How do you all like Pitt?

[Barbie22]

I was accepted to start next fall and was wondering how everyone was doing.  Impressions, advice, if you are happy with your decision, etc. 

[LegalLatin78]

I went there for under grad and had a great experience.  The campus is nice and there are great areas to live really close by such as Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Southside, and The Strip District.  Rents are reasonable, lots of places to go eat.  The law library was nice from what I remember. 

Jones Day and other Corp firms in Pittsburgh hire a lot from UPitt and the reputation is very good in Western PA.

[rayhigh]

I am a 1L at Pitt, and I like it very much - nice campus, mostly cool teachers and classmates.  Message me if you have specific questions...

[Barbie22]

general ?....whats the weather like? cold winters hot/humid summers?

[rayhigh]

Summers are nice, not that many days over the mid-80s?

This is my 1st winter here - mild, no snow has stuck. It was 50 degrees today.  I grew up in Boston, though I've lived in Cali for the past while.  I love Pittsburgh....

[fpotus]

I am really happy with my decision to come here--msg me if you have any qs!

[mudcat]

I was accepted to start next fall and was wondering how everyone was doing.  Impressions, advice, if you are happy with your decision, etc. 

I would consider retaking the lsat if you are going to take out a lot of money to come here.  The professors are great.  That being said, few people in my 2l class have jobs that will offer them permanent positions (I do have one); I have never heard ANYONE ever say anything good about cso; the registrar's office doesnt use computers; and pittsburgh has more lawyers per capita than any other metro other than Minneapolis (crowded market).  Only 3 Pitt 2l's got SA positions at reed smith for this summer.  You will strike out at cso if you arent on law review.   

[mudcat]

Its hard to believe that the legal market there is so saturated.  How can this be? 

Pittsburgh has lost half its population since 1960.  Its the only town other than NO to have lost population since 2000.  But all the lawyers stay because most lawyers dont want to take another bar exam.  so you have a situation where the lawyer population has grown (enrollment at piTTT and duquesne has gone up dramatically (more $$ for schools)) and the need for services has dropped significantly.  And yes, this takes urban flight into account, im talking about allegheny county in general. 

PiTTT is a gamble that worked out for me, but many of my classmates are pissed that PiTTT is permitted to misreport employment statistics to the lsac so that it seems like everyone is employed at graduation, which is not an accurate representation of the class.  However, many of those who are unemployed do not deserve to be employed, so the school should not bear all the responsibility.   

[mudcat]

"Mr. Blaner attributed part of the mobility to the "economics of the legal market." Pittsburgh has the nation's second-highest number of lawyers per capita -- yet it has lost several big corporate headquarters, which once generated a lot of legal work for law firms."

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/1998/02/09/story8.html

I am not saying you wont be able to find a job - many do.  But if you are interested in a big firm job, you should definitely retake the lsat and try for a better school, unless you are really confident that you will perform better on exams than 90% of your classmates. 

[jabarkas]

That article is ten years old, mudcat. Do you know if it is still true today?