UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

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badaboom61

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by badaboom61 » Thu Apr 25, 2013 4:25 pm

Xifeng wrote:
halestorm wrote:As more of a trivial question, how much free food does the law school give out? When I was doing my research for other schools, current students seemed pretty stoked about how many free lunches they could nab each week, but I don't think I've seen anyone say anything about it at Chicago.
I rarely buy my lunch here. It's awesome.
There's at least one lunch talk almost every day, where a student org will bring in a speaker and provide lunch to the audience. It's pretty much expected that if you take the food, you take the hour to go see the speaker, although they're generally pretty interesting. Also, occasionally there will be leftovers that are up for grabs, but never plan on that.

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halestorm

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by halestorm » Thu Apr 25, 2013 4:46 pm

badaboom61 wrote:
Xifeng wrote:
halestorm wrote:As more of a trivial question, how much free food does the law school give out? When I was doing my research for other schools, current students seemed pretty stoked about how many free lunches they could nab each week, but I don't think I've seen anyone say anything about it at Chicago.
I rarely buy my lunch here. It's awesome.
There's at least one lunch talk almost every day, where a student org will bring in a speaker and provide lunch to the audience. It's pretty much expected that if you take the food, you take the hour to go see the speaker, although they're generally pretty interesting. Also, occasionally there will be leftovers that are up for grabs, but never plan on that.
Awesome, that's good to know! Thanks guys.

firstimer

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by firstimer » Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:42 am

Is there enough of a focus on practical applications of the law (I've heard the school does really well with doctrinal / theoretical education? Also, does Chicago open up markets to people who have zero ties to them? I've heard mixed things about going to Cali or Texas without ties, so curious to see if Chicago really delivers on that front.

badaboom61

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by badaboom61 » Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:49 pm

firstimer wrote:Is there enough of a focus on practical applications of the law (I've heard the school does really well with doctrinal / theoretical education?
What does this mean and how would this influence your law school decision anyway? Go to a school to get a job, not for any sort of perceived academic focus.
firstimer wrote:
Also, does Chicago open up markets to people who have zero ties to them? I've heard mixed things about going to Cali or Texas without ties, so curious to see if Chicago really delivers on that front.
I've heard of some people getting into Texas with no ties by networking and telling a fairly compelling "Why Texas" story, but this is not common. For the most part, no; Chicago (nor any school) will not let you waltz into a small market with no ties and ask for a job. UChicago does open the Chicago market up to an extent and of course NYC doesn't really care about ties.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by 2013applicant » Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:51 pm

firstimer wrote:Also, does Chicago open up markets to people who have zero ties to them? I've heard mixed things about going to Cali or Texas without ties, so curious to see if Chicago really delivers on that front.
As previously mentioned, Texas (read: Houston or Dallas. Austin is impossible) is very attainable with a decent reason for why you want to be in Texas.

NYC interviewers give zero shits and assume you want to be there as a matter of course. I had literally never been to NYC before my callbacks with NYC firms.

DC/Cali can be hard to crack without at least some sort of resume/family tie from what I've heard.

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firstimer

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by firstimer » Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:48 pm

Thanks for the responses - very helpful. 3Ls, any estimate of what % of your class doesn't have a job lined up (either PI or firm)? Do basically all students who want a law firm job get one?

badaboom61

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by badaboom61 » Sat Apr 27, 2013 10:47 am

firstimer wrote:Thanks for the responses - very helpful. 3Ls, any estimate of what % of your class doesn't have a job lined up (either PI or firm)? Do basically all students who want a law firm job get one?
I don't know if you could fairly answer this question at this point. A not insignificant number of people each year will graduate without a job lined up; a large number of these will find some sort of decent legal employment within 9 months after they pass the bar exam.

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Emma.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Emma. » Sat Apr 27, 2013 11:09 am

badaboom61 wrote:
firstimer wrote:Thanks for the responses - very helpful. 3Ls, any estimate of what % of your class doesn't have a job lined up (either PI or firm)? Do basically all students who want a law firm job get one?
I don't know if you could fairly answer this question at this point. A not insignificant number of people each year will graduate without a job lined up; a large number of these will find some sort of decent legal employment within 9 months after they pass the bar exam.
I don't know very many people that don't have something lined up. Of the ones that don't, some people got fucked over by their summer firms. Some are PI kids and that timeline is just different—and the sequester isn't making gov't hiring any easier. People don't exactly advertise their situation, so it is tough to know for sure how many people don't have something figured out.

Re Cali/DC: These jobs generally seem to either require ties or strong grades, but not both. And if you can tell a convincing story about why you are interested in a field like emerging companies work that is pretty much centered on the Bay Area, then you can get callbacks out there without ties.

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courtneylove

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by courtneylove » Sat Apr 27, 2013 5:51 pm

badaboom61 wrote:A not insignificant number of people each year will graduate without a job lined up; a large number of these will find some sort of decent legal employment within 9 months after they pass the bar exam.
This is true about our class, a whole lot of people don't have anything lined up. The PI situation is really difficult right now too; a bunch of students had orgs willing to host them for the Chicago post-grad fellowship and were still rejected.
firstimer wrote:Thanks for the responses - very helpful. 3Ls, any estimate of what % of your class doesn't have a job lined up (either PI or firm)? Do basically all students who want a law firm job get one?
Definitely no to your firm question... although that is said to have been the case about 10 years ago. A significant number did OCI the past few years and did not get firms, or at least the type of firms that come to OCI. I know a couple people who found smaller firms through emailing/networking.

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Emma.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Emma. » Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:11 pm

courtneylove wrote:
A whole lot of people don't have anything lined up.
A whole lot? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't know who they are I guess. How many non-PI kids do you actually know that couldn't land some kind of firm job?

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courtneylove

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by courtneylove » Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:29 pm

Emma. wrote:
courtneylove wrote:
A whole lot of people don't have anything lined up.
A whole lot? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't know who they are I guess. How many non-PI kids do you actually know that couldn't land some kind of firm job?
I know of five from our class just in my building. Maybe 15-20 among my circle of friends? I know of PI people without jobs too.

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PopTorts13

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by PopTorts13 » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:02 pm

courtneylove wrote:
Emma. wrote:
courtneylove wrote:
A whole lot of people don't have anything lined up.
A whole lot? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't know who they are I guess. How many non-PI kids do you actually know that couldn't land some kind of firm job?
I know of five from our class just in my building. Maybe 15-20 among my circle of friends? I know of PI people without jobs too.
Regardless, I wish those students the best of luck. This isn't typically, right?

Edited

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Emma.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Emma. » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:17 pm

PopTorts13 wrote:
courtneylove wrote:
Emma. wrote:
courtneylove wrote:
A whole lot of people don't have anything lined up.
A whole lot? I'm not disagreeing, I just don't know who they are I guess. How many non-PI kids do you actually know that couldn't land some kind of firm job?
I know of five from our class just in my building. Maybe 15-20 among my circle of friends? I know of PI people without jobs too.
Regardless, I wish those students the best of luck. This isn't typically, right?

Edited
If a total of 30 people are graduating without something lined up, that is still an 85% employment rate at graduation, and it is safe to assume that a good number of those people are going to find something within the first several months after graduation. Whether this is "typical" is hard to say. Things were probably a bit worse than that for c/o 2012, and hopefully will be better for c/o 2014.

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0L Hoping for 1

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by 0L Hoping for 1 » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:41 pm

We must have completely opposite friends. I am a 3L at Chicago and don't know any 3Ls who wanted a firm position and dont have one.

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Emma.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Emma. » Sun Apr 28, 2013 1:46 pm

0L Hoping for 1 wrote:We must have completely opposite friends. I am a 3L at Chicago and don't know any 3Ls who wanted a firm position and dont have one.
I know a couple, but nothing like 15.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by JessNovember » Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:14 pm

Slightly related but I know 5 2Ls who struck out at OCI and had to take unpaid PI.

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by 2014 » Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:47 pm

JessNovember wrote:Slightly related but I know 5 2Ls who struck out at OCI and had to take unpaid PI.
Any reasons you can gather?

Interviewing issues? Bidding the wrong markets/firms? Bad grades? Unwillingness to mass mail?

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bjsesq

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by bjsesq » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:05 pm

I love you, Emma. That is all.

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Clearly

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Clearly » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:20 pm

I didnt read 80+ pages, so forgive me, I'm sure this has come up... Does the school deserve its gunner, super competitive, high workload reputation?

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by redbullvodka » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:29 pm

2014 wrote:
JessNovember wrote:Slightly related but I know 5 2Ls who struck out at OCI and had to take unpaid PI.
Any reasons you can gather?

Interviewing issues? Bidding the wrong markets/firms? Bad grades? Unwillingness to mass mail?
The first question I always ask is how heavily did they bid NY. I feel like striking out with an intelligent NY bidlist is when I get scared re: hiring.

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skers

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by skers » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:33 pm

Clearlynotstefan wrote:I didnt read 80+ pages, so forgive me, I'm sure this has come up... Does the school deserve its gunner, super competitive, high workload reputation?
At least not in my experience. I mean generally, law school gonna law school I wouldn't call UChicago super-competitive at all. The whole rigor thing has a lot more to do with how subjects are approached than crazy workloads. Workloads differ by professor, but generally the reading was definitely lighter than I expected coming in. Friends at other law schools have had more reading. Graded legal writing is obnoxious. Gunner wise, there's always going to be one, but in most of my classes professors have had more trouble getting people to volunteer than anything else.

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JessNovember

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by JessNovember » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:35 pm

redbullvodka wrote:
2014 wrote:
JessNovember wrote:Slightly related but I know 5 2Ls who struck out at OCI and had to take unpaid PI.
Any reasons you can gather?

Interviewing issues? Bidding the wrong markets/firms? Bad grades? Unwillingness to mass mail?
The first question I always ask is how heavily did they bid NY. I feel like striking out with an intelligent NY bidlist is when I get scared re: hiring.
It wasn't bidding that's for sure. If I had to guess it's probably interviewing, though I mean not being super Tracy Flick-types. I suppose that comes off as awkward.

Sometimes you just get fucked.

badaboom61

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by badaboom61 » Sun Apr 28, 2013 11:39 pm

Clearlynotstefan wrote:I didnt read 80+ pages, so forgive me, I'm sure this has come up... Does the school deserve its gunner, super competitive, high workload reputation?
Gunner = No, no worse than any other top law school.

High workload = yes, mostly a function of quarter system, which means you are ALWAYS studying for exams.

Super competitive = maybe. People are not overtly competitive, everyone is cordial, people are willing to help out whenever you need it, but everyone works very hard and works very hard to succeed. It's more competing against yourself than competing against other people, although the distinction is certainly blurry. I'm not sure if this is worse than any other top law school.

The grading system also doesn't help; you have to push that little extra bit further to get a 179 or 178 instead of a 177, even though at most schools it would all just show up as a B+ (roughly anyway).

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Clearly

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by Clearly » Mon Apr 29, 2013 12:35 am

I speculated it was much to do with the quarter system. It seems like a nightmare honestly, but I suppose its worth it when you consider the whole package.

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2014

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Re: UChi Current Students Taking Questions

Post by 2014 » Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:26 am

The quarter system feels rigorous now, but it certainly didn't in December when we were studying for 15% of our grades vs other schools studying for 50%. I think it makes it easier to figure out what works for you and adjust on the fly because you get 3 shots at it instead of 2.

The grading system can go either way. In practice I think the only thing it really does is differentiate between grades that would all be A's at other schools (i.e. a 93 might be a 181 here, a 97 might be a 184, both would just be an A or HP elsewhere)

In the middle I think the grades line up reasonably well on the standard B-, B, B+ scale

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