Pepperdine Class of 2013 Forum

[eberl032]

Does anybody know if the seat deposit for accepted students is binding? Wasn't able to find this information.

If you withdraw before a certain date you can get back $150

[StyrofoamWar]

Deposit/registration sent in, Pepperdine is all locked up for next year!

Found some cool places to live in Santa Monica, there are some really interesting neighborhoods I'd never been too before and some really nice places. Took a little looking, but well worth it. westsiderentals.com is a pretty solid service with a lot of listings, but it costs a bit per month to sign up.

[1ferret!]

Deposit/registration sent in, Pepperdine is all locked up for next year!

Found some cool places to live in Santa Monica, there are some really interesting neighborhoods I'd never been too before and some really nice places. Took a little looking, but well worth it. westsiderentals.com is a pretty solid service with a lot of listings, but it costs a bit per month to sign up.

Always glad to have another Philosophy major to argue with...

[StyrofoamWar]

Always glad to have another Philosophy major to argue with...

Ha! Glad to hear it. If there were vague traces of sarcasm to be found there, I wouldn't blame you in the least...hopefully "that guy" from my undergrad philosophy classes didn't decide on pepperdine law as well...

[1ferret!]

Actually, contrary to my normal character, there was no sarcasm. Welcome aboard.

[Gatriel]

How many of y'all are on LSN?

[StyrofoamWar]

How many of y'all are on LSN?

I should be.

[eberl032]

We briefly mentioned housing and specifically in the valley.

Anyone know of some reasonablly priced apartments in santa monica. Everything I can find has either no information or $3,000/mo. apartments.

Is anyone else putting a certain number on their max rent? Just curious what means everyone plans to live within.

Thanks.

[arhmcpo]

If you pay a subscription for westside rentals you can get access to basically every property for rent in the Santa Monica and LA area. I think its like $60 a month

[tania]

Hey guys,
I'm starting at Pepperdine next year and looking for somewhere to live, because campus is way too expensive. I'm actually finishing up undergrad at Pepp right now, so I know the area/where to look for apartments, but was hoping to find roommates who will also be at law school so that we'll have similar schedules/workload. Let me know if you're looking for something or know anyone else who is! I was looking for a facebook group as well but didn't find one...

Tania

[egosumcignus]

Congrats to all you incoming 1Ls! I'm a 3L at Pepperdine (1 month left!!!) and would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have. My ability to answer questions about where to live is a little limited because I've never really had to look for housing (I lived in Sherman Oaks before starting school and continued to live there throughout), but I'm an L.A. native, so I can answer questions about the area itself, and I'm a good source for school/class/what to expect questions. Good luck to everyone!

[StyrofoamWar]

True story: 1L classes generally start at 8 AM every day?

Also, how is your class looking in terms of employment prospects. The career development office boasted a 75% placement rate at graduation during the ASD, curious as to how accurate this is. Not asking for your personal situations at all, just an overall state of things? Thanks!

[egosumcignus]

I know that this semester, the earliest 1L class (with the exception of one Legal Research and Writing Subsection, which went from 8-9 on F) was at 8:40 TTh for one of the sections. The rest of the sections had classes starting no earlier than 9:10 (again, with the exception of the one subsection). I seem to remember that the earliest classes I had during my 1L year started at 9. In general, the school does a pretty good job of giving 1Ls well-paced days. They also do a wonderful job of pacing finals - usually there's at least one day between each. When you're a 2L or 3L, you may end up with finals on the same day (in which case you have the option of moving one by 24 hours) or the next day.

As for job placement....I think that this year has been harder on everyone. There are some (I can't speak to the amount) 3Ls that, before the economy went ouch, would have received offers from their summer employers. However, like so many firms, their firms decided not to extend any offers....this, of course, is not unique to Pepperdine, so it shouldn't worry you any more than it would if you were attending another school. These 3Ls were left scrambling (again, like those at many other schools) for alternate employment. I've been seeing a lot of those people get jobs in the last couple of months. Apparently, there's another rash of hiring that occurs right after grads pass the bar. You should note that the employment issues are not confined to any particular percentage of the class. I have a job at a firm I like and in the practice area I wanted, and I'm not in the top 10% or top 25%, but I do know at least one person in the top 10% and at least one in the top 15% that does not currently have an offer. I think (and this is just speculation on my part) that a lot of those people went the BigLaw route (since BigLaw tends to hire from the top 10% to top 33%) and BigLaw was hit the hardest (they had to do a lot of rethinking of their fee structures and compensation). Anyway, I think the takeaway is that it's tough all around, but you CAN find jobs, and our CDO is AMAZING. I found my job through an OCI (On-Campus Interview) through the CDO.

Hope that helps! Any other questions about it, just let me know!

[egosumcignus]

Just another note - as to the 75% placement rate, I would guess that's pretty accurate. I think it's been higher in previous years, but a lower rate would certainly be consistent with the overall employment situation in the legal field.

[1ferret!]

I don't know for sure, but I THINK mine was the only section that had an 8 o'clock start time for three days out of the week last semester.
Get used to the long hours, whether they come early or late..

[egosumcignus]

@1ferret!: I'm wondering if I know you....What mentor group are you a part of, if you're comfortable stating that here.

[1ferret!]

Goodno... others should be so lucky.

[eberl032]

Congrats to all you incoming 1Ls! I'm a 3L at Pepperdine (1 month left!!!) and would be happy to answer any questions anyone might have. My ability to answer questions about where to live is a little limited because I've never really had to look for housing (I lived in Sherman Oaks before starting school and continued to live there throughout), but I'm an L.A. native, so I can answer questions about the area itself, and I'm a good source for school/class/what to expect questions. Good luck to everyone!

As a L.A native and a 3L Pepperdine student, how do you feel about the reputaion of Pepperdine in the area? Coming from 2000 miles its hard to get a feel for the attitude people have about Pepperdine. Obviously people hold UCLA in high regards, but what are the feelings about Pepperdine?

I am considering living in the Sherman Oaks area. What are your thoughts on it? Also near the warner center area?

Thanks for your help!

[egosumcignus]

@1ferret!: Oh. I probably don't know you then. I'm one of the peer mentors for Dean Cupp's mentee group. I agree, though. Goodno rocks

[egosumcignus]

@eberl032:
Living situation: Warner Center is farther north than Sherman Oaks (it's really the Woodland Hills area), but it's a nice place to live. Mr drive from Sherman Oaks is about 35 minutes with no traffic (most of that is spent on Las Virgenes canyon) and can be up to an hour, depending on the traffic/time of day. If you can, I would really try to live closer than that, because that 1.5-2 hours a day could be used more productively. Santa Monica seems to be the choice of many here - the commute is about 25 minutes unless there's an accident on PCH and then it's a parking lot. However, you can end up paying about $1600 for a one bedroom there. If you live at the Archstone in Calabasas, it's MUCH closer and you can get a 1 bedroom for about $1300. I would really look in Calabasas.

Pepperdine's reputation in the area: This is a hard one to answer without sounding biased. I feel it's pretty good. Obviously UCLA and USC have a stronger reputation, but....anecdotally, every time I tell someone that I go to Pepperdine, I get the "oh, that's a great school" remark. I don't feel like I've ever been discriminated against in getting interviews (in relation to UCLA or USC) and several times I've gotten interviews/positions BECAUSE I'm a Pepperdine student. I'm willing to be much more blunt and specific about this topic, but would prefer not to discuss it on an open board, so PM me if you'd like to hear more and I'll be happy to share.

[arhmcpo]

I have a longer commute (40ish minutes) and I remember 1st Semester 1L I was freaked out about all the time I might waste commuting, sooo (and this will sound really dorky) I got one of my courses on books on tape. So if I felt like it, I would pop in a cd in listen to some harvard professor drone on about the topic in general terms. I don't know how useful it is but mentally it makes you feel like you are still productive despite the commuting.

[egosumcignus]

@arhmcpo: That is definitely an option. Were you listening to the Civ Pro CDs? Another thing that people have done is to record themselves reading their outline and play that while in the car. None of those things really works for me since I'm a visual learner, so I suppose how productive the commute time is depends on the person.

[arhmcpo]

yeah I'm definitely a visual learner too, hence me not knowing how effective the tapes were for me (yes they were the civ pro tapes actually - and FWIW that was one of my best classes ) but either way I think the psychological benefit of not feeling that you are wasting your life away driving is... priceless

[StyrofoamWar]

For those interested, somebody already put together a Pepperdine Law Class of 2013 facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=1 ... 934&ref=mf

[eberl032]

How far is to far to commute?

Im finding lots of apartments I like, however the ones in good locations are bit spendy. I've found several I absolutely love but they are in long beach, and in Orange. Mapquest puts it at 45-55 miles. Is this way to far of a commute to save $400 a month on rent?

Also, is it possible to get a schedule with classes only on mon/wed/fri or only on T/TH? This was easy in undergrade but not sure about Law School.

Thanks