.

Thanks! Really appreciate the response. I'm still mulling it all over. A little daunting since all my family/ friends are on the east coast, but I'm pretty sure I have to follow my dreams on this one.

Thanks again.

I'm starting this fall in the evening program and will likely have a room for rent in my house in Eagle Rock if anyone's interested... feel free to send me a pm for more info!

I live in Detroit and I'm set on Loyola (unless I get in off some crazy T25 waitlists which is doubtful!)

Anyone else on here about to fly FAR away from home?!?!?

Any advice on living in LA??

Thanks

I am from Michigan and I am pretty set on attending Loyola in the fall -- I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the living situation. I have never been out to LA, so I am going in pretty blind sighted, but I am more than excited! If anyone can give me any advice, please do!

Allison

LA is a cool city, though it's not a city like Detroit or other big cities back east. LA is more like a collection of 100,000 person to million person cities stuck together. Loyola itself is right next to downtown, which is more of a finical and business center rather than an are people live. They've been revitalizing it over the last few years and there are some cool things (like the Staples center) and cool places to live but it's not really a neighborhood as such. If you look back to my post on the 1st page or the Loyola class of 2011 thread there are good descriptions of the different parts of LA.

I would advise you to come out here as early as you can so you can get settled in before law school starts. I would defiantly say that you should bring or buy a car here. It is possible to use public transportation here (I plan on using it sometimes) but LA is really the true automobile city. It is spread out and full of freeways and too really enjoy living here you should at least have access to a car. I've been to Michigan and while people are pretty much the same everywhere things are a bit different here. There's not really a city you can compare to LA but for you both Ann Arbor is probably the closest (in the way that people act) to LA.

Weather wise you can't do much better. It rarely gets cold here (especially compared to what I'm sure you're used to) and it rains infrequently. The fall/winter/spring are all very simillar and you will be able to walk around without a jacket frequently. Summer is hot, hotter than you'll be used to (over 100 degrees often and mostly in the 90s) but LA isn't' humid so it's a very dry heat and thus pretty manageable.

I've lived here all my life but I can't really think of much else to say right now except that you are going to love it here and you wont want to leave after graduation (and of course that contrary to popular culture we don't see celebrities everyday, we all don't look like models, and we aren't all a bunch of hippie communists). Congrats on Loyola and feel free to message me if you have any questions.

I'm not going to Loyola but I have a few things to say about moving to LA. At first you're going to think it's dirty, like every other big city. You will hate the traffic and parking and most likely get frustrated the first few weeks. But after a couple months, you'll start calling it home and when you go visit your family back home you'll miss LA. That's what happened to me and to most of my friends who've moved to LA from other places. Try to live as close to the school as you can because you don't need the drama of commuting during your first year of law school in a new city.

I agree with pretty much everything except maybe one thing. Living close to school is important (because let's face it driving downtown usually sucks no matter what) but I think a lot of other factors are important when choosing where to live. I myself kind of want to live somewhere where I can escape from law school and enjoy what little free time I will have. I also want to live somewhere that feels like a neighborhood (my biggest reason against living downtown). Cost is also a big factor for many people, as is the level of safety that they perceive an area to have. Personally most of the immediate areas around Loyola don't appeal to me and I'd rather drive an extra 10 or 20 minutes to enjoy the area where I live.

You have a point. However, when you have to leave ten minutes earlier to drive an extra 1.5 miles (what happened to me when I moved)... it sucks! I know ten minutes isn't a big deal but for someone who is living in LA for the first time and might not know how traffic works around here, living as close to school as they can will make all the difference. It was (very!) hard for me to feel comfortable driving around here and I think that your first year of law school will give you enough to stress about. You can always sublet for a short time while you get a feel of the area and decide where you want to settle down.

I am likely in the evening program starting this fall - have a room for rent in a great West Hollywood place with pool, hot tub, right off Sunset, reasonable drive to campus. If interested PM me...

Oh I do sort of agree with you. It can be exceptionally frustrating driving for an hour to drive only 10 miles, but in LA those 10 miles can mean a lot in terms of areas. Also, even though I like to make a big deal out of the fact that I can drive LA pretty proficiently, it's really not that hard. Driving around LA really isn't any different from any other major city. After spending a few weeks learning the basic layout of the major freeways anyone can do it, plus most of LA is laid out in a pretty logical grid like way (pretty much the exact opposite of San Fransisco which was designed by a bunch of drunk miners) so you can find your way to where you're going eventually. I think that anyone coming from out of town should arrive as early as possible to acclimate themselves to the city anyway so learning to drive here is one part of that adjustment.

Also random note for out of town people, I've been told that we drive ummmm rather "aggressively" here. I like to think of it as the law of jungle.

Everyone has different priorities, to me living somewhere I love is worth 20 more minutes spent driving a day. For others this might not be the case.

Hey, I'm also strongly considering Loyola. What's the consensus regarding career prospects for the full-time vs. part-time program? Any "stigma" associated with being a part-timer? I have no idea, just wondering as I contemplate my options.

I don't think there is much difference, I am going into the evening division also this fall. Plus you can always transfer to full time after your first year as long you have a 2.8 avg

I'm not sure if there is any stigma on the student part towards the part timers, but I can't imagine that it would hurt you're career prospects. If anything it would help them by showing employers that not only were you able to attend law school but you were also able to do it while working full time (or part time). Also I didn't know about that you could transfer from the part time to the full time program but that's very interesting. Plus Loyola has one of the best night programs around. The professors from the day program rotate teaching during the night program so the quality of education is the same.

Just wondering -- I sent in my second seat deposit, does anyone who has sent it in already know what happens next? I read somewhere that there is a blog where potential roommates can post, does anyone have that information! So much stuff to do, not enough time when you live thousands of miles away!!

About the housing blog...


Yea, it's called the student housing blog or something. Go to the accepted students' page and look to the links on the left. It's there. However, the admins only allow you access after your second seat deposit has been received, so in a few weeks it should be busy.

Well looks like I'll be joining the rest of you guys at Loyola, I'm pretty excited, I love the West Coast and that's saying something cause I'm from the Ft Lauderdale area and SoFla people are pretty passionate about our neighborhood. Anyways, I'm clearly going to be lookin for a roommate when I move out there and so I figured I'd start searching now. Price wise I'm pretty flexible as long as the rent isn't outrageous, I'd like to live relatively close to both the school and the beach if that's doable. Im very chill and easy to get along with, I'm a guy but anyone who wants a roommate is cool by me cause like I said I'm pretty laid back and easy to get along with. PM me if your interested.

I'll be going to Loyola in the Fall, but I'm going to be living at home in the San Fernando Valley. Should be a 1 hour commute in the mornings. I'm used to long commutes since I've lived here my whole life. My commute to high school in Hollywood took around 45 minutes daily. Traffic is just a part of life in LA. You actually grow to be able to handle it. Personally, sitting in traffic is like my alone time... a really fucked up form of meditation.

Either way, I love LA, and you will learn to love it too. PM if you have any specific questions or anything.

Hey guys!

I'm moving out of my apartment in the Palms/Culver City area. If anyone's looking for a place to live that's not too far from the LLS campus (literally a 10-15 min. drive), let me know! It's a 2 bdrm 2 bath apartment with 2 tandem parking spots available. Message me if you want more info. My roommate and I totally love this area, but I've decided to move back home to save some money. We're moving out by the end of the month so it's perfect! Our landlord is just too nice of a guy, so we've decided to help him find people to take over the apartment.

This apartment is perfect for students-- clean, affordable, and in a quiet neighborhood. It's also walking distance from all the bars in downtown Culver City. It's a win win situation!

Did anyone in the 2012 class take Caplan for Civ Pro? I am trying to locate an outline for that class, so please PM me if you have one. Thank you!