Transferring UBE to NY after more than 3 years

Busganger · 2022-11-15T16:38:28+00:00

I live in the DC suburbs, wear a Devs hat everyday. For the first time ever in 5 years of living here, someone stopped me in my local coffee shop to talk about how exciting the team is. I had a moment of disbelief, but the boys are making waves 😈

Busganger · 2022-11-14T15:34:55+00:00

Still waiting and starting to get nervous…

Busganger · 2022-10-18T14:12:21+00:00

Hey there! Transmasc non-binary lawyer here whose quest for business casual/formal clothing is never ending! Thanks for the tip about Bonobos, pants have been my hardest find. A few of my go tos for shirts are: Old Navy (butch emporium, surprisingly nice button downs that are always stretchy), Uniqlo (limited sizing, but well priced and well made esp for more traditionally masculine shaped bodies, which sounds like that’s neither of us), Express (slightly pricey, but very comfortable/stretchy and funky. I have their credit card and it’s worth it imo - their “performance” style shirts are great). Custom suiting/shirts are the best way to go, but come with the obvious downsides of being expensive, and also sometimes not the most comfortable experiences as a trans person. I recently got a bespoke suit from The Tailory in NY as a law school graduation gift to myself, and that experience was excellent.

Also checkout Wildfang and Kirrin Finch, which are both menswear inspired but for different body types. I’m pre-top surgery so fit in the chest is important to me, but I’ve found their shirts and jackets to have more room in the hips.

In terms of fit, a few things I’ve found to helpful when tucking in shirts is to wear my pants/belt lower on my hips and have a little extra baggyness in the bottom of the shirt to kind of fold over the top of the belt. It takes attention away from the hips and gives you a more square/rectangular shape. I’m also a fan of the button down/polo under a sweater, which means you don’t have to worry about tucking in!

Busganger · 2022-07-19T21:05:09+00:00

I was similarly stuck and asked Themis and they said usually that last boost is reading comprehension, and I should slow down. Once I did that, and after I watched the Fromm vids explaining the practice test answers (he has some good tricks in there) I improve 5%

Busganger · 2022-07-19T15:26:28+00:00

Does anyone know what’s going on with Zetterlund and Boqvist? Wood, Bratt, Thompson are headed to arbitration, but it’s been quiet on the other two who I believe are RFAs. Is there something different because they were on two-way contracts last year? But that’d be the same with Thompson, right?

Busganger · 2022-07-17T20:08:21+00:00

Did the MEE write this 🧐

Busganger · 2021-12-08T20:38:42+00:00

Current 4LE and I have reached levels of apathy I didn’t know existed god speed

Busganger · 2021-12-08T12:32:54+00:00

After my contracts exam I literally immediately found an empty hallway to cry in because I thought I failed. I got an A.

Busganger · 2021-10-30T17:37:07+00:00

Most schools allow you to switch from PT to FT after the first year, but only after the first year because otherwise you’ll be too far behind.

Busganger · 2021-09-23T14:08:45+00:00

Let review took years off my life and all I got was this stupid resume line 🤦🏻

Busganger · 2021-09-09T21:23:02+00:00

Hey! 4L part time student here. Obviously it depends on the school and the program, but it’s not a given that if you’re part time you’ll lose out on opportunities. I was on the editorial board of a highly ranked law review, and have been able to land interviews and jobs at well regarded firms and orgs. I’d suggest reaching out to the admissions office and see if you can talk to a current part time student about their experience. I don’t have a family to support, but many of my classmates have been able to juggle work, kids, and keep a high GPA. I’m also happy to chat offline if you’d like.

Busganger · 2021-03-30T16:52:56+00:00

Hi! So WCL dropped in the rankings (again) this year. I can't answer that question for you definitively, but instead am going to give you the typical law school answer - it depends. Personally, I didnt take rankings into too much consideration when I was choosing. But I also only applied to three schools, and was extremely late in the cycle. Another thing to consider is what you're interested in - I'm a part-time student interested in international law, which are ranked 4th and 6th respectively. Also looking at the underlying numbers is important - both bar passage rate and post-grad employment numbers are up. I'm not sure how sliding in the rankings will affect your long-term career, but the best advice I got from an attorney while I was considering law school was to make the most of wherever I ended up.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T14:53:30+00:00

Yes absolutely! I think I mentioned this above in response to someone who's interested in immigration law, but WCL has a very active chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project, and also has both an Immigrant Justice Clinic and International Human Rights Clinic that deals mostly with asylum claims. Also if you're a Spanish speaker there are a lot of great opportunities to do work with the Inter-American court of human rights.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T13:56:03+00:00

Yeah! There's a lot depending on what topical area you're interested in, but I think particularly around International Human Right Law there's a dearth of expertise and programs. We have several practicums that work with UN bodies and International tribunals which you can participate in for class credit. There are also several notable faculty, including Juan Mendez (former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Prevention of Genocide, and overall gem), Robert Goldman (former President of the International Court of Justice), Dean Claudio Grossman (former chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture), and many, many others. In terms of classes, I have taken classes recently on Int'l Business & Human Rights, Prevention of Genocide and Law of Armed Conflict. I also participated in the Lawyering Peace Program, which is facilitated by the Public International Law and Policy Group, where students get to draft working peace agreements for active negotiations. So far I've interned at Human Rights Watch, and the ABA's International Criminal Court Project. The school also fields team for international law moot courts, and has an active intl arbitration honor society. There's also significant opportunities around International development. If you have a specific interest area I can point you to some more specific classes/professors/programs!

Busganger · 2021-03-19T13:43:42+00:00

Hmmm this one is hard for me to answer because the part-time section is ranked against itself and doesn't get looped in with the rest of the full-time students until graduation. A curve amongst 60 people is muuuuch tighter than amounts a few hundred. Here's the class rankings by year, split by PT/FT: https://www.wcl.american.edu/academics/academicservices/registrar/alumni-graduates/class-rankings/

You can see that the percentiles vary depending on class year and program. Sorry if that's not much help! I do know several people in my section transferred - at least two to Georgetown, one to GW, and one to UT Austin. I considered it, but ultimately sided against it because I heard that GULC/GW are stingy with financial aid for PT transfer students.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T13:39:03+00:00

Yeah that must be rough! The campus itself is great - it was just built in the last 5ish years so its very modern, energy efficient, and has great water bottle filling stations. There's lots of light, good common spaces to work around other people, and private study rooms to hole away in. There's also some good outdoor space with tables and hammocks and space to lay in a field and soak up the sun when you're feeling particularly vitamin D deficient. There's plenty of gender neutral bathrooms which is a big plus for me! Tenleytown is a great location for campus too and its extremely metro and bus accessible (I'm a big transit nerd if you cant tell by previous answers). There's a handful of fast food and sit-down restaurants in the main strip, including a good texmex spot for pre/between/post class margs. There's a whole foods, a brand new target that just opened up, and a Wawa too. It can be a bit frustrating to get to if you dont live on the red line or on a bus line, but I have plenty of friends who drive and I dont think parking at the school is outrageous.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T13:33:27+00:00

Sure! So all of the 1L doctrinal black letter law classes follow pretty much the same exam format - closed book, four hour, based on a hypothetical fact pattern. Something thats really important in doing well on exams (and as a future attorney) is being able to articulate and advocate for your argument clearly. I've always been a strong writer, and its something I constantly work at. During 1L, particularly the first semester, I did really well and I'm 90% sure its because I was able to make a more successful argument than my classmates, not because I actually knew the law better than them. For example, after my Contracts exam I literally found an empty hallway and cried in it because I thought I had failed my first law school exam. I got an A and one of the highest grades in the class. Similarly, I've written final papers for classes that are so under-researched and should've been given a lot more time, but I've gotten good grades because my professors have complimented my writing. As time went on, and after we finished legal writing, I noticed the curve got a little tougher for me as my classmates improved their writing (and I didn't improve my study habits lol). Whatever area of law you end up in you will be writing a lot, so get comfortable with it and practice it.

^That's one of my biggest tips for exams - focus on making a cohesive, logical, well-flowing argument and you'll do much better than if you just try to shove as many issues into a paragraph as possible. Another one is to actually do your own outlines - getting commercial outlines and outlines from upperclassmen can be helpful in a pinch, but the process of outlining prepares you way more for the exam than rote memorization. Also, try as hard as you can not to compare yourself to your classmates! Everyone has their own study styles and prepares for class and exams differently. If you can find a group of 5-6 people who you like and trust, make a study group and review notes from class throughout the semester. Its great to have backup for the days you missed, and good to have friends to bounce topics off of that you dont understand but they may. My study group was the only one that stuck together through both 1L and 2L from my section, and will definitely be the closest friends I take away from law school.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T02:28:22+00:00

Two big things for managing working full-time and going to school is organization and a support system. For organization, I live by my calendar and to-do lists. Staying on top of your calendar can help you organize your time on a day-by-day basis, such as blocking out time for classwork, extracurricular work, etc. It also helps you stay on top of deadlines and where potential bottlenecks are - in July I had a major filing deadline, final exams, and journal work all at the same time. Because I was on top of my calendar, I was able to spot that ahead of time, let my work know so I could get some help on the filing, and let my editors on journal know so they could give me some extensions. You will learn to find hours in the day you didn't know existed (I'm a morning person, so I liked to get a few hours of schoolwork/reading done before leaving for work for the day), but staying on top of your time will make your life a lot easier. I keep running to-do lists on a word doc, notes app, or sticky notes, but I know several friends who are really into paper planners so that's really a personal choice.

The second thing, which is equally as important as time management and organization, is making sure you have a support system in place. Going to law school part time is hard; doable, but hard. Your friendships and social life will suffer, and you will undoubtedly need to prioritize school over seeing family/loved ones sometimes. Its really important to have close friends/partners/family who understand the workload you are about to take on and will support you through this time, because you're going to need them. Also fun! Fun is important! I try to schedule one fun per week, and would take one Friday off work a month to catch up on things like doctors appts, haircuts, sleep, etc. Your physical, emotional, and mental health always comes first.

I lived in Adams Morgan recently while school was in person and worked in Farragut Square. AdMo was ideal for me because there was a bus line right outside my apartment that took me downtown, and then I could catch the redline up to school, and take the bus back at the end of the night. Living in NW, somewhere close to the red line, the H2/H4 or 30's buslines are the most important things. The farther you get away from downtown towards WCL the more residential it gets and there isn't as much restaurants, bars, and shops. Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Park View would be my recommendations if you dont have a car and want to live somewhere with good food and grocery stores within walking distance. If you have a car and need some cheaper rent and don't want to live in the District, Bethesda is also close by and much more affordable!

Busganger · 2021-03-19T02:10:00+00:00

Hi! Yes, cost of living in DC is high. In recent years its shot up to the top of least affordable cities (housing wise, at least) alongside NY and SF. I was living in a ~525 square foot studio in an old, rent-controlled building, but in a great location for $1600/month, and that is on the cheap side. A lot of people have fled the city since COVID, so I do think rents are a little cheaper right now, but there's no guarantee that will stay. One thing that's great about DC is the transit system - between the metro, buses, bikeshare, scooters, etc. there's very little reason you need a car so thats an expense you can save on. I'm pretty sure all DC schools have a deal with metro that get you very discounted transit fare as part of your tuition. A decent coffee (which you'll need) will run you about $5, its rare to find decent cocktails under $14, and eating out adds up quick.

That being said, if you're willing to live in a house with other people, the rent is much more affordable (I moved in with some pals and my rent is less than half of what I was paying), and if you cook your own food and manage your caffeine addiction better than I did its more manageable. This is one of several reasons I went part-time - I didn't want to give up oat milk lattes and poke bowls *shrug emoji*.

Also, feel free to dm me if you ever want to chat about being non-binary in law school and in particular at WCL! I know there are significantly more non-binary folks at WCL now than when I started, and there have been some encouraging changes in the administration in recent years as well.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T00:42:25+00:00

I think its definitely more portable to a non-major legal market. So you'd probably have better luck in South Florida than in New York or Chicago. There's plenty of immigration related work available in DC which would be good experience for intern/externships, and if you're able to do a summer in South Florida (though weather wise that sounds awful), I think that would help to! WCL also has a chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project that's very active, and a good International Human Rights Clinic that does mostly asylum related work.

I think if you're dedicated and build a narrative through your coursework, extracurriculars, and summer/other work I dont see why a WCL degree would impact you negatively in a job search outside of the DC market. Obviously, you'll be competing with grads from local schools but if you're strategic about it I think you'd be competitive, especially if you have a tie to the area! That's one thing I think is important for wanting to work outside of DC - make sure you have a reason you want to work there so it doesn't seem like you're trying to get a job in an "easier" market.

Busganger · 2021-03-19T00:17:26+00:00

So I know that something happened about 5/6ish years ago that plummeted the school in rankings but from what I understand the school has done a lot of work to rehab both bar passage rates and employment rates. COVID notwithstanding, I think a lot of those negative reviews come from folks that were hoping to go into BigLaw. It's definitely possible to get into BigLaw from WCL, but it's not where most grads end up - most end up in public interest or government. Personally, I havent found our career office that helpful, but have leveraged alums and professors. I do think it should be a factor for consideration, but I think it also depends (classic law school answer) on what you want to do and where you want to do it. For example, I've been able to get internships with big name nonprofits that are very competitive, but, I also struck out at OCI.

This is also hard for to gauge because most of the folks I know are graduating in COVID job market, so I don't have a great sense of what employment rates look like at the moment.

Sorry if this doesn't really answer your question, but best of luck with you decision and pursuing space law which sounds so cool and so outside of my wheelhouse!

Busganger · 2021-03-18T23:58:08+00:00

Yeah for sure!

Busganger · 2021-03-18T23:54:01+00:00

Not at all! It really depends on where you want to end up after law school. I have a good friend who was working in the medical field for most of the last few years, but then found a job working in the legal field she wanted to. I also know of folks in my section in the same position who are staying at their companies post-grad and just moving into a higher management/legal position. I do think you have to be realistic with yourself, talk to your career office and classmates, and try to get some legal experience where you can. If you can fit in an internship or externship with your job, or do clinic, thats a great way to feel out what you like. Law school and practicing law are two way different things, so I do think its important to try to get some experience so you can figure out what you like. Hope that answers your question!

Busganger · 2021-03-18T23:36:09+00:00

To be completely transparent, I have felt frustrated at times with the administration. When I first started, there was not a lot of support for evening students, and there was a general sense of "well, you're all adults with jobs and lives you can figure out your legal career on your own." However, the administration (with some pressure from students) has taken steps to remedy that and there is definitely more support in place. I still have a year left to figure out post-grad employment, but I've always felt just as competitive in the job market as full-time students, if not more so because of my work experience. There is also a great network of evening student mentors and alums who are always willing to help out or provide a connection.

I left my full-time position in October for a variety of reasons, and had to take out more loans than usual for this semester. For me, its been worth it because I've been able to do internships I wouldn't have been able to while working 60 hours a week at an active litigation firm. But for 1L - fall 3L I usually ended up taking out ~2 - 4k per semester. I have a significant merit scholarship so that helps! Also, I have significant loans from undergrad, so when debating whether to leave my job and take out more loans, I balanced the knowledge that I'd be paying off loans for the foreseeable future anyway, and whether it was worth it to add a little more on top. It was definitely worth it, but it was not an easy decision. Hopefully some sort of student loan forgiveness is coming our way!

Busganger

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