when aiming outside of NYC). It's very tempting to try to put a number on this, although it's a questionable endeavor without better data; 50/50 chance at median sounds kind of right, but I honestly lack the data to be firmer. Smart OCI strategy helps immensely: you should definitely talk to a 2L or 3L over the summer about what to do when (e.g., mass-mailing); OCI is not entirely intuitive and non-obvious mistakes can hurt you a lot, it seems. That said, I have no reason to believe Michigan is dramatically underperforming or overperforming its "prestige level".

I also feel I should second the part about alumni, despite my disagreement with the "if you want BigLaw, it's yours!" suggestion: I get the feeling that Michigan alums are uncommonly loyal to the school, and are really willing to go to bat for you at their firms (and agencies, organizations, courts, etc.). That can help a lot when firms are flooded with applications and have way more "good choices" than they need.

THIS. I definitely know people who wanted BigLaw and didn't get it. Also, D.C. was pretty rough this year, I think.

[lisjjen]

This is the most transparent I've ever seen a law school be with career statistics. Dean Z's blog is full of good stuff. She doesn't BS on there.
http://www.law.umich.edu/connection/a2z ... aspx?ID=49

Dean Z is awesome! Did anybody get a handwritten note from her on their acceptance letter?

[die Zauberflote]

Dean Z is awesome! Did anybody get a handwritten note from her on their acceptance letter?

I thought I was special.

[lisjjen]

Dean Z is awesome! Did anybody get a handwritten note from her on their acceptance letter?

I thought I was special.

I knew I couldn't have been the only one. I've come to think instead that we are all special to get accepted to a school where the administration devotes so much attention to its admits.

[TheStrand]

I knew I couldn't have been the only one. I've come to think instead that we are all special to get accepted to a school where the administration devotes so much attention to its admits.

Yeah, it's really kind of nuts that she does this for every admit. I don't know how many they accept, but Michigan enrolls like 375, so that's at least 375 she's taken the time to find something in the application she likes and scrawl a note. <3