.

[12(e)]

What bothers me is that they aren't saying who is going to be with which prof.  Do they really expect us to read both? 

There was a reading dooda for my UH visit, and it was no big deal, btw.

EDIT: got the email - nevermind 

[ElectricalStorm]

I was a little disapointed at first when I saw I fall under Wagner because Torts isn't my favorite thing in the world. Despite that, the opening sentence seems to indicate it might be interesting - "The primary issue presented here is whether an owner may protect personal property in an unoccupied boarded-up farm house against trespassers and thieves by a spring gun capable of inflicting death or serious injury."

[jimmyjohn]

Law school is about reading a lot of material you don't want to read.  Get used to it.

[jimmyjohn]

I was a little disapointed at first when I saw I fall under Wagner because Torts isn't my favorite thing in the world. Despite that, the opening sentence seems to indicate it might be interesting - "The primary issue presented here is whether an owner may protect personal property in an unoccupied boarded-up farm house against trespassers and thieves by a spring gun capable of inflicting death or serious injury."

No, he can't. Sorry to spoil the ending.

[Lady Stardust]

So, who else went? Any reviews?

I'm particularly interested in what other out-of-staters thought.

I'll contribute my two cents when I have steady Internet access.

[Felsen]

I didn't read this before the Visit Day.

UT Austin was my second of three law school visits.  The other school (Vanderbilt) also had a mock class, and notified students ahead of time.  I don't know how common it is.  It is a way of trying to show students what class will be like.

I was in the Wagner class.  It looks like they picked an especially cut and dry case for the class to make things simple.  She did make things more interesting by talking about variations on the case, and what modifications to the situation it would take to cause a different judgement.

One thing the mock classes have helped me learn is that I personally really enjoy the Socratic method of teaching.  Unfortunately, I think it works better in smaller class sizes, where everyone has a reasonable chance to participate every week.

I doubt I'm headed to UT next year.  Vanderbilt impressed me much more, and from what I hear the Cornell visit I'll be making this weekend is supposed to be very impressive as well.

Cedar Fever is definitely a consideration.  I've lived in the Austin area for 7 years now, and gotten hit with it every year.  I don't have much of an allergic reaction anywhere else, but having 4-6 months of Cedar Fever every year in Austin gets quite frustrating.

[kapstone]

tralala  - what clinched it for you?  I went and really enjoyed the people and Austin (no allergies here, though I am not used to humiditiy, so I was sweating like a fat man) but I can't shake this feeling that as an out of stater, I will have to go hunting for a job that isnt in Texas, New York or DC. 

[Pupienus]

I doubt I'm headed to UT next year.  Vanderbilt impressed me much more, and from what I hear the Cornell visit I'll be making this weekend is supposed to be very impressive as well.

Would you care to elaborate on why you were more impresssed with Vanderbuilt?  You might have an interesting perspective, given that it seems most lots of people with an in-state tuition option are happy to attend UT.

I also went to both weekends, and I can say that I would definitely pick Vandy over UT as well.  Vandy's facilities are immeasurably nicer, and the students at Vandy seemed to show much more of an interest in letting the admitted students know how much they enjoy their school.  For example, at Vandy each admitted student had a host (who, in some cases, put them up for the night, but otherwise was just their own personal ambassador), and I was very  impressed by that whole set-up.  At Texas, however, I noticed at the event on Thursday night that there must have been a 2 to 1 ratio of admitted students to current students.   Considering there were less than 200 people there overall, and the fact that there are 1300 students at UT, that to me screams "apathy."  I want to go to a school where the students love the school enough to participate in such events.  In short, the facilities and the students are really the only variables to which the visitation days helped to assign a value for me, and Vanderbilt was impressive while UT was underwhelming.

Also, I thought that both Thursday and Friday were poorly organized in general, which kind of turned me off.  There are a bunch of other reasons I would pick Vandy over UT, but I will not elaborate on all of them, as it really boils down to a personal preference.  In short, UT's only obvious advantages over Vanderbilt (ranking and Austin) are rather meaningless to me because I could care less about ranking and I think Austin is overrated (I live there currently, and as a non-native Texan, I have to say that Texas would be great if it weren't full of Texans -- no offense, y'all).

[kapstone]

PS - one more question.  did anyone else notice that a lot of kids did summer school in their first summer?  that struck me as a little weird

[Felsen]

I doubt I'm headed to UT next year.  Vanderbilt impressed me much more, and from what I hear the Cornell visit I'll be making this weekend is supposed to be very impressive as well.

Would you care to elaborate on why you were more impresssed with Vanderbuilt?  You might have an interesting perspective, given that it seems most lots of people with an in-state tuition option are happy to attend UT.

Tuition isn't an issue for me.  Vanderbilt already made me my Financial Aid offer.  Their need based grant cut tution down to around 18-19K, which is covered by the Stafford Loans.  I don't see UT giving a large grant to cut the cost to a much lower level.

The Vanderbilt building was better than UT.  I believe Vanderbilt just finished remodelling, and it looks like a fresh new building.  UT has a wooden ramp built up so they can meet handicap codes.  They have furniture in the commons area that looks like it comes from the 70's.

Vanderbilt's visitation day also did seem much better organized.  They had individual student hosts instead of a 1 hour tour guide.  The faculty did a better job of impressing me in their capabilities.

Nashville impressed me as being a nicer city to live in than Austin.  Tennessee actually appears to have a Department of Transportation that builds roads as or before they are needed.  Austin is about 25 years behind in road building.  I could find a nice place in Nashville at a reasonable price, and be a 15 minute drive from school in rush hour.  To find a comparably nice place in Austin, I'd either have to pay a lot more to be close, or endure a 30-45 minute rush hour to and from school.  (In case you are wondering, yes I've lived in the Austin area for 7 years now.  My wife has lived in Austin her entire life minus college.  She actually worked downtown and regularly complained about her long commutes to and from work).

I could be happy going to UT Austin if I didn't have better choices.  My wife and I just both came back from Nashville believing it would be a better place for us than UT.  I can't comment on Cornell yet, but I'll know that by this time next week.