Top Law Schools

2L, ranked ~15%, Law Review, SA position lined up with a biglaw firm for next summer. If there are any questions about the school, the town, the faculty, job prospects, I can try to help.

Who is getting a job and where are they getting it?

How tough was it to get into UCD law review? Is the grading curve brutal or conquerable? How much studying do you do to get to top 15%?

Law review at UC Davis is all done through a booklet/"write on" competition. There is no "grading on" to UC Davis Law review. From what I understand as a 1L it is challenging, but if you have a good understand of the first 9 rule from the Blue Book it's doable. There are also several other Journals at UC Davis.

IMO As far as the top 15% goes, I would imagine it's challenging at any school ranked in the top 100 and gets progressively more competitive you go down the rankings outside the top 14 because it matters more for getting firm jobs. But I can't stress enough how friendly UC Davis students tend to be and are generally pretty cooperative. The faculty is super available and there are dedicated TAs for each 1L class. I just got my first semester grades and finished around top 10%-top 15% so it's doable. You just really have to hunker down and study/do practice exams. Everyone is different regarding law school exams so it is kind of a crap shoot in some ways.

Our grading curve for 1L grades is a 3.0 median and teachers generally have to stay at or near that break down:
A/A- not more than 20%
B+/B/B- 60%
C+ or lower 20%

i think teachers can stray from this +/- 3% points, but would have to petition the dean to explain why (multiple quality exams right at the cutoff). Some teachers reserve the right to bump a student up a grade degree for exceptionally worthwhile class participation, but from what I've heard it will usually be from a B to a B+, not an A to and A+. A+ is VERY rare (my torts professor has given one in 25+ years of teaching). Generally teachers don't award below C unless someone bombs. LRW isn't quite on the same curve because it's smaller sections (I think they did 5 As, 1C, and the rest Bs) but it only counts 2 credits to your GPA.

Hope this helps

skri65 wrote:Who is getting a job and where are they getting it?

I'd like to know as well. I've heard Davis grads pretty much place grads in Norcal. I was wondering about job prospects in Socal?

Do you know about prospects for public interest jobs? Do most people who want them seem to be able to get them?

What is the local life like around UC Davis? I'm coming from FL and I won't have the chance to visit Davis before I make a decision. I'm an outdoor person (live to rock climb) and I want to attend somewhere that's will keep me interested professionally (which it seems UC Davis has covered) as well as socially.

I was also wondering what your experience is with career and intern/externship placement programs?


Thanks fr taking time out to answer these questions!