Law exchange / party school - advice

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>Apologies for joining your forum for the sole purpose of asking for help, but if anybody can give me any insight it would be very appreciated.</p>

<p>I am planning to study on exchange in the USA in fall semester 2011 (i.e. August - December) and am looking for advice about some schools.</p>

<p>First, it would help if you knew something about me. I am 24 and in my sixth (and final) year of two concurrent undergraduate degrees in Commerce (Finance) and Law in Australia (normal thing to do here...). I am planning to head over to the States to study some law electives, so I will be enrolled in a law school in later year subjects.</p>

<p>I studied in Melbourne for five years, and am currently studying (read: partying) in the Netherlands on exchange. It has been great but it is pretty damn cold here and I'm looking for something a little bit warmer for my American exchange.</p>

<p>I am looking for a fun place to study and party for a few months before I start my career. Nice weather, friendly people, lots of parties, nice campus, nearby 'things to do', that sort of thing. I don't really mind if I have to party with the undergraduate kids, I imagine that a lot of American law students are quite study-focused.</p>

<p>I have a traineeship/associateship back home to start in 2012, so I am not particularly interested in pursuing 'career-related' goals, although if there were no other factor separating two schools, I would choose the higher ranked school.</p>

<p>I have spoken to a few friends that studied in America and am a little nervous about the whole 'Greek Life' thing. According to my friends (the guys more so than the girls), they couldn't really get into a lot of the parties because they weren't associated with the fraternities, and couldn't join because they were only short-term students. I have no real interest in joining a fraternity, but I do want to be able to get into parties and go out a lot (i.e. 5 nights/week if that works with the workload of whatever law school I end up at).</p>

<p>So basically, minimum work, friendly place where I can make some friends and have a good time. I don't really have a problem meeting people or making friends, but if there is a place that is a bit more down-to-earth that would suit me better (law students aren't always...).</p>

<p>Here is a list of schools that I can go to through my exchange program:</p>

<ul>
<li>American University, Washington College of Law</li>
<li>Arizona State University</li>
<li>Babson College</li>
<li>North Carolina State University</li>
<li>Pennsylvania State University</li>
<li>University at Buffalo - SUNY</li>
<li>University of Florida</li>
<li>University of Nebraska - Lincoln</li>
<li>University of Oklahoma</li>
<li>Virginia Tech</li>
<li>Washington College</li>
</ul>

<p>Any advice on any of these schools would be great. Apparently U.Penn is a bit of a stretch as it depends on numbers, so if I choose it I will need a backup. I have been leaning towards U.Florida and Arizona State based on my research so far.</p>

<p>Cheers
Mike</p>

2

<p>UF sounds like what you’re looking for. It definitely has the nice weather and parties. ASU should be, too. </p>

<p>I’m not sure if your exchange program is with the law schools or with the undergrad schools. If it’s with the law school, note that some schools have their law school a significant distance from the undergrad campus, so it may not have anywhere near the party reputation of the undergrad school. I think Penn State is an example of this. </p>

<p>Also, I’m not very familiar with Greek life at schools here, but bigger schools tend to not be as dominated by a Greek scene because there are too many students for Greek life to dominate the social scene.</p>

3

<p>American University would be a good choice for the sole fact of it’s location. You are in DC which has tons of great things to do. You can party with students from American, GW, or Georgetown if you want. The train from Union Station easily gets you to New York. Lots and lots to do. It won’t get really chilly until mid-November. Autumn is really pretty.</p>

<p>Virginia Tech is a great school with a beautiful campus, fun students, LOTS of parties. I do think that as an international with limited time in the states you would feel a bit ‘land locked’. You are several hours from decent night life and looking far more at frat parties. Just a long drive to do anything that’s not directly related to VT.</p>

4

<p>Hi again,</p>

<p>Thanks for that.</p>

<p>After thinking about what you’ve said and some further discussions with my university and a couple of the US Schools I think I’m now looking more closely at American University & Arizona State. I think you’re right that living in Washington D.C. would give me some more travel opportunities as I’m probably more interested in seeing New York, Boston & Chicago, having already visited California and Las Vegas a few years ago. Florida is a possibility, but only a couple of places for students from my university, whereas I have a guaranteed place at ASU and American University.</p>

<p>My only concern then is that the cost of living in Washington D.C. seems to be substantially higher, up to 50% more for rent apparently. Does anyone have any comments on that? Also, would it be true to say that Washington D.C. might be a little bit more pretentious than Phoenix, in terms of meeting new people?</p>

<p>Cheers
Mike</p>