Baird.

Judging by the username and profile pic, I thought I knew who funkyturds was. However, I don't think (s)he took Baird's exam.

BTW folk, Chicago's reputation is unwarranted (IMO). There are a good group of us, 1/4th of the class I'd guess, that are always at bar review or planning some kind of social gathering or playing some basketball (although that is likely to change on my end if I failed my exam).

Where do you play? On campus gym? I assume it's too cold for any outdoor courts.

How is the gym anyways? Do a lot of people participate in IMs or the like?

People play at the Ratner courts. There's a good group of law students who get together every other week or so and play. They usually send out an email and anyone's welcome.

Ratner's a really nice gym. Never too crowded, clean, etc. A lot of ppl in our 1L class are doing some IM sport. I think there's at least two or three different football teams, a few volleyball, and I've heard some ppl talking about starting a basketball one for next quarter.

JGG, I am a 'she'.

Regent's was $1045 per month this past year for a 1br at the law school rate, but you have to pay heat, air conditioning, and electricity on top of that, plus cable and whatever other services you sign up for. Heat is capped at $70 a month. I think you have to pay for a gym membership as well if you want to use the Regent's facility. I imagine the rent will go up a little bit next year. I considered Regent's but ended up in grad housing. I have a huge 1br for less than $900 a month, all utilities included. We just pay for internet ($35).

Grad housing is not a "luxury" building like Regent's, no doorman, linoleum flooring, gas heat, kind of like a dorm, etc., but for the price I like it. I've been in a few of the Regent's apartments and our place is just as big. There are a lot of families in our building but they are quiet. I haven't had a problem socializing/meeting people because I don't live over there. Regent's is just a walk up the street if I want to visit someone, and most everyone is at the law school during the day anyway. Then again, I live with my boyfriend so we try to go downtown and do things in the city on the weekends; I usually only hang out with classmates during the week.

I'm not planning on moving out of Hyde Park for 2L year, and maybe even not 3L. The price is too good down here and we have a lot of space. I don't mind not being in the city every day; I know that's a dealbreaker for some people though.

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I'm almost certain that that form is completely useless. No one got "need" based aid last year (at least that was the general impression on TLS), it was almost entirely based on your LSAT/GPA/URM status. Fill it out and everything, but don't be worried if it makes you a millionaire.

As for the previous questions about housing, I highly recommend Regents (if you want to save on costs then get a roommate). It's highly convenient with a cheap restaurant inside, coffee, laundry, dry-cleaning, etc. You will be the first stop on the 172 so you never have to stand the whole ride. It's pleasing on the eyes. Many law students live there so you will likely meet friends in the building and never have to travel to meet up (not to mention taxi rides back are much easier). If living in Hyde Park, I'd probably live in Regents again for my 2L year.


And to address the intramurals question, I highly recommend playing. It's good exercise and it's a nice way to meet people. It's not hard to find people that play whatever game you want (and if it is for you, then you can always e-mail through LawAnnounce which is UChi's email service that sends to every student). The people who play intramurals are also generally the same people you will see at Bar Reviews. It's a bit of a weird correlation.

Just to reiterate JGG's point, I believe the Need Access form will still ask for parental income no matter your age but UChi's aid is typically entirely merit-based.

Also to add to the discussion about housing:

As someone who does not live in Regents, I am not one of the students who would pound the drum against living there. As noted, there is a big community of law students which can be very convenient for a lot of reasons: meeting people, a lot of parties are at someone's place in Regents, sharing cabs downtown or to the airport, and all the other things JGG mentioned. If you don't mind roommates, Regents isn't very expensive and definitely has a lot of good things about it. It's also very easy to get a place in Regents if you are going to have trouble traveling to Chicago to look at housing options.

That being said, there are a lot of housing options in Hyde Park that range from very cheap to just as expensive as Regents. Don't think that your only good options are Regents or Grad Housing, because that's not true. If you have time to spend a few days looking (or even just a day) you can probably find something that meets your criteria. One thing to definitely look for, though, is housing that falls on the UChicago/CTA bus route (the 170, 171, and 172 buses are free to all Chicago students). Walking to school in Hyde Park is great - it's a beautiful place during the fall. But when it is rainy/cold you will really enjoy being able to hop on a free bus that stops right in front of the law school.

I love not living in Regents but most of the people I know that do live there love it, so it's really something you should feel out and think about for yourself.

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*shivers* That is so much debt.

Yeah I don't want to sugar coat it because I think there were a couple TLS ED'ers last year that were pretty disappointed when financial aid information went out.

I can't recall anyone who applied ED and got any need-based aid at all.

Apparently there's a good chance we'll have UPass next year (think we're going to vote on it next quarter), so ALL the CTA buses & trains will be "free." Hopefully that'll create even more options for housing.

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That's going to be especially nice for people who want to live (or do live) outside of Hyde Park.

2L here. Here's my two cents.

Regents
I live in Regents. It's cheap, safe, and clean. I'm seriously considering living here over the southloop or the north side next year.

Cars
I don't have a car. If you live in Hyde Park you most likely won't need one because your student ID lets your ride two/ three cta busses for free, which cover most of Hyde Park.

Atmosphere
I transferred from a T1 southern school, and the atmosphere here is very different, less "fratty" and less partying. But none of this "where fun goes to die" stuff is true.

Is the quarter system devastating?

Ask this question in mid March. When we're all taking finals and everyone else is 1/2 was through the semester and on spring break.

You'll get a completely different answer in March than if you asked us in September when everyone was in class and we were still on summer break. Or for the 1Ls these past couple of weeks when everyone was taking 4 finals and we were taking 2.

As a 1L, I haven't gone through the worst of it yet, but I can say that getting eased into law school with only two finals for the first quarter was incredibly helpful. Without so much pressure (these two exams are only worth 15% of your 1L GPA), it lets you experiment, find what works for you, and most importantly, it allows you to find out what taking a law school exam is really like so you can prepare for the final two quarters. I can't imagine the stress of being on a semester schedule and having half of your GPA already being determined upon your first exposure to law school exams.

All that said, everything I've heard from 2Ls and 3Ls suggests that spring quarter = hell.

In terms of housing - did you guys start looking right away? Or did you just do it at ASW or something? Do you guys live alone, or did you find roommates, and if so on roommates, how?

Also - anyone thinking of the JD/MBA with Booth? The more I read about Booth, the more impressed I am with their school. THoughts on how JD/MBAs are perceived at OCI (I know some people say that firms dont likey because they think the commitment to law isnt there).

Thanks

wrt housing, most people started looking around the beginning of summer...ASW is way too early. i think most of the people in our class found their roommates through the facebook group.

as far as i know, having a JD/MBA isn't going to be of much help during OCI, but it shouldn't hurt your chances either (with exceptions of course. in particular, smaller elite firms and boutiques will probably be wary of where your commitments lie). firms hire associates knowing that most of them won't be around for long anyways. it will certainly come up during your interviews though, so have a good answer prepared.

a classic case of information asymmetry...

Noooooooooooo

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trudat:

If you're not set on Hyde Park then there's no harm in doing some internet research about where in the city you might want to live, but there's no need to be in a rush to find a good place to live in HP.

Also, congrats on getting in!

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