Date: March 11th, 2006 3:05 PM Author: Aqua Vigorous Station Idiot
if you're willing to answer, could you name a complaint or two with the school? I tried to pull one out of a couple of different people, but it was like if someone asks you for your weaknesses and you say you're a perfectionist (or something along that line). Any complaints you're willing to cough up?
Date: March 11th, 2006 3:58 PM Author: Demanding stag film
There are few complaints because most students love the school.
My primary complaint is with admissions; we should never be ranked below #7. There are two components to that problem. First, the 25% in-state requirement: There are far too many Michigan undergrads here with 165 LSAT's. Second, I think too much scholarship money is allocated to attracting “qualified” minority students. That money should be used to attract students who will raise the median LSAT (which is, of course, a proxy for intelligence at the higher end of the class). We don't need to "buy" blacks who scored 160’s – blacks with 155’s are just as good (bad).
Date: March 11th, 2006 4:20 PM Author: Demanding stag film
Michigan at least needs to recognize that most of the schools ranked proximate to us have very small classes and micromanage admissions using money and high-LSAT splitters to fill the top half their classes and maintain 170 medians. These schools are, of course, Penn, NW, Chicago.
Date: March 12th, 2006 4:52 PM Author: slippery generalized bond
lsat selectivity is not why penn slipped past us in us news.
though i agree that URMs get way too much fucking money, at the expense of students with more need. but the difference between a 161 and a 155 is pretty fucking big, and it is reasonable to try to maintain something resembling t14 quality throughout the student body.
Date: March 11th, 2006 4:15 PM Author: Curious jewess sex offender
my complaints: the admin's attitude toward alcohol (and everything else social for that matter) is ridiculously paternal...the wireless policy, the huge emphasis on wishy-washy international law bullshit
Date: March 11th, 2006 4:25 PM Author: Demanding stag film
Yeah, those policies are bothersome. But those stances should be expected from such a far left administration. At least there is not an explicit speech code.
I think his point is that liberals tend to be paternalistic. But when it comes to drugs, conservatives are clearly generally more paternalistic than libs.
Date: March 11th, 2006 4:44 PM Author: Demanding stag film
These individuals are way left and for some reason the far left becomes paternalistic when exercising power and promoting values like "inclusion."
The argument for the policy is that because certain individuals abuse alcohol, the prudent course is to ban alcohol entirely. Only then will the school provide students struggling with alcohol abuse a supportive atmosphere with limited temptation.
Date: March 11th, 2006 4:53 PM Author: Histrionic Sickened Electric Furnace Headpube
I've never been bothered by the internet policy since it's left up to the individual professors (and since I tend to prefer class discussions where it's not just two or three people talking). I'm obviously aware that some people see this differently, though.
I do agree that allowing alcohol at events would be a good thing. I think a Friday-afternoon beer mixer in the quad would be great fun during non-winter months.
Date: March 17th, 2006 4:13 PM Author: Multi-colored mexican institution
Sorry I didn't reply to this; I just assumed my post would not get any serious responses and so I haven't checked the board in a while. No law school is perfect (and by the way, most people who say they're perfectionists probably aren't, and so if someone tells you they're a perfectionist, just pretend they told you they're a liar and/or stupid). As for complaints about Michigan, the most obvious one is that we do not have access to wireless internet during any time we are scheduled to be in any law class. Another complaint I have is that I have heard of people being allowed extra time on exams, and then jumping from like a 2.7 GPA to a 3.7 GPA, because of a diagnosis of learning disability that was made after a first semester of bad grades. (This is not just third-hand gossip, because in some cases the relevant info came from the student him/herself.) In that sense I think the administration is too lenient; but on the other hand they're just trying to be nice to students. And obviously the weather is a bitch in the winter. Any other questions?
Date: March 17th, 2006 4:16 PM Author: titillating internet-worthy state
I guess one complaint I have that's unique to Michigan is that our 1L median (3.19) is lower than at some peer schools. But this doesn't really seem to have hurt us too much on the job market.
Date: March 17th, 2006 4:28 PM Author: Multi-colored mexican institution
Concur.
The only type of student who I could think would be opposed to raising the median (to be equal to other schools) is the type of student who really wants to stand out in terms of his/her grades being faaaaaaar above the median. But if a student is a real perfectionist, and has grand ambitions, there are other, more productive/meaningful ways to make him/her stand out.
Date: March 11th, 2006 8:42 PM Author: titillating internet-worthy state
Thousands of employers take Michigan plenty seriously, as do the many judges giving Michigan students clerkships, the peer schools hiring Michigan grads for faculty positions, etc.
I'm generally happy here. I guess one complaint would be that a few of the professors don't seem to care enough about teaching, but I suppose this is a problem with any 'elite' law school. The only thing that bothers me about the admissions is the 25% in-state requirement, especially considering that the amount of money the school gets from Lansing is insignificant. But the other factors identified elsewhere on this thread that supposedly hurt our USNews ranking (like our slightly lower medians) don't bother me, especially since they don't seem to have an effect on our prestige in the legal community and the fact that Michigan often rejects applicants that are admitted to higher ranked numbers-whoring schools (like NYU).
Date: March 12th, 2006 3:03 PM Author: Buck-toothed Resort Regret
"the alcohol complaints/situations are interesting since they serve alcohol at admit weekends...though that's probably just to lure students."
Exactly. That's what's particularly fucked up about it. Wait until orientation when they send you into the heart of Detroit to clean up hypodermic needles and pull weeds all day. You come back for a BBQ in the quad...all the Diet Soda you can drink. Welcome to UMich!
you had that much of a problem with volunteering? jeez, chill dude, we went to clean up a park in detroit - it was easy, laid-back, they gave us food, i had soda filled with sugar, and we met a ton of people...or at least i did
Date: March 12th, 2006 3:34 PM Author: Buck-toothed Resort Regret
"volunteering."
It's not so much volunteering when they make you do it. Why do I need to chill? What is with some of you people? Do you get kickbacks from the admissions office?
I think it's really swell that they gave us sandwiches and sodas! Also, the weather's not bad at all!!!
Date: March 12th, 2006 3:39 PM Author: Buck-toothed Resort Regret
That's just not true. They tell you it's manadatory. Yes, it's true that you won't get expelled if you sleep in, but when it's your second day on campus, you don't really know what the consequences are. It's a "service" day, not a volunteer day.
My point is that most schools who do it also treat you with enough respect to let you have a beer at the end of the day.
Date: March 12th, 2006 4:07 PM Author: clear domesticated chad knife
well i don't know about you but i got to throw cornmeal and old cans of condensed milk into boxes for half an hour to go to the poor. then we ate lunch and went home. i think we had the laziest of all service groups.
Date: March 13th, 2006 8:54 PM Author: Jade soggy ceo
I buy 1 and 3, but Ann Arbor is about 5 times as prestigious as anywhere else in Michigan. You could be in Flint, East Lansing, Traverse City, Southfield or some other toilet.
Date: March 13th, 2006 7:51 PM Author: outnumbered arrogant jap Subject: Why everyone gotta be dissing Mich.
Why does everyone have to diss Michigan? It's got around ~70% employment rate for private firms w/ ~50-55% gonig to firm sizes of 500+. True it isn't located in the legal mecca of the country and yet it does quite well placing students, now and in the past.
Look at all the other school ranked w/Michigan: Chicago, Northwestern, Penn, Virignia, weather wise, they're all the same, except Virginia. Placement wise, pretty much the same, but we all know what NU does when u can't find a job.
I really wish these school would post job placements and break downs of firms like Michigan does....then we can put all this talk to rest.
Date: March 13th, 2006 9:05 PM Author: indecent liquid oxygen business firm Subject: Weather?
I'm surprised no one's mentioned this. I've never seen snow and cold weather for me is a windy 50 degree day. I don't even own a jacket or a coat!
I think I'd fail out of Michigan because I'd never be able to convince myself that getting out of bed and walking through the cold to get to class would be worth it. Does anyone at Michigan who wasn't used to the weather have anything to say about this?
Date: March 13th, 2006 9:11 PM Author: clear domesticated chad knife
you'd be fine. there's tons of california people at school here who get used to it quickly. nobody likes it, but nobody just shivers in bed all day. and the lawyer's club is less than 100 yards from class, which is nice.
Date: March 18th, 2006 11:27 AM Author: pale location
I grew up in southern California and was pretty intimidated with the thought of a Michigan winter. Here I am three years later and it's just a part of life. You get a good fleece, some long sleeve shirts and learn how to tie a scarf. It's that simple. Yes, really cold days suck, but the cool thing is tha the town is designed to offer a ton of warm places to go and shelter from the cold. It's actually kind of cool, and I ended up really enjoying the change of seasons. That's sort of cliche, I guess, but it really grew on me.
About the only really sucky part of Michigan's weather is that winter lasts really long. It's not uncommon to have a sudden cold snap in April that brings temps back to freezing. But that's the worst part of it. the actual cold isn't that bad.