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How bad are the job prospects? (Both anecdotally and from what career service is reporting.)

1. The campus looks terrific from the outside, but how are the facilities themselves?

2. Did you already have OCI, if so how do job prospects look? In CT, in Boston, In NYC?

3. I understand that the UConn Law campus is located about 40 minutes east of the main campus but about a mile from downtown Hartford. What is the social life like at UConn Law?

4. How big/small are class sizes? How many sections is 1L divided up in?

5. How is rent in the area? I may not have a car by the time I enroll in Law school and I would need to live relativity close to campus.

Sorry about the list of questions! Thanks alot and hope you are enjoying UConn, it is shaping up to be my top pick.

greyarea wrote:How bad are the job prospects? (Both anecdotally and from what career service is reporting.)

Job prospects aren't looking good. I don't have any numbers from career services so take what I say with a grain of salt. I can count about 8-10 people who got jobs through this OCI. I know kids who are top 10%, law review who struck out at OCI. Most of the people who got jobs had significant work experience prior to law school.

I've heard that our 3L's aren't finding jobs anywhere. There were a bunch of no-offers from local Hartford firms and everyone was scrambling to apply for clerkships.

OneSixtySix wrote:1. The campus looks terrific from the outside, but how are the facilities themselves?

2. Did you already have OCI, if so how do job prospects look? In CT, in Boston, In NYC?

3. I understand that the UConn Law campus is located about 40 minutes east of the main campus but about a mile from downtown Hartford. What is the social life like at UConn Law?

4. How big/small are class sizes? How many sections is 1L divided up in?

5. How is rent in the area? I may not have a car by the time I enroll in Law school and I would need to live relativity close to campus.

Sorry about the list of questions! Thanks alot and hope you are enjoying UConn, it is shaping up to be my top pick.

1. Facilities inside are great. The buildings are older, but most of the classrooms are brand new. They're all amphitheater style with a projection system in the middle and LCD's in each front corner of the room. Each spot has a electric plug as well as an LAN plug. Wireless is available throughout the campus.

2. Read above regarding job prospects. UConn this year had a "Boston OCI", "New York OCI" and a regular OCI. The Boston OCI consisted of students going to a hotel in Boston and doing interviews with biglaw firms. I think there were about 8 firms that interviewed there. NY OCI was the same, except I think there were only 5 firms. The regular OCI had about 30 Connecticut firms, paying from $70K to $145K.

3. Yup, we're 40 minutes from the undergrad. There's plenty of places to be social at. There's a handful of bars within a mile of the school, you have downtown Hartford about 3 miles away, and then you have West Hartford which has a bunch of restraunts and bars.

4. For your 1L year, the incoming class is broken up into 2 sections. Each section will be between 60 - 70 students depending on the incoming class size. You'll never have a class with the other section during 1L year, except during your 1 elective class that you get to choose second semester. You'll take 4 classes each semester and 3 of those classes will be with your entire section and 1 of those classes will be a small class with about 15 students. After 1L year you choose your own schedule and class size will be determined by who signs up for class, it can range from 10 people to 70 people. Seminar classes (easy A's) are restricted to no more than 16 people.

5. Rent in the area is manageable. There are many places to live that are within walking distance of the school. I know several people who don't have cars. Unfortunately, there aren't grocery stores within walking distance so you'd have to learn the bus system for that. The school has a message board with rent listings that you'll get access to if you're accepted. Roommates are easy to find and there are smaller efficiency apartments around if you want to live on your own. The area can be shady at night. We had a 1L girl get mugged on my street at the beginning of this semester.

I absolutely love UConn, but my opinion may be biased for a number of reasons because I'm in a better position than most of my classmates. If you're interested in practicing in Connecticut and you don't have to take out massive loans to come here, I highly recommend it.

uconn1l wrote:

greyarea wrote:How bad are the job prospects? (Both anecdotally and from what career service is reporting.)

Job prospects aren't looking good. I don't have any numbers from career services so take what I say with a grain of salt. I can count about 8-10 people who got jobs through this OCI. I know kids who are top 10%, law review who struck out at OCI. Most of the people who got jobs had significant work experience prior to law school.

I've heard that our 3L's aren't finding jobs anywhere. There were a bunch of no-offers from local Hartford firms and everyone was scrambling to apply for clerkships.

What's a "no-offer"?

Students who worked at a firm during their second summer and didn't receive offers of permanent employment.

What about outside of "biglaw", NYC or local...how are the jobs?

Supposedly, UConn is great for all of New England, so if I wanted to go work in Manchester, NH, or somewhere else...any input on that?

kalvano wrote:What about outside of "biglaw", NYC or local...how are the jobs?

Supposedly, UConn is great for all of New England, so if I wanted to go work in Manchester, NH, or somewhere else...any input on that?

UConn definitely has a great reputation in Connecticut. Obviously we have Yale to deal with, but most Yale grads aren't looking for jobs in Hartford or Connecticut...

I really can't answer your question with any real authority. During my OCI, I got the impression that all firms in CT respect grades from UConn. Outside of the state I'm not really sure. We had a about 3 or 4 employers at our OCI from Vermont and New Hampshire, so I'm guessing we do decently well up there. Overall I'd say UConn does well in New England where there isn't other regional competition. Sorry I couldn't provide you with a better answer, but I really have no idea how everyone in my class is doing or how previous classes did in other parts of New England...

The big question on the UConn waiting thread is about scholarships. Do you recall whether UConn was generous with scholarship offers during your admissions cycle? Do you know whether in-state residency has any effect on scholarship offers?

Also, what, in your opinion, are the best and worst things about being a UConn law student?

Thanks so much for taking questions!

Burger in a can wrote:The big question on the UConn waiting thread is about scholarships. Do you recall whether UConn was generous with scholarship offers during your admissions cycle? Do you know whether in-state residency has any effect on scholarship offers?

Also, what, in your opinion, are the best and worst things about being a UConn law student?

Thanks so much for taking questions!

I didn't receive a scholarship because I had a unique situation. I'd guess UConn is less generous than other schools because they offer in-state tuition after 1 year of residence. Also, remember that the school is funded by the state and the economy is bad. I wouldn't be surprised to see a decline in scholarships based on that reason alone. If you're receiving in-state tuition as a 1L, you probably won't get get as high as a scholarship if you were out of state. I do know that it can be helpful to ask for more money after you receive your initial award. I know several people that got their scholarships bumped up $5k with a simple email or call to the financial aid office. I also know that scholarships can be tied to GPA requirements. Not sure if this is for everyone or just some people. Again, I've never dealt with scholarships so everything I'm saying is from what I've heard from my friends. Sorry I couldn't be more help in this area.

The best thing about being a UConn law student is that our basketball team has a law school to cheer for and the worst thing is that student tickets for the basketball games are on a lottery system and we have to compete with the undergrad students.

I just got back from seeing a couple schools, and students were overall pretty positive about job prospects, with the caveat that you do have to network and do some legwork. Most said that them doing some networking and pushing, they had offers to turn down.

How is it up there?

kalvano wrote:I just got back from seeing a couple schools, and students were overall pretty positive about job prospects, with the caveat that you do have to network and do some legwork. Most said that them doing some networking and pushing, they had offers to turn down.

How is it up there?

I doubt many people here have offers to turn down. I'm pretty sure that the top 20ish students have jobs, but besides that I really have no idea. We have 113 students in the day division so that's about the top 20%. I know most of my friends are still looking and have already accepted the fact that they'll be working for free this summer. Anyway, this is all speculative. I got a job at OCI so I haven't done anything job related since August.

What was the most unexpected thing about 1L for you? Did anything completely take you off guard in terms of workload, general difficulty, social life, etc? I guess what I mean to ask is how your expectations for law school at UConn differed from actuality. (Aside from the relative success and failures of the basketball team )

Burger in a can wrote:What was the most unexpected thing about 1L for you? Did anything completely take you off guard in terms of workload, general difficulty, social life, etc? I guess what I mean to ask is how your expectations for law school at UConn differed from actuality. (Aside from the relative success and failures of the basketball team )

The most surprising thing about law school is how much free time you have. Of course this is going to depend on the type of person you are. I expected to be reading 5 -6 hours a day, but probably averaged about 2 hours a day. I came from a job where I worked 12+ hours a day so having only to go to class and spend an additional 2 hours reading didn't seem that much to me. I didn't start putting in a lot of time until around Thanksgiving when I started my outlines and started doing practice tests.

Besides the workload being less than I expected, nothing else was really surprising. You go to class, you do you readings, towards the end of the semester you start prepping for exams, you take your exams and then it's all over. Again, this worked for me, but other people need to spend 8+ hours in the library from day 1.

uconn1l wrote:

Burger in a can wrote:What was the most unexpected thing about 1L for you? Did anything completely take you off guard in terms of workload, general difficulty, social life, etc? I guess what I mean to ask is how your expectations for law school at UConn differed from actuality. (Aside from the relative success and failures of the basketball team )

The most surprising thing about law school is how much free time you have. Of course this is going to depend on the type of person you are. I expected to be reading 5 -6 hours a day, but probably averaged about 2 hours a day. I came from a job where I worked 12+ hours a day so having only to go to class and spend an additional 2 hours reading didn't seem that much to me. I didn't start putting in a lot of time until around Thanksgiving when I started my outlines and started doing practice tests.

Besides the workload being less than I expected, nothing else was really surprising. You go to class, you do you readings, towards the end of the semester you start prepping for exams, you take your exams and then it's all over. Again, this worked for me, but other people need to spend 8+ hours in the library from day 1.

Thanks! That actually clears something up for me. I found this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgEUeRcWRYg

Which appears to document not only a UConn Law party, but a (lame) UConn Law BAND?!?!?! This will probably make you laugh, but I was shocked to learn that law students have enough free time to party and to be in a band, especially since I have been in several (way awesomer ) bands, and I know how much time they consume.

Burger in a can wrote:

uconn1l wrote:

Burger in a can wrote:What was the most unexpected thing about 1L for you? Did anything completely take you off guard in terms of workload, general difficulty, social life, etc? I guess what I mean to ask is how your expectations for law school at UConn differed from actuality. (Aside from the relative success and failures of the basketball team )

The most surprising thing about law school is how much free time you have. Of course this is going to depend on the type of person you are. I expected to be reading 5 -6 hours a day, but probably averaged about 2 hours a day. I came from a job where I worked 12+ hours a day so having only to go to class and spend an additional 2 hours reading didn't seem that much to me. I didn't start putting in a lot of time until around Thanksgiving when I started my outlines and started doing practice tests.

Besides the workload being less than I expected, nothing else was really surprising. You go to class, you do you readings, towards the end of the semester you start prepping for exams, you take your exams and then it's all over. Again, this worked for me, but other people need to spend 8+ hours in the library from day 1.

Thanks! That actually clears something up for me. I found this on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgEUeRcWRYg

Which appears to document not only a UConn Law party, but a (lame) UConn Law BAND?!?!?! This will probably make you laugh, but I was shocked to learn that law students have enough free time to party and to be in a band, especially since I have been in several (way awesomer ) bands, and I know how much time they consume.

Haha, the superbarn... I had more time during my 1L year than I did when I was working. I'm dreading starting to work full time again because school is so relaxed.

You've already addressed this general question more than once, but I can't help myself:

I know you don't know the specifics of anyone else's employment prospects, or any exact statistics at all, and you said that there were a bunch of no-offers and people were scrambling to apply for clerkships. But can you describe the overall feeling amongst the UConn population in terms of their respective futures? I mean, are people moping around, wondering why they are wasting 3 years of their lives if they will never, ever find a job? Or are people just kind of disappointed in the current state of things, but reasonably anticipating finding a job at some point soonish? On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being "I may as well blow my head off" and 10 being "My future is so secure, I may as well put the down payment on that yacht," how would you rate the student body's overall morale?

Another question. When I visited a couple other schools on my list, they were very laid-back, small classes (125-150), and people seem relaxed. Obviously, it's competitive and you want to do well, but they said you could leave books in your carrel and not have them messed with, that people were helpful with notes and that sort of thing. That basically, because it's a smaller school with smaller classes, nobody wants to be a dick because everyone knows everyone else.

How does UConn compare?

Burger in a can wrote:You've already addressed this general question more than once, but I can't help myself:

I know you don't know the specifics of anyone else's employment prospects, or any exact statistics at all, and you said that there were a bunch of no-offers and people were scrambling to apply for clerkships. But can you describe the overall feeling amongst the UConn population in terms of their respective futures? I mean, are people moping around, wondering why they are wasting 3 years of their lives if they will never, ever find a job? Or are people just kind of disappointed in the current state of things, but reasonably anticipating finding a job at some point soonish? On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being "I may as well blow my head off" and 10 being "My future is so secure, I may as well put the down payment on that yacht," how would you rate the student body's overall morale?

I'd say the overall feeling is that there are not that many jobs available. I know both 2L's and 3L's who have nothing. I don't know about everyone else. Talking about jobs is generally taboo. No one mopes around school depressed or anything and I can't say what people are thinking in their heads. Those that came for a huge salary and guaranteed job are probably not happy while those that came to law school because they wanted to practice law are probably fine with where they're at.

kalvano wrote:Another question. When I visited a couple other schools on my list, they were very laid-back, small classes (125-150), and people seem relaxed. Obviously, it's competitive and you want to do well, but they said you could leave books in your carrel and not have them messed with, that people were helpful with notes and that sort of thing. That basically, because it's a smaller school with smaller classes, nobody wants to be a dick because everyone knows everyone else.

How does UConn compare?

I'd say that everyone here is very laid back. I've never heard or seen any type of back stabbing or hyper competitiveness occurring. I'm comfortable leaving my laptop and books in the library while I go to the bathroom and I'd be comfortable asking anyone for notes. I never feel in competition with anyone here. You go to class, you write an exam, you get a grade.

Thanks for starting this thread! I've been accepted to Uconn and am very excited about it.

My main question at the moment is about $$... In your experience how easy is it to become a CT resident and get in-state tuition for your 2nd and 3rd years? I'll be going in with the reduced regional state tuition which is nice, but I wouldn't mind becoming a CT resident for better tuition

Thanks in advance!

lallygag wrote:Thanks for starting this thread! I've been accepted to Uconn and am very excited about it.

My main question at the moment is about $$... In your experience how easy is it to become a CT resident and get in-state tuition for your 2nd and 3rd years? I'll be going in with the reduced regional state tuition which is nice, but I wouldn't mind becoming a CT resident for better tuition

Thanks in advance!

It's as easy as following directions, living in CT during your first year, and filling out the paperwork. Everyone goes in-state after the first year.

Are there any problems with using a Mac instead of a PC at UConn? Thanks!

Lighthouse28 wrote:Are there any problems with using a Mac instead of a PC at UConn? Thanks!

No.

In the first year what is the class schedule like? Are most of the classes in the morning? What time are you done with classes?

Another question, I know there is a limit of 20 hours a week if you are a full time student and want to work on campus, but I couldn't find any restrictions about working off campus, do you know if the same 20 hrs apply? Or can you work as many hrs you want?

Thanks!!!