UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[TrialLawyer16]

3.3 isn't the 50th percentile. It's the median, which is roughly 2/3 of any 1 class. The 50th percentile is a little higher, and 3.48 is top 25% so a huge amount of people fall b/w a 3.2 and 3.5. I'm just curious on the finer distinctions between that 3.5 and 3.7.

You do understand that you just said that the 50th percentile is higher than 2/3 (66.7th percentile) of the class, right?

well the difference between an A- and a B+ is bigger than a B and a B+ by .1 so overall, the average gpa is higher than a 3.3. There are virtually no C+'s and A+'s to even it out (1-2 a whole term?), but there are plenty of B's and plenty of A-'s.

Ok, so you meant to say "mean" (average), not "median".

[thesealocust]

General test books won't help. I didn't know what IRAC was until November, and practically got laughed out of the room, only to do better than like 90% of the people laughing at me.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

[bananapeanutbutter]

General test books won't help. I didn't know what IRAC was until November, and practically got laughed out of the room, only to do better than like 90% of the people laughing at me.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

I try to add humor to everything to keep things upbeat, but I don't believe in parties until I get a job. I'm just a guy in six figure in debt until then. Ain't got shit to party about until I get that money.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

General test books won't help. I didn't know what IRAC was until November, and practically got laughed out of the room, only to do better than like 90% of the people laughing at me.

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

I try to add humor to everything to keep things upbeat, but I don't believe in parties until I get a job. I'm just a guy in six figure in debt until then. Ain't got shit to party about until I get that money.

In case you missed the point of thesealocust's post, it wasn't actually about parties...

[blahblewblah]

General test books won't help.

The one piece of advice regarding law school is to avoid people to speak in absolutes. There are many ways to be successful in law school, and I personally found LEEWS and Getting to Maybe VERY useful. Does everyone need to read them to be successful? Absolutely not. But they certainly CAN help.

You will figure out what works for you. Listen to what other people say, but don't take anything as gospel. Adapt what you get from other people to determine your own routine that you can be successful with.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Sorry for all the questions, I'm not trying to gun, I'm just trying to have things to think about.

What Spring electives would help me avoid LR folks/which ones might have an easier curve? I'm presuming this means getting into something with as many stopped-caring 2Ls and 3Ls as possible.

A bunch of people seem to be adamantly against taking Admin Law, but is there anything that might fit the above criteria that I might find interesting? (I'm a poli sci and history nerd.) Seems like I'm less likely to hate the spring workload if I could find a couple I actually liked.

[StanleyF]

What Spring electives would help me avoid LR folks/which ones might have an easier curve? I'm presuming this means getting into something with as many stopped-caring 2Ls and 3Ls as possible.

A bunch of people seem to be adamantly against taking Admin Law, but is there anything that might fit the above criteria that I might find interesting?

Con Law is a prerequisite for Admin, so you can't take it as a 1L. I would keep it simple: Evidence for 4 credits and Professional Responsibility for 2 credits. Evidence is interesting and straightforward, and PR is required for graduation (and easy), so you might as well get it out of the way.

[5ky]

What Spring electives would help me avoid LR folks/which ones might have an easier curve? I'm presuming this means getting into something with as many stopped-caring 2Ls and 3Ls as possible.

A bunch of people seem to be adamantly against taking Admin Law, but is there anything that might fit the above criteria that I might find interesting?

Con Law is a prerequisite for Admin, so you can't take it as a 1L. I would keep it simple: Evidence for 4 credits and Professional Responsibility for 2 credits. Evidence is interesting and straightforward, and PR is required for graduation (and easy), so you might as well get it out of the way.

Counterpoint: if you're K-JD and are sure you want to do corporate, I think you should take corporations or the accounting/corporate finance course in spring of 1L. People say stuff like that doesn't matter, but I think it's a bit helpful.

[danitt]

What Spring electives would help me avoid LR folks/which ones might have an easier curve? I'm presuming this means getting into something with as many stopped-caring 2Ls and 3Ls as possible.

A bunch of people seem to be adamantly against taking Admin Law, but is there anything that might fit the above criteria that I might find interesting?

Con Law is a prerequisite for Admin, so you can't take it as a 1L. I would keep it simple: Evidence for 4 credits and Professional Responsibility for 2 credits. Evidence is interesting and straightforward, and PR is required for graduation (and easy), so you might as well get it out of the way.

Counterpoint: if you're K-JD and are sure you want to do corporate, I think you should take corporations or the accounting/corporate finance course in spring of 1L. People say stuff like that doesn't matter, but I think it's a bit helpful.

This would where the whole "Law and Business" concentration comes in?

[5ky]

What Spring electives would help me avoid LR folks/which ones might have an easier curve? I'm presuming this means getting into something with as many stopped-caring 2Ls and 3Ls as possible.

A bunch of people seem to be adamantly against taking Admin Law, but is there anything that might fit the above criteria that I might find interesting?

Con Law is a prerequisite for Admin, so you can't take it as a 1L. I would keep it simple: Evidence for 4 credits and Professional Responsibility for 2 credits. Evidence is interesting and straightforward, and PR is required for graduation (and easy), so you might as well get it out of the way.

Counterpoint: if you're K-JD and are sure you want to do corporate, I think you should take corporations or the accounting/corporate finance course in spring of 1L. People say stuff like that doesn't matter, but I think it's a bit helpful.

This would where the whole "Law and Business" concentration comes in?

It's easiest to forget that Law and Business is a thing. It's not a thing. The only thing you have to know is that you can't take a course with "Law and Business" in the title unless you take accounting first (or took it in undergrad). There are no classes exclusively "Law and Business," i.e. there are sections of Bankruptcy Law and Business and just regular Bankruptcy. There is literally no difference.

[Hspeaksfriend]

Can any current students shed some light on the computer law bundles? It says they are highly recommended because of support/the ability to get a loaner laptop if yours needs fixing. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it's really worth it or not.

[Legen..waitforit]

Question: I have private health insurance through Kaiser (in CA) but it doesn't cover prescriptions and is pretty much the cheapest insurance option one can buy. For the UVA pre-health requirements, do any of you know if something like my insurance plan qualifies under the "health insurance requirement"? Do I just photocopy my card and send it in with the immunization record? How strict are they with making sure you have some kind of 'right' insurance? Thanks

[sprezz]

Can any current students shed some light on the computer law bundles? It says they are highly recommended because of support/the ability to get a loaner laptop if yours needs fixing. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it's really worth it or not.

did it for undergrad; was convenient, especially because i started out without a car or any familiarity with uva. chose not to do it for law school though. you can buy a good netbook for emergency use with the money left over from getting a non-bundled computer. i think i spent that on bourbon instead, but it was an option (that i saw others employ)

re: health insurance q--i thiiink health insurance is a binary question for domestic students and only international students have to prove their insurance is 'good enough,' but i don't remember where i heard this

[Br3v]

I'm poor and will have to buy a laptop when loan $ comes in. Does this seem like a problem at all? The only problem I see is that it says on the law school computer site that it takes like 4 weeks to get one of the bundles so my plan was to just go to Best Buy or something. Is that one time school computer loan thing available before classes start and/or when regular loans come in (which my notes tell me 10 days prior to class start)?

[NoodleyOne]

I'm poor and will have to buy a laptop when loan $ comes in. Does this seem like a problem at all? The only problem I see is that it says on the law school computer site that it takes like 4 weeks to get one of the bundles so my plan was to just go to Best Buy or something. Is that one time school computer loan thing available before classes start and/or when regular loans come in (which my notes tell me 10 days prior to class start)?

newegg man. Shit, I can help you find a decent one for cheap.

Edit: These bundles are huge fucking ripoffs. They're marked up like crazy.

[bananapeanutbutter]

k

[5ky]

Can't you just check SIS bro

I had a class with him, we got our grade on the last possible day

[readyforUVA]

I know these questions are probably a little premature, but I figured I would ask them now before I forget when the time comes.

1) Law review - I keep hearing that burn out for that weekend is crazy high but are we talking that in a class of 350 - 360 - 80% initially come to bat and only 50% or less finish or are we saying that 80% try and only 70 % give their best effort.

2) 1L summer - what is the most rewarding experience to do ? I'm not necessarily looking for prestige or any of that noise but something that teaches you something about the law that can be applied or at least talked about in fall recruiting.

[thesealocust]

Trying to rank 1L summer experiences is sort of like trying to rank coffee tables. It's not that you can't do it, it's just that it's kind of silly. They vary immensely and are mostly mediocre. Try to do something that will be informative to your own pursuits, and try to get paid?

As to law review and the right on competition, don't even worry about it. Most people do it and put in a decent effort, there are probably spots for 70-80% of the UVA class on journals of one kind or another. But journal work is awful and pointless and if anything just prepares you for tedium and randomly difficult assignments prior to becoming an associate

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

[Tom Joad]

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

Somebody needs to start the 2013 OGI thread...

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

Getting it all in now before it becomes anathema to seem like I care about any part of the process

Given that it's a day commitment to travel anywhere from UVA, is it common practice to schedule callbacks from the same city on the same day? E.g. do students take a "DC day" or a "New York day" so as to minimize missed class time?

[thesealocust]

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

Getting it all in now before it becomes anathema to seem like I care about any part of the process

Given that it's a day commitment to travel anywhere from UVA, is it common practice to schedule callbacks from the same city on the same day? E.g. do students take a "DC day" or a "New York day" so as to minimize missed class time?

A callback takes at least half a day. You can schedule two in a day, but it's exhausting and you run a real risk of having to leave the first interview early or be late to the second. You also get callback invitations randomly and firms have random availability to schedule the callbacks themselves, so it's not always realistic to even schedule your callbacks in city X on back to back days.

Nobody comes to law school for the purpose of attending their classes first semester of 2L year, they do so to get a job - missing class is just a cost of doing business.

[bananapeanutbutter]

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

Getting it all in now before it becomes anathema to seem like I care about any part of the process

Given that it's a day commitment to travel anywhere from UVA, is it common practice to schedule callbacks from the same city on the same day? E.g. do students take a "DC day" or a "New York day" so as to minimize missed class time?

LOL. The whole point of trying hard in law school is to get good grades. The whole point of good grades is to get a good job. You do what the firm you want to work at asks you to do. Otherwise, it's like taking viagra to take a vow of celibacy.

[5ky]

Also, I'm enjoying the rising 1Ls and former 1Ls competing for most overly neurotic ITT right now.

Getting it all in now before it becomes anathema to seem like I care about any part of the process

Given that it's a day commitment to travel anywhere from UVA, is it common practice to schedule callbacks from the same city on the same day? E.g. do students take a "DC day" or a "New York day" so as to minimize missed class time?

LOL. The whole point of trying hard in law school is to get good grades. The whole point of good grades is to get a good job. You do what the firm you want to work at asks you to do. Otherwise, it's like taking viagra to take a vow of celibacy.

Chill, baby bird. Firms ask you when YOU want to schedule the callback, though I did have one with a smaller boutique firm that scheduled my cb with them specifically on the same day as another, ostensibly so they could split travel/hotel costs with the other firm.

I tried whenever possible to schedule my callbacks as close together as I could. I ended up having 2 or 3 in a week on back to back days for a few weeks in August and September.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Forgive me for a question that is particularly specific to my situation, but regarding OGI: I'm K-JD and a relatively young one at that (I don't turn 21 for a couple more months), so my resume isn't super-deep. Everything it does have is DC--pretty much every activity is DC-specific, and all my professional contacts are there as well.

After the cutoff for DC (top third-ish?), people seem to recommend going back to a midsize market where you have ties, but I don't really have any other ties, and no sector I've ever worked in really operates outside of DC. My resume is pretty much tailor-made to work in DC Biglaw if I have the grades. If.

So my question is, if I whiff on top third or whatever the DC grade cutoff is, how screwed would I be? Is there any way I could make it work with midsize city interviewers as a babyfaced K-JD with no practical experience in their fields and markets?