OT: UConn Law School

[Psolo12]

Were you interviewed?

No I was not

 

[uconnfan68]

I scored a 157, the median is around there. Based on my gpa and lsat i was told it would be a 75% chance I got in, didn’t pan out unfortunately. Well, not yet at least.

Good luck. Might want to consider a transfer in after acing first year somewhere else.

 

[Engineer90]

Why is alcoholism or substance abuse so prevalent among lawyers? I never heard that before. Does the field attract smart kids with those tendencies or does the job do it to them?

Also, does anyone know if Asian students are flooding into law like they are in medicine?

 

[the Q]

Another option (if you have the network to swing it)

How to Be a Lawyer Without Going to Law School

 

[whaler11]

Psolo -
I lived with the uncertainty that you are now experiencing, and I feel your anxiety. Ignore the posters above - they are trying to be funny or something and they don't mean harm.

I was wait listed at UConn Law many years ago. I was qualified to get in. Very high LSAT score, graduate degree pre-law school. I was wait listed in part because I applied late.

I kept calling, and every time I got, "you'll be notified if you are taken off the wait list." I put up with that about 4 times, and then it was August, and finally, I asked, "has anybody been taken off the wait list?" She said, "yes." I thought, "wait, I've gotta be high on the wait list . . . ." I then told the secretary/call screener, "I would like an in-person conference with Dean _____," who was the dean of admissions at the time. She said, "she's too busy." I said, "I'm coming in tomorrow at 8 am when you open. I'll bring work and things to do (pre-internet, so not easy!!). I said, "if she has 5 minutes, I would like to talk to her. If she can't see me, I understand, but i'm going to be there every day until the last spot is taken." She was exasperated, but said, "whatever."

10 minutes later the phone rang, and it was the dean. She said I was in, come sign the papers.

I'm not sure if that's helpful or not, dude, but it worked for me. Persistent, without being an . Squeaky wheel got the grease. First time in my life I was that proactive.

Regarding being a lawyer, I don't love it. But it pays reeeeaaaly well, and I work for myself, and I work when I want, and I charge what I want, and I punt clients when I want. I love my lifestyle. I put in about 5 years at the mega-firm sweat shops, to cut my teeth, and now I work part time, make plenty of money, and have a large % of the day to do whatever I want. Lot to be said for that.

If you want more, PM me.

Truth is, the 3 years I spent at UConn Law were 3 of the best years of my life. I loved getting that education, and the cost was ridiculously low. Money and time invested versus lifetime earning potential was a massive PLUS. Can't stress that enough.

Regarding some uninformed posts, above, ignore them. You'll make plenty of money as a lawyer. If you bust your ass and do well in school, you'll get in a big enough firm, if that's what you want. If you're a self-started and you can teach yourself, and you're a good dude and charismatic, people will beat a path to your door.


But I love my lifestyle, and I would never trade it to work some 9-5 job in a cube farm or working in an office somewhere.

Good luck dude. Don't give up on it. If you want to be a lawyer, it really doesn't matter too much where you go to law school unless you are trying to get into an AmLaw 50 firm. Several judges in my jurisdiction went to sub 200 law schools.

Get your degree, work hard, call clients back when they call you, treat them with respect, have clear billing practices, do your job well, and you will ALWAYS have a good source of income.

Peace.

Wait are you telling us it’s more about the person than where they went to school? Scandalous.

 

[whaler11]

Any advice for making 6 figures working 10 hours a week?

Sales.

 

[whaler11]

Agreed. Which is why, if you can go to Yale, Harvard, Penn, fine. If you can't, do not spend $50-60k a year on law school at a place like Suffolk. Find an affordable public school somewhere where you can see yourself living. If you think Nashville is interesting, apply at U Tennessee. Every major state law school is heavily recruited regionally, but not nationally (unless it's Michigan, UVA, Cal etc.). It's something they don't really explain very well to applicants. Once you have some experience, you can relocate just fine, but you should expect your first job will be within the natural recruiting area of your law school unless it is a national level school.

If @Psolo12 has borderline UConn law grades/LSAT, he has lots of options. I only applied there and UGA the first time, got waitlisted at both, so just kept working another year and applied again. UConn and UGA waitlisted me a second time, but Maryland, Kansas and FSU accepted. That year of work experience is really helpful, and helps save some money as well.

I don’t know anything about lawyering but I do know the University of Tenn is in Knoxville... Vanderbilt is in Nashville.

I’m available for the college and university category prep if anyone is trying out for Jeopardy.

 

[the Q]

I don’t know anything about lawyering but I do know the University of Tenn is in Knoxville... Vanderbilt is in Nashville.

I’m available for the college and university category prep if anyone is trying out for Jeopardy.

Nashville firms would still recruit Knoxville kids. It’s close enough in terms of regional recruiting.

 

[whaler11]

Nashville firms would still recruit Knoxville kids. It’s close enough in terms of regional recruiting.

I was making a joke, but if were interested in Nashville - hanging out in Knoxville wouldn’t tell you much.

If someone wanted some actual useful advice: if you have lived your whole life in the Northeast - trying to make a high income living in the south isn’t easy. You’ve got a huge cultural difference to overcome unless you pick an area lousy with Yankees.

 

[Psolo12]

Just a little update for anyone who was wondering (probably no one) I ended up getting denied from UConn and eventually getting in to Richmond Law School after a long period on the wait list so, it all worked out! Appreciate everyone's advice and hopefully law school won't be as awful as I've been hearing lol.

 

[8893]

Just a little update for anyone who was wondering (probably no one) I ended up getting denied from UConn and eventually getting in to Richmond Law School after a long period on the wait list so, it all worked out! Appreciate everyone's advice and hopefully law school won't be as awful as I've been hearing lol.

Congrats. That's a great school and a great city.

Read One L and watch The Paper Chase movie to prepare yourself. It won't be as bad as either, but they will give you some sense of the experience--and motivate you to find a good study group.

 

[gtcam]

Just a little update for anyone who was wondering (probably no one) I ended up getting denied from UConn and eventually getting in to Richmond Law School after a long period on the wait list so, it all worked out! Appreciate everyone's advice and hopefully law school won't be as awful as I've been hearing lol.

Congrats and best of luck
Richmond is a nice place and has cleaned up over the past decade
UR Law school is a highly regarded small private school

 

[the Q]

Just a little update for anyone who was wondering (probably no one) I ended up getting denied from UConn and eventually getting in to Richmond Law School after a long period on the wait list so, it all worked out! Appreciate everyone's advice and hopefully law school won't be as awful as I've been hearing lol.

It won’t be.

It’ll be worse.

I’m happy to provide any help/insights can though to make it more bearable.

 

[Guapo]

Congrats. That's a great school and a great city.

Read One L and watch The Paper Chase movie to prepare yourself. It won't be as bad as either, but they will give you some sense of the experience--and motivate you to find a good study group.

Pfff just watch My Cousin Vinny

 

[Stainmaster]

Just a little update for anyone who was wondering (probably no one) I ended up getting denied from UConn and eventually getting in to Richmond Law School after a long period on the wait list so, it all worked out! Appreciate everyone's advice and hopefully law school won't be as awful as I've been hearing lol.

It will simultaneously be as awful as you’ve heard, yet still incredibly fulfilling. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

 

[CL82]

Congrats and good luck!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Congratulations. Law school is a fun, enjoyable three years. Make the most of it. If you think it's rough, then real work will be even more miserable for you.

 

[Excalibur]

It won’t be.

It’ll be worse.

I’m happy to provide any help/insights can though to make it more bearable.

This was not my experience at all. After the first year, you know what corners can be cut. I found class to be interesting, did very little work outside of it after the first year, and ended up partying more as a 2L and 3L than I did in college.

 

[8893]

Pfff just watch My Cousin Vinny

Actually one of my all-time favorite lawyer movies.

But I was talking about law school. Which means I should add Legally Blonde, too.

 

[bendm]

even 1L year is infinitely more enjoyable than working at a firm billing 2000 hours

 

[Excalibur]

even 1L year is infinitely more enjoyable than working at a firm billing 2000 hours

Put your head down, do the work for a couple of years, parlay that into a GC position, and make outhouse lawyers work on the weekends for you.

Partnership does not reduce working hours, but it does increase headaches.

 

[nomar]

This was not my experience at all. After the first year, you know what corners can be cut. I found class to be interesting, did very little work outside of it after the first year, and ended up partying more as a 2L and 3L than I did in college.

As a 3L, during my first semester I had no classes before 2 PM, and during the second semester, I only had classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This was not my experience at all. After the first year, you know what corners can be cut. I found class to be interesting, did very little work outside of it after the first year, and ended up partying more as a 2L and 3L than I did in college.

I won't say I did little work outside of class, reading cases alone was hours most days. Or that I partied more than at UConn, but I had a ton of fun and less work than I put in now.

Typical day about 3 hours of classes. Often work in some library time between classes. Some days I'd play tennis in the afternoon, get beers at Free State brewery or relax some other way. Dinner at 5:15 or so, in the library at 6:00, finish at 9:00, head to the bars until 11:30 or so. Next day, do it all over. Finals and big exams are different.

Saturdays I met two friends to create a joint outline at 9:00 AM every single day. No matter how hung over. We did that to lunch, grabbed lunch nearby and often played video games after.

 

[polycom]

Kind of wild how many lawyers are on the yard.

 

[Guapo]

Put your head down, do the work for a couple of years, parlay that into a GC position, and make outhouse lawyers work on the weekends for you.

Partnership does not reduce working hours, but it does increase headaches.

Decidedly not a lawyer, but I do work in a legal adjacent industry and this is the best advice.

Go be in-house council somewhere, get out of the firm rat rice as soon as you can.

 

[UConNation]

Sorry to open this back up with a question that goes in a distinctly different direction, but since it seems like several of you are lawyers, I'm curious what your thoughts are.

By way of a brief synopsis, I went to UConn for my undergrad with the intent of going to law school. I realized pretty early on that while I enjoyed studying law (took a few Constitutional and other law classes), I didn't want to make it a career.

I graduated in 2008 with a respectable 3.8 GPA, went off to flight school for the Army and came back and got into the corporate world. I've done well for myself over the past 9 years+ and am moving up in my field (insurance). I'm at the point now where I want to get an advanced degree, but can only do it part time (I'm a married father of 3, am still in the Reserves and am active in other areas as well). I know I can do a part time or online MBA, but I'd rather set myself apart, at least somewhat, and am considering law school. As I said earlier, I loved the law classes I took during undergrad, and beyond a JD setting me apart from my peers, I think the skills I'd learn would actually be put to practical use.

The question is 2 part - 1) Do any of you think the juice is worth the squeeze to get a JD over an MBA? 2) Is going to law school too difficult to do part time?

 

[Excalibur]

Sorry to open this back up with a question that goes in a distinctly different direction, but since it seems like several of you are lawyers, I'm curious what your thoughts are.

By way of a brief synopsis, I went to UConn for my undergrad with the intent of going to law school. I realized pretty early on that while I enjoyed studying law (took a few Constitutional and other law classes), I didn't want to make it a career.

I graduated in 2008 with a respectable 3.8 GPA, went off to flight school for the Army and came back and got into the corporate world. I've done well for myself over the past 9 years+ and am moving up in my field (insurance). I'm at the point now where I want to get an advanced degree, but can only do it part time (I'm a married father of 3, am still in the Reserves and am active in other areas as well). I know I can do a part time or online MBA, but I'd rather set myself apart, at least somewhat, and am considering law school. As I said earlier, I loved the law classes I took during undergrad, and beyond a JD setting me apart from my peers, I think the skills I'd learn would actually be put to practical use.

The question is 2 part - 1) Do any of you think the juice is worth the squeeze to get a JD over an MBA? 2) Is going to law school too difficult to do part time?

Part time may be possible, and I think that the evening division at UConn can be taken over a period of 4 years vs. 3.

My advice would be to do the MBA instead of the JD. I don't think that a law degree will do much to set you apart from MBA recipients from a qualification standpoint with most companies, even if I personally think that MBAs aren't particularly valuable.

 

[the Q]

Sorry to open this back up with a question that goes in a distinctly different direction, but since it seems like several of you are lawyers, I'm curious what your thoughts are.

By way of a brief synopsis, I went to UConn for my undergrad with the intent of going to law school. I realized pretty early on that while I enjoyed studying law (took a few Constitutional and other law classes), I didn't want to make it a career.

I graduated in 2008 with a respectable 3.8 GPA, went off to flight school for the Army and came back and got into the corporate world. I've done well for myself over the past 9 years+ and am moving up in my field (insurance). I'm at the point now where I want to get an advanced degree, but can only do it part time (I'm a married father of 3, am still in the Reserves and am active in other areas as well). I know I can do a part time or online MBA, but I'd rather set myself apart, at least somewhat, and am considering law school. As I said earlier, I loved the law classes I took during undergrad, and beyond a JD setting me apart from my peers, I think the skills I'd learn would actually be put to practical use.

The question is 2 part - 1) Do any of you think the juice is worth the squeeze to get a JD over an MBA? 2) Is going to law school too difficult to do part time?

I would not recommend law school to anyone who isn’t dead set on being an attorney.

How would the law degree help you in your field? Because it’s a very expensive gamble.

 

[8893]

The question is 2 part - 1) Do any of you think the juice is worth the squeeze to get a JD over an MBA? 2) Is going to law school too difficult to do part time?

1. If you don't plan to practice law, no.
2. No.

 

[District-Husky]

Register for a Bar Review Course (like BarBri or whatever its called) now. Get the BarBri books and read them. Those books will actually teach you everything you need to know about the law - whether its Torts or Contracts or Property. Then, when you're in class and forced to read century old inane and archaic cases, you'll already know what the law really is so you won't waste time trying to decipher nonsense.