Okay, I'll step up. Texas 1L taking questions.

[utexas2010]

im saying you see UT everything everywhere, 40 year old men driving around campus acting like thier 20 and they are students, i see homeless ppl with UT shirts on on a daily basis, there is a difference between being proud and being obsessed and it seems like Austin is obsessed with UT (due to thier lack of sports teams probably), all in all its just a school and I personally dont want to be living in a place where a school is the center of attention or the biggest accomplishment of the city ( im from Houston so maybe thats why I see things this way) but I reccommend Austin for a younger active student looking for a broad range of social activities

[tonyp]

There was a barfull of orange t-shirts on the way to dinner tonight.  A car out front had a "Da Horns" vanity plate.

Did it make you just a teeny bit wistful for the ATX?

I personally dont want to be living in a place where a school is the center of attention or the biggest accomplishment of the city

It's probably harder to appreciate while you're on campus every day, but life in Austin as a non-student is vastly different from life as a student.  That said, Austin is not a "real city" in the sense that Houston, NYC, Chicago, etc. are.  This appeals to some and turns off others.

However, the whole question is largely mooted by the fact that there's a lot more demand among UT grads to stay in Austin than there are opportunities for them to do so, particularly with respect to the law school.

[Meliss1086]

I just answered questions that aren't law school specific 

(1) Is there any decent public transportation at night?  Are the taxis reasonably priced or easy to flag down?  How spread out is the city/law students/nightlife?

Public transportation in Austin is a city-wide bus system. After peak work hours, the metro goes (from what I would guess) is 50 lines to 4 or 5. There is, however a E-Bus that goes from campus to 6th street and back and a Night Owl bus that goes up from downtown to the far north. These are the ones I'm familiar with.  The only experience I have with taxis is calling them for people who get too drunk to drive when they're at the restaurant I work at. They usually arrive promptly, even though we're not in the entertainment district of the city. The city is a lot spread out than most. From just north of campus (where a lot of students live) to the other edge of downtown (Town Lake/1st St), I'd say it's maybe 2 or 3 miles or a 15 minute bus ride. From Riverside Dr. (where a lot of students live) to campus (downtown is in between them) it's usually a 15-20 minute bus rude. Austin is very car-friendly though. Campus does not have a lot of parking, but the metro is a much better way to get to school, anyway. That's one benefit to having a city revolve around UT- most of the major metro routes have a stop on or near campus.

(3) How "pretty" is the city?  Can you compare it to some others?

Downtown is really nice. The skyline isn't that impressive (other than the Frost Tower), but from the ground level, the city is very easy to get around and is quite visually appealing. There are more sketchy parts of the city, but downtown and campus do a good job of keeping things pretty nice. And like I said in a previous posts, there's a lot of green space on the outskirts of downtown and really gorgeous lakes a short drive away (short as in 10-20 minutes).
Having lived in Houston for most of my life, I can say that Austin is much prettier, with much more to do in a smaller space.

(4) How does becoming a Texas resident work?  Can I go to UT for 1 year and then become a resident, and get in-state tuition the next two years?

I believe this is the case, but I don't know for certain. My understanding has been that if you have a permanent address in Texas for one year you become a "resident". I may be wrong though, so I'd suggest checking with UT directly.

[saradsun]

im saying you see UT everything everywhere, 40 year old men driving around campus acting like thier 20 and they are students, i see homeless ppl with UT shirts on on a daily basis, there is a difference between being proud and being obsessed and it seems like Austin is obsessed with UT (due to thier lack of sports teams probably), all in all its just a school and I personally dont want to be living in a place where a school is the center of attention or the biggest accomplishment of the city ( im from Houston so maybe thats why I see things this way) but I reccommend Austin for a younger active student looking for a broad range of social activities

Huh, doesn't sound any different than living in Nebraska 

[lawgrad07]

I just graduated from UT Law.  I can say that I love Austin.  It can get hot, but I don't think of it as THAT hot or THAT humid.  Of course, I grew up in Phoenix (hot) and later worked in Houston (humid).  I was accepted into #15, and I graduated from #18.  That is a bit of a downer, but I don't think it makes any difference.  It is by far the best law school within a very large radius.  I am an adult, and I am married with a family, and I don't know that Austin "caters" to Longhorn fans.  People are supportive, but it's not CRAZY like OU fans ripping UT fan's balls off and everything! 

[botbot]

I don't go to UT Law but I would love to if I can get in (praying for my LSATs next Saturday). But seriously, I would boldly stake the claim that Austin is one of the greatest cities for a student (if not the greatest). Yes, I am biased but seriously, the weather is great. The social scene is awesome. The music scene... we are known as the Live Music Capital of the World. Every band WILL come to Austin on their tour. The food... you can't get any better than Tex-Mex. And the whole atmosphere is very accepting and very chilled out. There so many local businesses that it would take years for someone to go to all the different restaurants. If you walk into almost any building, everybody is wearing sandals and a t-shirt. The idea or notion of suit and tie is almost unheard of in most places... of course this doesn't mean its lacking for professionalism. Its the capital city of Texas and rightfully so, politics and the law are huge here.

The only problem with this city is everybody loves it too much. Almost nobody wants to leave Austin when they graduate and only do so with reluctantly. And I think maybe because of this, there is year around construction but thats expected in any growing city. So be warned: if you come to Austin, you will not want to leave. 

Good luck on the exam, I haven't quite made it to that point yet, but I definitely can see it happening.

Also, you still out there botbot?  I'm curious why you're so sure about the rankings drop...

Poor instate crop this year that hurt the LSAT medians relative to other schools. 

[redacted]

I don't go to UT Law but I would love to if I can get in (praying for my LSATs next Saturday). But seriously, I would boldly stake the claim that Austin is one of the greatest cities for a student (if not the greatest). Yes, I am biased but seriously, the weather is great. The social scene is awesome. The music scene... we are known as the Live Music Capital of the World. Every band WILL come to Austin on their tour. The food... you can't get any better than Tex-Mex. And the whole atmosphere is very accepting and very chilled out. There so many local businesses that it would take years for someone to go to all the different restaurants. If you walk into almost any building, everybody is wearing sandals and a t-shirt. The idea or notion of suit and tie is almost unheard of in most places... of course this doesn't mean its lacking for professionalism. Its the capital city of Texas and rightfully so, politics and the law are huge here.

The only problem with this city is everybody loves it too much. Almost nobody wants to leave Austin when they graduate and only do so with reluctantly. And I think maybe because of this, there is year around construction but thats expected in any growing city. So be warned: if you come to Austin, you will not want to leave. 

Good luck on the exam, I haven't quite made it to that point yet, but I definitely can see it happening.

Also, you still out there botbot?  I'm curious why you're so sure about the rankings drop...

Poor instate crop this year that hurt the LSAT medians relative to other schools. 

Source?  I'll answer more questions later...

[botbot]

Not going to link to all the school's websites.

New medians =

GW - 3.75 GPA and 167 LSAT
Vandy - 3.74 GPA and 167 LSAT
UCLA - 3.72 GPA and 167 LSAT
W&L - 3.62 GPA and 166 LSAT
UIUC - 3.60 GPA and 166 LSAT
USC - 3.60 GPA and 166 LSAT
UT - 3.60 GPA and 166 LSAT

Reputation survey should still favor UT, will be interesting to see what happens I guess.

[tonyp]

Reputation survey should still favor UT, will be interesting to see what happens I guess.

Reputation survey may suffer if the population surveyed takes notice of all the high-profile defections we've had in the past year or two (Bobbitt, Mann, Reese, Laycock, Cleveland, to name a few).

The faculty is not terribly happy with Sager as dean, from what I've heard.

[tonyp]

Since redacted is slacking, I'll fill in a couple of the gaps:

(2) Do the law students get together a fair amount?  Do they socialize at all with undergrads or other graduate students?  Are there ... Intramurals?  Speakers?  Tailgaiting? Happy hours?  Parties?  Bar outings?  etc..

The law students are incredibly social.  Being (a) old, (b) married, and (c) employed, I've had little opportunity or energy to do more than wish my liver were younger.  The one caveat is that as far as I can tell, the community is somewhat insular.  (The facts that UT is huge and the law school is somewhat remotely situated within the northeast corner of campus probably contribute to this.)  Events among the law student population seem to greatly outnumber joint events with other groups of students.

(3) How "pretty" is the city?  Can you compare it to some others?

Austin is sometimes compared to Portland, OR.  I think Portland's a little "prettier," but the vibe is similar.  In terms of appearance, I also see some parallels with Pittsburgh--hills, trees, river, compact downtown, distinct university neighborhood--though Pittsburgh is quite a bit larger than Austin.

(4) How does becoming a Texas resident work?  Can I go to UT for 1 year and then become a resident, and get in-state tuition the next two years?

It used to be the case that becoming a resident while in school was just about impossible.  However, there are some rumors that the rules are being liberalized, and that it may be possible to gain residency after the first year if you buy real estate, work part time, or (as has been mentioned) marry a Texan.  Most folks aren't in a position to do any of these, but if buying a condo is a possibility, it's worth investigating this further with the UT residency office.

(5) Do you think you could live in Austin and really enjoy it for 3 years after graduation?  Do you know how enjoyable the law jobs there are (i.e. Miami jobs are known to be very laid back, NY works you to death).
I don't think I could handle any other city in Texas besides Austin ...

I've been here for over 14 years.  I've visited lots of other places, but to me, after weighing all the various factors in the balance (cost of living, weather, aesthetics, dining, activities, etc.), this is where I prefer to be.  Without knowing more about what you're looking for, however, it's difficult to say whether my preferences are well correlated with yours. 

It should be noted that the entry-level legal market in Austin is intensely competitive.  Top 10%+LR won't absolutely guarantee you a job in Austin, whereas it would give you your pick of jobs in just about any other market you could name.  This is not to say that it's impossible to stay--some do.  But I gather that it requires quite a bit more work to arrange, as well as possible sacrifices in terms of the type of work you do or firms you do it for.