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Reviews, Visits, and Rankings / UCLA public interest visit on Saturday
« on: April 25, 2005, 12:38:06 AM »
I visited UCLA on Saturday in a ridiculously short and impromptu fashion. Luckily for me the students there are almost aggressively friendly. As I was timidly gazing at the "admission with ID only" sign outside the law library, someone asked me if I needed help. She turned out to be a 2L in PILF, the public interest program I"m admitted to. Over the next 45 minutes she steadily grabbed passers-by on their way to the library and introduced them (for some reason most of them were PILFers too). About five of them held an impromptu panel for an audience of me and my bf. Then one took me on a little tour of the library, which was all I had time for.

They left me deeply impressed with the close knit fabric of the PILF program and its students. They love their school and their program, and believe it will place them well for public interest jobs. They do grant that the school is having $$ problems--the 2L who toured me said tuition was 11K in state when she applied and has doubled since. They also said the LRAP is not good right now. There were murmurs that not everyone who is eligible gets into the program, and then there's the low income cutoff threshold and the maximum awards cap of $60,000. The light in the tunnel is that NYU's old dean is their new one, and LRAP is on his table, but that's pretty nebulous hope. Overall the UCLA LRAP scene still compares and contrasts unfavorably with UVA's LRAP's prorated income eligibility between 36,000 and 60,000 and generous policy of paying all your debts when you earn under 36,000 (I could have this figure 1 or 2K off) with no maximum debt cap. That means that UVA would pay my entire 99K of school debt off in the 10 years after I graduated, if I earn as little as I'm expecting.

However, now that I"ve been to UCLA and seen their very beautiful library (solid wood bookshelves and carrels, wonderful light, full of happy laid-back PILF students) I am very drawn to it. California's where I want to practice, LA is where my bf has friends and opportunities, and I also really appreciate what the PILFers told me about grades at UCLA, that students are not ranked in their class and that grades are not publicized. They believe it gives them a very non-competitive body of students in and out of the program.

I'm going to call the PILF office and see if they can help me wring some finaid money out of UCLA. Next week, the visit to UVA!

Oh, I also visited USC, and didn't like their law building AT ALL. I guess they're going to redo it, but I got a yucky feeling. I had written them off completely when an L.A. employment lawyer I was introduced to told me that they're a really good school for public interest. He related an anecdote of how a friend of his who does land use law wanted to teach a course in it and approached UCLA, who loved the idea but couldn't pay him. The guy is teaching his course now at USC.

Wait List / Re: Priority WL at Georgetown
« on: April 19, 2005, 04:06:38 PM »
"Preferred" waitlist notice came with a 4/15 date stamp. Ah well. *gritting teeth for NYU's, bound to be next*

Did anyone go to the public service program reception? How was it? Wishing I could have been there...

I'm afraid I need a bit more spoon-feeding. I went to CA's bar association website but couldn't seem to find a way in their search functions to select for UVA lawyers. Is this what you meant, and, if not, can you toss me a link that shows what you're talking about? i would love to be able to search by school if I could just figure out how.

It's a really good tip to find someone in the job I want and ask them. I feel really awkward thinking about doing it though. Oh no, they'll see how ignorant I am! I'll definitely keep it in mind, but I probably won't put it into play before I actually get going to school. It takes a while to screw up sufficient courage.

Since I couldn't make the admitted students weekend, I am flying down to L.A. to visit both USC and UCLA next Saturday. I will  have to work it out with the schools so I can see both in one day.

I have never toured or visited a law school before. What should I ask about? I am trying to get good enough information to allow me to fairly consider them even though they are lower ranked and have poorer LRAPs than UVA. I know I can't see a class on the weekend, but I'm hoping I can see something, and it's the best I can do.

Any advice gratefully appreciated!

General Off-Topic Board / Re: cheap, fast, no cooking required recipes
« on: April 17, 2005, 03:01:41 AM »
In places with the right climate you can dumpster dive food. You dont' want to do it too much in really warm climates, but I did it in Virginia actually in summer with great results; I could always get cookies in plastic boxes or broccoli in sealed plastic containers, bunches of bananas, bags of lemons, etc. Grocery stores and places like Costco and Sam's throw out all their fresh fruit and vegetables in crates when the next shipment comes in. It takes time to figure out the right places and nerve to actually head round the back of the store find the dumpster, but it's way hard core if you like that kind of thing, and easy once you have a set of places you go.

My bf really does not like that way of getting food though, he thinks it is dirty, and since I am no longer injured and unemployed, I've gone back to buying food. If I haven't totally disqualified myself by opening this with discussing diving for food, here are suggestions below.

Cheap food ideas:

Popcorn makes a great dinner!
Get oil. Dump it in the pot. Put in one layer of popcorn kernels and shake it around until covered with oil. put on a lid and cook it on medium with a little shaking until you hear it start to pop. keep shaking it every now and then until the popping slows way down, just like the microwave. *Don't* walk away or you may start a fire (I do this all the time).

Cooked squash:
Buy a butternut or delicata or spaghetti squash (ask a grocer to tell you which is which). Cut it in half. Scoop out seeds. Oil or grease both exposed halves. Put them face down on the cookie sheet and cook on 350 till they are tender when pierced by a fork through the skin. These are great with butter or brown sugar or maple syrup. You can eat delicata skin. Also the same deal pretty much works for sweet potatoes, which are really filling.

Tomato veggy soup:
Get chicken or veggy bullion and mix 2 tablespoons with a couple cups of water in a big pot, or as directed. Add a can or two of kidney beans, black beans, or garbanzo beans. Heat on medium. Add some amount of either V8, canned tomato puree, or tomato paste, to taste (be careful w/ tomato paste though cause it's powerful stuff). Add a bag of frozen vegetables. This takes like fifteen minutes and is especially tasty if you use a nice variety of tomato paste and season with some basil or something. You can go crazy with croutons or dumplings or meatballs if you want, but it's good in the basic variety too.

Brown Rice
There's lots of protein in brown rice. Get a decent rice cooker and you're all set. You can make one batch at the beginning of the week and eat it with almonds and tamari or melted cheese, yoghurt, cottage cheese, for extra protein.

Easy, beautiful cookbook to help get started:
Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. This is vegetarian but you can always add meat--for me, meat is more complicated because it can go bad with much more dreadful results than veggies. Also this book has lots of soup recipes, which I find the easiest to not mess up.

Reviews, Visits, and Rankings / Re: USC Law Preview
« on: April 17, 2005, 12:16:58 AM »
What's their career services office like? Do they have a section for public service?

I wish I knew what I even wish I knew from a campus visit! I never visited schools for undergrad and am a little confused about what to look for in the process now.

Reviews, anyone?

Where should I go next fall? / Re: Eugene and the University of Oregon
« on: April 16, 2005, 04:48:24 PM »
I live in Eugene, though I'm not going to attend U of O (UVA is looking better). However, Eugene is really nice. There are tons of community garden spaces and bike paths, and a river bike path allows you to live in the hipper neighborhoods yet have a commute that is almost entirely car-less. If you live in the Whiteaker neighborhood, around 1st and van buren, you can find cheap housing *and* be around great little restaurants and bars and one of the most progressive community credit unions in the state (O.A.R. Credit Union). Also, Eugene is organized into neighborhood communities that handle community governance and get folks involved in local politics. It is a very active town in a local political sense. My neighborhood, Whiteaker, is working on initiatives to curb urban sprawl, create a quiet zone for the railroad, increase public safety with more bicycle cops, etc.

I love Eugene, love my awesome 2-bedroom house that is a block from the river, has great neighbors, and costs $665 a month with pets and a huge backyard, love the kindness and helpfulness of everyone at the community gardens, love the town-wide Eugene celebration in September and incredibly funky July Oregon Country Fair out in the boonies.

Downsides: Although it's good-sized, Eugene is not a big city. it's a college town. The airport is expensive, so one tends to take the train or drive to Portland for flights. (it's not a bad idea to join United and start racking up the frequent flier miles if you want to save on flights out of Eugene). Your big band favorites will often go to Portland and not Eugene. The town is mostly white, except in the Whiteaker neighborhood, which has a name for being rough b/c it's where you will actually see a black person. It rains or is cloudy or is drizzly all early spring, like Feb-April. I'm serious, that last one is a deal-breaker for me. I need the sun! There are also lots of bike thefts, and sometimes too many hippies just pisses me off.

However, if you like a town with an involved and active populace, a mild climate (no snow or salt-rust for your car), great hiking and swimming, gardening, terrific public transportation, cheap nice homes (I don't know what neighborhood that person who saw everything falling down was looking at--Eugene has some of the most beautiful permaculture front yards I have ever seen), and a totally blossoming blooming summer season, you will be happy here.

UO's Enviro program is supposed to be hottt. I know in town I am pretty into the Lane county legal aid and elder law services they provide, as well as the domestic violence legal clinic. Those are good hook-ups for practical work.

Hope this helps! i am willing to answer questions, also there is a Eugene LiveJournal called, I think, The Friendly Eugene, that can help with town-specific questions.

Acceptances / Re: UVA
« on: April 16, 2005, 04:12:10 PM »
They basically closed the deal as far as I'm concerned this past weekend. Awesome place, I'm pumped.

Tell us more!

I wrote this while responding to a poster trying to choose between Boalt and UVA, so I apologize for being slightly off topic. But it basically summarizes why UVA has really won me over--their admitted student weekend was really just the culmination of the gut feeling that's been building slowly for months--

Your post on admitted student day was really helpful for me! UVA accepted me first and whole heartedly (with $39K) but b/c it is in the east and I would like to have my career in California I am still torn about accepting them back. I wasn't able to make admitted student day, but your review is very reassuring!

Reviews, Visits, and Rankings / Re: USC Law Preview
« on: April 16, 2005, 02:12:40 AM »
I want to know too! I wish I could be there this weekend but I am stuck housesitting in Portland. Maybe I'll visit next weekend.
