Wouldn't do that walk at night. Newark has not contained random violence on the streets even in the downtown area. It's perfectly safe during the day when gangs seem to stay concentrated in the northern parts of the city amongst others. When the sun goes down and Gateway Plaza empties out for the night and Prudential Center does not have anything going on, I would stick to mass transit and avoid the streets.

Dam. I'm a night student, so being out at night is unavoidable.

I talked to a student who just finished 1st year. She said people exagerrate, and this is mostly a product of white ignorant fear, inability to understand Urban Areas. Idk, I'm going to check the place out tomorrow. I might be able to bring an old car if there's a place to park the thing.

Really, "white ignorant fear"? Maybe a better terminology would be those who haven't lived in an urban area, regardless of race. I'm sure there's plenty of Hispanic, African-American, and Asians that have the same fear. I have a hard time believing there's some "ignorant fear" running in Caucasian blood that sets them apart in understanding "Urban Areas". If you believe that, I don't know what century your mind thinks it lives in.

(I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and I'm sure you just wrote that without thinking of the implications, so its cool. Just insert your race in the blank-- "product of ______ ignorant fear" and I'm sure you would write the same response.)

IReally, "white ignorant fear"? Maybe a better terminology would be those who haven't lived in an urban area, regardless of race. I'm sure there's plenty of Hispanic, African-American, and Asians that have the same fear. I have a hard time believing there's some "ignorant fear" running in Caucasian blood that sets them apart in understanding "Urban Areas". If you believe that, I don't know what century your mind thinks it lives in.

(I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and I'm sure you just wrote that without thinking of the implications, so its cool. Just insert your race in the blank-- "product of ______ ignorant fear" and I'm sure you would write the same response.)[/quote]


Calm down. First of all, I'm white myself. Irish in fact. Second, I've had both the urban and surburban experience, so I'm not coming at this completely in the dark. Third, White Flight in America is well documented. I suspect that the repuatations of American cities are based largely on 60's images of them instead of the way they currently lay. This isn't uncommon in New York, where surburbanities, often white, misrepresent Brooklyn and Queens as if they were Baghdad. Its absurd, and in my experience, its real.

Has anyone that chose to live on campus actually heard from the Housing Office about room assignments/roommates yet? I've noticed a lot of people saying what building they're living in, but we could only list preference on the application.

Calm down. First of all, I'm white myself. Irish in fact. Second, I've had both the urban and surburban experience, so I'm not coming at this completely in the dark. Third, White Flight in America is well documented. I suspect that the repuatations of American cities are based largely on 60's images of them instead of the way they currently lay. This isn't uncommon in New York, where surburbanities, often white, misrepresent Brooklyn and Queens as if they were Baghdad. Its absurd, and in my experience, its real.[/quote]

Cannibal... =P No worries, I just read that and had to call it out. I haven't lived in NY yet, so I'm sure that culture could exist.

I would say that the streets of Newark at night are not the safest in the state. However, that doesn't mean that you're bound to be victimized if you walk them at night. You probably won't be but the chances that you will be seem higher than if you were strolling through Caldwell at midnight.

If you're a night student, you could try to find other night students to walk with to and from the school. I'm over at RU-C and whenever I go out to Philly at night, it's always a large group of us walking over to the PATCO station in Camden (5+) and I feel perfectly safe.

Ya, I hear you. I've been through Brooklyn and Queens late at night, and Washington Heights too, sometimes alone, sometimes with a group. It doesn't bother me b/c I'm familiar with it. In Newark, I think its just the uncertainty behind a new place. Perhaps it'll fade quickly. Perhaps not. We'll see.

Calm down. First of all, I'm white myself. Irish in fact. Second, I've had both the urban and surburban experience, so I'm not coming at this completely in the dark. Third, White Flight in America is well documented. I suspect that the repuatations of American cities are based largely on 60's images of them instead of the way they currently lay. This isn't uncommon in New York, where surburbanities, often white, misrepresent Brooklyn and Queens as if they were Baghdad. Its absurd, and in my experience, its real.[/quote]

Cannibal... =P No worries, I just read that and had to call it out. I haven't lived in NY yet, so I'm sure that culture could exist.[/quote]


Idk what you mean by Cannibal... Ya it exists, maybe in some places more than others. To go beyond my own experience would be speculation and conjectures, and that's for clowns, not law students. Still, I know an ignorant attitude and an uninformed comment when I see one. It just bothers me. Assuming facts not in evidence, etc.

Cannibal... =P No worries, I just read that and had to call it out. I haven't lived in NY yet, so I'm sure that culture could exist.[/quote]


Idk what you mean by Cannibal... Ya it exists, maybe in some places more than others. To go beyond my own experience would be speculation and conjectures, and that's for clowns, not law students. Still, I know an ignorant attitude and an uninformed comment when I see one. It just bothers me. Assuming facts not in evidence, etc.[/quote]

Protip: using legal phrases in every day life, including on message boards, makes you seem douchey.

Why? According to who? Maybe attitudes need to start changing. I think that was the essence of what I was trying to say. Assuming facts isn't just a legal term, its a philosophical one as well. Too much anti-intellectualism in this country.

Is anyone who already has a computer thinking of getting a new laptop or the like anyway? I'm on the fence about this one (I have a five year old MacBook Pro).

I would if I were you bro/madam. Its a modest investment, given what were spending as is. You'll need it for 3 years, and a 5 year old labtop you may not know how long it can hold on.

I tried applying for my grad plus loans today but I still get the error that says Rutgers is not participating in them. I checked the RU financial aid website and even though the letter Nicki sent out had a July 1st date for applying, the website says July 11th. So.. I guess I'll just try again then.

No rush, you won't get the money til the first week of school anyway.

True, but I am going away for a couple of weeks and wanted to get it squared away should there be any problems with credit check or whatever.

I bought a new TimelineX Accer. I was on the fence for getting a new macbook pro, but I figured I would install windows 7 and use that most of the time and couldn't justify the 1k more expense for the sleek body style of the 15" mac. (If you haven't tried windows 7 you should check it out, I used a mac all through my undergrad and thought I would stay with osx but windows 7 was a game changer in my opinion, at least for what I use a computer for) Anyways, I did tons of research, my main priorities were weight, battery life, style and processing power, not that we need that much processing power for law school. Anyways, I ordered it online from amazon for under $700. Just a thought. I looked at Toshiba, Sony and Dell as well. But, this one trumps them all in my opinion. (They actually just rolled out a new version of the TimelineX, the blue aluminum instead of the black, which is pretty sweet but costs more. 9 hour battery instead of my 8 hour is a bit appealing)

So, I finally went online to sign my life away - i.e. sign the promissory notes for the Stafford and PLUS loans. Any other new arrivals to NJ freak out a bit when prompted to provide a driver's license number on the loan form?
I've only been in NJ for a few weeks, so I haven't traded in my New York license yet. And I'm about to leave town for a week and I'd rather not leave the loan paperwork hanging - hopefully it doesn't create problems with my in-state residency. Has anyone out there had this come up in past years?
I do plan to get a NJ license soon, actually, but I just haven't had time. Also, I have to get a new Social Security card first because I can't find mine anywhere.

I wouldn't be so quick to shut down others fears about safety in Newark. I moved here in Dec. because I didn't want to go home and knew I would be going to Rutgers. There was literally a shoot out here last night around 10:30pm on MLK only a couple blocks from the school (about 1 mile). Nothing else has happened here the last 7 months I've been here but still going to move out of this city before my lease is up.

I wouldn't be so quick to shut down others fears about safety in Newark. I moved here in Dec. because I didn't want to go home and knew I would be going to Rutgers. There was literally a shoot out here last night around 10:30pm on MLK only a couple blocks from the school (about 1 mile). Nothing else has happened here the last 7 months I've been here but still going to move out of this city before my lease is up.[/quote]


Pretty Ancedotal don't you think?

Shoot outs happen in Cities. I'm not writing it off, or mimimizing it. But it ain't Kabul or Dara'a. It isn't random either. People don't generally get shot randomly. Violent homicides don't just happen. Drugs, Lovers Scorn, Robbery gone bad, whatever. But its not random. If prudent steps are taken, there is no reason to believe such danger can't be avoided. Its less then ideal maybe, but its not a war zone.

Why do you need a Jersey license? You can't drive in NJ with a NY license?

I'm from NYC and we've never had an issue driving around Jersey. Save yourself a headache if you can.

I just signed the MP on the Stafford Loans too. I'll do the Grad Plus soon. It is pretty crazy, all that money. But hey, at least were at a public school and not paying 45k a year =)

If anyone is getting antsy like me you can look at the Fall 2011 schedule online now. It says it's tentative, but somethign tells me not much will change - especially with 1L courses. And if you requested early track you can narrow your professors down to section 1 or section 2.

http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/files/u/Fall%202011.pdf

From past experience, tentative means 1L classes are set and the only changes that could conceivably be made have to do with which adjunct profs are available. Tentative also means they aren't ready to open registration but are tired of phone calls and emails asking why every other law school in American released their schedule 2-4 months ago and Rutgers hasn't.

Thanks for sharing that schedule. I have no idea how to make sense of that, though. I can kind of figure out the early/late tracks by time but I'm lost otherwise.

My best guess is that the numbers in parenthesis next to each 1L course are the section numbers. So if you have Property(1) on your schedule all of your classes will be (1). I requested early track which would only be section 1 or 2 based on that logic, and researched the profs. Now that I know which section I prefer I doubt I'll be in it.