UVA Bound Thread

[Your Mom]

This is true, later I wore pigtails out to make it a little more clear to people...

[bruin]

This is true, later I wore pigtails out to make it a little more clear to people...

right. I was wondering about the whoel pigtails thing then.

[faith2005]

we've only had 2 days of classes. its been going okay so far. i haven't met any lsd people yet i don't think. but i do think that i met pigtails at gulc. i'm not sure. anyway, things seem to be good. people are super nice and friendly. i almost cried today when one of my peer advisors left books for me in my mailbox.  but i did end up spending about 640 on books which was unexpected, since they budget like 500. i don't see why the budget should be off at all, since everybody pretty much buys the same books, but ah well. 

[bruin]

It's been pretty good so far, I think. We are still in our first week, so it is a bit early to give a complete account of the UVa experience. But the people have been very nice, professors are great and the facilities are first rate. I am feeling very good about the whole experience right now. The book budget is a bit low, though. I think I spent around $550, not including supplements/hornbooks.

MAybe I'll see you at Wild Wings tonight Faith?

[jimmyp]

not including supplements/hornbooks.

What ones did you get?  I asked the girl who finished up in Kraus if she used anything since she seemed on top of the situation.  She said she didn't use any.

[bruin]

I haven't gotten any yet. I heard others (2L's) talking about those sorts of things generally; seems that for some subjects, they aren't much help.

Kraus in an hour.

[long ago]

I have been really pleased with the experience.  Classes are interesting.  My professors for the most part are very competent and well above the normal professor that I have encountered thus far in my life.  The facilities as mentioned above are fantastic.  The seperation into small sections is a really good idea.  Eventhough we are in a large school by law school standards it doesn't feel big because you have 30 people you know in everyone of your classes and the biggest classes we have are classes of 90 people which seems smaller in the way that the classroom is set up.  But legal research and writing and one other class is in a small section of 30 and then we have another class of 60 so the average number of students in our classes is around 60 which isn't really bad at all.  It feels more intimate than that. 
As a non-drinker I sometimes feel a little out of place because we have had a lot of social events thus far, but there is quite a bit of drinking so sometimes I feel slightly out of place, but that is the life of a non-drinker. 
Each small section has 5 or 6 peer advisors who are 2ls and 3ls and they are always there to help answer any questions you have.  They have told us that approximately 50 percent of the 1ls last year got payed firm jobs up from about 1/3 the year before so that is encouraging.  Overall I am glad I came

[faith2005]

sorry. i missed wild wings. maybe i'll check out bar review this thursday. but as a non-drinker, jareds, i understand...i don't drink and i've been felt a little out of place at the biltmore...its all good though, i expected that since lawyers have on of the highest rates of alcoholism (if not the highest) i would be out of place not drinking. lol

[faith2005]

yeah, thats true...the only way you have to give your parents info is if its required on the fafsa, so if you're older than their required age, then you don't

[lyrarain]

Things I've realized lately at University of Virginia:

1. Yes, it's true, your private loan money doesn't get here until a week after classes start, and then you have to go endorse the check and wait another 7-10 business days for it to go into your bank account (but it helps to set up direct deposit).

2. Most of the students are really nice. I already cried one time when I was sleep deprived and unprepared for two classes, and a guy in my section gave me a cigarette, even though I haven't been particularly friendly to my section.

3. Yes, it's very fratty, including a hazing event. I'm a non-drinker (yay for non-drinkers) and tend to be uncomfortable at big parties, so I'm skipping most of that stuff. I'm also living away from the apartments most law students live in, which is more relaxing for me but others might see it as antisocial.

4. You get about half and half from your professors. Some are adorable and interesting, some are tedious and confusing. You get free money to take the fun ones out to lunch. None of mine do anything cruel to the students; if you've done the reading they just try to coax the answer they're looking for out of you. The general attitude at UVA is one of wanting the students to succeed, which leads to the next:

5. The average grade is a B+. This is very reassuring. It means you have to work at it to fail.

6. I have a friend at Georgetown, and she tells me GULC's sections are huge, like three times the size of ours, and she doesn't know anyone and finds it really hard to make friends. Neither of us made that a big issue when choosing, but I would now. I'm usually less sociable than she is,  but I have a few friends and am amiable with the others in my section. virginia's small section size makes it really easy to get to know people.

7. On the other hand, my friend at GULC has four classes, while I have five. I have 16 hours of class, and I spend an amount of time I'm ashamed to disclose on the reading. If you're a compulsively detailed but kinda ADD reader who has been out of school a while, be prepared to spend a long, long time. Longer than you thought when you thought it would be long. I'm told this will get better.

8. If you speak spanish there's a pretty cool migrant farmworker pro bono project you can get involved with immediately. If you don't speak Spanish you can audit the class for free on the regular campus (though probably you won't want to during 1L). There's also a public interest conference and other good stuff, and a lot of it's still forming which means it's easy to get involved.