In @ Santa Clara

[DumbMe]

Got my acceptance today too, lifted my spirits after being dinged at Washington & Lee.

[mattn]

Congrats guys, I got in sometime in Feb. so maybe i'll see some of you guys there.  Although I'm waiting to go a year.

[ZildjianKX]

Congrats.  If anyone here decides to go there next year, see you around 

[odisho]

I was only there one year because unfortunately I didn't make the grade to continue to 2L. They actually paid for 1/2 my tuition so failing out was a big surprise for me considering how well I did at UC Berkeley. Anyway, I worked for the next 7 years in the film industry (DreamWorks...Shrek 2...upcoming Madagascar...go see it everyone and help us beat Star Wars opening weekend) and then decided to go back to law school. I figured the best I could possibly do was get into a 4th Tier school due to my failing out and I would be happy even for that. To my surprise, however, I got into a top 40 Tier 1 school (Ohio State) and I can't even begin to express how thankful I am for that.

To make a long story short, I really enjoyed my time at Santa Clara and the students are all very smart and friendly (although they can also be pretty competitive, but you get that everywhere I guess).

[odisho]

Oh and if you guys want any tips on which treatises/hornbooks help the most (at least at Santa Clara) I recommend you get the Gilbert's books. They're awesome and they spell out most of what you need to know in a very concise outline.

Recommended Professors at Santa Clara:

Mackintosh (Contracts) - AWESOME (she uses words like "ergo" in her sentences so that might throw you off at first).

Russell (Civil Procedure) - one of the nicest professors in the faculty and a total student advocate. I think she may be on sabbatical.

Glancy (Property) - I liked her although I knew many students who didn't. Very cool and extremely knowledgable when it comes to Property...almost frighteningly so.

Manaster (Torts) - Impossible to not like this guy. Funny and very friendly.

Steinman (Criminal) - If you want to go into Crim, he's the guy. But I'm warning you, he's difficult and there will be times when you just want to throw you crim book across the room in frustration. But if you stick w/ it, you'll get it. And make sure above all else, you stay on top of your reading for his class because if he calls on you and you're not prepared, he'll ask to speak w/ you after class.

[ksukowat]

I was only there one year because unfortunately I didn't make the grade to continue to 2L. They actually paid for 1/2 my tuition so failing out was a big surprise for me considering how well I did at UC Berkeley. Anyway, I worked for the next 7 years in the film industry (DreamWorks...Shrek 2...upcoming Madagascar...go see it everyone and help us beat Star Wars opening weekend) and then decided to go back to law school. I figured the best I could possibly do was get into a 4th Tier school due to my failing out and I would be happy even for that. To my surprise, however, I got into a top 40 Tier 1 school (Ohio State) and I can't even begin to express how thankful I am for that.

To make a long story short, I really enjoyed my time at Santa Clara and the students are all very smart and friendly (although they can also be pretty competitive, but you get that everywhere I guess).

Looking back what do you think got in the way of you becoming a 2L?  Were you partying too much or working your ass off but struggling?  The latter is one of my biggest fears.

[Ron Hiatt]

Yea! I just got my acceptance packet in the mail!

[odisho]

I had some personal issues at home going on that pretty much made it impossible for me to focus on my studies. However one thing I want to point out is that Santa Clara, like many T2-T4 schools, fails out the bottom (I think) 1/3 of its class at the end of the first year. Basically, instead of weeding out students during the admissions process, they accept more students than they can keep the 2nd year and fail out the bottom 1/3 of the class at the end of 1L. This is one way that the schools boost their rankings. McGeorge Pacific just shot up into the 2nd Tier in the latest rankings and they did that partly by instituting this same procedure that Santa Clara uses.

Schools like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford (and many of the Tier 1 schools w/ a low acceptance rate) weed out their students in the admissions process so once you get in and you don't do well after your 1st year, you won't have to worry about failing out.

[happyhangingjudge]

I had some personal issues at home going on that pretty much made it impossible for me to focus on my studies. However one thing I want to point out is that Santa Clara, like many T2-T4 schools, fails out the bottom (I think) 1/3 of its class at the end of the first year. Basically, instead of weeding out students during the admissions process, they accept more students than they can keep the 2nd year and fail out the bottom 1/3 of the class at the end of 1L. This is one way that the schools boost their rankings. McGeorge Pacific just shot up into the 2nd Tier in the latest rankings and they did that partly by instituting this same procedure that Santa Clara uses.

Schools like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford (and many of the Tier 1 schools w/ a low acceptance rate) weed out their students in the admissions process so once you get in and you don't do well after your 1st year, you won't have to worry about failing out.

McGeorge has been using the "weeding out" procedure for years.  They might have actually switched away from it to boost their stats.  Think about it for a sec. 

[mxpocc]

odisho: what did you do in the film industry? were you more than just a gaffer? I'm just wondering why law is more appealing to you than working in the film industry (not that I think it shouldn't be, just want to know your reasons why).