Pittsburgh 2011 Forum

[Dr. Review]

lol @ thinking low T1 to mid T2 is a lock for $$ after graduation just because you specialize in patent law.

[VTOrange19]

Corvette,

There are ten random schools you applied to in ten random places, and you are waiting on a scholarship offer from everywhere? Have you been to all of these places? Off the top of my head, I can't think of ten places I am just pining to go live in. (Edit: just because you'll be there for three years and better enjoy the place.)

Not trying to be a dick or get personal, but what was your criteria for applying to these places? Listen, I know you gotta have options to make a good decision (ie - hitting on a handful of girls at the bar to maximize potential, create back-ups, etc) but ten is trying to0 hard.

I will admit I am a 0L, but I have gotten the feeling law school is going to be terribly competitive, so if you aren't willing to compete, you may want to find something else to do. But please withdraw from Pitt, I will gladly take any scholarship there and attend in a heartbeat.

[swan87]

When is the Pitt seat deposit due? Does anyone remember offhand?

[rs2004]

When is the Pitt seat deposit due? Does anyone remember offhand?

200 from 3/1 to 4/5
500 by 6/1

[corvettekid]

Lol,

I love all the hate for just being real with people. I do plan to compete, actually I take that back, I plan to dominate as I have done in both undergrad and grad school. My criteria, well half of the schools I applied to are in Illinois, the majority of the others are very close, and I applied to a few that I thought I might enjoy. Considering I wanted to be able to have multiple options, I didn't intially expect to apply to 10 schools, it just kinda happened.

I'm just speaking for myself that the stress at one of the top ten schools just wouldn't be worth it for me, not that I could get in with my 167 anyway.... You just have to do what is right for you, if going to one of those schools will make you happy, then go for it. I don't plan on being a lawyer for the rest of my life at a big law firm, so the less debt I can accrue while in school the better for me.

and no, I don't feel that a patent law job with $$ coming from a T2 school is a guaranteed. I know I will work hard enough and make the connections to guarantee my own success.

[Dr. Review]

Trying hard does not =/= top grades or jobs. You think the unemployed lawyers just aren't trying hard enough?

[OGR3]

Lol,

I love all the hate for just being real with people. I do plan to compete, actually I take that back, I plan to dominate as I have done in both undergrad and grad school. My criteria, well half of the schools I applied to are in Illinois, the majority of the others are very close, and I applied to a few that I thought I might enjoy. Considering I wanted to be able to have multiple options, I didn't intially expect to apply to 10 schools, it just kinda happened.

I'm just speaking for myself that the stress at one of the top ten schools just wouldn't be worth it for me, not that I could get in with my 167 anyway.... You just have to do what is right for you, if going to one of those schools will make you happy, then go for it. I don't plan on being a lawyer for the rest of my life at a big law firm, so the less debt I can accrue while in school the better for me.

and no, I don't feel that a patent law job with $$ coming from a T2 school is a guaranteed. I know I will work hard enough and make the connections to guarantee my own success.

I'd say 90% of incoming students think they're going to be top 10%.

+1 to Bedsole's comment.

[corvettekid]

no, but my mom says I'm special... so that puts me on a different level than most people.

[corvettekid]

Trying hard does not =/= top grades or jobs. You think the unemployed lawyers just aren't trying hard enough?

so, by it not "not equaling" top grades or jobs, it does? No, I think unemployed lawyers shouldn't have gone to law school. Being an unemployed lawyer with 230k in debt is much different than being an unemployed lawyer with minimal to no debt.

[LeDique]

No, I think unemployed lawyers shouldn't have gone to law school.

lol

[Dr. Review]

No, I think unemployed lawyers shouldn't have gone to law school. Being an unemployed lawyer with 230k in debt is much different than being an unemployed lawyer with minimal to no debt.

You're unemployed either way, and you already said

I know I will work hard enough and make the connections to guarantee my own success.

All I am saying is work all you want.

Law school is a lot like a scratch off ticket. You can spend a lot of money, wish for the best, and use all the strategy in the world, but that doesn't mean you'll end up with $$.

[corvettekid]

I know I will work hard enough and make the connections to guarantee my own success.

All I am saying is work all you want.

Law school is a lot like a scratch off ticket. You can spend a lot of money, wish for the best, and use all the strategy in the world, but that doesn't mean you'll end up with $$.[/quote]

This is either the most awesome thing, or the stupidest thing I've read in my entire life. If you honestly feel that way about law school... please come to Vegas with me in June 9th-13th. We'll take your next years tuituion and put it on the roulette table a few times as the odds are much better than any scratch off ticket I have ever seen. If thats how you roll, then you are living on the edge my friend, and I give you props. Just imagine the girls we'd have around us with you tossing that much money around, it would be a good time.

But why are you going to law school if you think your chances are shit? I already have a full time engineering job, so I wouldn't be going to law school unless I thought it would open the door to more $$. Yes, nothing is an absolute, but does that mean we should all just lay in our beds all day getting fat until we die because if we try we might fail. I'm not saying there is a chance i'll fail and end up regretting law school, but I'd bet agains that at 1000 to 1 odds.

It is what it is, this can go back and forth. People trolling me, thinking I'm some delusional 0L that thinks law school opens the doors to all including heaven. Well thats not me, I've been in the real world, been laid off and have been working my but off ever since to ensure that never happens again. Guess I didn't work harder than those in my engineering undergrad classes to perform better than them, and I guess I didn't work harder than those in my grad classes to end up in the top 3%. Must have just been some luck i've bee having that is going to come crashing down in law school.

[Dr. Review]

All I am saying is that in undergrad, and in a lot of grad school classes, how hard you work is generally directly proportional to how well you do. If everyone works their ass off and understands the material, they can theoretically all get As. They aren't competing against one another.

In law school, you can understand everything, work your ass off, and land a solid B+ for your effort, whereas the guy sitting next to you might do the same amount of work and put two or three additional key terms on the exam, or spot one or two more issues, and make an A-.

I'm not saying you didn't work hard. I'm not saying you won't. I just want to make sure that anyone who wants to go to law school knows that working hard won't get you all the way there, it'll get you a long way, but there are a lot of unknowns that can still hold you back.

[Dr. Review]

Well that derailed the thread...

Pitt, anyone?

[OGR3]

Well that derailed the thread...

Pitt, anyone?

Does Pitt have a decent basketball program? I'm thinking about joining...

[Dr. Review]

Well that derailed the thread...

Pitt, anyone?

Does Pitt have a decent basketball program? I'm thinking about joining...

They can't beat SJU, ND, Tennesse, or Louisville. 7 seed at best.

[northwood]

pitt willl be a 3 seed at worse

[OGR3]

Well that derailed the thread...

Pitt, anyone?

Does Pitt have a decent basketball program? I'm thinking about joining...

They can't beat SJU, ND, Tennesse, or Louisville. 7 seed at best.

I tried really hard on my high school team and I'm tall. I can definitely be the team's leading scorer.

[Dr. Review]

pitt willl be a 3 seed at worse

lol, obvious troll is obvious

[BarbellDreams]

It is what it is, this can go back and forth. People trolling me, thinking I'm some delusional 0L that thinks law school opens the doors to all including heaven. Well thats not me, I've been in the real world, been laid off and have been working my but off ever since to ensure that never happens again. Guess I didn't work harder than those in my engineering undergrad classes to perform better than them, and I guess I didn't work harder than those in my grad classes to end up in the top 3%. Must have just been some luck i've bee having that is going to come crashing down in law school.

I am laughing too hard to have any sort of serious response to this. All I ask is this: Please, PLEASE come to Pitt. I really need to meet you in person. I mean, judging from your posts you likely won't fit in very well and may go on a crime-spree when your 23-hour-a-day study sessions don't land you anywhere close to the top 10%, but it'll at least be entertaining.

On a serious note, if you honestly think "working hard like you did your whole life" will land you good grades you need to good "How law school curve works" right now before you waste any precious money on a degree banking on being top 10%.

[rs2004]

It is what it is, this can go back and forth. People trolling me, thinking I'm some delusional 0L that thinks law school opens the doors to all including heaven. Well thats not me, I've been in the real world, been laid off and have been working my but off ever since to ensure that never happens again. Guess I didn't work harder than those in my engineering undergrad classes to perform better than them, and I guess I didn't work harder than those in my grad classes to end up in the top 3%. Must have just been some luck i've bee having that is going to come crashing down in law school.

I am laughing too hard to have any sort of serious response to this. All I ask is this: Please, PLEASE come to Pitt. I really need to meet you in person. I mean, judging from your posts you likely won't fit in very well and may go on a crime-spree when your 23-hour-a-day study sessions don't land you anywhere close to the top 10%, but it'll at least be entertaining.

On a serious note, if you honestly think "working hard like you did your whole life" will land you good grades you need to good "How law school curve works" right now before you waste any precious money on a degree banking on being top 10%.

enlighten us on how law school curve works then. there is certainly merit to working hard and why should anyone dissuade someone else not to? does it guarantee the results that one expects 100% of the time - no. but for someone who is already at pitt, then let us know what your experiences are, let us know how the curve works at pitt....offer useful advice for those who are still considering pitt over other schools. because really, why are you in this thread at all?

[BarbellDreams]

The basics of it is that every single person in your incoming class will say they will work hard and do it. 100% of them. I don't know many people that blow off class (well, one comes to mind. Bedsole, wanna guess who I am thinking about?), don't do the reading, don't study late and don't outline or use supplements. Everyone does that, and everyone spends long hours on it. You can't bank on that getting you through this. You also can't bank on being intelligent getting you good grades here either. When you have your first socratic method you'll realize there are people in your section who are just as smart and smarter than you and they think and say things you barely understand. No matter how smart you are or think you are this will happen. Finally, you're not competing against just the test, you're competing against every single other person in the classroom taking the test. How much studying you do and how well you know the material doesn't really matter because in some class (Read: Torts) everything is so straight forward that everyone gets everything. Under Pitt's curve, 20% get As/A-s, so basically you can have the most amazing paper in the world and if another 20% also have an amazing paper you're screwed and you're getting a B+ even if you "studied real hard" or gunned or whatever.

The point is grades are at least somewhat arbitrary and unpredictable. Going to law school with the mindset of "I am going to outwork everyone and land in the top 10% because I've done it my whole life and can do it here too" is arguably the absolute worst mindset you can come to law school with. When parents say "My son/daughter is smart, I know he/she will land in the top 10%" they don't realize that the mom's of the other 90% are also saying the same thing. Everyone is smart enough, everyone will work just as hard as you, and everyone thinks they have what it takes, but 90% can't make it in so something has got to give.

[solarae]

all of the holier-than-thou replies to corvette are more annoying than enlightening. Are you just bored? I dont think what he said is really worth this much ranting. His points were perfectly valid either way. and he never SAID he was guaranteed top 10% in law school, just that he knows how top 3% worked for engineering.

this is for prospective students and I'd love seeing you current students transfer your awesome posts to a "discuss your law school" thread.

[Dr. Review]

This is a little more doom and gloom than I was aiming for.

[OGR3]

This is a little more doom and gloom than I was aiming for.