lyrian:

I am curious about what your public interest experience is & how many years. Its seems that you and I have similar profiles, and I just got my NYU WL letter as well. I also wrote a compelling letter in response.

I also applied to UCLA's public interest program, and have heard NOTHING back.

My 2 cents: suck it up and go to UVA (unless you get an offer from NYU). UVA is consistently in the top ten, and ultimately you want your pick of jobs when you graduate. You don't have to earn 30k to be able to sleep at night; you can easily earn 125k suing Walmart and Citigroup, all the while thouroughly enjoying yourself.

I have a bunch of different exp. Started a nonprofit, did an organic farm apprenticeship, lived on a commune, free-lanced a little for MoveOn before the election. This was over five years, and in between I did crap jobs/nursed my wounds and illnesses.

I don't expect to earn much more than 30-35K so that I can be pleasantly surprised if somethign else happens. I'm basing this on mediam incomes and what I get from career offices. I figure if I work for a firm that pays me 125K, a big part of my work will be for clients I don't respect even if I do get to do some fun pro bono. Plus, I'll be expected to work 80 hrs/wk. I don't even think 40 hours is a reasonable expectation (what, we can't get a lot done in 30 with the level of unemployment this country suffers?), but I'm willing to let that slide for a while. Not willing to plan for 80.

Nice bibs.

Lyrarain:

Would you really give up ~40k at UVA for NYU? I'm not judging.

I would definitely give up the money. I agree that less debt = more flexibility, but I am willing to be inflexible about the idea that I am going to work in law for the next 10 years. 10 years out of NYU or UVA, all my debt will be paid off through LRAP--or by me, should I somehow earn enough not to qualify for LRAP. I am totally content with the idea of doing work that I love that brings home an annual salary of 30 or 35K. My only concern is getting a chance to pick the right work, and having access to it (getting hired).

I don't want to live in NY, but I love the public interest goodness of NYU. I'm sure that if I go there I'll be able to get the practical experience I need to start picking a practice area. What I really wish is that NYU were in LA.

Thanks for sharing your visit and thoughts.  I will likely be attending UCLA in the Fall as well, and am also inclined toward public interest law.  I regret not applying for PILF when I submitted the law school app.  (I didn't realize that I could not apply for the program once accepted.)

Do you know specifically what area of public interest law you are bound for--type of law and job(s)?

Jeff

The person who was so friendly to me told me she has switched over to PILF after her first year. She was sad she hadn't been in it from the start, but apparently it can still be done. Also, they all agreed PILF is very inclusive to people outside the program. They have a more-the-merrier attitude I think is right on.

I don't know what area I want to do. I know I am interested in community economic development--at least, I'm interested in finding out more about it, and I'm very down with the idea of it. That's one downside of UVA, they have no CED clinic, and UCLA does.

The long-awaited denial has arrived under cover of 4/20. This is the last of my no-brainer rejections. At least I fee-waivered this app.

I visited UCLA on Saturday in a ridiculously short and impromptu fashion. Luckily for me the students there are almost aggressively friendly. As I was timidly gazing at the "admission with ID only" sign outside the law library, someone asked me if I needed help. She turned out to be a 2L in PILF, the public interest program I"m admitted to. Over the next 45 minutes she steadily grabbed passers-by on their way to the library and introduced them (for some reason most of them were PILFers too). About five of them held an impromptu panel for an audience of me and my bf. Then one took me on a little tour of the library, which was all I had time for.

They left me deeply impressed with the close knit fabric of the PILF program and its students. They love their school and their program, and believe it will place them well for public interest jobs. They do grant that the school is having $$ problems--the 2L who toured me said tuition was 11K in state when she applied and has doubled since. They also said the LRAP is not good right now. There were murmurs that not everyone who is eligible gets into the program, and then there's the low income cutoff threshold and the maximum awards cap of $60,000. The light in the tunnel is that NYU's old dean is their new one, and LRAP is on his table, but that's pretty nebulous hope. Overall the UCLA LRAP scene still compares and contrasts unfavorably with UVA's LRAP's prorated income eligibility between 36,000 and 60,000 and generous policy of paying all your debts when you earn under 36,000 (I could have this figure 1 or 2K off) with no maximum debt cap. That means that UVA would pay my entire 99K of school debt off in the 10 years after I graduated, if I earn as little as I'm expecting.

However, now that I"ve been to UCLA and seen their very beautiful library (solid wood bookshelves and carrels, wonderful light, full of happy laid-back PILF students) I am very drawn to it. California's where I want to practice, LA is where my bf has friends and opportunities, and I also really appreciate what the PILFers told me about grades at UCLA, that students are not ranked in their class and that grades are not publicized. They believe it gives them a very non-competitive body of students in and out of the program.

I'm going to call the PILF office and see if they can help me wring some finaid money out of UCLA. Next week, the visit to UVA!

Oh, I also visited USC, and didn't like their law building AT ALL. I guess they're going to redo it, but I got a yucky feeling. I had written them off completely when an L.A. employment lawyer I was introduced to told me that they're a really good school for public interest. He related an anecdote of how a friend of his who does land use law wanted to teach a course in it and approached UCLA, who loved the idea but couldn't pay him. The guy is teaching his course now at USC.