SMU Dedman School of Law ASD: A Review

So this past week I took a quick jaunt (alone, completely alone) down to Dallas to check out the SMU Dedman School of Law's Admitted Student's Day. I'd never been to SMU or Dallas, so I wanted to spend a little extra time checking it out, so I flew out of Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon and flew back Saturday night. It was FABULOUS.

I wanted to take a little time before the program to look at apartment buildings, just in case I decided to attend, so on Thursday I went around to a few buildings that had come recommended to me by a friend, a realtor, and a few people on the TLS boards. I checked out at least 6 or 7 different floor plans in 4 different buildings in the Village, and then went to two buildings uptown. (For what it's worth, I think I'd rather live in the Village than uptown, just for convenience and traffic).

Then I went shopping around Mockingbird Station and drove through University Park, checking out a few of the houses (and getting some phone numbers for town houses and duplexes in the area). I went to dinner at a souffle restaurant called Rise No. 1, and it was great. Overall, I really enjoyed the vibe around (but off) campus.

The next morning I drove the three minutes from my hotel to SMU (I seriously could have walked, I think). We started our program in Carr Collins Hall with a meet and greet and a continental breakfast (and good coffee, thank goodness!). I kind of liked that while there was an undergraduate campus attached to SMU, the law quad was a little more isolated from the school than I had seen at other campuses (on the far northwestern corner of campus). It was like the best of both worlds. The law quad was picturesque with it's rotunda and scampering squirrels. Plus there were amenities that were solely for the use of the law students -- a law parking garage, the law library, and the lawyers inn (kind of like a convenience store/deli on the law quad just for law students), which is great.

After the opening remarks by Dean Attanasio (who started off with the questions "Why do you want to go to law school?" and "Why do you want to go to THIS law school?" and didn't seem at all surprised when he heard crickets for a good two minutes), the whole group headed to Professor Crespi's contracts class. It seemed a little preachy to me -- there was literally zero interaction between the prof and the students, and I felt like I was being talked at rather than talked to -- but a few current students eased my mind by saying that it normally wasn't that bad, that none of the other teachers were like that and that Crespi had tailored his lecture style a little because of all of the prospective students there. That was reassuring, at least.

From the class we split into smaller (well, small) groups and took "campus" tours. They weren't really tours of campus so much as they were of the law quad, but that was fine, because we hit the important points. My tour guide (Cassandra) was a 3L and very sweet and knowledgeable. She talked to us about the pressure of exams and where to live and eat off campus as much as she did about the number of volumes in the library, etc. It was a very well-rounded tour.

From the tour we went back out onto the quad for something everyone was calling "Hamburger Man." I don't know what I expected -- maybe someone in the Hamburgler costume entertaining us? -- but what I got was a nice little cook out. We sat at tables around the quad and soon TONS of students from every building were swarming out to get the food. It was good, because it gave us a chance to talk to really anyone we wanted, rather than the five pre-approved admissions workers.

After a leisurely lunch, we went back into a classroom for the "talking head" portion of the afternoon, but it wasn't as painful as I was expecting. Then the student panel (3 girls) came to speak with us. The thing I didn't like about that was that the admissions director actually stayed in the room during the Q&A, often interjecting answers to student questions. It's not like they were bad answers, but it did seem, at times, that her presence might have been holding the student panel back just a little bit...they had to be more guarded.

(Side note: It kind of makes me laugh that the most common thing I've heard from every law student at every law school I've visited is how much free food is available to law students. I just think it's funny how that's a serious topic of conversation.)

After the program had ended, I took a little stroll around campus, snapping a few photos for my folks and generally taking in the pleasant afternoon (it was about 78 degrees and sunny outside, how perfect!). The campus reminds me of a bigger, southern version of my undergrad -- well manicured lawns, red brick buildings, the whole shebang. I drove over to the rec center to check it out (swanky!), and then hit up "i heart yogurt" for an afternoon treat before heading to the bookstore to pick up a t-shirt and then back to the hotel.

There were far fewer parents at this ASD than at previous events at other schools that I had attended (a personal pet peeve of mine), everyone was REALLY friendly, the campus had a solid, easy-going vibe, which was important to me (I would imagine that 1L is stressful enough, you don't need the undercurrent of stress all over campus), and the location really can't be beat. University Park seems like a quiet suburb, but it's smack in the heart of things. The program itself didn't seem as structured or planned as the program at McGeorge, but was more interactive and enjoyable than my recent trip to Santa Clara. I enjoyed the opportunities for talking to older students that the program presented us with.

Overall, it was really a wonderful day, and really helped cement my decision -- but that's a story for a different post.