Stanford C/O 2020 Applicants (2016-2017 Cycle) Forum

[taxman14]

TLS is filled with a bunch of scared babies. They'd have told Neil Armstrong that he could make more money going to dental school than flying to the moon.

Go follow your dreams and fuck the money.

Except that both go to the moon - one does it in a Porsche, the other in a Ferrari. The Porsche is free but the Ferrari is $300k. Seems pretty logical

Michigan will get you to the moon in the sense that you'll spend three years living in a frigid desolate wasteland. Put away the spreadsheets, take the goddamn ferrari and live a little.

spend three years in a Ferrari so you can spend 5 in slavery at a biglaw firm!

"Slavery", lol. The corporate world isn't nearly as scary, evil and oppressive as your Uni profs made it out to be. Promise.

False - currently working in corp America at a job with fewer hours than Big Law and already want to kill myself. You're insane to take a little sunshine over a full ride to them slave in an office for free. I'd rather live in a shithole (Michigan) and then move to SF and make money that goes into my own pocket and have freedom in 3-5 years less. But you do you homie

[proteinshake]

TLS is filled with a bunch of scared babies. They'd have told Neil Armstrong that he could make more money going to dental school than flying to the moon.

Go follow your dreams and fuck the money.

Except that both go to the moon - one does it in a Porsche, the other in a Ferrari. The Porsche is free but the Ferrari is $300k. Seems pretty logical

Michigan will get you to the moon in the sense that you'll spend three years living in a frigid desolate wasteland. Put away the spreadsheets, take the goddamn ferrari and live a little.

spend three years in a Ferrari so you can spend 5 in slavery at a biglaw firm!

"Slavery", lol. The corporate world isn't nearly as scary, evil and oppressive as your Uni profs made it out to be. Promise.

yeah dude I'll trust ya, all these people claiming that working insanely long hours and only taking a fraction of the money home being a miserable life must be wrong! wise 0Ls like you are the ones I should trust! after all, prestige is an end in itself, not a means to an end!!!

[canafsa]

.

[Rigo]

False - currently working in corp America at a job with fewer hours than Big Law and already want to kill myself. You're insane to take a little sunshine over a full ride to them slave in an office for free. I'd rather live in a shithole (Michigan) and then move to SF and make money that goes into my own pocket and have freedom in 3-5 years less. But you do you homie

If corporate America makes you want to kill yourself, you probably wouldn't cut it in just about any workplace. No where in the world is there so cushy and, frankly, comfortable a work environment. But hey, enjoy Michigan!

The vast majority of biglaw anecdotes on TLS range from not content to absolutely miserable, so idk why we should be listening to a 0L on this subject.
Just because you're going to choose more costly perceived prestige for the exact same outcome as a more affordable option doesn't mean you need to denigrate people who are considering the latter.

[taxman14]

False - currently working in corp America at a job with fewer hours than Big Law and already want to kill myself. You're insane to take a little sunshine over a full ride to them slave in an office for free. I'd rather live in a shithole (Michigan) and then move to SF and make money that goes into my own pocket and have freedom in 3-5 years less. But you do you homie

If corporate America makes you want to kill yourself, you probably wouldn't cut it in just about any workplace. No where in the world is there so cushy and, frankly, comfortable a work environment. But hey, enjoy Michigan!

The vast majority of biglaw anecdotes on TLS range from not content to absolutely miserable, so idk why we should be listening to a 0L on this subject.
Just because you're going to choose more costly perceived prestige for the exact same outcome as a more affordable option doesn't mean you need to denigrate people who are considering the latter.

lol couldn't have said it better myself

[Finickywalrus]

TLS is filled with a bunch of scared babies. They'd have told Neil Armstrong that he could make more money going to dental school than flying to the moon.

Go follow your dreams and fuck the money.

Except that both go to the moon - one does it in a Porsche, the other in a Ferrari. The Porsche is free but the Ferrari is $300k. Seems pretty logical

Michigan will get you to the moon in the sense that you'll spend three years living in a frigid desolate wasteland. Put away the spreadsheets, take the goddamn ferrari and live a little.

spend three years in a Ferrari so you can spend 5 in slavery at a biglaw firm!

"Slavery", lol. The corporate world isn't nearly as scary, evil and oppressive as your Uni profs made it out to be. Promise.

False - currently working in corp America at a job with fewer hours than Big Law and already want to kill myself. You're insane to take a little sunshine over a full ride to them slave in an office for free. I'd rather live in a shithole (Michigan) and then move to SF and make money that goes into my own pocket and have freedom in 3-5 years less. But you do you homie

A little off track but I can confirm. I'm currently a big law paralegal with a lot of opportunities to write briefs and perform a "lighter" version of first year associate work (research, massive doc proofreading, making binders for oral argument). I love most of what I do (which is more than many corporate associates say) and only work 50-60 hours per week, but it's starting to take a toll on my health and stress levels.

I work with supportive attorneys for the most part but there is always a false sense of urgency in everything we do. A brief is due Friday but a senior attorney determines on Tuesday evening that it MUST be submitted by COB Wednesday. It's an artificial deadline but I really have to work all night on Tuesday to get it done. Then I proof a 150 page document on no sleep. If there is one mistake (not just spelling which is easy, I'm talking about the wrong type of quotation marks that look almost identical to "smart quotes" or only one space after a period instead of two) someone will notice and you will get yelled at or your attorney will (which is often worse). The courts never notice or care about these things but you can get fired for too many "sloppy" mistakes.

There is always a general feeling of lack of job security. I'm well liked and my work gets great reviews (I've received a raise) but if I miss one page of one document in a 4000 page series of binders I will get in trouble. If that single page comes up in oral argument and my attorney can't answer the question, I'm fired. It's impossible to be perfect in this job so it's a matter of hoping your minor mistakes aren't noticed (even though you have no idea what they are). That's why you always live in fear to a certain extent. It's not healthy for anyone because everyone gets varying degrees of this pressure, unless you're a named partner.

Also, I'll add that this was not my first job. I've worked for a few different companies including a tech company known for its stressful environment. The paralegal job is infinitely more stressful. In tech you're rewarded for big thinking and new ideas. In law, you're not yelled at if you manage to find the needle in the massive haystack.

Tl;dr corporate America is crazy stressful. People are not exaggerating when they discuss the perpetual stress you feel in big law.

[playersball]

I totally get taking the money if you are going to go into biglaw, but I wish there was more info/anecdotes on TLS for those who are set on going into PI/gov work and plan on taking advantage of LRAP. I would be interested in knowing how feasible the LRAP at Stanford is for someone doing PD/DA or other similar work.

[Rex_Racer_Jr]

I totally get taking the money if you are going to go into biglaw, but I wish there was more info/anecdotes on TLS for those who are set on going into PI/gov work and plan on taking advantage of LRAP. I would be interested in knowing how feasible the LRAP at Stanford is for someone doing PD/DA or other similar work.

There's a nifty google doc in one of the LRAP threads. It compares all the LRAPs. I don't think any school competes with HYS on LRAP, but I'm a car man and not a numbers man.

[unrelated]

I totally get taking the money if you are going to go into biglaw, but I wish there was more info/anecdotes on TLS for those who are set on going into PI/gov work and plan on taking advantage of LRAP. I would be interested in knowing how feasible the LRAP at Stanford is for someone doing PD/DA or other similar work.

+1. I have no desire to work in Big Law at all, definitely plan on using LRAP. Also this ferrari v porsche argument has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read.

[katthegreat11]

.

[calpolisci2016]

Are the problems of big law described here not similar to problems in so-called public interest/govt attorney jobs, albeit probably at a precipitously less urgent pace? Surely, there are issues in these "Dream" jobs too that are as frustrating as the problems in slave-like big law jobs, except you don't get compensated nearly as much.

In other words, I think people are quick to rag on the evil corporate America law jobs while assuming falsely that the dream govt/PI jobs are mostly rainbows and puppy toes.

[Rigo]

I totally get taking the money if you are going to go into biglaw, but I wish there was more info/anecdotes on TLS for those who are set on going into PI/gov work and plan on taking advantage of LRAP. I would be interested in knowing how feasible the LRAP at Stanford is for someone doing PD/DA or other similar work.

There's a nifty google doc in one of the LRAP threads. It compares all the LRAPs. I don't think any school competes with HYS on LRAP, but I'm a car man and not a numbers man.

Columbia's is pretty good.
Followed by NYU
The rest are meh, but decent enough for most PI incomes I bet.

[playersball]

Only curious to see if I can make it a worthwhile consideration. Anything over $60k total cost isn't worth the premium

Is that for tuition only or including COL? Because $60k total COA would pretty much require a full ride from S. And its hard to predict what aid would look like for 2L and 3L unless salary has been very similar since 2015.

[Npret]

Are the problems of big law described here not similar to problems in so-called public interest/govt attorney jobs, albeit probably at a precipitously less urgent pace? Surely, there are issues in these "Dream" jobs too that are as frustrating as the problems in slave-like big law jobs, except you don't get compensated nearly as much.

In other words, I think people are quick to rag on the evil corporate America law jobs while assuming falsely that the dream govt/PI jobs are mostly rainbows and puppy toes.

There is a great thread here about PI. Maybe ask questions there? I don't think anyone is assuming the Stark dichotomy you portray.

[Finickywalrus]

Are the problems of big law described here not similar to problems in so-called public interest/govt attorney jobs, albeit probably at a precipitously less urgent pace? Surely, there are issues in these "Dream" jobs too that are as frustrating as the problems in slave-like big law jobs, except you don't get compensated nearly as much.

In other words, I think people are quick to rag on the evil corporate America law jobs while assuming falsely that the dream govt/PI jobs are mostly rainbows and puppy toes.

There is a great thread here about PI. Maybe ask questions there? I don't think anyone is assuming the Stark dichotomy you portray.

Yeah there is no dream legal job and many, if not all, will demand more than typical 9-5 positions. However there's a difference between working occasional late nights because you're a DA with an upcoming trial and working 14 hours a day and 12 on weekends because your boss arbitrarily moves a deadline up or there's a chance you might be needed on a deal (but it never comes to fruition). Both are stressful but I'd argue one is potentially more purposeful.

[notorious_mig]

Hi friends sorry to derail whatever conversation is going on but I have a question of advice (((and please don't quote this)))

I haven't heard back from SLS yet and my app has been UR since 10/20. GPA<25, 25<LSAT<50, URM (Latina), in at Harvard, idk what else you want to KNOW ABOUT ME

Anyways I want to go into immigration law and my whole app is centered on that and I have a fun exciting ~~~immigrant's daughter narrative~~~ going on. Stanford is my top choice because they have fucking AWESOME immigration programs and actively supported the DREAM Act since day 1 like fucking ugh I love it anyways so the lawyer I worked for in UG is an immigration attorney and went to Stanford for UG and said he would write me a LOR this weekend so yay we're all happy and excited

So then the questions of the hour are:
1) Do I e-mail SLS and be like "friends nobles countrymen lend me your ears you're gonna get a LOR for me soon"
2) Would it be overkill to also write a LOCI

Any advice would be gr8ly appreci8ed

Love always,

The Notorious M.I.G.

[ayylmao]

Just FYI, 307 people members+invited to the fb group. That leaves about 150 more open seats.

[goldenbear2020]

Just FYI, 307 people members+invited to the fb group. That leaves about 150 more open seats.

It was 261 this past Wednesday. With 409 accepted last year, that leaves only ~100 seats left...

[playersball]

Just FYI, 307 people members+invited to the fb group. That leaves about 150 more open seats.

It was 261 this past Wednesday. With 409 accepted last year, that leaves only ~100 seats left...

Im showing 180 + 126 invited by email, so yup about 100 left

[Instrumental]

Just FYI, 307 people members+invited to the fb group. That leaves about 150 more open seats.

It was 261 this past Wednesday. With 409 accepted last year, that leaves only ~100 seats left...

This must be what it felt like to be on the Titanic waiting in line for a life boat.

[Rigo]

Just FYI, 307 people members+invited to the fb group. That leaves about 150 more open seats.

It was 261 this past Wednesday. With 409 accepted last year, that leaves only ~100 seats left...

This must be what it felt like to be on the Titanic waiting in line for a life boat.

*Cal grabs random steerage child*

[notorious_mig]

Preguntita: does a HLS acceptance indicate a higher likelihood of a SLS acceptance? Asking for a friend who is me

[Rex_Racer_Jr]

Preguntita: does a HLS acceptance indicate a higher likelihood of a SLS acceptance? Asking for a friend who is me

Brah, you need to relax. You've been all over the forums . Also, Harvard is TTT now so who knows. You may get dinged if they think you're HLS material.

CALMA

Send the LOR you were talking about. I hear S weighs LORs heavily due to no interviews. IDK.

[notorious_mig]

Preguntita: does a HLS acceptance indicate a higher likelihood of a SLS acceptance? Asking for a friend who is me

Brah, you need to relax. You've been all over the forums . Also, Harvard is TTT now so who knows. You may get dinged if they think you're HLS material.

CALMA

Send the LOR you were talking about. I hear S weighs LORs heavily due to no interviews. IDK.

Sry thank you for tolerating my anxiety much love <3

[ood's_brother]

Preguntita: does a HLS acceptance indicate a higher likelihood of a SLS acceptance? Asking for a friend who is me

Brah, you need to relax. You've been all over the forums . Also, Harvard is TTT now so who knows. You may get dinged if they think you're HLS material.

CALMA

Send the LOR you were talking about. I hear S weighs LORs heavily due to no interviews. IDK.

Sry thank you for tolerating my anxiety much love <3

Yup, but good luck. Hopefully you'll get in before asw.