Page 1 of 5
Ask UCLA 1Ls/2L (3L posters also wanted!)
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 3:43 am
by weee
Well, last year I was wishing someone from UCLA was on here to answer my questions but it never happened. Seeing as the memo is due soon what better time would there be than now to start this thread?
Please excuse me if answers are delayed, but I'll be sure to check in every few days while taking "study breaks"
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 4:33 am
by lawschoolhope
1.) What is roughly the probability of getting a biglaw job in L.A. from UCLA in the current economic environment?
2.) Do you need to be in top 25%, 30% in to be safe? Since UCLA has a large class, how competitive is it to find a job in the LA legal market? Do you know of any friends that were no-offered?
3.) I heard that 1L SA is extremely difficult to obtain in any top law school except maybe HYS. How many people do you know got a SA position during 1L?
Thanks!
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:21 am
by weee
lawschoolhope wrote:1.) What is roughly the probability of getting a biglaw job in L.A. from UCLA in the current economic environment?
2.) Do you need to be in top 25%, 30% in to be safe? Since UCLA has a large class, how competitive is it to find a job in the LA legal market? Do you know of any friends that were no-offered?
3.) I heard that 1L SA is extremely difficult to obtain in any top law school except maybe HYS. How many people do you know got a SA position during 1L?
Thanks!
The only one I have any chance at answering would be
3) Basically I've been told that only a handful of students get 1L firm jobs every year, and that they pretty much either A) Have connections or B) have a hard science/engineering background.
As far as #1 and #2, aside from the fact that the career services staff has told us it is pretty rough out there, I have no real idea. I'll probably know a lot more about this in the next few months, the school encourages us to focus on the course work up until now.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:27 am
by JazzOne
How hot are the chicks? I'm guessing it's not a bad mix. I met a cute chick from UCLA at a call-back. Smart too. I was digging her.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:28 am
by justadude55
how many hours a day do u spend studying? are u worried about career prospects? what were your #'s?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:29 am
by JazzOne
justadude55 wrote:are u worried about career prospects?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 12:41 am
by justadude55
sorry.
1.) what is getting a big law job in LA like in today's legal market?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:37 am
by weee
JazzOne wrote:How hot are the chicks? I'm guessing it's not a bad mix. I met a cute chick from UCLA at a call-back. Smart too. I was digging her.
I don't know how to answer this exactly, but there are plenty of good looking people on the campus as an entirety, and in the LA area.
justadude55 wrote:how many hours a day do u spend studying? are u worried about career prospects? what were your #'s?
Hours / day: I pretty much read what is assigned the night before, anywhere from 2 hours on a night preceding a light class day to 6 or more hours for the two nights where my schedule was packed. Next semester my classes are going to be much more spread out so I am going to guess it will be 3-4 hours a night consistently, possibly less.
career prospects: I think anyone applying to law school should be concerned with this, there's really no way to know, but I'm hoping the fact that I did other things before school will help me.
I happen to be looking at hiring data and it looks like a few firms are still cutting down SA class sizes in LA, but some places are re-instating programs, so it is hard to say exactly what the future holds.
#s: above median lsat, below median gpa, nontrad with good work experience.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:38 am
by JazzOne
Are you from California?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 3:38 pm
by weee
Yep. Somewhat related I noticed that there are a LOT of double bruins at the law school.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 2:32 am
by JazzOne
How much debt do you think you'll have at graduation? What are your plans for paying it off?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 6:04 pm
by weee
JazzOne wrote:How much debt do you think you'll have at graduation? What are your plans for paying it off?
I don't want this thread to be about me in particular, but what someone can expect if they plan to attend UCLA Law, so I will answer questions with that in mind.
In state tuition this year is 40k
Out of state is 50k
It takes 1 year to establish residence, and apparently this means you are limited to taking a summer job at the very minimum not in your home state, but maybe only in CA, I'm already a resident so I don't really know the details of that.
Tuition for 2011-2012 will be: 45k instate
Tuition for 2012-2013 will be: 50k instate
I live in the graduate student housing in a studio which is on the expensive end of what rent is around here (just about 1250/month if you include the cost of a parking spot). I like the convenience and so I'm willing to live with the cost.
But even at a significantly lower living condition, you're still looking at something like 60k for a student coming in next year.
I worked and had savings so my debt load won't be quite as much, if you can do this for at least a year or two before starting law school, I personally recommend it. You'll have some work experience which adds substance to a resume and maybe some money to cover living expenses or at least basic needs.
I plan to work at a big firm or IP boutique to pay off what debt I am taking on (shocking). I'm sure some people will be going down the public interest 10 years debt forgiveness type route in the end as well. I also see a lot of people who are coming in here and have no idea what they want to do after school is over.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:20 pm
by justadude55
weee wrote:JazzOne wrote:How much debt do you think you'll have at graduation? What are your plans for paying it off?
I don't want this thread to be about me in particular, but what someone can expect if they plan to attend UCLA Law, so I will answer questions with that in mind.
In state tuition this year is 40k
Out of state is 50k
It takes 1 year to establish residence, and apparently this means you are limited to taking a summer job at the very minimum not in your home state, but maybe only in CA, I'm already a resident so I don't really know the details of that.
Tuition for 2011-2012 will be: 45k instate
Tuition for 2012-2013 will be: 50k instate
I live in the graduate student housing in a studio which is on the expensive end of what rent is around here (just about 1250/month if you include the cost of a parking spot). I like the convenience and so I'm willing to live with the cost.
But even at a significantly lower living condition, you're still looking at something like 60k for a student coming in next year.
I worked and had savings so my debt load won't be quite as much, if you can do this for at least a year or two before starting law school, I personally recommend it. You'll have some work experience which adds substance to a resume and maybe some money to cover living expenses or at least basic needs.
I plan to work at a big firm or IP boutique to pay off what debt I am taking on (shocking). I'm sure some people will be going down the public interest 10 years debt forgiveness type route in the end as well. I also see a lot of people who are coming in here and have no idea what they want to do after school is over.
would u say it is important to have an idea of what kind of law u want to practice at some point during your first year at UCLA?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 7:46 pm
by weee
In your first year you don't have any choice about what classes you are going to take, and so it really doesn't matter what you are interested in anyway.
There are however a lot of events on campus where you learn about various offerings in different areas, and sometimes you will have to pick between two conflicting events. It helps if you have a general idea of what kind of jobs you are and aren't interested in finding out about when you have to attend these events.
I guess if anything I just recommend going to info sessions if you think you might be remotely interested in what they have to say.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 7:52 pm
by flyingpanda
How feasible would it be for you to mail me some Diddy Riese?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 9:42 pm
by cmk
What do you know about the CRS program?
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:09 pm
by weee
flyingpanda wrote:How feasible would it be for you to mail me some Diddy Riese?
Lol.
cmk wrote:What do you know about the CRS program?
I know that it has this website:
http://crsonline.law.ucla.edu/CRS_Program
I also know that some of my friends in another section have Professor Kang, and that he is just an awesomely dynamic lecturer, but that probably doesn't help you much, sorry.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:19 pm
by cmk
cmk wrote:What do you know about the CRS program?
I know that it has this website:
http://crsonline.law.ucla.edu/CRS_Program
I also know that some of my friends in another section have Professor Kang, and that he is just an awesomely dynamic lecturer, but that probably doesn't help you much, sorry.
haha thanks. I've been over that website a million times. I'll scan some other topics to see if a 2L or 3L can help me. I am really interested in CRS, but unfortunately I have low numbers for UCLA. I wrote about CRS in my app so hopefully that will help me. Thanks again!
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 3:57 pm
by weee
Good luck!
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:51 pm
by NorCalBruin
1. ) Have you run the tunnels yet?
2.) Suggestion: good place to be Monday night around 5:00 pm----The inverted fountain. Go and you'll see what I mean.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Mon Dec 06, 2010 11:58 pm
by krad
flyingpanda wrote:How feasible would it be for you to mail me some Diddy Riese?
Epic request.
Edit: Hah took me a minute to get this one.
NorCalBruin wrote:2.) Suggestion: good place to be Monday night around 5:00 pm----The inverted fountain. Go and you'll see what I mean.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 7:04 pm
by weee
Not sure what I missed with the inverted fountain, and haven't run any tunnels.
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:50 am
by dodgerboy86
I don't really have a question yet; all the other posts answered most of the ones I had. I did wanna say, HECK YEAH, I'll see you in September! Got the call today.
Oh, I guess I do have a question; did you get any scholarship offers from other schools and did UCLA work with you to match/try to match one of them? I got an offer from William and Mary and would love it if UCLA would help me out a bit ... Thank
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:32 am
by weee
dodgerboy86 wrote:I don't really have a question yet; all the other posts answered most of the ones I had. I did wanna say, HECK YEAH, I'll see you in September! Got the call today.
Oh, I guess I do have a question; did you get any scholarship offers from other schools and did UCLA work with you to match/try to match one of them? I got an offer from William and Mary and would love it if UCLA would help me out a bit ... Thank
First, Congrats!
A scholarship from a lower ranked school will only get you so far, but they will take other offers into consideration. It doesn't hurt to try.
Here are some tips that you might find useful
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 22&t=79373
Re: Ask a UCLA 1L I guess
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 4:08 pm
by flyingpanda
krad wrote:flyingpanda wrote:How feasible would it be for you to mail me some Diddy Riese?
Epic request.
Edit: Hah took me a minute to get this one.
NorCalBruin wrote:2.) Suggestion: good place to be Monday night around 5:00 pm----The inverted fountain. Go and you'll see what I mean.
It's a serious request!!!! I miss those cookies
