UNLV Boyd 1L taking questions Forum

[Red Rock]

Ask away, I will give you my honest thoughts on everything

[historyholly]

Do you have a summer job? And does it pay?

[Red Rock]

I am currently externing for a state trial judge in Las Vegas. Externing means that I earn credit for the job. The pro of that is that it gets me credits just like taking a normal class would. I think that you can take an extern job for up to 7 credits. The drawback to externing is that it is unpaid. In fact, you must actually pay for it, the same cost as you would any normal class.

There are very few paid internships for 1Ls in Vegas and Nevada right now. The big firms in town did not offer to hire anyone through any kind of OCI. The top person first semester applied to 2 firms that said they would take 1L's but did not land a job.

There seemed to be some opportunties that popped up later in the year that would pay but they did not look very enticing. It was mostly work for insurance defense, lower regarded, small firms in towns.


Hope that helps, keep asking away if you have any more questions.

[Vegas_Rebel]

What's Faiss's teaching schedule like - fairly regular, or once every few semesters, or somewhere in between?

Did you read PLSII? If so, is it accurate?

[AsexualChocolate]

What was your experience with the LR Write-on? Did the timing of the competition impede your ability to start your summer externship?

What other externships, if any, did you apply for?

What, if you don't mind me asking, is your class rank? I'm prying to determine what it might take to secure a summer externship...

Did you appeal your COA or did you manage to live on table scraps from tourists for the first year? Do you know anyone who did appeal and how successful they were?

Do you live in a part of town where you're more likely to get knifed than to get an hour of peaceful studying done? If so, how did you deal with that? (you're welcome Phanta)

[Red Rock]

What's Faiss's teaching schedule like - fairly regular, or once every few semesters, or somewhere in between?

Did you read PLSII? If so, is it accurate?

I am not sure what Faiss' schedule is. He taught spring semester and is teaching this upcoming fall.

I did not read PLSII, it was far too thick and there were more exciting things to do over the summer!

[Red Rock]

What was your experience with the LR Write-on? Did the timing of the competition impede your ability to start your summer externship?

What other externships, if any, did you apply for?

What, if you don't mind me asking, is your class rank? I'm prying to determine what it might take to secure a summer externship...

Did you appeal your COA or did you manage to live on table scraps from tourists for the first year? Do you know anyone who did appeal and how successful they were?

Do you live in a part of town where you're more likely to get knifed than to get an hour of peaceful studying done? If so, how did you deal with that? (you're welcome Phanta)

1. Do not worry about the law review write on beginning when you are starting to recevie externship work/RA work etc. you get two weeks to complete the write on which IMHO is more than enough time to do it. I was busy doing other things. The write on is only 6-8 pages with lots of footnotes which is easy to fill up.

2. Grades play little to no role in the externship that you get your first semester. It is all up to Martin Geer, one of the professor's. He is about the worst guy to deal with. Everyone shares the same feeling about this guy. Very pompous. He will assign you a position.

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

4. I am not sure about the COA that you are talking about. elaborate more and i can give you a better answer.

5. the crime safety stuff is so overblown. Everyone says that UNLV is right in the ghetto. I think that it is unfair to characterize it that way. The exact area that UNLV is at is not the best, it is not your typical or idyllic college community. But.. to say that it is scary or dangerous is another thing. I no fear walking around there at night. That being said. I am not a 5 foot blond who spends her time working at thte Rhino either.



Keep blasting away with questions

[AsexualChocolate]

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

4. I am not sure about the COA that you are talking about. elaborate more and i can give you a better answer.

Understood. And is that expressed in percentage or real numbers...?

The Cost of Attendance (COA) seems to be really low at UNLV (about $17.8K). Were you able to survive without issue? I know it is possible to file an appeal to increase the COA. Do you know anyone that has? Any success?

[AsexualChocolate]

How is your externship going? What do you get to do?

[PhantaManta]

Do you live in a part of town where you're more likely to get knifed than to get an hour of peaceful studying done? If so, how did you deal with that? (you're welcome Phanta)

I lol'd

1. Were you from Vegas before or did you just move for law school?
2. How have you overall liked/hated your first year?
3. Do you, or anyone you know, play poker regularly?
4. Do you like Las Vegas a little, a lot, or medium?

[historyholly]

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

So, how does one get into the top 10% at UNLV? There are a lot of guides on this site that are great, but some tips from someone doing well at our school would be even better . Thanks for doing this.

[Red Rock]

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

4. I am not sure about the COA that you are talking about. elaborate more and i can give you a better answer.

Understood. And is that expressed in percentage or real numbers...?

The Cost of Attendance (COA) seems to be really low at UNLV (about $17.8K). Were you able to survive without issue? I know it is possible to file an appeal to increase the COA. Do you know anyone that has? Any success?

I did not feel like I had to pinch pennies when I was down here. That being said, I did not live totally off loans.

Vegas cost of living is what you want to make of it. If you want to live on the cheap you can live super on the cheap. But if you want to go out and eat at Nobu, Carnevino, Botero; party at Tao and Haze - it is going to be very pricey.

I didn't bother with the appeal process. I try to deal with the financial aid pepole as little as possible.

[Red Rock]

Do you live in a part of town where you're more likely to get knifed than to get an hour of peaceful studying done? If so, how did you deal with that? (you're welcome Phanta)

I lol'd

1. Were you from Vegas before or did you just move for law school?
2. How have you overall liked/hated your first year?
3. Do you, or anyone you know, play poker regularly?
4. Do you like Las Vegas a little, a lot, or medium?

I moved for law school. I love the city. You can do whatever you want in this city. It really i whatever you make of it.

There are some people that play poker. But I don't think if you want to do well in law school you have time to crush 12 hour sessions. But it can be a nice relief to get away from school and your classmates.

[PhantaManta]

12 Hour Sessions? I was thinking more like 32 hour sessions! How else am I going to get good enough at poker to cover losing my scholarship from bad grades due to poker?

[Red Rock]

To the people on this board:

How many of you have the scholarhip with the 1/3 requirement

[PhantaManta]

All of us, as far as I know.

[Red Rock]

Prepare yourself for everyone being lumped together in the same section. That was the biggest shock that I (and others received) the first day. The admins say that sections are randomly assigned but when everyone has a scholly in yours and no one has a scholly in the other it makes you wonder.... Our section was def. a lot more cuthroat. It also is unfair for rankings because the sections with scholarships are much more advanced in my opinion

[PhantaManta]

Prepare yourself for everyone being lumped together in the same section. That was the biggest shock that I (and others received) the first day. The admins say that sections are randomly assigned but when everyone has a scholly in yours and no one has a scholly in the other it makes you wonder.... Our section was def. a lot more cuthroat. It also is unfair for rankings because the sections with scholarships are much more advanced in my opinion

There had been some discussion of this way earlier in the application cycle, some people claimed to have asked UNLV and they said nawwww that doesn't happen. Obviously, if that is the case, it sucks big time. Or maybe they didn't say no... I think what I heard someone say is that UNLV said is that they don't offer more scholarships than would fit into top 1/3 so that everyone can get one. Although, if everyone is in the same section, they technically can't all keep it (because of curve).

Anymore info on this would greatly interest most of us, so if you can think of any other evidence / speculation / anecdotes about your experience with this please share

[Red Rock]

Once you come to grips with the fact that you are in the section with the scholarship people most people just go about their business as usual.

However, it still makes me made that the administartion is not upfront with people about everything. I had no trouble keeping mine, but I still feel bad for people that lost theirs.

I think that it would go over a lot better if they were more transperant.

Disclaimer- I have never seen actual data on the scholarship assignment *** But, it was an ongoing joke about how tough our section was.

That being said, I think that given the current state of the economy, students should be fighting even harder for grades to earn a job and interviews. that is the bigger goal that everyone is striving for. The fact that you need to keep your scholarship is an added incentive.

[historyholly]

So, can you give some tips on how you did so well?

[taxguy]

So what is the UNLV program like? Did you like your profs? How many people are in each class for both 1L and for upperclass courses.

Are there any specific areas where UNLV is strong in?

What are you room and board costs?

[Red Rock]

So what is the UNLV program like? Did you like your profs? How many people are in each class for both 1L and for upperclass courses.

For the most part, I think the professors are awesome here. Most of them are down to earth and make class fun. Correales genuniely cares about the students. He makes torts fun and he did a good job of breakings us in for law school exam.s He gave 2 ungraded midterms. What is most impressive is that he took the time to fully grade the midterms like he would grade an actual test. If you have any idea how long it takes to grade law school tests you will realize how cool that is.

Sternlight for civil procedure is the aboslute shit. She is a bulldog and sharp as nails. She does the best job of teaching the material. The cases are not focused on as much as what is important to being a good lawyer, and how to think like a laywer that is out in the real world solving problems. She is the best teacher that we had all year. Just know your shit when you come to her class

Birdsong is a legit property professor. He is a very liberal guy but is welcoming of all viewpoints (we had a rather conservative section with the pro business/Mormons. He is smart but is a little hard to get ahold of. He was great the second semester. Take him if you have the chance. The guy is smart as hell too.

Berkheiser for criminal law is legit too. That was the funnest class all year. She genuinely cared about her students as well.

Are there any specific areas where UNLV is strong in?

What are you room and board costs?

[TaliaT]

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

4. I am not sure about the COA that you are talking about. elaborate more and i can give you a better answer.

Understood. And is that expressed in percentage or real numbers...?

The Cost of Attendance (COA) seems to be really low at UNLV (about $17.8K). Were you able to survive without issue? I know it is possible to file an appeal to increase the COA. Do you know anyone that has? Any success?

I did not feel like I had to pinch pennies when I was down here. That being said, I did not live totally off loans.

Vegas cost of living is what you want to make of it. If you want to live on the cheap you can live super on the cheap. But if you want to go out and eat at Nobu, Carnevino, Botero; party at Tao and Haze - it is going to be very pricey.

I didn't bother with the appeal process. I try to deal with the financial aid pepole as little as possible.

Botero is pretty amazing!

[AsexualChocolate]

3. I can't divulge class rank, everyone knows everyone's rank through facebookand the grapevine so I want to keep my anoymymity so that I can post freely. But it is top 10

So, how does one get into the top 10% at UNLV? There are a lot of guides on this site that are great, but some tips from someone doing well at our school would be even better . Thanks for doing this.

So, can you give some tips on how you did so well?

[chirp, chirp]

[Red Rock]

I am thinking about writing my own guide to how to do well in law school, particularily one that is aimed at schools in 50-100 range.

In case I do not do that....


This site contains tons and tons of great information on how to do well in law school. The key is to find a strategy that is congruent with your personality. Some people like to study at home, some at school in the library, and some in a coffee shop.

X, Arrow, Jay Cutler, and tons of others have written great stuff. I read all the posts and then molded my own style (and it worked).

One vauge suggestion, you must work smart and not just put in a lot of hours. I probably worked as hard or harder than most, but there were certainly many other people that were in the library before me and stayed later. Unfortunatley for them, they ended up at the median or below. Just remember that there is only one day in law school that counts.