Ranlif wrote:Hey, thanks for doing this!
1. What is the town like? Is the nightlife just all undergrad house parties you avoid like the plague?
2. Is everyone trying to get a job in DC or are most local Virginians looking to stay near home?
3. What is housing like off-campus? Just looking online and it looks like there are more condos and houses for rent then there is apartments.
1) Williamsburg is a small town, there is no denying it. There are really two, maybe three areas law students hang out at. One area is close to the undergrad campus and splits between four bars. The other area is across town in the Newtown area, with a few bars and shops. This is less likely to have undergrad influence, but in either case, I don't think it ever degrades into the "house parties" you are concerned about. If you are looking for a big city life or lots of options on weekends or downtime (when you can scrape it together), this is not the right area, but for a person interested in getting the most out of law school and still have a bit of fun, its not bad.
To be honest, I find that most of my group of friends have enough to do, but we get out once or twice a week, either to our local bar or to one of our houses for dinner and drinks. It has never bothered me, but I do know some students who wish Richmond or DC were a bit more accessible. That is one thing I think people don't realize; there is not any really reliable transportation back and forth to the larger cities. You have to generally drive, and it is a substantial enough trip to cut against the worth.
2) I think it's a pretty even split. There are definitely alot of people focused on DC or Richmond. I know a large number of people going to DC this coming summer. To me, it also seems that the class is spreading out over the country as a whole. Ihave 3L friends going to Colorado, Texas, Washington, Maine, Florida, and New York. The desire to stay local is more driven from a personal preference to stay in Virginia. Given all of that, I do still think Virginia is the best placement area for W&M students.
3) Housing is pretty broad across the range. There are a number of apartment complexes that don't have a good online presence, but are pretty popular among law students. I have friends who live in apartments, townhouses, single-family homes, and condos. I live in a privately rented house, mainly because of the convenience of its location and the price was right. I also know a number of people who couldn't find a proper fit their first year, and so stayed in grad plex and then moved out when they found the right place for them for 2L year. It also helped them find roommates that they really could live with more easily.
I also think the quality of housing spans the spectrum pretty well. If you want to pay more, you can get a really nice apartment at the Pointe or Sterling Manor. If you want to pay less, there are apartment complexes that fit that as well (names escape me at the moment). The Housing Bulletin put out by the law school also has some great options for places that are rented by individuals rather than companies. That is where I found my place, and I am living here through my 3L year.
If there is a more specific question you have, let me know.
JohnnyBazooka wrote:Thanks for doing this. A few questions:
1. What are employment prospects like for those with GPAs near the median, especially for private practice? What are you hearing from 3Ls?
2. How hard do you work to stay in the top 5%? 40 hours per week, 100, etc. I'd like to think I could do it but I don't want to count on it.
3. What are your living expenses? Website says 15k but that sounds high to me.
Thanks !!!
1) The general atmosphere around the school is that employment prospects are relatively good. Certainly the better your grades, the more options you have, but I know people near the top of the 3L class that were still looking for jobs last semester and others closer to median that had locked in a position at a firm or government agency.
I am not sure if by "private practice" you mean biglaw, firm work generally, or going out on your own. To hit a big market like DC or NYC and land a biglaw job, you should be in the top 20-25% of your class. However, if it is any firm you are looking for, there are medium sized firms in Richmond and Norfolk area that really favor W&M students. I know a number of 3L's that are starting with big firms in both cities and they are near the median. There are certainly 3L's still looking for jobs, and to be perfectly frank, grades are not widely discussed at the school, so I have no clue where a large number of them stand. I can tell you for my 2L class, we have a large number of people heading to DC, both for biglaw jobs and for DOJ SLIP appointments.
The trick I've discovered, and I think this is probably true for most schools around W&M's rank, is to hustle and connect. Use the alumni network from the school and your own network to have informational interviews, talk to people, visit, do whatever you can. It shounds corny and cheezy, but I did it, I know others who did it, and it paid off big time. I've never had an alumni not push hard to help me in every way, and I think that is where the difference really can come through.
2) I work alot. I worked professionally before law school, so I really treat this like a job. I try to arrive at school around 8:30, even if I don't have class, and am usually there until 5 or 6. I usually do a bit of reading at home as well, but I have not had very many all nighters (maybe when I was stressing over a memo). The workload is manageable if you stay on top of it. The WRONG approach is to bury yourself with hours and hours of studying and burn yourself out. At a certain point the benefits are marginal, and you are wasting your time rather than using it effectively.
Two tips I think have really helped me are: 1) take notes in class by hand. It does not work for everyone, but I find myself paying better attention in class, and when I then go and synthesize my notes into an outline after class, I get a second shot to review the material and pick out what the professor focused on. If I have questions, I go to office hours or get together with a few people and really hash it out.
The second tip is to find someone NOT in law school and teach them. My significant other is a saint for sitting and listening to me talk through Torts and Civil Procedure and Evidence. By trying to explain and work through the rationale for something to someone you can understand what you really know, and the areas you need to look at more.
The other, and honestly, arbitrary side of law school is that the exam is a test to see if you can give the professor what they want, not to see if you really know the law. I happen to be pretty good and understanding what a professor finds important and spotting it on an exam. There are certainly smarter people and likely better lawyers in the school than me, but something just didn't connect during that 4 hour exam for them. My honest opinion is that law school grades are really arbitrary, but unfortunately too important.
3) Living expenses vary by person and what they like to do. I'd say that number is probably a little bit high, reality is more like 12-14K. I pay around 1000 per month for a place, but that is because I like living on my own. I know a number of people who half that by getting roommates.