Colorado 1L taking Questions! Forum

[coldshoulder]

Question for anyone past 1L:
Since most of the scholarships seem to be a high amount 1st year and a low amount the next two, are there are a lot of other scholarships to try to make up for that gap? The in-state vs out of state really isn't that helpful.

[LeDique]

You don't know where you'll land at a CU either.

"Incoming second year students are invited to participate on the University of Colorado Law Review based on a write-on competition, which involves the submission of an original work written on any topic contained in the write-on packet which is distributed after spring semester of the first year of law school. The write-on packet will contain all the sources that may be referred to while writing the paper, and reference to any other source is prohibited. Papers submitted for the write-on competition are read and evaluated by 5 current Law Review members and given numeric scores according to content, organization, analysis, and mechanics. The Law Review will use class rank as a minor positive factor for those students ranked in the top ten percent of their class. Authors of the top-scoring papers are extended invitations for membership."

--LinkRemoved--

Only a minor positive factor? What proportion of law review members were not ranked in the top 10%?

The e-board yesterday said that there's a fair number of people who really wouldn't have made law review if they weren't top 10% (ie: their write-on alone wasn't good enough), and similarly, a lot of people who wouldn't have made law review if they didn't have everyone write-on. I do not believe any exact number is actually known/available. Or at least, I have no idea. The secondary journals seem pretty easy to get tough, but they also don't sound like they're worth it, imo.

Question for anyone past 1L:
Since most of the scholarships seem to be a high amount 1st year and a low amount the next two, are there are a lot of other scholarships to try to make up for that gap? The in-state vs out of state really isn't that helpful.

They claim its a substantial amount, but again, our meeting on the topic isn't for another week and a half. You can look at the list (someone posted a link in the other thread) and make up your own mind - I don't think it's as substantial as they claim from looking at it myself.

[R86]

[alphorn]

Know of many full rides?

Yes, one. Did you get the second?

[alphorn]

Some of Pufer's posts are pretty disheartening. Is he exaggerating or am I just out of touch with how bad the legal market really is? How much has it worsened since he made these posts?

Just to temper what icarter is saying there a bit, if you're thinking of an internship as being any job, with anybody, for any amount of time, without pay, it's possible that the 1L class is 80% employed for the summer.

If, however, you're thinking of a full-time, paid legal summer internship when you're asking about internship opportunities, there aren't any such opportunities in existence (well, there are, but there are very few of them in this economic climate, and certainly not very many for non-diverse 1Ls).

I'd guess that the most typical summer job this year is one where you're working 20-30 hours per week at a non-firm law job. Further, not only are you not getting paid, you're likely paying the school for the privilege of being able to work for free.

Don't get me wrong, it's still resume fodder and practical experience, but ain't nobody going to be paying next year's tuition with all the money they make this summer (hell, most folks will be lucky if they can pay this summer's rent with the money they make this summer).

The number of firms participating in OCI this past year was less than a third of what there was two years ago (and that's kinda misleading too - I mean, where I'm working this summer is counted in the OCI stats this year, but would've been far too small to even think about participating in OCI two years ago), and most of the firms that did participate this year didn't actually give any offers to CU students (they were doing it to keep up appearances - "We recruited at 35 schools this year! Only actually hired two summer clerks (both from Stanford), but we did talk to students at 35 schools!").

I've had two years to come to terms with how the economy sucks, and it's just not really anything I can do about. Therefore, I don't worry about it too much. That said, most folks are still getting jobs for after graduation, they're just coming more upon bar passage instead of having something lined up at graduation.

As for my own employment plans, right now I don't have any. I'm an editor on the law review, and Colorado Law Review editorships are basically conveyor belts into judicial clerkships, so I have that door open to me. I'll also be hitting up any interviews I can get, and hoping for the best.

Worst comes to worst, I hang my shingle and open up my own firm after I pass the bar. Maybe enroll in massage school (or some other ridiculous thing) at night so I can keep tolling my student loan forbearance period until I start making money.

Job opportunities tend to continue to pop up throughout the summer, so I would've just continued to apply and hope I eventually got something. To pay my rent, I'd go work at Home Depot or something. I understand that the Kohl's right next door to my apartment complex is hiring for the summer.

If you're a URM, you interview well, and you have very good grades, it's not impossible to get a legit biglaw job 1L summer. Odds are, you won't be back 2L summer.

In this economy, if you're top 10%, law review, moot court, interview well, look the part, etc., you can probably get an interview for a 2L position at a HRO or Holland & Hart. An interview isn't a job. If you're all of those elite things, your best 2L summer offer will still probably come from a medium-sized local firm or a moderately important judge.

Nobody gets offers for post-graduation employment these days from any type of big firm.

Yeah, maybe it'll go back to the good ol' days where interviewers were actually interviewing CU-types for jobs instead of to say they are still interviewing at thirty-five schools every year (for their three open summer associate positions), but nobody is left at the law school who remembers those good ol' days.

You network to get into medium-sized local firms and smaller (something that works as well today as ever). Big firms have branches in locations nearer to T14s, and are being schmoozed by unemployed Stanford-types with as nice a bunch of resumes as you have.

If you had any connections that matter, you'd already have a job lined up.

[pancho]

I think the small amount of transfers is indeed because everyone wants to stay. I certainly haven't heard any horror stories about transfer the few times it's gotten mentioned.

How amenable is the administration to increasing scholarships after the first year? I have full tuition the first year and then partial each of the second and third years. Wondering if --- and I know grades are unpredictable but humor me please --- I did really well the first year whether I would be able to negotiate a full scholarship for the next two years. I would leverage this request against the possibility of transferring to a higher-ranked school (perhaps after having been accepted at said school although I know some admins will negotiate just at the prospect of a coveted student making a transfer application).

I am not going into this with the intention of transferring yet the economic realities are inescapable. If I do well enough to transfer up to a national name it would be foolish not to do so provided Colorado did not award full tuition for the remaining years.

How would a desire to transfer after a full scholarship the first year be received? Would the administration in this case try to deter, honorably or not, a student from transferring? I know this has occurred at other schools. In reading the scholarship agreement I do not see any basis by which Colorado could prevent one from taking advantage of the free first year only to later transfer to a different school (i.e. a stipulation where transfer-outs need to repay the funds). How does the school prevent well-qualified applicants from taking advantage of its unusual scholarship structuring?

[LeDique]

I have no idea to be quite honest.

[pancho]

I have no idea to be quite honest.

Yes, I know, crazy hypothetical. Just trying to weigh the merit of higher ranked schools (and the attendant debt) vs. the possibility of a very inexpensive degree at Colorado. Knowing whether Colorado will negotiate after the first year is critical. I have half-rides at some 15-25 schools but they are sadly not in the foothills of the Rockies.

[LeDique]

I might have an answer for you in a few months though, if only you could wait that long. I'm top 5% and considering putting a couple transfers apps in at various places even though I'd rather stay here.

[pancho]

I might have an answer for you in a few months though, if only you could wait that long. I'm top 5% and considering putting a couple transfers apps in at various places even though I'd rather stay here.

Yes, I can wait. I would love to hear how you do. PM if you prefer. Thanks.

[R86]

[gabewatch]

Hey does anyone anything about the JD/LLB (bach of laws) that you can do @ CU and U of Alberta. I am considering CU and I just saw that while checking out their website. Im just curious if there are people currently enrolled in a program like that, and what people think about it. I am a American/Canadian and if such a program would allow one to work on either side of the border I think that would be appealing. However, because its a 4 yr program, and you do 2 years at each campus I would be worried about how employers view this. Any thoughts?

[Pufer]

You don't know where you'll land at a CU either.

"Incoming second year students are invited to participate on the University of Colorado Law Review based on a write-on competition, which involves the submission of an original work written on any topic contained in the write-on packet which is distributed after spring semester of the first year of law school. The write-on packet will contain all the sources that may be referred to while writing the paper, and reference to any other source is prohibited. Papers submitted for the write-on competition are read and evaluated by 5 current Law Review members and given numeric scores according to content, organization, analysis, and mechanics. The Law Review will use class rank as a minor positive factor for those students ranked in the top ten percent of their class. Authors of the top-scoring papers are extended invitations for membership."

--LinkRemoved--

Only a minor positive factor? What proportion of law review members were not ranked in the top 10%?

The e-board yesterday said that there's a fair number of people who really wouldn't have made law review if they weren't top 10% (ie: their write-on alone wasn't good enough), and similarly, a lot of people who wouldn't have made law review if they didn't have everyone write-on. I do not believe any exact number is actually known/available. Or at least, I have no idea. The secondary journals seem pretty easy to get tough, but they also don't sound like they're worth it, imo.

Each LR board can do its own thing (i.e., it may fluctuate significantly year-to-year), but I was on the LR board last year and we only used grades as a tie-breaker.

Question for anyone past 1L:
Since most of the scholarships seem to be a high amount 1st year and a low amount the next two, are there are a lot of other scholarships to try to make up for that gap? The in-state vs out of state really isn't that helpful.

They claim its a substantial amount, but again, our meeting on the topic isn't for another week and a half. You can look at the list (someone posted a link in the other thread) and make up your own mind - I don't think it's as substantial as they claim from looking at it myself.

It can be substantial for a select few, but it's not for most. That said, there are a lot of 2L and 3L scholarships kicking around (particularly in the diversity category), so you stand a pretty decent chance of getting something, even if it's not that huge. Think maybe a couple thou.

Some of Pufer's posts are pretty disheartening. Is he exaggerating or am I just out of touch with how bad the legal market really is? How much has it worsened since he made these posts?

Just to temper what icarter is saying there a bit, if you're thinking of an internship as being any job, with anybody, for any amount of time, without pay, it's possible that the 1L class is 80% employed for the summer.

If, however, you're thinking of a full-time, paid legal summer internship when you're asking about internship opportunities, there aren't any such opportunities in existence (well, there are, but there are very few of them in this economic climate, and certainly not very many for non-diverse 1Ls).

I'd guess that the most typical summer job this year is one where you're working 20-30 hours per week at a non-firm law job. Further, not only are you not getting paid, you're likely paying the school for the privilege of being able to work for free.

Don't get me wrong, it's still resume fodder and practical experience, but ain't nobody going to be paying next year's tuition with all the money they make this summer (hell, most folks will be lucky if they can pay this summer's rent with the money they make this summer).

The number of firms participating in OCI this past year was less than a third of what there was two years ago (and that's kinda misleading too - I mean, where I'm working this summer is counted in the OCI stats this year, but would've been far too small to even think about participating in OCI two years ago), and most of the firms that did participate this year didn't actually give any offers to CU students (they were doing it to keep up appearances - "We recruited at 35 schools this year! Only actually hired two summer clerks (both from Stanford), but we did talk to students at 35 schools!").

I've had two years to come to terms with how the economy sucks, and it's just not really anything I can do about. Therefore, I don't worry about it too much. That said, most folks are still getting jobs for after graduation, they're just coming more upon bar passage instead of having something lined up at graduation.

As for my own employment plans, right now I don't have any. I'm an editor on the law review, and Colorado Law Review editorships are basically conveyor belts into judicial clerkships, so I have that door open to me. I'll also be hitting up any interviews I can get, and hoping for the best.

Worst comes to worst, I hang my shingle and open up my own firm after I pass the bar. Maybe enroll in massage school (or some other ridiculous thing) at night so I can keep tolling my student loan forbearance period until I start making money.

Job opportunities tend to continue to pop up throughout the summer, so I would've just continued to apply and hope I eventually got something. To pay my rent, I'd go work at Home Depot or something. I understand that the Kohl's right next door to my apartment complex is hiring for the summer.

If you're a URM, you interview well, and you have very good grades, it's not impossible to get a legit biglaw job 1L summer. Odds are, you won't be back 2L summer.

In this economy, if you're top 10%, law review, moot court, interview well, look the part, etc., you can probably get an interview for a 2L position at a HRO or Holland & Hart. An interview isn't a job. If you're all of those elite things, your best 2L summer offer will still probably come from a medium-sized local firm or a moderately important judge.

Nobody gets offers for post-graduation employment these days from any type of big firm.

Yeah, maybe it'll go back to the good ol' days where interviewers were actually interviewing CU-types for jobs instead of to say they are still interviewing at thirty-five schools every year (for their three open summer associate positions), but nobody is left at the law school who remembers those good ol' days.

You network to get into medium-sized local firms and smaller (something that works as well today as ever). Big firms have branches in locations nearer to T14s, and are being schmoozed by unemployed Stanford-types with as nice a bunch of resumes as you have.

If you had any connections that matter, you'd already have a job lined up.

First quoted post: I'll maintain that's still true at CU and also for most schools that aren't in the T14. Your 1L summer, your best shot at a job will likely be through an externship program or getting an unpaid internship. There are certainly exceptions to this, but I'd argue that there aren't that many, and they mostly go to folks at the absolute top of the class and for folks who qualify for the Pledge to Diversity jobs. There are a lot of folks who take a few classes just for the COL stipend from financial aid.

Second quoted post: OCI has not gotten better at CU. However, the new career services office appears to be substantially improved, so I would expect some favorable movement on that front. That said, you should not go to CU expecting to get a job through OCI. If you find yourself in the top-25% with a nice writing sample (with LR and other nice resume fodder your 2L year), it would be realistic for you to expect a number of OCI interviews. However, it's quite speculative to assume that you'd not only make top-25% but would also make LR, get an interview with one of the dozen-or-so substantial firms interviewing, and then do well enough at the interview to beat out the other ten CU interviewees, the ten DU interviewees, and all the folks they're interviewing on the side, for the single position they're hiring for. It definitely happens, but I do not think that you can reasonably bet on it coming in as a 0L.

Third quoted post: My overall view of things ended up being pretty accurate. Most of the LR folks got jobs, but most of the jobs are clerkships. Other folks' job prospects were pretty bad at graduation unless they had networked their way into something or were one of the small handful of folks who worked an OCI summer job into an offer. CU started up a fellowship program that kept a lot of folks making rent money until they got their bar passage notice, at which point a pretty solid percentage of them got jobs at that point.

I didn't have to go to massage school (I actually kinda' like the idea of being a qualified masseuse, but that was a bit extreme, especially as I've learned how great the IBR loan repayment plans are if you are actually making no income). Instead, I got a job through the DOJ Honors program (which was presumably pending at the time I wrote that post) and am gainfully employed by the feds. It's not impossible to get an awesome job from CU, it's only far from being a certainty (I'm the first DOJ Honors hire from CU in years).

Fourth quoted post: The bolded bit is just honest. I blew through my meager savings from before law school working for free during my 1L summer (however, without working that job for free, I'm 100% certain I wouldn't have my current job) and would've had to pay the rent somehow my 2L summer. Further, I didn't feel like going further into debt by taking summer classes for the financial aid money and my pre-law school experience mostly relates to project management for the feds, which isn't exactly a field with a lot of temporary jobs. A fair number of my classmates worked retail or other menial jobs to pay the bills while working unpaid internships. Fortunately, I got a paying job at a small firm.

Last quoted post: I know of a couple folks who got jobs with legit biglaw firms (one of whom did it purely by legwork), so I guess "nobody" is a bit strong (1%). There was a handful of folks who got jobs with large Denver-based midlaw-type firms, however. Not many through 2L summers turning into offers but rather through 3L OCI.

That said, my point is not to say that you have literally no chance at a biglaw job through OCI, just that it is exceptionally rare coming from CU. If you want to do firm work for lots of money, it will likely be the route of doing great in school, LR, moot court, etc., then catching on with a appellate judge for a one year clerkship. During the clerkship, you'll work your ass off developing the connections you already made while in law school and setting something up with a mid-sized Denver firm and, with any luck, you'll come out with a $90-120k/yr job. That is absolutely doable from CU and a lot of folks are on that path. If you're coming to CU, you need to okay with that kind of career path because that's about the most likely path to that kind of job.There are also loads of small government, public defender, small firm, and other small-time lawyer jobs out there that you can get right out the door.

The issue here is not that the job situation is abysmal coming from CU, it's that the metrics that folks have used since the mid-90s to measure the job placement performance of a top school do not apply to CU. You have to hustle. You have to network. You have to work for free to get exposure to various fields. You have to go get the types of jobs where there is no interview, you just get the job through a handshake. OCI and jobs that will employ you as a non-lawyer, at an exorbitant rate from May to October after graduation in the hopes that you pass the bar are not typical.

Now, maybe you luck out and are #3 in your class with LR, moot court, and an impeccable resume and you get one of the very few OCI big firm jobs that exist, but you can't bet on that. That's my primary point with any pessimism I may be exhibiting in the above posts. You may not believe it, but among my peers, I'm really one of the most enthusiastic proponents of going to law school. I merely think that folks need to be more realistic in what to expect.

I think the small amount of transfers is indeed because everyone wants to stay. I certainly haven't heard any horror stories about transfer the few times it's gotten mentioned.

How amenable is the administration to increasing scholarships after the first year? I have full tuition the first year and then partial each of the second and third years. Wondering if --- and I know grades are unpredictable but humor me please --- I did really well the first year whether I would be able to negotiate a full scholarship for the next two years. I would leverage this request against the possibility of transferring to a higher-ranked school (perhaps after having been accepted at said school although I know some admins will negotiate just at the prospect of a coveted student making a transfer application).

I am not going into this with the intention of transferring yet the economic realities are inescapable. If I do well enough to transfer up to a national name it would be foolish not to do so provided Colorado did not award full tuition for the remaining years.

How would a desire to transfer after a full scholarship the first year be received? Would the administration in this case try to deter, honorably or not, a student from transferring? I know this has occurred at other schools. In reading the scholarship agreement I do not see any basis by which Colorado could prevent one from taking advantage of the free first year only to later transfer to a different school (i.e. a stipulation where transfer-outs need to repay the funds). How does the school prevent well-qualified applicants from taking advantage of its unusual scholarship structuring?

Assuming what occurred the summer after my 1L year remains the practice (based on what I understand of the experience of one of my friends who did transfer), the administration will erect no barriers to transfer and will be happy to write any letters or provide any records you need. The most resistance you will probably get is an offer to chat about what they could do to better serve you.

As to the scholarship re-negotiation thing, I'd frankly be amazed if they even entertained a discussion about it, much less gave you anything more. There's no way in hell they consider anyone a "coveted student."

I mean, what are you doing for them that makes you so coveted? You're already on the stats they submitted to US News. Is there some intrinsic benefit in having a GPA a few hundredths of a point higher than the next six folks in line? Can you unlock some manner of magical benefits through your class rank that the person who inherits it after you leave won't be able to unlock with the identical ranking? Can they somehow intuit that you'd donate more to the alumni association in the future than anyone they replace you with (you who wants to leave)? Hell, you'd be doing them a favor by freeing up extra scholarship money to use on some 0L when they replace you with the guy who is #1 in his class at the University of Wyoming and applied for transfer admission last week (paying full out-of-state price for the privilege of transferring up, of course). You have absolutely zero leverage in that context.

-Pufer

[the lantern]

As a current 2L, I would mostly echo everythign Pufer just said, but I would say that I doubt this is CU specific. Hiring is down everywhere and it has affected every law school from top to bottom. I am very happy came to CU and I have no doubt that my future is, at the bare minimum, going to be alright (now whether I get a fed clerkship or DOJ honors we will see).

For 1L summer: unless you are diverse (read: not white or gay), then you have almost no hope of getting a paid summer job. That isn't to say you can't get an awesome job. I have friends who happily clerked for the CO SCt or federal judges for their 1L summer. If you're coming in hoping to get paid 1L job, in my opinion, you have such unreal expectations that I'd doubt whether you even did enough research to make an informed decision about law school. This isn't just CU... even before the economy was run into the ground 1L paid jobs were rare. Having said that, a friend with a technical background (like patent work technical) did get a paid job 1L summer, so YMMV.

For 2L summer: I was lucky enough to get a job through OCI, but I know a lot of people who got nothing through OCI, including many who had good grades. I was lucky enough to receive 2 offers, although neither are what would be considered "big law," but are rather smaller offices that actually do what I want to do (disclaimer: i could never pretend to give a shit about money and this is painfully obvious when I interviewed for large firms so you may have better luck than I did with big firms if you have the same grades/credentials I have). I know a lot of people are still looking for jobs, but I honestly feel like they just haven't done the necessary legwork. I know right now that I could name 5 attorneys off the top of my head who would definitely either offer me a summer position or refer me to someone that could. A lot of law students just sit up here in Boulder all week, go to class, and expect a job to just fall in their lap. It is a real possibility that you may have to work without pay your 2L year, but unless you're working for a big firm, you wouldn't really be making that much anyway. The experience is what is important, and I'm fairly confident that the majority of people in my class will have something to occupy their time this summer. Also, I didn't have any paid job at all last summer and I made it by just fine through student loans (I had saved enough from the school year to pay all my bills through the summer).

Graduation: I'm not there yet, so I can't give you my personal experience, but I think it may be difficult for some grads (but then again, this is not CU specific). If you want big law, you sure as hell better be in the top 10% and law review, and you need to actually be interested in what firms do. They can tell that, for example, I'm a do-gooder that is only interested in big law for the money. If you're a do gooder like me, I'd just go ahead and scratch big law off your list (but of course still give it a shot through OCI, maybe you're better at pretending than I am). I really feel like a big part of the post-graduation job search involves a lot of work on the part of the student that a lot of people don't do. People just don't think ahead and plan accordingly. It is easy to take a full schedule both 1L and 2L year which makes you have barely any classes to take at all your 3L year (I will only have to take the bare minimum to remain a full time student next year). This gives you lots of time to 1) network 2) apply for jobs far and wide 3) work an internship/clerkship 4) fly to interviews/job fairs etc. A lot of people don't think that far ahead. I feel fairly confident that all my classmates will be okay in the end. I don't mean to say that they will all have jobs upon graduation. I don't know what other people's grades are like, but there are likely some people with mediocre/poor grades that are still somewhat unserious about their career. There are also probably some mature, professional folks who just won't get the right set of eyes on their resume. Having said that, I think that 10 years down the road we will all be doing okay (assuming that the student loan market doesn't implode bringing the world economy down with it).




to the person with all the scholarship questions: you seem like you are living in a crazy little world of your own. once you come here, they aren't going to modify your scholarship. the state has gutted funding for CU, and CU law runs a MASSIVE deficit every year. There are, however, lots of private scholarships for 2L/3L students. I'd also temper these thoughts about how it would be illogical not to transfer if the opportunity arose. That is something someone who hasn't been to law school would say IMO (I said the same thing when I enrolled here -- lo and behold I was top 10% and LR but I didn't transfer). Again, I don't know other people's grades, but as far as I know, no one in our class transferred to a better school (I only know of a handful of people who relocated to be with family-- [edit: one dude transferred to Hastings I think, which is higher ranked but costs like 60k a year so I didn't count that]). I think CU Law is amazing and after my first year, I knew that I made the right decision and didn't even bother to send in transfer applications. You might be different, but I'm just going to take umbrage at the thought that people would come into my school, which is awesome and inviting and intellectually challenging/stimulating and filled with wonderful people, and say that it would be illogical for anyone smart or who has ambition to stay there after one year.


EDIT (Re: law school top 10% boost): I haven't had the opportunity to judge the 2L writing comp yet (i just got elected to LR board), but I was told that the top 10% boost was very small and that it didn't really make a difference in any case. Like I've said a bunch of times, I don't really know peoples' grades (other than my best friends), but I do know there are non top10% people on LR. I think there is probably just a really high correlation because 1) the top 10% probably write better since their exams got better grade (more often than not) and 2) the top 10% know how to take things seriously and put in the required effort. It is not fun to be working on your law review writing competition paper a couple weeks after final exams when all of your friends are out drinking on Pearl Street. I know we are also currently considering eliminating the boost altogether (although there are principled reasons why some like myself will oppose this change).

[the lantern]

Hey does anyone anything about the JD/LLB (bach of laws) that you can do @ CU and U of Alberta. I am considering CU and I just saw that while checking out their website. Im just curious if there are people currently enrolled in a program like that, and what people think about it. I am a American/Canadian and if such a program would allow one to work on either side of the border I think that would be appealing. However, because its a 4 yr program, and you do 2 years at each campus I would be worried about how employers view this. Any thoughts?

I'd email admissions and ask for contact info for a student doing this. There are a lot of Canadians here and I know one guy for sure is doing this program right now.

[LeDique]

Hey does anyone anything about the JD/LLB (bach of laws) that you can do @ CU and U of Alberta. I am considering CU and I just saw that while checking out their website. Im just curious if there are people currently enrolled in a program like that, and what people think about it. I am a American/Canadian and if such a program would allow one to work on either side of the border I think that would be appealing. However, because its a 4 yr program, and you do 2 years at each campus I would be worried about how employers view this. Any thoughts?

I'd email admissions and ask for contact info for a student doing this. There are a lot of Canadians here and I know one guy for sure is doing this program right now.

I know one Canadian student doing this as well, but I think he's a bad person to talk to because he hates law.

[alphorn]

What do they do with the Fleming Law Building these days?

[LeDique]

What do they do with the Fleming Law Building these days?

Uhhh, undergrad classes, I think. Nothing law school related.

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

Pufer is too negative. His thoughts are generally accurate about CU (and all other similar schools) but they leave so much out. For instance, I'm not diverse and I am probably median but I got a paid 1L gig. I guess I "hustled." I'm not the only non-diverse 1L with a paid gig, although I admit the others I know of probably have better grades than I do.

For the 0Ls on this thread:

1. Pick the state you want to live in.
2. Go to the best school in that state, or retake.

You may not follow this advice and have an outstanding career, but I think this is your best bet.

[pancho]

I might have an answer for you in a few months though, if only you could wait that long. I'm top 5% and considering putting a couple transfers apps in at various places even though I'd rather stay here.

Yes, I can wait. I would love to hear how you do. PM if you prefer. Thanks.

How did it go LeDique?

[shock259]

I see some recent talks about transferring. AFAIK, 3 people transferred up this past year (2 to CLS, 1 to GULC).

Before transferring, I went to the administration and tried to leverage more scholarship money. I told them I had some acceptances in hand, but I really wanted to stay at CU and work in Colorado. After a lot of back and forth, they offered me $5k for 2L and promised that I would get more aid 3L year if I stayed.

The administration was very helpful during the transfer process. They got me everything right away and everyone was happy to chat about my decision if I wanted to (but they didn't force it).

I'd be happy to answer any other questions about transferring/whatever.

[LeDique]

I see some recent talks about transferring. AFAIK, 3 people transferred up this past year (2 to CLS, 1 to GULC).

Before transferring, I went to the administration and tried to leverage more scholarship money. I told them I had some acceptances in hand, but I really wanted to stay at CU and work in Colorado. After a lot of back and forth, they offered me $5k for 2L and promised that I would get more aid 3L year if I stayed.

The administration was very helpful during the transfer process. They got me everything right away and everyone was happy to chat about my decision if I wanted to (but they didn't force it).

I'd be happy to answer any other questions about transferring/whatever.

You're missing one who transferred to Kansas for personal reasons (I literally don't even know who this person is). I didn't even put in transfer apps myself or ask for more money. The latter might have been stupid, but I knew I wanted to stay. I got an additional 2k (per year, I think) from the scholarships you can apply for though.

So I'm still around if you have any questions about CU now.

[shock259]

Oh yeah - you're right. Totally spaced that one.

[Cane26]

I am a 2012 CU grad. I ended up with a federal attorney job in Washington, D.C. and was ranked just outside the top third. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

[zekeattack]

I was wondering if current students/recent grads could offer some more information on employment opportunities. Also, CU seems to have a high clerkship rate ~20%. What's your sense of the positions people are pursuing after their clerkships?