1. I took a J Term, good for getting a credit out of the way, and not very taxing. The curve only kicks in if there's more than ~8 kids in the class. So keep in mind, a class with 9 kids in it will be basically all B+s, unless your prof is sadistic. This could be good or bad depending on how 1L shook out for you. I was the only one in my J term class, which I really enjoyed, but some fill up. It all depends. I'll echo what UVA2B said: The rat race for 1L employment starts during finals (thanks ABA!), make sure anything you're doing doesn't interfere with that.Anxious-Undergrad wrote:90% I will be attending UVA LAW in the fall. Therefore, I have a few questions about the school.
1. J-Term: J-Term is open to 1Ls correct? Is J-Term graded on the curve? Do students attend J-Term and do the classes fill up? Lastly, can you take more than 1 course during J-term?
2. Moot Court: What is the process for signing up and do you recommend doing it? Do you get to pick your partner?
3. Law Review: Grade-cutoff? How tedious is writing on? Is being on law review enjoyable at all? How about the other journals?
4. MA in History: Thoughts on the program? How much extra work is it and when should I apply? Is it worth it? Are the classes enjoyable? Also, I have heard you can write your thesis for the MA and also try to get it published as a note for law review, is this true?
5. Clerkship: When does the process begin? Also, should an appellate clerkship be the goal or is fed clerkship first a better route?
6. 1L Summer: What have you all done your 1L summer? Is SA possible? clerkship?
7. Grades: any tips for crushing it 1L in the grade department? I am hoping to do well!
8. Food: what do you all do for food? cook most of the time? There are no dining-halls right?
Finally, is it possible to do Moot Court, Law Review, MA in history or is that just to much?
Thank you so much!
2. To me, 1L grades > all. I wasn't willing to take on such a time commitment when I had such an important thing going on. I still feel it was the right decision, but it does seem like Moot/Mock are something lit firms care about. A lot of my section-mates are doing it, and they seem to get something out of it, but it is a considerable time commitment.
3. Like UVA2B said, the grade-on is not a GPA, but a ranking, so what GPA will get you on depends on your classmates. A mid/high 3.7 is usually the cut off. Journal tryout is a weekend, which is fairly unique to UVA and a huge blessing. I thought it was kind of fun, it's a cool way to see the things you've learned come together
4. I know someone doing this. It's fairly competitive, you should have some strong UG history credentials. Not too much extra work, maybe less if you prefer writing papers to cramming for exams for hours. Downside is you will have basically no flexibility in scheduling, and honestly the degree is pretty worthless to employers, so unless you're planning on going into academia I don't see the point. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to use your thesis for a note submission.
5. Very very few, highly selective judges (the kind the school basically applies to for you) will start grabbing people after 1L fall grades. Many judges are now saying they won't take anyone who doesn't have 2 years of practice. The process is scattered, idiosyncratic, and changes every year. There used to be a gentleman's agreement among judges on a much more uniform process, then it broke down a couple years ago. Ruth Payne seems to think a system will reform soon, so you might have a much easier time.
As for the goal, there is a general preftige hierarchy, but if you're in the running for the kinds of clerkships where this really actually matters (ex: feeder v. nonfeeder CoAs), the right people will approach you. Also, if you have specific practice area interest, state courts or district courts may be the better option over a CoA (DE SC, EDTX, SDNY). In any other case, it's going to be a matter of fit with your judge, where you think you're going to learn/grow the most, etc. In other words, it's highly situation dependent and you are way jumping the gun here.
6. Most 1L SAs are diversity/patent/etc, but I know a few "non-diverse" guys who got SAs even without stellar grades. It's a lot about hustle and a lot about your interviewing skills. No one clerks 1L summer, you can intern for a judge. Otherwise people go to literally any legal job you can think of.
7. Every class is different. I approach a class with 30 short answer questions completely different than an issue spotter with massive fact patterns. Generally, I would write your own outlines, then compare to old ones for ideas, completeness, etc. Using old outlines doesn't make you reprocess the info and make sure you can understand it in a way that allows you to put the info into your own words. Listening to the prof is key. Use the same steps of analysis they do, use the cases they like/cite a lot. Write down the little hints and examples they use, as they often appear on the test (I've had at least two finals where an offhand comment about what the law is in VA ended up on the exam). As you're going over the material, try to figure out how you would ask a question that would really press on the distinctions in the material. If two cases are at odds, how would you create a fact pattern that really stresses that tension, and how would you resolve it? This is heresy, but I find study groups are largely either a waste of time, or a security blanket to relieve the stress of uncertainty about where you stand. Your time is better spent actually going over the material, finding out what you don't know, and talking to your prof about any confusion.
8. To add to UVA2B's response, there is also a bookstore with a good selection of snacks, and there is almost always some free food at some group function. You could easily live off of free food 1L year if you're not picky. I also use orderup quite a bit to get stuff delivered to the school.
9. That depends on you, and your goals. At the end of the day, grades >> interview ability >>> filling out your resume with a ton of bells and whistles, unless you have particularized goals. My approach was to spend the first semester focused on grades, and then reassess my ability to juggle more from there. You won't know about LR until after 1L, you can pick up the MA in history second semester, and moot court will always be there.
