SMU Class of 2013/2014 Forum

[raoul79]

Anyone going to the May ASD for PT students? I still haven't gotten my plane ticket and hotel room.

I'll be there...

[bonnieblue]

i've heard good things about the villa rosa.....

ill probably end up going the live alone route too

[YEM]

What kind of deals are you finding? How far is Uptown from campus?

...unrelated to the Uptown question... Over the last couple weeks more rental houses have come available in/near University Park/Highland Park. Depending on what you're willing to spend, 2 or 3 people could split a house (say a 3/2, 1600 sq ft) just a few blocks from SMU for a surprisingly reasonable price.

Check online. Even on the Dallas Morning News rental part of the classifieds.

[fathergoose]

What kind of deals are you finding? How far is Uptown from campus?

...unrelated to the Uptown question... Over the last couple weeks more rental houses have come available in/near University Park/Highland Park. Depending on what you're willing to spend, 2 or 3 people could split a house (say a 3/2, 1600 sq ft) just a few blocks from SMU for a surprisingly reasonable price.

Check online. Even on the Dallas Morning News rental part of the classifieds.

My brother splits a 3/2 house with a couple friends just a little west of SMU and the pay 500 a month including utilities. But I'm convinced they don't use the heater or ac.

[SpencerPratt]

Park Gates of City Place has some ridiculous deals (looking at craigslist) but apartment reviewers are killing that place. Is it as sketchy as people are saying?

[wellington]

I'm trying to find a house to rent ... I don't think the wife and I can downsize from the bungalow we rent now.

Good luck to the rest of you in finding a good place to live.

[Billy Batts]

Park Gates of City Place has some ridiculous deals (looking at craigslist) but apartment reviewers are killing that place. Is it as sketchy as people are saying?

One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of older buildings that have apartments for rent just around campus, especially about a block north of Daniel. They aren't the Taj Mahal, but being able to walk to class would make up for a lack of amenities. If you're a single person, you might be well served to get a pen and paper and just walk around the outskirts of campus and take down numbers. A good chunk of those apartments will probably not appear on craigslist or any classified ads. In fact, if you lived in that area, it would probably be possible to get by without driving very much at all. Snider Plaza seems to have everything that you really need (including a little grocery store).

[tarheel354]

hey quick question as it seems most of yall have already received acceptance letters. How long was it before you received the infamous phone call after your status switched to "decision rendered"?

Any replies would be great. Mine was updated this morning.

[Billy Batts]

hey quick question as it seems most of yall have already received acceptance letters. How long was it before you received the infamous phone call after your status switched to "decision rendered"?

Any replies would be great. Mine was updated this morning.

Two days.

[squ1rtle]

hey quick question as it seems most of yall have already received acceptance letters. How long was it before you received the infamous phone call after your status switched to "decision rendered"?

Any replies would be great. Mine was updated this morning.

4hrs for me

[SpencerPratt]

Park Gates of City Place has some ridiculous deals (looking at craigslist) but apartment reviewers are killing that place. Is it as sketchy as people are saying?

One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of older buildings that have apartments for rent just around campus, especially about a block north of Daniel. They aren't the Taj Mahal, but being able to walk to class would make up for a lack of amenities. If you're a single person, you might be well served to get a pen and paper and just walk around the outskirts of campus and take down numbers. A good chunk of those apartments will probably not appear on craigslist or any classified ads. In fact, if you lived in that area, it would probably be possible to get by without driving very much at all. Snider Plaza seems to have everything that you really need (including a little grocery store).

Thanks for the info. Sucks that I'm still trying to put together a package for a plane ticket/hotel room for the ASD.

[YEM]

Park Gates of City Place has some ridiculous deals (looking at craigslist) but apartment reviewers are killing that place. Is it as sketchy as people are saying?

One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of older buildings that have apartments for rent just around campus, especially about a block north of Daniel. They aren't the Taj Mahal, but being able to walk to class would make up for a lack of amenities. If you're a single person, you might be well served to get a pen and paper and just walk around the outskirts of campus and take down numbers. A good chunk of those apartments will probably not appear on craigslist or any classified ads. In fact, if you lived in that area, it would probably be possible to get by without driving very much at all. Snider Plaza seems to have everything that you really need (including a little grocery store).

This is great advice. Even a driving tour of the area north of campus would work also, and you can cover the territory a lot faster. Of course, this is not ideal for a non-car person. Here's a tip though: as you see a place that looks promising, call immediately, even if you're not ready to move. These sorts of rentals get snatched up very quickly.

And here's a shot in the dark ... hit up the SMU housing office (especially if the graduate/law school has its own housing office separate from the undergrad). Most housing offices will have a bulletin board where the locals might post a house-sitting gig, garage apartment or similar. And as chrisokc pointed out, these things will never hit the internet postings. This could be a pointless exercise; I'm only basing the recommendation on a prior experience at another school far, far away. But the surrounding community and its connection with the school was quite similar to SMU's.

[UTL_plz]

I've spent the last couple of days in Dallas, and I love it. Great vibe, great people, great neighborhoods, great restaurants and bars, and obviously a great law school.

It's time to make it official: See you guys in the fall.

[SpencerPratt]

Trying to get down to the PT ASD Thursday, May 20th

Looking at flights/hotel packages, it looks like it's actually cheaper to fly from DC, stay two nights, and fly out really early Friday morning (have my sister's undergrad graduation dinner and ball Friday evening/night) than staying one night or just flying down Thursday morning, not getting a hotel room, and getting to the airport late Thursday night/Friday morning and chilling. Anyone know if people typically go to the dinner and then go out at night? How long does the dinner/presentation last?

Also, I'd love to try out the apt locator deal. Since I can't rent a car (not 25 yet), would they come to my hotel to pick me up, drive me around, and drop me off? I'll probably get in Wednesday afternoon, take a cab to the campus and walk around to take things in, and then do the apt locator/walk around campus to find deals the day of the dinner.

Thoughts? Sorry, I've never been to Dallas, so I'm trying to figure it all out.

[YEM]

I've spent the last couple of days in Dallas, and I love it. Great vibe, great people, great neighborhoods, great restaurants and bars, and obviously a great law school.

It's time to make it official: See you guys in the fall.

At the risk of sounding really aww-shucks dopey, it always makes me happy to see posts like this (and MaxPayne posted one similar yesterday on the SMU2010 thread). So many of us appear to be starting our tenure at SMU really excited about the school and the area. Beginning with a pre-formed idea that we're gonna enjoy the place has to have an effect on the student body's continuing happiness. After all, if law school is as tough as we've all been told, who wants to be surrounded by unhappy people? So many on TLS seem obsessed with scholarship money or whether they'll be T14 rather than T30. It appears to me that an SMU JD will open plenty of doors for us down the line, and we'll get a great quality of life in the meantime.

And here's this from Texas Lawyer last week, http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/texas_la ... kings.html

the pull-quote:

Law school rankings, other than U.S.News, consistently place SMU Law among the top 30 schools, says Dean John B. Attanasio. “One of the main reasons you go to a particular law school is because of the kind of doors it can open,” Attanasio says. “I don’t think that U.S.Newsmeasures that well. It doesn’t measure what kinds of opportunities a degree from a particular school can generate. To me you go to a law school primarily for what kinds of opportunities it can generate for you and then what kinds of training you get that will enable you to be successful in those opportunities.” He notes that the law school has a high placement rate with more than 97 percent of its 2009 graduates reporting employment by February 2010, he says. “And also the salary numbers actually went up despite the economic downturn,” Attanasio says. The average salary of 2009 graduates increased to $106,700 from $102,000 for 2008 graduates, says Karen Sargent, assistant dean and director of career services.

Does anybody know which rankings Dean Attanasio is referring to (that "place SMU Lawamong the top 20 schools")? I've never seen SMU in T30.

[wellington]

For those of you familiar with SMU Law's tradition of "Follies," they've uploaded this year's onto youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SMUfollies# ... FAx-nGB2X0

It's broken up into each skit. "Law School State of Mind" is gaining a little popularity around the law school website world.

[Billy Batts]

I've spent the last couple of days in Dallas, and I love it. Great vibe, great people, great neighborhoods, great restaurants and bars, and obviously a great law school.

It's time to make it official: See you guys in the fall.

At the risk of sounding really aww-shucks dopey, it always makes me happy to see posts like this (and MaxPayne posted one similar yesterday on the SMU2010 thread). So many of us appear to be starting our tenure at SMU really excited about the school and the area. Beginning with a pre-formed idea that we're gonna enjoy the place has to have an effect on the student body's continuing happiness. After all, if law school is as tough as we've all been told, who wants to be surrounded by unhappy people? So many on TLS seem obsessed with scholarship money or whether they'll be T14 rather than T30. It appears to me that an SMU JD will open plenty of doors for us down the line, and we'll get a great quality of life in the meantime.

And here's this from Texas Lawyer last week, http://texaslawyer.typepad.com/texas_la ... kings.html

the pull-quote:

Law school rankings, other than U.S.News, consistently place SMU Law among the top 30 schools, says Dean John B. Attanasio. “One of the main reasons you go to a particular law school is because of the kind of doors it can open,” Attanasio says. “I don’t think that U.S.Newsmeasures that well. It doesn’t measure what kinds of opportunities a degree from a particular school can generate. To me you go to a law school primarily for what kinds of opportunities it can generate for you and then what kinds of training you get that will enable you to be successful in those opportunities.” He notes that the law school has a high placement rate with more than 97 percent of its 2009 graduates reporting employment by February 2010, he says. “And also the salary numbers actually went up despite the economic downturn,” Attanasio says. The average salary of 2009 graduates increased to $106,700 from $102,000 for 2008 graduates, says Karen Sargent, assistant dean and director of career services.

Does anybody know which rankings Dean Attanasio is referring to (that "place SMU Lawamong the top 20 schools")? I've never seen SMU in T30.

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/law%20sc ... page12.pdf

[SpencerPratt]

For those of you familiar with SMU Law's tradition of "Follies," they've uploaded this year's onto youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SMUfollies# ... FAx-nGB2X0

It's broken up into each skit. "Law School State of Mind" is gaining a little popularity around the law school website world.

Good work! The Law School State of Mind is pretty impressive.

[HBK]

Any thoughts from the recent ASD? I was pretty impressed, but am still on the fence. SMU seems like a great school, but I'm not in love with Dallas (grew up in Houston). And TLS wisdom says that if you go to SMU, you're stuck in Dallas for a while.

Dean Attanasio seemed pretty proud of his new toy (the handheld projector). But it was pretty distracting during his "look at all the famous people I know" presentation.

When he asked "Why SMU?" I had to bite my tongue so I didn't say "because you gave me the biggest scholarship."

[fathergoose]

Any thoughts from the recent ASD? I was pretty impressed, but am still on the fence. SMU seems like a great school, but I'm not in love with Dallas (grew up in Houston). And TLS wisdom says that if you go to SMU, you're stuck in Dallas for a while.

Dean Attanasio seemed pretty proud of his new toy (the handheld projector). But it was pretty distracting during his "look at all the famous people I know" presentation.

When he asked "Why SMU?" I had to bite my tongue so I didn't say "because you gave me the biggest scholarship."

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm from Houston, no real affinity for Dallas, and I never seriously considered SMU until they gave me a scholarship. I think what pushed me over the top were the placement numbers. I would like to practice in Houston after LS but really I just want to get a big law so I can pay off my loans. If that means I spend a couple years in the wilderness of Dallas that's fine. I have no reasonable expection that I'll be in the top 5 or 10 percent, so the fact that the top quarter went into big law or clerkships is very attractive.

[ClemTiger]

Damn it feels good to be part of this group. I too will be at SMU in the fall. Just admitted to the PT program today.

[mustanggirl215]

I have been a lurker, so I will make this my first post. I was accepted last week to the PT program, can't wait to be back at SMU. PONY UP!

[Thirteen]

Damn it feels good to be part of this group. I too will be at SMU in the fall. Just admitted to the PT program today.

I have been a lurker, so I will make this my first post. I was accepted last week to the PT program, can't wait to be back at SMU. PONY UP!

Congrats!

[Thirteen]

Has anyone had luck finding relatively cheap housing? I want to live close, but it seems like most of the nice places are in the $900 range. Also, is anyone looking for 1 or 2 roommates?

[squ1rtle]

Does anyone have a list of the required books for each class? I want to start my search for the textbooks early in order to find the best price.