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by adonai » Sun Mar 13, 2011 7:10 am
I went today, and they didn't really mention anything we didn't know. About 40ish people attended, and about 25-30 of those were full-time program students. I didn't get to ask about their admissions situation, but looking at the number of people present at ASD it seemed as if they did not send out a majority of them. I certainly expected there to be 100+ present at the least. There were also many parents present at the ASD as well.
A couple of people asked about job and employment prospects/statistics, and the Vice Dean and other faculty mentioned that Southwestern was doing quite alright despite the bad economy. However, they gave me the idea that many graduates the past couple of years have been doing nothing but volunteering or interning post-graduation. I didn't feel as if they were being completely transparent but they did say Southwestern was comparable to other schools in this rough economy so I will take their word on that. They did seem very sincere in their desire to help their students find employment and help them in any way possible, and emphasized that Southwestern is clearly for those who are interested in public interest, government, and small law in the Los Angeles area. Biglaw is possible but a rarity only for those at the way top. O'Melveny, Shepperd Mullin, Gibson, and White and Case have their pick at the top; whether those students actually eventually get hired when pitted against top candidates from other schools is their choice, albeit some of those firms have partners who have graduated from Southwestern and it seems they are dedicated to ensuring SW students have their shot.
Scholarship consideration is an ongoing process and they consider admitted students for scholarships in a separate pool. If you are awarded something, you will receive an invite to interview. It is currently an ongoing process and they hope to wrap it up by deposit deadline.
Overall, I thought it was great seeing the campus and meeting the faculty members in person. The 3Ls that spoke to us seemed very happy and content with their situation and with the school in general, despite the fact that it seemed they did not have jobs lined up for them after graduation. However, they seemed pretty confident that every class after them would fare much better in finding employment due to the economy slowly recovering. The students and career services director made it pretty clear that the past couple graduating classes were just very unlucky, and emphasized again and again that SW is a large investment and if you aren't ready/sure of it that you should stay out. It was funny because of how nicely they said it and I kept thinking back to TLS where they aren't so nice about getting that point across lol.
Other than this, there was nothing new to be learned about that you haven't heard on TLS. If you read their brochure, you would basically know everything they spoke about. Those who weren't present or who weren't able to make it this time did not miss out on much.
I was really disheartened. Unless they plan on sending them out a couple weeks later like USD. I'm going to send out an email asking, because there's only a month left before the majority of my deposits, and I'm completely lost with of this money/debt problem that we have to deal with for wanting an education. We'll my problem is not only from that but from personally [royally] f'ing up a semester.
