u/Prince897

Hot take: a lot of what people blame on their law school is just law school itself. But I'm not totally sure I believe that yet.

Just wrapped up 1L at a T150. Academically, I felt like I was largely self-teaching due to frequent professor absences (health, family, religious holidays) meant a lot of material got offloaded to Zoom or just... us. For the tuition we're paying, that's a hard pill.

Socially, the vibe was competitive but not in a fun, motivated way but more in a cold, every person for themselves way. School orgs were ghost towns. No community, no pride, total commuter school energy. My theory is that lower-ranked schools have higher demographic variance in their classes with more non-trads, part-timers, people with lives outside of law school which makes the "classic" law school culture harder to build.

I put in transfer apps to some higher-ranked schools. But genuinely asking: is the culture actually different at T50/T14 schools, or am I setting myself up for disappointment? Would love to hear from people who transferred or attended multiple tiers.

I wanted to share a frustrating experience and get some input from the community.

The DFP is highly competitive. The application alone requires a memo, personal statement, and resume. That's just to get past round one. Round two is two interviews. I made it through and got in.

The program hosts an event where 16 law firms attend for a speed-dating-style interview session. You rank your top 5, they rank theirs, and firms get priority. Here's where things went sideways: the firm I was paired with arrived 25 minutes late, took a bathroom break, and by the time my interview started, every other fellow had already gotten a full informal 30 minutes with their firms. The whole event couldn't begin until they showed up.

Despite that, I matched with them.

Since then, communication has been a mess. They found out we matched on March 20 and were supposed to onboard me by April 3. Nothing happened. I had to escalate to the DFP director, who followed up on my behalf. The firm finally reached out April 14. I responded the next day. Still haven't heard back.

I did some digging and spoke with someone who had worked there. The verdict: no job opportunities post-graduation, no mentoring, no real networking. Relaxed environment, but not worth the low pay.

Here's my situation: I'm a 1L with 10 years of prior legal experience. I did this fellowship specifically to strengthen my resume for a transfer application. If I walk away, I'm likely out of the program entirely.

The advice I've gotten so far:

• Negotiate specific hours/days to make it work
• Don't waste your time — take summer classes instead
• Find another internship (feels unrealistic this late)

Has anyone dealt with something similar? What would you do?