Vanderbilt Law c/o 2017 applicants (2013-2014 cycle) Forum

[jk148706]

Sent a request today for an interview. Hoping its as relaxed as everyone else's has been.

[t14splitter]

Just checked the status checker - my decision was mailed today. Hopefully I get the letter by Saturday.

Oh baby. When did u go complete ?

Applied 8/27, complete 8/28.

[Graham42]

.

[HOS]

Checking in. Good luck everyone.

[FKASunny]

Current 1L also available for questions if anyone has any. Don't really feel like making a new thread. I'll answer here or in PM.

Ditto. I'm not sure if this speaks to the laid back nature of Vandy or the heroic lengths 1Ls will go to to procrastinate.

[arklaw13]

Current 1L also available for questions if anyone has any. Don't really feel like making a new thread. I'll answer here or in PM.

Ditto. I'm not sure if this speaks to the laid back nature of Vandy or the heroic lengths 1Ls will go to to procrastinate.

I don't think I'm quite at "heroic" yet. Maybe tomorrow.

[crimson34]

My status updated to decision mailed as well. The weekend may mean might not get it until next week. And the waiting continues.

[FKASunny]

Last year, a small round of acceptances were sent out the second weekend of November. Fingers crossed for you guys!

[ZipWhenSheMoves]

Checking in excitedly! Dylanlj13 and ლ(ಠ益ಠლ), thanks for your good wishes and offers to answer questions . I was wondering: I know in the past Vandy was known for churning out a lot of corporate attorneys, but more recently has been trying to broader the school's image and focus on other areas of practice. Do you feel like most of the student body is still aiming to do this kind of law, or do the interests seem more diverse than that? I'm coming from working as a public interest paralegal; I'm not sure I want to say in legal services, but I know I'm also not too enthused about corporate law in general. Would love to get your perspective!

[jk148706]

My status updated to decision mailed as well. The weekend may mean might not get it until next week. And the waiting continues.

When did you go complete?

[arklaw13]

Checking in excitedly! Dylanlj13 and ლ(ಠ益ಠლ), thanks for your good wishes and offers to answer questions . I was wondering: I know in the past Vandy was known for churning out a lot of corporate attorneys, but more recently has been trying to broader the school's image and focus on other areas of practice. Do you feel like most of the student body is still aiming to do this kind of law, or do the interests seem more diverse than that? I'm coming from working as a public interest paralegal; I'm not sure I want to say in legal services, but I know I'm also not too enthused about corporate law in general. Would love to get your perspective!

I think there are a lot of people interested in doing government or public interest work. Whatever their interests, most don't end up going that route for at least two reasons (at any top law school). First, you accumulate so much debt that it can be difficult to pay off without going to work for a firm. This has become less of an issue because of PAYE, but having the debt looming over your head is still a big influence. Second, government (especially federal) and public interest jobs are really, really hard to get right out of law school. Government budgets are tight and hiring has mostly stalled and the recent events on the Hill aren't going to help that. Public interest jobs are always scarce because of funding shortages, plus the fact that there are enough graduates from HYS to fill up every desirable position ten times over. Not saying that there aren't Vandy grads who get into public interest and government right out of school, but they are the exception rather than the rule. If you don't think you would be satisfied working in the private sector for at least a few years, now might not be the best time to go to law school. Add this to the fact that the economy is in the shitter and firm jobs are getting harder to get anyway. There are those like me who got a full ride and could go for public interest or government without having to worry about the first problem I mentioned, but we would still have the problem of actually finding one of those jobs. I'm more interested in the private sector anyway, so that doesn't really matter for me personally.

[crimson34]

My status updated to decision mailed as well. The weekend may mean might not get it until next week. And the waiting continues.

When did you go complete?

Went complete 10/9

[JRO1989]

My status updated to decision mailed as well. The weekend may mean might not get it until next week. And the waiting continues.

When did you go complete?

Went complete 10/9

10/9 was with interview and all?

[crimson34]

My status updated to decision mailed as well. The weekend may mean might not get it until next week. And the waiting continues.

When did you go complete?

Went complete 10/9

10/9 was with interview and all?

Yes complete everything and interview complete

[crimson34]

Just received my admissions decision today. I was admitted. It came by FedEx. Took over a month from complete date. Good luck all

[jk148706]

Just received my admissions decision today. I was admitted. It came by FedEx. Took over a month from complete date. Good luck all

Wooo congrats. Gives me hope that my decision won't take too long.

[elideep]

Just received my admissions decision today. I was admitted. It came by FedEx. Took over a month from complete date. Good luck all

Great news! Congratulations!

[ZipWhenSheMoves]

Crimson, congratulations! Is Vandy one of your top choices?

Dylan, thanks so much for your response. No, I'm completely fine with working in private practice, but plenty of private attorneys are not primarily corporate attorneys. (Representing individuals, families, non-profits, unions...) In my work right now,opposing counsel is mostly attorneys for banks and mortgage companies- and I already know that that's not something I would want to do (or be surrounded by).

[t14splitter]

Just received my admissions decision today. I was admitted. It came by FedEx. Took over a month from complete date. Good luck all

Same here. Congrats!

[arklaw13]

Dylan, thanks so much for your response. No, I'm completely fine with working in private practice, but plenty of private attorneys are not primarily corporate attorneys. (Representing individuals, families, non-profits, unions...) In my work right now,opposing counsel is mostly attorneys for banks and mortgage companies- and I already know that that's not something I would want to do (or be surrounded by).

That may be true for litigation, but I would encourage you to keep your options open in case you might want to do transactional work. I know a lot of people who don't want to do litigation work for corporations who are screwing the little guy a lot of the time, but there isn't really much of a moral case against working for a bank who is in the process of buying or selling debt, property, etc from another bank or holding company. As far as litigation, there are some people who get in with personal injury firms that would do the type of work that you may be wanting, but it seems like there aren't just a lot of those jobs right now (could be wrong). The point of my earlier post is that if you really want to go to law school, there is a lot of debt involved, and the type of work that will allow you to manage that debt burden after graduation is generally going to be working in the private sector with a large firm representing corporate clients. They are also the ones who will hire lawyers right after graduation, whereas a lot of other places will only interview people with a few years of experience (generally at a large firm), because the market is saturated with lawyers they might as well get someone who knows how to practice law already.

tl;dr: You can't be too choosy ITE and you should prepare yourself for the reality that you may have to do work that you don't really like for a few years in order to pay down your down to a manageable amount, after which you can move on to what you probably thought you would be doing after law school in the first place. This isn't specific to any one school; this is going to be the case no matter where you go.

[crimson34]

It is one of the schools I am heavily conisdering. I am going to go for a visit. Likely going to come down to where else I get in, how I like my visit, and what sort of scholarship money may come available.

[wsparker]

Decision mailed

[kathj06]

Decision mailed

Ditto!

[OliveBC]

Decision mailed

Ditto!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS me too

edit: In case anyone is curious I went complete 10/15 and interviewed 10/18

[californiauser]

Decision mailed

x3, as of today. They wouldn't mail rejections this early, would they?