USC Law Welcomes Class of 2013

-By Jason Finkelstein

Gone are the dog days of summer — for the USC Gould School of Law’s Class of 2013, it’s time for school.

An August 17 convocation kicked off a busy week of orientation activities for USC Law’s latest class of J.D. students. At the ceremony, the Honorable Nora M. Manella ’75 administered the oath officially beginning the legal careers of the Class of 2013.

The newly-minted 1Ls also heard words of advice and encouragement from Vice Dean Scott Altman, Dean of Admissions Chloe Reid and Dean of Students Priya Sridharan.

“No matter how long it took for you to get here, the fact is that you’re here today,” Reid told the new students. “You’re living your dream, so go ahead and pinch yourself — you’re really in law school.”

The 221-member class of 2013 represents the best and brightest from a record pool of 6,587 applicants. The median LSAT score of the incoming USC Law class (167) remained constant compared to last year, but the 25th and 75th percentile scores both increased this year, to 166 and 169, respectively. The average undergraduate GPA of this year’s class also rose, from 3.60 to 3.64.

Class members hail from locales far and wide. The 221 students grew up in 14 different nations and attended 79 different colleges and universities. 40 percent of them identified themselves as members of an ethnic community, while 10 percent said they grew up in economically disadvantaged homes.

The Hon. Nora M. Manella '75

Before coming to law school, the students did everything from teaching in schools to volunteering at grassroots organizations to serving in the military. Some of them have worked at NBC News, the Washington Post, the National Security Agency and the White House.

The most popular undergraduate majors among the new students are political science, psychology and economics.

Twenty-three former undergraduate Trojans have continued to “Fight On!” for law school, while 28 incoming 1Ls saw the light and have traded the baby blue threads of that other school for the cardinal and gold of USC.

Altman’s advice to the new students centered on four key ideas: treasuring classmates, spending time with professors, keeping an open mind and building a strong network of contacts.

“Being surrounded by people who might all be smarter than you can be frightening, if you let it, but it can also be inspiring,” Altman said. “Choose to make it the latter.”

Manella, who graduated at the top of her USC Law class, spoke about the three facets of the professionalism oath she later administered: honesty, ethics and excellence.

“There are no child geniuses in this profession,” Manella said. “There are no Mendelssohns; there are no Mozarts or Menuhins. There are just people who work very, very hard, sometimes to make it look easy.”

The whirlwind week of orientation activities continues through August 20. By Friday afternoon, students will have attended workshops on everything from computing to professional ethics, toured the entire building, and had the opportunity to participate in a community service project as well as to attend a Los Angeles Dodgers game with their new classmates.