Can I Ski in Law School??

[KennyG]

I have seen the threads on Undergrads, but thought I would ask about Law schools. Unfortunatly these things are very regional. Outside of Harvard, Yale, and Michigain, few law schools are truely national. I am not opposed to moving out west, I just don't know enough about schools other than their "rankings" which is so synthetic once you get outside the top 3-5 that they are just numbers. The short question is what are some decent (I got a 165 LSAT) law schools that could allow me to ski regularly.

[rideit]

Can you break laws in ski school?

[KennyG]

Federal, State, Local, or just mountain rules?

[midget]

paging Girlski................................

[skier666]

I didn't ski in law school at all...

[teledave]

I think the dean would get pissed if you skiied in the law school. Now, if you went to a mountain somewhere and skiied while you were in law school it would probably be okay.

[Core Shot]

Stanford.

[Capt Ron]

45 days last season during my 3L year and it could have been more. The first year is tough to get out but you get some big breaks to get the days in.

Bay Area has some great schools: Stanford, Boalt, and Hastings
Washington: U of W.

Check it out.

[snow_slider]

You can't ski in law school. Quick, look into dental school!

[BigDaddy]

Maybe on those mountains of books!... Seriously, ask TGR member "Will".

[Arnold Pants]

Short Answer: Yes. Hell yes.

Long Answer: You get 2-4 weeks of winter vacation and some sort of spring break. Plus, after first year, Friday classes are nearly unheard of, so plenty of long weekends. Plus plus, after first year, classes become increasingly optional whatever day they are (depending on how much of a gunner you are) so really, by the time you are a 3L, you should be able to get out any time you want.

A few other notes about law school. More than those three schools that you mentioned are "national" in the sense that you can get a job in any major city with a degree from that school. The top 10-15 in the USNews ranking all get on-campus recruiters from all over the country, and if you do very well (top 20%) at the next tier of schools, you should still be able to go to any major law market with a little work. Maybe not at the top firm in the market, but at a good firm. Stanford, Berkeley and Hastings all send graduates nationwide.

If you want to do something besides firm work right away (questionable decision for $$$ reasons) I think the same concept applies. And same for clerking. You may not know what that is right now, but you will.

Other than employment, all the schools that you are likely to be looking at with that nice LSAT score are "national" in the sense of the law they teach. Don't worry about learning only "Washington State Law" if you go to UW, for example. That's just not how law school works.

Finally, pay close attention to what guides and alumns say about culture. If you want to ski, and possibly find people to ski with, be wary of schools like Harvard and Columbia, with well-deserved reputations for competitive, stressed out environments. Many people at those schools did not enjoy law school at all. Contrast that with schools like Michigan and Virgina, where people love every minute of it. The good students from all those schools end up at the same jobs.

Good luck!

[snowsprite]

Well...conditions may not be epic. But that does not stop most of us!

Sprite

[The Dad]

Harvard, Yale, and Michigan? Are you on crack? Ever hear of Stanford? Columbia? Boalt Hall (Bezerkeley)? Chicago?

Ok, that said, yes, there are law schools near the slopes. And yes, some of them are more "regional," but if you want to move to that region, that's a plus rather than a minus. Especially with a 165 LSAT which, frankly, isn't going to get you into any of your "national" schools (or those I mentioned) without perfect grades in a difficult program, unless you merit special consideration.

UW is about an hour from good skiing, UC Davis is realistically two hours from Tahoe, there are a couple of schools in Portland, etc.

But you really want to try to get that LSAT up to have those choices. I applied to law schools for 1995 entry with a 166 and got wait listed at UW, turned down by Stanford and Boalt, and admitted to Georgetown, which I deferred. I retook the LSATs, got a 172, and got into Columbia, UW, Michigan, Minnesota, a couple of other schools, wait listed at Boalt. (For comparison, I was working with a 3.5 GPA from an Ivy and several years spent doing other things.)

[ak_powder_monkey]

Stanford.

long drive to tahoe, but worth it, nice campus too if I had $40k to blow on classes I would skip I'd go there for sure

[band of brothers]

Vermont Law in Royalton is a great school and you are less than 1 hour from Stowe, MRG, Sugarbush and K-Mart.

[hutash]

I thought Kwood was just over an hour from UC Davis. I left there in '86, so my memory might be a little foggy. Add about an hour from Cal, and 2 hours from SF and Stanford. Other Tahoe areas are a little further. It's been along time, so my drving times maybe way of.

[El Chupacabra]

Skiing is definitely "possible" at the law school at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. I speak from experience here.

They have a few small ski hills nearby that you may have heard of -- Alta, Snowbird, Solitude --

[BeanDip4All]

If you want to ski, and possibly find people to ski with, be wary of schools like Harvard and Columbia, with well-deserved reputations for competitive, stressed out environments. Many people at those schools did not enjoy law school at all.

I have to contest this a little. I'm in the b-school at Columbia, and got 60 days on snow last season. We have a really good ski club that does a trip every weekend and two trips out west. There are skiers here. Granted, they're far from "core" - for example, my friends in the program all though Windham was awesome- but there are a lot of skiers and people to ski with.

As far as the law students being miserable with the workload, that's dead on!

[Rontele]

I have seen the threads on Undergrads, but thought I would ask about Law schools. Unfortunatly these things are very regional. Outside of Harvard, Yale, and Michigain, few law schools are truely national. I am not opposed to moving out west, I just don't know enough about schools other than their "rankings" which is so synthetic once you get outside the top 3-5 that they are just numbers. The short question is what are some decent (I got a 165 LSAT) law schools that could allow me to ski regularly.

Your list of national law schools is way too short.

Anything in the traditional top-14 is a national school

HLS, YLS, Stanford, NYU, Columbia, Chicago, Virginia, Michigan, Cal, Northwestern, Duke, Cornell, and Georgetown. you could probably throw in UCLA for good measure too...

I am a third year at Northwestern and managed to ski 50 days last season (all out west). I know gonzo and Core Shot both went to U of Chicago and managed to get plenty of skiing in. That being said, it really depends on where you want to end up. If you are sold on a single city, and want to work for a big firm, go to that local law school and kill it (ie., top 10%, etc.). Or try to go to a national school and suck it up for three years...

I should also caution you to apply to wide range of school including some guarantees and some stretches. Though you did well on the LSAT, you are going to face stiff competition at nearly every single law school and the LSAT is but one factor that they look at in the admission process. That LSAT score with stellar grades, good work experience or extraciricullars will help. Make sure to present yourself as a well-rounded individual on your applications.

I would look at CU, DU, U of W, U of U, Hastings, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, UC Davis

[jed peters]

165 ain't gonna get you into a top tier, stanford, boalt, or the like.

Look into UC Davis.

Great school, awesome town, close to slopes. Second tier is where you should be looking, sonny.

[Rontele]

165 ain't gonna get you into a top tier, stanford, boalt, or the like.

Look into UC Davis.

Great school, awesome town, close to slopes. Second tier is where you should be looking, sonny.

I agree that Davis or Hastings would be great choices if you are sold on the Bay Area.

[canyonrider]

Some very good advice here.

But don't listen to people who say you will or will not get into certain schools simply based on your LSAT score. Admissions decisions are based on more than your LSAT (particularly at "national" schools), and without knowing more about your grades, academic background, life experiences, etc. it is very difficult to know what schools might accept you. And even then it's always a bit of a crapshoot.

[KennyG]

I am not in the realm of Harvard, Yale, Stanford or any of the others listed as UBER schools. I don't really care about it - these are the facts, worying about them won't change them. I guess this was not clear. Even Chicago, Virginia, Duke, UCLA, and many others listed in this thread as national are not truely national. They have a very large sphere of influence but you have a more powerful degree (ability to get you employment) when you are closer to the school. That's what I meant by National Law Schools. Pretty much every law school does much better at placing it's graduates within it's region. Some regions are much larger than others. I would just like to clear that up. A Yale degree is always a Yale degree weather you are in Anchorage, LA, Boston or Key West - it's going to be great. A degree from Marquette however is going to be much better within about 100 miles of the borders of Wisconsin, and to a lesser degree the midwest as a whole.

Additionally I am not asking will I have time, I am asking for schools to look into that are within 60 minutes of a mountain. I may give serious consideration to Utah and a few others listed here.

[El Chupacabra]

A Yale degree is always a Yale degree...

Yep. You can impress the partners with that when you interview for your slavery job at a Really Big Firm.

Chasing the big schools = chasing the big money = chasing the horrible day-to-day life, IMHO. Yes, you'll get paid $130K as a starting salary, but you'll spend every waking moment and weekend working like a slave and hating every minute of your life. For some, the $ is worth the tradeoff. Your call.

[Hutch]

Chasing the big schools = chasing the big money = chasing the horrible day-to-day life, IMHO. Yes, you'll get paid $130K as a starting salary, but you'll spend every waking moment and weekend working like a slave and hating every minute of your life. For some, the $ is worth the tradeoff. Your call.

totally agree. I went to Hastings, skied at Alpine and Squaw almost every weekend. Moved to Salt Lake, work at mid-sized firm with lower billable hour requirements than the big-city big firms (and lower salary) and take at least 4 weeks of vacation and ski powder day weekday mornings (12" +) and every saturday and sunday. Could be making more in SF, but spend more time with my family and friends doing the things we love to do.

Don't get caught up in the hype - the big firm life is not for everyone.