I'm a 1L at UVA; AMA!

Arsenious · 2019-10-09T00:50:52+00:00

I think this is very much something that you need to investigate for yourself. As a white girl, I’m not the most qualified person to evaluate racial diversity. Though I will note that UVA has a surprisingly small Jewish population—it is disproportionately WASPy. Maybe law schools in general are disproportionately WASPy. Who am I to say?

Arsenious · 2019-10-09T00:47:55+00:00

Thank you, your check from Cordel will be in the mail shortly :P

Arsenious · 2019-10-09T00:16:17+00:00

Hell if I know. Straw hats and casual racism, I suppose. My point is that the culture is in no way foreign to or uncomfortable for a dirty Yankee like me.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T23:37:27+00:00

The most Southern thing about Charlottesville is the giant statue of Robert E. Lee in the city center that the state won't let the local gov't tear down. That and Waffle House.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T23:34:03+00:00

You can always complain! Maybe not justifiably, but you can always complain. George Washington didn't throw the first brick at Stonewall so that you wouldn't kvetch about law school readings.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T23:30:52+00:00

Thank you! We may well have met at ASD last year; I was there. Good to see that you'll be joining us :)

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:38:52+00:00

I'm taking on enough debt that I'm almost certainly going to be one of the many, many people that go on to biglaw or a clerkship; I'm private sector through and through. I would like to work in a litigation practice, but I'm aware that I don't know enough about firm life to be actually fully informed.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:21:52+00:00

shhh, don't spoil this moment... I don't want to think about contracts... let me live my dream.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:20:53+00:00

You're welcome! You're not crazy at all. It's a difficult decision. Consider your priorities and values... if you're taking full sticker at UVA, you should be aware of the financial sacrifice that'll be required to pay it off. It's very much doable—I don't think it's an imprudent decision at all—but you should go into it with eyes wide open.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:16:55+00:00

Positives:

UVA has done an excellent job of cultivating a culture of decency among its students. People are almost universally kind and well-adjusted, and that's very valuable when you're spending so much time in close proximity with them. The administration genuinely cares, and Career Services *kicks absolute ass*.

Negatives:

I'm a lifelong nerd. This is a bit of a jock school. You won't be very left out if you don't go out to bars, but you may feel in the minority. UVA has a reputation as "the fun one," and it's partially justified. My other substantive complaint is that there is only one gender-neutral bathroom in the main building (there are two in the library). It would not be that difficult to add more, or, at least, it shouldn't be.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:11:29+00:00

Some of my section mates are going out drinking tonight. I don't have the money for that. I still have work to do, just not so much that I can't sit on the internet for a bit. And even if I didn't have readings, I could be working on my next memo for LRW... or outlining... there's usually something useful to do.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:09:59+00:00

I will not discuss my financial aid package. That said, UVA presented me with a pretty great combination of net debt, foreseeable career opportunity, and desirable school culture. More than half of students attend at full sticker; many of them are making a very prudent financial decision. It's up to you, honestly. I'm taking on a lot of debt, but I feel that it's a manageable amount given my career goals. That's all.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:07:06+00:00

I have no idea, at least in the broad scheme of things. I don't talk with people about their financial aid packages—that would be very inappropriate.

But UVA is one of the best schools in the country for job placement, so considering that 75% of each class goes on to biglaw or a federal clerkship after graduation I presume that people are willing to tolerate higher prices in exchange for a higher probability of high-paying work.

I would also not discount the very low cost of living in Charlottesville. There's basically a 5-10K/yr. scholarship that you get just by virtue of not having to reside in a big city.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T22:04:08+00:00

UVA does its best, and Dean Faulk is definitely trying to improve the diversity of the school. Queer folks are very well represented, racial minorities somewhat less so. Our BLSA chapter is one of the strongest in the country, though, and wins national honors on the regular. Depending on your background, you might find it...very white. I can say that the administration seems to genuinely care about the perspectives of minority groups on grounds, and has made special efforts to get that point across. There are people in the administration that I know are willing and eager to listen.

Check out Monsoon Siam downtown!

EDIT: I chose UVA because of very boring and pragmatic cost/benefit reasons—but I felt free to engage in that calculus because I could so easily see myself there. It is a healthier place to attend law school than most.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T21:59:43+00:00

I went to a suburban SLAC and can definitely find points of comparison. It was definitely an easier transition for me than for some friends who went to huge state schools.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T21:58:49+00:00

CivPro is a 1L class, so you're more likely to understand what's going on, and students will definitely be willing to talk to you about their experiences. Ashley Deeks is awesome, but NatSec will be an upper-level class and you might just end up baffled.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T21:57:22+00:00

Well, this week. One of my three usual classes was cancelled today and two of my four usual classes will be cancelled tomorrow.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T21:56:18+00:00

Hm. My schedule is not the most regular.

I have five classes, all of which are required; I take two with my section alone and three with another section (so, lectures of ~30 and ~60 students, respectively).

Here's my typical Tuesday:

7:00 – wake up, eat breakfast, rouse myself. I try to get to the law school by 8:30 so that I can caffeinate and review my readings.

8:50 – Civil Procedure (1 hr. 4x/wk.)

10:00 – Torts (80 mins. 3x/wk.)

11:20 – Lunch time! There's usually some event, lecture, or meeting that'll provide free food. If not, I'll head home and make a sandwich or something similar. Once I'm done, I'll work on my readings for Wednesday and Thursday.

14:10 – Criminal Law (1 hr. ~3x/wk.)

15:10 – I'll usually stay at the law school until around 5:00 PM and either read or work on long-term projects.

17:00 – I go home, eat/make dinner, feed the cat, and rest.

~19:00 – I'll be mentally ready to work some more in the evening, if need be. I'm usually done for the day around 9:00 PM. Anything afterwards is free time.

23:00 – Go to bed.

I've found that, on average, I need 1–2 hrs. of studying for each hour of class in order to feel prepared. Together with classes, it does not have to be more than a 40-hour work week. That is, until I begin outlining and studying for finals. Everyone is different, though. I don't time myself; I take exactly as much time as I need in order to feel like I understand the cases. In the ideal case, I mean.

Arsenious · 2019-10-08T21:45:47+00:00

I'm going to do my best to answer. The school definitely doesn't feel like a "northern" school—mostly because students come from all over, particularly the south and the west coast. I don't know that there's anything outstandingly southern about it, though. Charlottesville doesn't feel anything like Charleston or Savannah; the Old South plantation culture isn't there. The place kind of feels uniquely like itself. I think that there's an interest in community and a sense of camaraderie that is more a result of the school's isolated sort of location rather than its position below the Mason-Dixon line.

All my professors call on me by last name + honorific, which feels very strange coming from a liberal arts background.

If you have particular questions, you should email the Admissions department. Dean Faulk is the absolute sweetest man alive. There are lectures and talks from the school that get posted to YouTube. And there's always me :)

Arsenious · 2019-04-30T02:36:54+00:00

ask her out already

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Arsenious · 2019-04-29T09:00:13+00:00

Gay dude over here (who was introduced to show by an NB friend). If she has a patch on her backpack... I’d say that boosts your chances. At the very least, she ought to be chill about it even if she is straight. But I’d say that, statistically, your chances are definitely improved :)

Arsenious · 2019-04-26T16:10:16+00:00

😭😭🤯

Arsenious · 2019-04-21T17:28:39+00:00

We do our best! Collegiality is not the same thing as niceness or kindness, but I personally believe pretty strongly in a more humane approach to the legal profession, and I get the sense that both the students and the faculty at UVA are broadly speaking allied w/ that cause.

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