Law School Discussion

  First of all, never, ever, ever refer to it as "Mount" Tremblant. It is Mont, and the locals would be offended. I would also suggest that, as an American, you display a modicum of shame on behalf of your government, regardless of whether or not you support/endorse them. This will make your experience much more easier.

  Now, for the actual skiing. It is one of the largest skiable areas in North America, though not the highest elevation. It is however much better than just about anything you can find in VT, and the resort aspect of it adds immeasurable cachet. Ok, it's a little tacky (like Disneyworld / cardboard villages). And be ready to shell out the big $$, especially during christmas time. Just be aware that off-mountain accomodations will be much more reasonably priced.

  Also noteworthy: it gets cold up there. No ... really: damn cold. Not USA cold, Quebec cold. Case and point: my brother is nuts, certifiable. He actually skied at get this ... -75C (including wind chill). That translates to -101 F. Only one run, but still. And this is the absolute record I've heard, and only once. And in late Jan early Feb, which is the coldest period. For Christmas, you could easily get -20C, and you should certainly not count on anything warmer than -10C. If you're going with kids, this counts.

  And finally, I suggest ditching the family one evening to patronize the fine "Faucon Bleu", the local stripper joint.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/lawindex_brief.php

google search for the terms "law school rankning" will yield other rankings and/or raw data on admissions. You should also read the ABA statement on school rankings (also found with google).

   I'm considering applying exclusively to T14 with somewhat modest numbers: GPA 3.37 (from a school where averages are usually C+ or B-) and LSAT 167 (which I will retake in October for a likely average score of 169 or 170). Working strictly with the number I have now, and ignoring all other factors (Ph.D, among other factors), I looked at probabilities of admission for T14. I used this simple calculation

[1 - P (accept Yale)] * [1 - P (accept Harvard)] * ...

This gives the joint probability of being denied by all T14. Does the assumpetion of independence of probability hold here? Opinions?

P.S. I get a 13% chance of rejection by all. I can cross off Y, H and S from the list and still get the same result to the 4th decimal.

   For the records, USF is not ranked 150. Last year, it was 96, and one can only presume that they are now just a shade under 100, something like 100-110.

   Now for your question, it actually depends on what you want to do. Unless you want to do maritime law (or have a penchant for the Jesuit thing), you should probably attend Hastings. Just look at the websites of the top firm in the city (the only ones BTW who would even consider your degree from USF). MOFO has only 3 from USF, and all of them are not exactly run of the mill students. Hastings grads however do get real jobs, in and beyond SF. Go for it, you won't regret it. Having attended the info session for USF last year, if they're representative at all of the entire student body, I would guess you deserve better.

   Does anyone have any knowledge of schools that would count this as a specialty? I an aware only of UConn. Seems most programs consider it just a minor part of contracts or finance. Thanks.