UC Irvine c/o 2018 Forum

[Harry_Pluxen]

Is it just me or does UCI not have any online status checker? Do they only notify people of their decisions over e-mail?

[LawsRUs]

Is it just me or does UCI not have any online status checker? Do they only notify people of their decisions over e-mail?

you hv it right. no SC just email

[rion91]

^^ yaya, see you @ asw

do you mean in terms of jobs? i wld say ucla and usc idk

oops, i meant for admissions/financial aid negotiations

btw check this out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stud ... adcom.html

[iguazu]

^^ yaya, see you @ asw

do you mean in terms of jobs? i wld say ucla and usc idk

oops, i meant for admissions/financial aid negotiations

btw check this out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stud ... adcom.html

I'm also curious what ppl think about this. If I can get them to bump to full ride I might roll the dice and attend

[LawsRUs]

^^ yaya, see you @ asw

do you mean in terms of jobs? i wld say ucla and usc idk

oops, i meant for admissions/financial aid negotiations

btw check this out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stud ... adcom.html

you know what to tell you the truth, i honestly dont know

hey whats the name of that article? (the link is not working for me)

[rion91]

^^ yaya, see you @ asw

do you mean in terms of jobs? i wld say ucla and usc idk

oops, i meant for admissions/financial aid negotiations

btw check this out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stud ... adcom.html

you know what to tell you the truth, i honestly dont know

hey whats the name of that article? (the link is not working for me)

Broadcom and UC Irvine team to test tech savvy in students

Try this? http://t.co/4kGzH0GmxH

[LawsRUs]

^^ yaya, see you @ asw

do you mean in terms of jobs? i wld say ucla and usc idk

oops, i meant for admissions/financial aid negotiations

btw check this out: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/stud ... adcom.html

you know what to tell you the truth, i honestly dont know

hey whats the name of that article? (the link is not working for me)

Broadcom and UC Irvine team to test tech savvy in students

Try this? http://t.co/4kGzH0GmxH

hey that's awesome!!!! they def hv some cool things going on here..as you mentioned, now i just need to figure out which are considered "peer schools" to get their CoA down

[iVi]

Ended up submitting an app here because why not ? I'm aiming for the SoCal market so I figured it worth a shot, but I'm wondering how many of you have serious reservations about attending such a nascent program.

Anyone here able to justify attending UCI over UCLA or, to a larger extent, USC?

Seems even a generous scholly might not be enough to counterbalance the risk. Interested to hear your thoughts.

[eav1277]

Ended up submitting an app here because why not ? I'm aiming for the SoCal market so I figured it worth a shot, but I'm wondering how many of you have serious reservations about attending such a nascent program.

Anyone here able to justify attending UCI over UCLA or, to a larger extent, USC?

Seems even a generous scholly might not be enough to counterbalance the risk. Interested to hear your thoughts.

My apartment mate and I both chose UCI over USC. I know various others that turned down UCLA and USC. Ultimately it depends on your goals and debt aversion. If you will only be happy with big law, then think more about USC/UCLA. If your ultimate goal is to work in SoCal and/or public interest, UCI with a decent scholly is much more justifiable. Good luck with your decisions.

[iVi]

Ended up submitting an app here because why not ? I'm aiming for the SoCal market so I figured it worth a shot, but I'm wondering how many of you have serious reservations about attending such a nascent program.

Anyone here able to justify attending UCI over UCLA or, to a larger extent, USC?

Seems even a generous scholly might not be enough to counterbalance the risk. Interested to hear your thoughts.

My apartment mate and I both chose UCI over USC. I know various others that turned down UCLA and USC. Ultimately it depends on your goals and debt aversion. If you will only be happy with big law, then think more about USC/UCLA. If your ultimate goal is to work in SoCal and/or public interest, UCI with a decent scholly is much more justifiable. Good luck with your decisions.

Interested in BL, hence my leanings. Thanks for the input, and best of luck to you as well!

[Drowninmyowntears]

Hey all! I just spent the last two days visiting UCI so I thought I'd share some of my experiences in case ya'll are interested.

Friday I did a tour and met with admissions before sitting in on Dean Chemerinsky's Federal Courts class. All the admissions people were SO nice and made conversation with me about specific things I wrote about in my personal statement and application and where they thought I would fit in with the school. Having visited other schools, I can definitely say it goes a long way to have everyone you meet during your visit really invested in helping you see why this would be a good fit for you! The class was ok. I'm a huge fan of Dean Chemerinsky but because 1L classes are not offered on Friday's (only this year), it was an upper level course so was a bit too technical for me to get a good grasp on what they were talking about.

The tour was nice. I love the law library! It's a beautiful facility. The law school shares rooms/ offices with the school of education and the business school that are right next to it. Apparently they are constructing a new law building on another part of campus to move the law school to, but that wont even begin until 2018 I think, so it doesn't really affect those of us in this cycle.

After the tour, I got to sit down for an hour with a current 2L student and ask him whatever I wanted. This was a really great experience and a great way to get to know the vibe of the student body and the faculty! You can tell what a small school this is because every single person that walked by, student or faculty, knew the student I was with and said hi. One current student that came by and said hi used to be a circus performer (sword swallower!!) and said she applied to law school because she wanted to do something more interesting. Go figure!

It seems like a very positive, friendly atmosphere here. All of the students I talked to mentioned that there isn't that classic ultra competitive vibe at UCI because they don't rank their students. One girl said that she had a friend whose computer crashed 1 week before finals so her classmates shared and sent her theirs, and by the end of the day it happened, she had at least 12 copies of outlines for each class! Lots of the students mentioned when they talk with their friends at different law schools, they complain about how competitive it is, which is something the students who go to UCI don't feel affects them. They say it's only a competition against yourself. Everyone is trying to be a better student, but do so in a collaborative, friendly way. Another student told me about how the Dean takes the time to make personal phone calls and emails for students trying to get clerkships and jobs and spends a lot of time to make sure he matches up students with positions that fit their interests.

As I am extremely interested in the CLEaR program, I got to go to a lunch lecture sponsored by the program with speaker Tonya Brito. It was PHENOMENAL. I loved it. The admissions lady who took me to the lecture brought me around and introduced me to a bunch of professors in the program who were all SO nice and spent a good amount of time talking with me about my interests and saying how much they love being at UCI.

Saturday, I attended the student-run symposium called "Critical Perspectives on the Drug War." It was really interesting, very professional, and had a lot of great speakers. There was an interesting group of attendees beyond just UCI Law affiliates, including medical students, students from other law schools in the area, and a weird man who told me he was running for president of the united states. If you want to check him out, here is his website: http://skipandrews2016.com/ LOL.

Also, the $500 travel stipend is really nice. Makes up for those the schools that won't give you anything *ahem* UC Hastings....

Overall, it was a great trip! If there are any special interests you have, I would make sure to reach out to the admissions staff to see if they can arrange for you to attend an event or meet with someone in your area of interest. Michelle is SO helpful and will go out of her way to make something work for you!

Hope you all have a chance to take advantage of the stipend and see the school!

[LawsRUs]

@Tears,

What a lovely write-up. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Sounded like a good time. I'm excited for ASW--you're still coming riiight?

You narrated your experience with such a deep level of detail that I want to read it a couple of times to absorb everything. Thank you for sharing, I wish I was there !!

[Drowninmyowntears]

@Tears,

What a lovely write-up. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Sounded like a good time. I'm excited for ASW--you're still coming riiight?

You narrated your experience with such a deep level of detail that I want to read it a couple of times to absorb everything. Thank you for sharing, I wish I was there !!

Thanks! I'm not going to ASW anymore. Because I already had this trip planned, I was only going to go to ASW for the stipend. However, I found out I could use it on this trip, so there really isn't really a reason for me to travel back down here again! Hope you have a great time though!

[LawsRUs]

@Tears,

What a lovely write-up. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Sounded like a good time. I'm excited for ASW--you're still coming riiight?

You narrated your experience with such a deep level of detail that I want to read it a couple of times to absorb everything. Thank you for sharing, I wish I was there !!

Thanks! I'm not going to ASW anymore. Because I already had this trip planned, I was only going to go to ASW for the stipend. However, I found out I could use it on this trip, so there really isn't really a reason for me to travel back down here again! Hope you have a great time though!

I see I see. Good luck with the rest of your cycle. hey lemme know where you end up matriculating

[LawsRUs]

On a side note, I'll be sad if UCI ranks in the 40s in March, they deserve higher. Not that I'm paying attention to USNWR when I'm making my decision; it's more like parents being disappointed in their child for not performing well, well knowing that their child could have done much better.

I'm also afraid that USNWR will steer accepted applicants away from the school. Which is unfortunate if it does. So sad so sad.

[Drowninmyowntears]

On a side note, I'll be sad if UCI ranks in the 40s in March, they deserve higher. Not that I'm paying attention to USNWR when I'm making my decision; it's more like parents being disappointed in their child for not performing well, well knowing that their child could have done much better.

I'm also afraid that USNWR will steer accepted applicants away from the school. Which is unfortunate if it does. So sad so sad.

I heard from another person that they are expected to rank higher than Davis! I think we really can't know until they come out and people are just guessing. Don't be too sad! So it sounds like UCI is your top choice right now?

And actually it will probably increase applicants! I feel like a lot of people don't want to go there because it's not ranked and thats a risk or some people don't even know about it because its not on the rankings!

[nlee10]

On a side note, I'll be sad if UCI ranks in the 40s in March, they deserve higher. Not that I'm paying attention to USNWR when I'm making my decision; it's more like parents being disappointed in their child for not performing well, well knowing that their child could have done much better.

I'm also afraid that USNWR will steer accepted applicants away from the school. Which is unfortunate if it does. So sad so sad.

I heard from another person that they are expected to rank higher than Davis! I think we really can't know until they come out and people are just guessing. Don't be too sad! So it sounds like UCI is your top choice right now?

And actually it will probably increase applicants! I feel like a lot of people don't want to go there because it's not ranked and thats a risk or some people don't even know about it because its not on the rankings!

Lurker here but FWIW, Davis was most recently ranked at 36 (I think) so it's very possible for UCI to debut in the 30's/low 40's. We shall see.

[LawsRUs]

rion--

it might be fun to get a poll going, re: ranking, if you can put one up there

[Iagreetotheseterms]

Lurker here but FWIW, Davis was most recently ranked at 36 (I think) so it's very possible for UCI to debut in the 30's/low 40's. We shall see.

Chemerinsky said that it was going to be a top 20 school, so such a ranking wouldn't be a disappointment only to people on this thread. I went and took a tour of the school, observed Chemerinsky's constitutional class, he even offered home baked cookies. UCI was my first choice, until I saw the unemployment rates for the it's second class. Data exists only for 2 of its classes and the trend is definitely a downward one.

I'm gunning and reading Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law, and it's an excellent book, nevertheless I think UCI is being deceptive in how it markets itself to prospective students.

[Drowninmyowntears]

Lurker here but FWIW, Davis was most recently ranked at 36 (I think) so it's very possible for UCI to debut in the 30's/low 40's. We shall see.

Chemerinsky said that it was going to be a top 20 school, so such a ranking wouldn't be a disappointment only to people on this thread. I went and took a tour of the school, observed Chemerinsky's constitutional class, he even offered home baked cookies. UCI was my first choice, until I saw the unemployment rates for the it's second class. Data exists only for 2 of its classes and the trend is definitely a downward one.

I'm gunning and reading Chemerinsky's Constitutional Law, and it's an excellent book, nevertheless I think UCI is being deceptive in how it markets itself to prospective students.

Having just been there and talked with at least 8 different students, they all were very confident in jobs they had lined up and said you shouldn't have a hard time getting a job unless you want to practice on the East Coast. You lack the network over there so it's much hard to get into that market, but they said if you're just looking in CA, you would be fine. I guess it just depends what you're looking for. You'd probably have a hard time if you want to do big law, but I feel like that's the case for pretty much any school that's not T14.



Plus, I'm not sure which stats you are looking at that are so bad. It looks like UCI's employment rates are around 80-84%, UC Hastings is 73%, UC Davis 88%.... I mean it's right in there. Especially considering it's such a new school and it doesn't have the same alumni network as the other schools, I think that's great.

[Iagreetotheseterms]

Having just been there and talked with at least 8 different students, they all were very confident in jobs they had lined up and said you shouldn't have a hard time getting a job unless you want to practice on the East Coast. You lack the network over there so it's much hard to get into that market, but they said if you're just looking in CA, you would be fine. I guess it just depends what you're looking for. You'd probably have a hard time if you want to do big law, but I feel like that's the case for pretty much any school that's not T14.



Plus, I'm not sure which stats you are looking at that are so bad. It looks like UCI's employment rates are around 80-84%, UC Hastings is 73%, UC Davis 88%.... I mean it's right in there. Especially considering it's such a new school and it doesn't have the same alumni network as the other schools, I think that's great.

Talking to 8 people is anecdotal evidence. How do you know I lack the network? When I visited, I drove to the school.

UCI has a 21.43 % unemployment rate for the class of 2013. Hastings has a 22.7% unemployment rate. For $50,000 a year one would expect that a quarter of the class wouldn't be completely jobless 9 months after graduation.

UCI said it was going to be a top 20 school, yet it is not. UCI said it was going to be focused on public service, yet only 3 of its 2013 graduates are working in public interest. What they're doing is pulling a bait and switch on idealistic students!

These are the stats I'm looking at.

http://www.law.uci.edu/careers/students ... -2013.html
http://uchastings.edu/career-office/doc ... ts2013.pdf

[LawsRUs]

I'm not gonna lie: I was disappointed when I saw 3 gradates placing into PI. It has really good clerkship placement, so maybe some of those kids take PI after their clk-ship.

I like socal. good food. good place to live. cant beat the weather. uci has some good prgms there. i hv to add Property is not in the req'd curriculum. experiential learning during 1L shld b a huge boost when looking for summer position. also dean chem: 'nuff said lol im jk

i hv a good $$ offer frm them, so it's not a bad choice at all for me if i get ~$20k more frm them in negotiatns. dirt cheap

eta: xylo got us a banner. hoorah!!
my goals may be a lil diff from other ppl. interested in PI/govt/clk-ship

[james_byrd74]

Having just been there and talked with at least 8 different students, they all were very confident in jobs they had lined up and said you shouldn't have a hard time getting a job unless you want to practice on the East Coast. You lack the network over there so it's much hard to get into that market, but they said if you're just looking in CA, you would be fine. I guess it just depends what you're looking for. You'd probably have a hard time if you want to do big law, but I feel like that's the case for pretty much any school that's not T14.



Plus, I'm not sure which stats you are looking at that are so bad. It looks like UCI's employment rates are around 80-84%, UC Hastings is 73%, UC Davis 88%.... I mean it's right in there. Especially considering it's such a new school and it doesn't have the same alumni network as the other schools, I think that's great.

Talking to 8 people is anecdotal evidence. How do you know I lack the network? When I visited, I drove to the school.

UCI has a 21.43 % unemployment rate for the class of 2013. Hastings has a 22.7% unemployment rate. For $50,000 a year one would expect that a quarter of the class wouldn't be completely jobless 9 months after graduation.

UCI said it was going to be a top 20 school, yet it is not. UCI said it was going to be focused on public service, yet only 3 of its 2013 graduates are working in public interest. What they're doing is pulling a bait and switch on idealistic students!

These are the stats I'm looking at.

http://www.law.uci.edu/careers/students ... -2013.html
http://uchastings.edu/career-office/doc ... ts2013.pdf

I don't agree with the argument that a small number of graduates being placed in to public interest jobs reflects the school's intentions and ideologies. Although, I see this position often. I understand the need for "objective" data to justify law school decisions, but keep in mind the practical significance of such statistics.

While the school can partner with agencies, non-profits, etc. and impact placement, they can't determine the amount of jobs ultimately available or their graduates' decisions where to work. I know plenty of attorneys in Southern California that are actively looking for work in the public sector (many of which are UCLA, USC, and Berkeley law grads) that can't find jobs. I have one friend that graduated from USC near the top of her class in 2012, has consistently applied up and down California, and just received her first PI interview with Orange County Legal Aid. One of my current colleagues graduated from UCLA law in 2013 (also in the upper echelon of her class) and has yet to receive a single interview with any PI firm, agency, or organization. Thus, she works in the private sector out of necessity until she can find somewhere willing to pay her for something she actually wants to do. She's not an anomaly--this is simply the job market.

Make no mistake, UC Irvine has plenty of great programs, classes, and other opportunities for the PI-minded student. I'd be happy to point you to some resources, if you'd like.

[Iagreetotheseterms]

That only a small number of students would go work at public interest is an inevitable outcome of making a school just like every other, but don't take my word for it.

https://www.nlg.org/law-students/nlg-ra ... nt-project

I don't consider myself radical, but I agree with them that the current law school model is not meant to help disadvantaged people be it students or the public.

@LawsRUs if you have a great scholarship it would be justifiable to attend.

[LawsRUs]

You all bring up some legitimate points.

The evidence for both attending and not attending is there. I think it comes down to personal choice/offer/goals/etc.

meh