Emory ASW Review [Long]

[gclemen1]

Just wanted to put down my thoughts on the weekend...

So much has been said already and for the most part I agree with much of what has already been stated.  I did just want to throw out what I did like about the school and what I didn't like about the school.

The Friday night meet and greet was really nice, good food, lots of alcohol, nice people.  By the way, the house was beautiful!!!

Saturday:  The dean was somewhat engaging, he seemed very knowledgeable and I did enjoy the easy button jokes.  The problem that I do have is you have a schedule, please adhere to it.  This is just something that I am obsessive compulsive about, so although going 20 minutes over didn't bother anyone else, it bothered me a little.

The professor of the class was very charismatic (by the way does anyone else thinks he sounds like "Charlie" from "It's always sunny in Philadelphia").  I did however think that the material was, for lack of a better term, dumbed down a bit.  (And certainly this could have been the case because they didn't want to get to in depth at the ASW) The only other ASW that I have to compare Emory to is UVA and the case was much much more complex and difficult.

The financial aid woman was informative although she didn't know about the health coverage, lol.

The small section for me was horrible... It was without a doubt the worst part of the day.  Our professor (group 4) told us where he has been and how much he loved Emory. So far so good.  Then he proceeded to go page by page through the website just reading us what was on the website.  For about 30 minutes.  At one point he even asked us and I quote.. "Hmm, I've seemed to have clicked my way into a corner here, How do I get back to the home page..."  Someone said to click the Emory law icon at the top of the page.  "Would you look at that, I've never done that before!"  Needless to say it wasn't the best 45 minutes of my life.

Lunch was delicious! The people we met at lunch seemed very nice, and down to earth.

The panel discussion was good, very informative.  I have no idea why they didn't let the career services have 30 minutes to an hour on stage.  That is what we all want to hear about right?? What types of opportunities does Emory law provides us.  We did hear some of that from the alumni and current students and the packet given to us was very nice, but I would have liked to hear more.

The tour by the current student was horrid.  We pretty much walked through the hallways, and he would say this is a classroom, these are the offices, this is the library, and thank you for coming to Emory.  It may just be me but I would like to see some of the classrooms and mock courtrooms and go into the library instead of peering through a window at the reference desk. 

Things I really liked...
People were super nice, both admitted students and faculty. 
Facilities were gorgeous. 
School seemed very socially inclined. 
Housing is very inexpensive.

Things I didn't like...
The law school has to share a bookstore with undergrads, medical students, business students ect. 
Everyone is telling first year students to go to Post Briar for housing because it is gated, however one of the students I ate lunch with told us that there have been five muggings/robberies in the last year there.


Overall Emory was a very nice law school.  I realize most of my post tends to be negative but that is just because almost all the positive things have been posted by previous posters.  I don't want to be Debbie Downer.  Other than the things I mentioned above the weekend was great and Emory is a wonderful place!

LMAO, I was thinking the same thing.  That is one of my favorite shows!  That professor was funny as hell and pretty cool.  I think they dumbed it down alot, just because we are not in law school yet.  They prob. didn't want to spend all class on a single boring case.

[mae8]

apparently career services didn't have a lot of information for ya'll so i'll fill in what i can and give my own unsolicited opinion.

overall i'd say career services has been pretty good. like our peer schools you should aim to be around the top 1/3 of the class after 1L to guarantee yourself a six figure biglaw job. you can check NALP to see specifically what big firms interview at emory. aside from on-campus interviewing the school has interview programs in nyc, dc, chicago, dallas and los angeles. the largest of these programs is emory in new york which is exclusively for emory students and if i remember correctly had around 40+ employers in nyc including mainly big nyc firms, a couple prosecutor offices and a few large nj firms. if you don't have the grades to get a biglaw job career services is reasonably helpful, they do a good job of making it very easy for smaller firms to post jobs directly to the career services system. i got my current job with a small firm in atlanta from their job postings and will probably get a permanent offer if i'd like to stay with this firm after graduation, the overall employment rate for our grads is ~95% at graduation which is better than just about any of our peer schools. emory also has a great field placement program you can participate in as a 2L or 3L to get work experience for credit.

[Refused Party Program]

Things I didn't like...
The law school has to share a bookstore with undergrads, medical students, business students ect. 
Everyone is telling first year students to go to Post Briar for housing because it is gated, however one of the students I ate lunch with told us that there have been five muggings/robberies in the last year there.

The bookstore issue is much less of a problem than you probably think. I've been in there a lot and it is usually empty or only has other law students in it. It is a non issue.

As to Post Briarcliff, I have no idea what hooks they have in the school, but there are plenty of options that are 1) cheaper 2) safer and 3) in nicer neighborhoods. The only reason people live there is because they push it on incomings so much. Yes there have have been some robberies there this school year.

So, if those are your only negatives, I think you ought to come here. They are easily mitigated.

[SplitFinger]

We share the bookstore with other schools?  News to me.

[NOTaPepsiFan]

I was really mad when the current students talked about how Post is the "law school dorm" and then said that rent was $750/m.  Yes, last year the rent was $750.  This August it will be about $950/m.

Traffic considered, it's not close to the school, and it's in the opposite direction from all the nightlife.  You can get apartments for the same price that are just as nice, if not nicer, and in much better locations.

But, I think the issue is that people just don't think about stuff like that much after they've already signed their lease, because it's honestly not a big deal.  If you asked me where to live in [my city], I would have listed about 5 or 6 neighborhoods without really knowing anything about the lease rates, property management, etc.



I'm upset with Emory for not releasing anything about Career Services as well, but honestly, the information is available online.  The top third will land biglaw jobs, and if you are in the top 40%, you still have a pretty decent shot, especially if you have a connection.

[gowi]

Where exactly is the bookstore? Which building? (Can you tell I skipped the tour?)

[SplitFinger]

It's actually off campus, basically in Emory Village, right next to the Falafel King (now with sushi!).

There's also a big main university bookstore kinda of in the middle of campus (I have been there precisely once), which has all sorts of Emory schwag.  But you'll get all your books at the law school bookstore, or online after fall of 1L year.

[jawilliamson]

We share the bookstore with other schools?  News to me.

When I inquired about the bookstore to our tour guide, that is what he told us.  I just think we had a horrible tour guide, lol

Things I didn't like...
The law school has to share a bookstore with undergrads, medical students, business students ect. 
Everyone is telling first year students to go to Post Briar for housing because it is gated, however one of the students I ate lunch with told us that there have been five muggings/robberies in the last year there.

The bookstore issue is much less of a problem than you probably think. I've been in there a lot and it is usually empty or only has other law students in it. It is a non issue.

As to Post Briarcliff, I have no idea what hooks they have in the school, but there are plenty of options that are 1) cheaper 2) safer and 3) in nicer neighborhoods. The only reason people live there is because they push it on incomings so much. Yes there have have been some robberies there this school year.

So, if those are your only negatives, I think you ought to come here. They are easily mitigated.

I believe that even thugh Emory has shown me the money I'm going to be going with UVA at this point.  After seeing both schools and touring both campuses and attending both ASW's I really think that this would be the right choice. 

[gowi]

It's actually off campus, basically in Emory Village, right next to the Falafel King (now with sushi!).

There's also a big main university bookstore kinda of in the middle of campus (I have been there precisely once), which has all sorts of Emory schwag.  But you'll get all your books at the law school bookstore, or online after fall of 1L year.

Sounds good to me. As long as I can park near to it and not have to lug 70 lbs of books to hell and gone, I'm fine. (Ah, memories of undergrad when I begged anyone and everyone to pick me up after buying books so I wouldn't have to carry them back to my apartment.)

[gowi]

I believe that even thugh Emory has shown me the money I'm going to be going with UVA at this point.  After seeing both schools and touring both campuses and attending both ASW's I really think that this would be the right choice. 

Excellent choice. Good luck.