SMU Dedman Law c/o 18 Applicants Forum

[ilikebaseball]

Baseball, post the link to the new page. I'm committed and ready to move to Dallas!

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 7&t=246040

This is the new page. Can't wait to meet you guys!

Glad somebody made a class of '18 page! I'll be making my final decision after ASD but pending I dislike the campus/area (very highly doubt it) I'll be committing for sure!

Haha If we're strictly talking campus/area, SMU doesn't really lose to any school in the country.

7th best campus in the nation and in the nicest area in the metroplex and one of the nicest in the state

[bound]

I'll likely try and move down around the first of August. I've heard from current students that most places don't need you to sign a lease very early, and I was told if I went apartment hunting in July I should be just fine. It seems to me like this would be cutting it close, but I'm coming from a college town where if you need a lease starting in August, it needs to be signed in February or March. Obviously, Dallas doesn't operate on the August to May college schedule so that's not an issue.

Do you have an estimate of how much you're looking to pay per month?

I'd like to stay around $800-850 if I can, but I'm not sure how reasonable that is. Most places I've looked at are more of the $900 and up range. I still haven't decided if I'd rather pay a little less and commute a little ways or bite the bullet and pay a little more to be close.

[edited for clarity]

I know you're probably not talking about distance in these orders of magnitudes since you're a local; but (for those out-of-towners) I teach test prep in North Dallas/SMU often, and 635-West is the bane of my existence. Always closed down to one lane at night for construction for almost a year now, which adds an hour onto my commute. Just don't do it. Or get a toll tag, and move where you want.

Yeah I would just like to add to this for all of the non-locals looking at places to live.

The traffic is real here. Something that might only be 10-15 miles away can easily be a half hour or longer commute in the mornings. And considering all 1L's have 8am classes, that means you will be affected. Yes the traffic is generally one-sided (i.e. if you live downtown and are traveling north in the am, the traffic will be less than if you were traveling toward downtown), but if you are trying to score a deal on rent, you will be with the traffic. Ain't no deals in uptown/downtown!

Get a roommate. Live close to campus or in uptown/greenville/oak lawn. You want to be close to class or at least the places that you'll be social in. Commuting sucks.

[Pho king]

Admitted via status checker

[BigCityDreams]

Admitted today via status checker!

[AshleySchaefferBMW]

Congrats to the new admits!

[Rstein888]

Big city and pho king, congrats and when did y'all go complete?

[ScottPilgrimv.TheLaw]

Admitted via phone call and status checker. Submitted around midnight Feb 15. Complete/File in Review a couple of weeks ago, I think? The dates went away, so who knows.

[BigCityDreams]

Complete 2/25. Trying to decide if it is worth making the trip this weekend!

[j907]

Admitted via status checker this morning!

[BigCityDreams]

For those attending ASD this weekend, what hotel are you staying at?

[Pho king]

Without giving too much away to out myself, I was complete a few months ago, then went incomplete again until early March.

Anyway, does our Admitted Students log-in get emailed to us or come in a mailed packet?

Excited for this opportunity!

[AshleySchaefferBMW]

Without giving too much away to out myself, I was complete a few months ago, then went incomplete again until early March.

Anyway, does our Admitted Students log-in get emailed to us or come in a mailed packet?

Excited for this opportunity!

The Admitted Students login is mailed in the packet. It's the same for everybody so I can PM it to you if you'd like!

[Comet123]

My status checker disappeared this morning. I'm hoping I get in soon!

Any words of wisdom from others that had their status checker go blank before receiving a decision?

[ilikebaseball]

My status checker disappeared this morning. I'm hoping I get in soon!

Any words of wisdom from others that had their status checker go blank before receiving a decision?

mine went blank like 2-3 weeks or so before getting in. Idk if they've rejected anyone when it went blank though... Seems to be the norm. Just hold out, and good luck.

They were doing most of their decisions on Thursdays until the huge flood of admits yesterday.

[BigCityDreams]

What did everyone think of admitted students day?

[JDBound2015]

To all you that were admitted on April 6th, when is your deposit deadline? I have been in the complete with "disappeared date" status since April 3 and am trying to gauge when they might have more admit data to make more decisions. I know all people admitted prior to April 1 had an April 1 deadline.

[Viking]

To all you that were admitted on April 6th, when is your deposit deadline? I have been in the complete with "disappeared date" status since April 3 and am trying to gauge when they might have more admit data to make more decisions. I know all people admitted prior to April 1 had an April 1 deadline.

I was admitted on the sixth and told that I had until 15th of May to make a decision.

What did everyone think of admitted students day?

I was very impressed with SMU and Dallas in general. I was highly skeptical about the school and the city coming in, but I've really enjoyed the last couple of days in Dallas and after talking to SMU officials and career services, I'm liking the school more and more. Like all schools, SMU has it's pros and cons, but I saw enough to convince me that I could be happy here if I chose to attend.

[mootpoint]

What did everyone think of admitted students day?

Like Viking, I too was very impressed by SMU's ASD. They did a good job of highlighting their strong points while mitigating qualms about their weak points. Their alumni network is rock solid in TX. Their instructors are top-notch. And they have the serendipitous location of Dallas. Overall, ASD solidified the positive feeling I already had.

[BigCityDreams]

I would have to agree with the above sentiments. I enjoyed the school overall and it seems really solid for my goals. Did anyone happen to find out if LRW was graded?

[BVest]

I would have to agree with the above sentiments. I enjoyed the school overall and it seems really solid for my goals. Did anyone happen to find out if LRW was graded?

It's graded (and 6 hours total for the year). I don't know that anyone beyond T-14 has an ungraded LRW.

[BigCityDreams]

I would have to agree with the above sentiments. I enjoyed the school overall and it seems really solid for my goals. Did anyone happen to find out if LRW was graded?

It's graded (and 6 hours total for the year). I don't know that anyone beyond T-14 has an ungraded LRW.

Okay! Thanks! Are you a current student? If so, I was wondering if you would have any opinion on the difficulty (or ease) a person might experience that has had previous experience writing memos and briefs in undergrad? My major required class where we wrote these but I'm not sure if thats an advantage or disadvantage.

[BVest]

I would have to agree with the above sentiments. I enjoyed the school overall and it seems really solid for my goals. Did anyone happen to find out if LRW was graded?

It's graded (and 6 hours total for the year). I don't know that anyone beyond T-14 has an ungraded LRW.

Okay! Thanks! Are you a current student? If so, I was wondering if you would have any opinion on the difficulty (or ease) a person might experience that has had previous experience writing memos and briefs in undergrad? My major required class where we wrote these but I'm not sure if thats an advantage or disadvantage.

Not having written legal memos or briefs prior to law school, I can't speak to what prior experience would mean. I assume that would help, at least marginally. Unless of course those were taught to you in a manner completely unlike LRW, in which case you'll have to forget what you've learned and learn anew.

Personally, I found the most difficult part of the memo and the brief at SMU to be the extent to which they hide the ball on the actual issue you need to address, which burned a lot of time at least for me (and I'm fairly good at issue-spotter exams, but this isn't the same). (Also, weirdly, my 1L memo's two issues were 100% unrelated -- like to the point that the client might not even hire a single firm for both issues -- but that was exceptionally unusual and I don't think has been repeated since.)

[JDBound2015]

I am currently still pending at SMU, however out of where I am still pending it is the one other place I might consider if I can get in. I am currently admitted to and would likely otherwise attend a compatible ranked school. One thing that really makes SMU stand out amongst its US News ranked peers is its employment stats. If you look on LST and its ABA and NALP reports you will see that employment, Big Law placement, and salary are great for its rank. At the same time it is also clear that about 80% stay in Texas and over half of the class stay in the DFW metro area, making SMU much more regional than similarly ranked private schools in the USN 40s. My question is, how much of SMU's employment stats are driven by the school itself. Dallas is widely known as one of the best and fastest growing markets (and many law students across the country are encouraged to check out). That being said SMU Dedman is obviously widely known in the city and maintains an excellent reputation and many connections.

My question really boils down to: Is SMU's employment outcomes really that much better than other 40s USN schools, or is a graduate of a similarly ranked school willing to seek employment in Texas likely to have similar outcomes?

[BigCityDreams]

I would have to agree with the above sentiments. I enjoyed the school overall and it seems really solid for my goals. Did anyone happen to find out if LRW was graded?

It's graded (and 6 hours total for the year). I don't know that anyone beyond T-14 has an ungraded LRW.

Okay! Thanks! Are you a current student? If so, I was wondering if you would have any opinion on the difficulty (or ease) a person might experience that has had previous experience writing memos and briefs in undergrad? My major required class where we wrote these but I'm not sure if thats an advantage or disadvantage.

Not having written legal memos or briefs prior to law school, I can't speak to what prior experience would mean. I assume that would help, at least marginally. Unless of course those were taught to you in a manner completely unlike LRW, in which case you'll have to forget what you've learned and learn anew.

Personally, I found the most difficult part of the memo and the brief at SMU to be the extent to which they hide the ball on the actual issue you need to address, which burned a lot of time at least for me (and I'm fairly good at issue-spotter exams, but this isn't the same). (Also, weirdly, my 1L memo's two issues were 100% unrelated -- like to the point that the client might not even hire a single firm for both issues -- but that was exceptionally unusual and I don't think has been repeated since.)

Thank you so much for that! I think it may have helped seeing as the class it was for was Legal Research and Writing for Pre-Law

[BVest]

I am currently still pending at SMU, however out of where I am still pending it is the one other place I might consider if I can get in. I am currently admitted to and would likely otherwise attend a compatible ranked school. One thing that really makes SMU stand out amongst its US News ranked peers is its employment stats. If you look on LST and its ABA and NALP reports you will see that employment, Big Law placement, and salary are great for its rank. At the same time it is also clear that about 80% stay in Texas and over half of the class stay in the DFW metro area, making SMU much more regional than similarly ranked private schools in the USN 40s. My question is, how much of SMU's employment stats are driven by the school itself. Dallas is widely known as one of the best and fastest growing markets (and many law students across the country are encouraged to check out). That being said SMU Dedman is obviously widely known in the city and maintains an excellent reputation and many connections.

My question really boils down to: Is SMU's employment outcomes really that much better than other 40s USN schools, or is a graduate of a similarly ranked school willing to seek employment in Texas likely to have similar outcomes?

SMU's employment outcomes in Texas, especially N. Texas, will be better than similar schools, and would be worse in a similar regional school's region. For example, SMU and UNC have nearly identical numbers, but if you want to practice in Texas you'll have much better outcomes from SMU than from UNC and vice versa. Similarly, Alabama has very strong employment numbers, but is also very much a regional school. If you want to practice in Alabama or a surrounding area, U of A will serve you well, but not if you're trying to go elsewhere to practice.