March 24th, 2005
answer my questions!
I’m sending out a request to law-student blawgers out there, particularly the ones who go to either of the schools I’m considering:
What is the faculty-student relationship like at your school? Is there a general “open-door” policy, or are faculty difficult to connect with? Do faculty show up to social events or not? Obviously, I’m asking in a general sense—I’m sure there will always be faculty who are standoffish in relation to everyone else, and vice versa. But I’d like to get an idea of the general environment, the general interaction between professors and students.
Many thanks.
comments
I can’t speak to your question directly because I don’t attend either school, but I thought I’d share a few things that no one told me before I got into law school.
1. look at the journals at the schools — if you are interested in academia or a clerkship, it certainly helps (in some cases it’s de rigeur) to prove that you can write by being selected for a journal. While everyone wants to be on the main journal, not everyone can, so see if any of the other journals are in a substantive legal area that interests you.
2. look at the adjuncts — lots of classes are taught by adjuncts and visiting profs of varying degrees of teaching skill. If there’s one area of law that you are leaning towards, see who teaches it at the schools. Being taught by a recognized expert in the area may or may not mean it’s a good class, but the prof may become a resource to you down the line.
3. local job market — if you want to do an externship/intership or a summer job without having to leave the city, you might consider doing a quick search on the types of jobs available in the city
4. how good is the career services office at the school? do they offer comprehensive placement services or just the basics?
There are a million other things that you might consider, but I didn’t want to stress you out any more. Also, I think there is definitely a “track” for certain legal careers, and in order to be competitive, you have to follow them for the most part — not strictly, but there are certain markers you have to hit.
Good luck to you and the Mr. on your decision!
Oh, I’m definitely looking at those things; but one thing that I can’t get from the websites and individual research is an account of how students and faculty interact. I’m just looking for some real-world stories.
You’ve ruled out Texas, right?
Si, with a bit of sadness. It would be MUCH cheaper and easier if not.
Hm. I think I attend one of the schools you’re attending and I’ll first say: Give many extra points to the school located in the place you think you’re mostly like to want to stay upon graduation. You’ll make connections and learn the legal job landscape in the area where you go to school, so it will be easier to start your career there, but if you’re going to school in a place you don’t want to stay, all that benefit will be wasted. Plus, lots of legal employers prefer to hire from local or area schools, so if you’re in law school where you want to work, you get that advantage, too.
About the faculty-student relationship: At GW, I think it’s ok. Not great, but not generally super-distant. It depends on you and on the professor, but all profs have office hours and my experience has been that they’re happy to see you during office hours. Nearly all are also happy to talk w/you after class. Many many are involved in one student organization or another, either as the faculty liason or just as someone who supports the organization and attends its functions. I don’t think there are many profs who attend social events that aren’t “official” in some way — I mean, I don’t hear about profs showing up at bars frequented by students or anything, but who knows? I’m not really in the know for things like that. A good number of profs (maybe 20-30, I’m guessing) attended the recent “Law Revue” — a sort of talent show/satirical sendup of the school and faculty. To me that shows that many of them are good sports and don’t take themselves too seriously, which is good.
So the deal is that if you like a prof and the subject he/she teaches, and you visit office hours frequently, you can have a good and fairly close relationship w/a prof and get good references, etc. My experience in this regard has been generally good, but then, I’m probably not a good person to ask b/c this has never been very important to me.
Sorry, I feel like I just told you nothing…
Thanks, ambimb, that’s exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
There is pretty much an open door policy at my school, but to be completely honest, I don’t really talk to professors after class. However, anytime I see them in the halls or anything, the professors always say hello/smile/make eye contact.
Some of them do show up at school functions, mostly at the ones where alcohol is served.