Quote from: VB on October 21, 2006, 03:08:38 AMQuoteYou want to be at or above the 25th percentile at a minimum. Below that are people admitted for a host of other reasons -- fancy ECs, diversity, PhDs, Nobel Prizes, etc. So, whether you retake is up to you, but if I were above 25th percentile, I'd be cool with it.How many Nobel Laureates are students at YLS?Seriously though, YLS is one of the schools I'm considering attending next year and I was wondering what the students there consider impressive soft factors. I mean, I know every student there had probably done something at least marginally impressive to be there (even if it's just high gpa/lsat) but there are probably certain former jobs, scholarships, etc. that are generally more impressive amongst the YLS student population. Have you gotten a feel for what these are?Read Koh's welcoming address to 1Ls. It's basically the same every year and the only elements of it that change (and, even then, only slightly) are the specifics about that entering class.Here's one for the '07 classhttp://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/KohWelcomeAddress.pdfYou can search for the address for other incoming classes at the YLS website. Strip it of its obvious puffery, and I think you'll see that its as much about variety and oddity than real superstar achievement.
QuoteYou want to be at or above the 25th percentile at a minimum. Below that are people admitted for a host of other reasons -- fancy ECs, diversity, PhDs, Nobel Prizes, etc. So, whether you retake is up to you, but if I were above 25th percentile, I'd be cool with it.How many Nobel Laureates are students at YLS?Seriously though, YLS is one of the schools I'm considering attending next year and I was wondering what the students there consider impressive soft factors. I mean, I know every student there had probably done something at least marginally impressive to be there (even if it's just high gpa/lsat) but there are probably certain former jobs, scholarships, etc. that are generally more impressive amongst the YLS student population. Have you gotten a feel for what these are?
You want to be at or above the 25th percentile at a minimum. Below that are people admitted for a host of other reasons -- fancy ECs, diversity, PhDs, Nobel Prizes, etc. So, whether you retake is up to you, but if I were above 25th percentile, I'd be cool with it.
Quote from: VB on October 21, 2006, 12:50:38 PMHave you felt a lot of competition at YLS for things like top clerkships? Do you think it's still a meritocracy despite the fact that there are no rankings? For example, does your ability to network with professors matter just as much as your actual level of talent?At YLS there are more subtle methods of evaluation. Relationships with professors come into play - you need them to come and go to bat for you when its time to write a recommendation. There is ample opportunity to display your intellectual talent even in the first semester through a series of writing assignments. Subsequent to the first year, you can get Hs to show a mastery of the material, which helps in clerkship applications. Then there are the ways that you make an impact on the YLS community through your involvement in out of classroom issues - so you want to develop a good reputation and maintain that reputation. I think your reputation in school helps or hurts you when its time to get the big time clerkships or academic fellowships.So if you want to be a supreme court clerk, you know that you're going to have to work pretty hard. On the other hand, if you want a big law job straight out, I hear that its just a matter of having a decent personality and YLS on your resume.
Have you felt a lot of competition at YLS for things like top clerkships? Do you think it's still a meritocracy despite the fact that there are no rankings? For example, does your ability to network with professors matter just as much as your actual level of talent?
During his welcome address, Dean Koh went through a long list breaking down the composition of our class. There are dancers, basketball enthusiasts, Rhodes Scholars and I think a rabbi. Then he said that each one of us would be thinking the exact same thing at that moment - What the hell am I doing here?
On your first day, all that stuff goes right out the window. You DEFINITELY do not walk around reciting everything you've done before you got here. And if you do, well you're kind of a jerk. People are very modest and usually unwilling to talk extensively about what they did before they got here. Instead, there's a underlying respect for your classmates. No one really cares what you did before you got here -- they care about understanding what the heck our professor was talking about in Torts. They care about what we're going to do now. What clinics you're interested in, whether to sign up for a journal.
The one thing I have noticed, however, is that most of my classmates are very passionate about something outside of school and it's very obvious.
YAY!! Yale sounds way too cool. Hmmm. Please don't make it sound sooooo tempting..
QuoteYAY!! Yale sounds way too cool. Hmmm. Please don't make it sound sooooo tempting.. stradgirl, are you considering Yale? What other schools are you thinking about?
YaleHarvardStanfordColumbiaNYUU ChicagoDukeU PennU MichBoaltU TorontoYork U (Osgoode)U OttawaMcGill the Funny Duck!
Why the canadian schools? I'm guessing you're canadian. And why is McGill "the Funny Duck"?
Quote from: VB on October 21, 2006, 05:20:29 PMWhy the canadian schools? I'm guessing you're canadian. And why is McGill "the Funny Duck"?Yes I am Canadian and my family lives in Toronto. McGill is the funny duck because they don't require and LSAT score but require proficiency in French for studying Civil Code of Quebec as well as Common Law.
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