Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

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NoLongerALurker

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by NoLongerALurker » Sat Apr 23, 2016 12:43 am

I heard ~ 3.62ish and 3.93ish.

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malleus discentium

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by malleus discentium » Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:02 am

Any recommendations for good cross-registration courses? I am uninspired by the fall course offerings. Is it a thing to take CS50?

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polareagle

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by polareagle » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:38 am

malleus discentium wrote:Any recommendations for good cross-registration courses? I am uninspired by the fall course offerings. Is it a thing to take CS50?
It can be a thing, but that course is very demanding. I have a friend who registered and then dropped because he wasn't about to do that much work as a 3L.

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radio1nowhere

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by radio1nowhere » Sat Apr 23, 2016 9:48 am

malleus discentium wrote:Any recommendations for good cross-registration courses? I am uninspired by the fall course offerings. Is it a thing to take CS50?
I hear Justice with Michael Sandel is pretty great, but I believe it's only offered in the spring

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by hlsperson123 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:01 pm

radio1nowhere wrote:
malleus discentium wrote:Any recommendations for good cross-registration courses? I am uninspired by the fall course offerings. Is it a thing to take CS50?
I hear Justice with Michael Sandel is pretty great, but I believe it's only offered in the spring
What's the timeline for cross registration? I can't find any dates for when they put up next year's catalog, when can sign up, etc. The best I could find was this:

https://courses.harvard.edu/policies.html

but it doesn't seem that helpful.

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TripTrip

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TripTrip » Tue Apr 26, 2016 6:13 pm

hlsperson123 wrote:but it doesn't seem that helpful.
Accurate description of every tool and department that is supposed to help you with cross registration.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:25 pm

hlsperson123 wrote:What's the timeline for cross registration? I can't find any dates for when they put up next year's catalog, when can sign up, etc.
You cross-register at the time when the other schools are registering for their own classes, which at (or just before) the beginning of the semester for most (if not all) of the other schools. I think next year's course catalog for most other schools is out in the summer, possibly July or August.

Yes, this means that you have to create your law school schedule without knowing what your cross-registration options will be.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by hlsperson123 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:48 pm

tomwatts wrote:
hlsperson123 wrote:What's the timeline for cross registration? I can't find any dates for when they put up next year's catalog, when can sign up, etc.
You cross-register at the time when the other schools are registering for their own classes, which at (or just before) the beginning of the semester for most (if not all) of the other schools. I think next year's course catalog for most other schools is out in the summer, possibly July or August.

Yes, this means that you have to create your law school schedule without knowing what your cross-registration options will be.
TripTrip wrote:
hlsperson123 wrote:but it doesn't seem that helpful.
Accurate description of every tool and department that is supposed to help you with cross registration.
haha thanks. I guess I'll just assume whatever courses were offered last fall will be offered again next fall.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Indifference » Thu Apr 28, 2016 11:48 am

Thoughts on mailing in an exam -- as in prepping so not to flunk it, but not going nuts?
Have most of the grades for the class. Exam is 1/4 of the grade. I am below median but w/in 1 SD.
Figure an H is out of reach at this point, and I would have to do pretty badly to pull an LP.

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sfoglia

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:37 pm

Glad this is still active.

Is there anyone here (or can anyone refer me to someone) who turned 29 while attending? I'm wondering how much aid is effected when parents' estimated financial contribution is no longer considered.

And, I suppose I may as well ask more generally, has anyone found that their aid has varied year-to-year, unexpectedly so? Obviously summer income will have an effect, as will any windfall inheritance, but I'm wondering about unanticipated changes.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Thu Apr 28, 2016 3:17 pm

Indifference wrote:Thoughts on mailing in an exam -- as in prepping so not to flunk it, but not going nuts?
Have most of the grades for the class. Exam is 1/4 of the grade. I am below median but w/in 1 SD.
Figure an H is out of reach at this point, and I would have to do pretty badly to pull an LP.
My feeling is yeah, that's probably fine. Study enough to answer questions coherently but if you mix up some things or miss an issue somewhere, you're probably not going to LP.

(Note that this is basically just a guess based on how classes usually work and I don't really know anything relevant to your situation.)
sfoglia wrote:Is there anyone here (or can anyone refer me to someone) who turned 29 while attending? I'm wondering how much aid is effected when parents' estimated financial contribution is no longer considered.
I did. Because your parent contribution steps down each year (75%, then 50%, then 25%, then 0%, if I remember correctly), you should already have a pretty good idea of how the changes in parent contribution affect your aid before you turn 29.
sfoglia wrote:And, I suppose I may as well ask more generally, has anyone found that their aid has varied year-to-year, unexpectedly so? Obviously summer income will have an effect, as will any windfall inheritance, but I'm wondering about unanticipated changes.
In my last year, $2000 was shifted over from loan to grant because HLS apparently had a little extra money (I'm told), but that's the biggest change I can recall. It really shouldn't change unless your circumstances change.

SFS is okay about explaining these sorts of things, although they tend just to read the policy off the website. So you might want to talk to them, or you might just want to read the website.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 3:49 pm

tomwatts wrote:
sfoglia wrote:Is there anyone here (or can anyone refer me to someone) who turned 29 while attending? I'm wondering how much aid is effected when parents' estimated financial contribution is no longer considered.
I did. Because your parent contribution steps down each year (75%, then 50%, then 25%, then 0%, if I remember correctly), you should already have a pretty good idea of how the changes in parent contribution affect your aid before you turn 29.
sfoglia wrote:And, I suppose I may as well ask more generally, has anyone found that their aid has varied year-to-year, unexpectedly so? Obviously summer income will have an effect, as will any windfall inheritance, but I'm wondering about unanticipated changes.
In my last year, $2000 was shifted over from loan to grant because HLS apparently had a little extra money (I'm told), but that's the biggest change I can recall. It really shouldn't change unless your circumstances change.

SFS is okay about explaining these sorts of things, although they tend just to read the policy off the website. So you might want to talk to them, or you might just want to read the website.
Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by slippin_jimmy » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:08 pm

sfoglia wrote:
Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Following up on this - you actually got a solid # for a parent contribution? I've been looking at my aid package and all I saw related to my parent was that my family resources did not qualify me for need based aid. But it didn't say an exact number, which I was curious about.

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sfoglia

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:15 pm

slippin_jimmy wrote:
sfoglia wrote:
Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Following up on this - you actually got a solid # for a parent contribution? I've been looking at my aid package and all I saw related to my parent was that my family resources did not qualify me for need based aid. But it didn't say an exact number, which I was curious about.
I did, because I only received partial aid. I'm guessing they didn't offer a number for you because your expected familiar contribution is the full cost?

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slippin_jimmy

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by slippin_jimmy » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:16 pm

sfoglia wrote:
slippin_jimmy wrote:
sfoglia wrote:
Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Following up on this - you actually got a solid # for a parent contribution? I've been looking at my aid package and all I saw related to my parent was that my family resources did not qualify me for need based aid. But it didn't say an exact number, which I was curious about.
I did, because I only received partial aid. I'm guessing they didn't offer a number for you because your expected familiar contribution is the full cost?
Makes total sense. I think I was a little confused after the FinAid presentation that they would give a breakdown of the expected sources of aid, then said you could borrow your parent contribution but not the student one. I'm guessing it's my COA - Student Contribution - Baseline Loans = Parent Contribution.

ETA : LIPP eligible borrow your parent contribution.

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sfoglia

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:19 pm

slippin_jimmy wrote:
sfoglia wrote:
slippin_jimmy wrote:
sfoglia wrote:
Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Following up on this - you actually got a solid # for a parent contribution? I've been looking at my aid package and all I saw related to my parent was that my family resources did not qualify me for need based aid. But it didn't say an exact number, which I was curious about.
I did, because I only received partial aid. I'm guessing they didn't offer a number for you because your expected familiar contribution is the full cost?
Makes total sense. I think I was a little confused after the FinAid presentation that they would give a breakdown of the expected sources of aid, then said you could borrow your parent contribution but not the student one. I'm guessing it's my COA - Student Contribution - Baseline Loans = Parent Contribution.

ETA : LIPP eligible borrow your parent contribution.
Yes, yes. That sounds right.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:31 pm

sfoglia wrote:Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Well, do the math. Basically, the first formula is (Standard Student Budget $88,600) - (Student Contribution) - (Assessed Parent Resources) = Financial Need. In service of that, when you're 28, your Assessed Parent Resources are reduced by 75%, and when you turn 29, they're reduced by 100%. The second formula is Grant = Financial Need - $48,000.

So suppose you have no money whatsoever except that you end up with $40,000 in Assessed Parent Resources. When you're 28, that gets reduced 75% to $10,000. Your financial need is therefore $78,600. You then get $30,600 in grant money. The next year, with nothing in Assessed Parent Resources, you would get $40,600 in grant money. (Wow, really? You might want to run that by SFS to make sure.)

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sfoglia

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:39 pm

tomwatts wrote:
sfoglia wrote:Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Well, do the math. Basically, the first formula is (Standard Student Budget $88,600) - (Student Contribution) - (Assessed Parent Resources) = Financial Need. In service of that, when you're 28, your Assessed Parent Resources are reduced by 75%, and when you turn 29, they're reduced by 100%. The second formula is Grant = Financial Need - $48,000.

So suppose you have no money whatsoever except that you end up with $40,000 in Assessed Parent Resources. When you're 28, that gets reduced 75% to $10,000. Your financial need is therefore $78,600. You then get $30,600 in grant money. The next year, with nothing in Assessed Parent Resources, you would get $40,600 in grant money. (Wow, really? You might want to run that by SFS to make sure.)
Ha, so you see what I mean. That's exactly why I'm questioning it. SFS gave me a blanket, "we will adjust but it will depend on a variety of factors," which I get.

There must be someone who can confirm that this was or was not the case for them when they turned 29...

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by georgej » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:46 pm

sfoglia wrote:
tomwatts wrote:
sfoglia wrote:Okay. I'm turning 29 before the start of my second year, and I'm trying to gauge whether I can expect that my expected family contribution (which is a bit more than the grant I'm being given) will end up doubling my 2L grant.

ETA: And, yes, did speak with SFS. Their answer was the same as what I found on the website, so, not totally clear on whether a $10k parent contribution (for example) converts to a $10k grant after turning 29.
Well, do the math. Basically, the first formula is (Standard Student Budget $88,600) - (Student Contribution) - (Assessed Parent Resources) = Financial Need. In service of that, when you're 28, your Assessed Parent Resources are reduced by 75%, and when you turn 29, they're reduced by 100%. The second formula is Grant = Financial Need - $48,000.

So suppose you have no money whatsoever except that you end up with $40,000 in Assessed Parent Resources. When you're 28, that gets reduced 75% to $10,000. Your financial need is therefore $78,600. You then get $30,600 in grant money. The next year, with nothing in Assessed Parent Resources, you would get $40,600 in grant money. (Wow, really? You might want to run that by SFS to make sure.)
Ha, so you see what I mean. That's exactly why I'm questioning it. SFS gave me a blanket, "we will adjust but it will depend on a variety of factors," which I get.

There must be someone who can confirm that this was or was not the case for them when they turned 29...
fwiw I'm in the same boat and haven't figured it out either. If you are getting money over the summer that might cancel out the benefit from no longer reporting parental income. I think I remember reading somewhere that a dollar of income for you is weighted more heavily than a dollar of income for your parent, so if you make anything, expect that to drop your grant down a bit more than you might expect. When my wife got a 20k raise it knocked my grant down by 9k. I don't know if that ratio stays constant or not, but it's a data point.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by radio1nowhere » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:50 pm

Anyone have experience applying at least twice to RA with the same prof? I applied to RA with this dude last semester and didn't get it (NBD, I was a first-semester 1L and I had never met the prof), and now he's hiring again. Do I need to re-write my cover letter? Seems hard to do, given that he's researching the exact same stuff this semester and I'm interested for the same reasons..

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by sfoglia » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:52 pm

georgej wrote:
sfoglia wrote: Ha, so you see what I mean. That's exactly why I'm questioning it. SFS gave me a blanket, "we will adjust but it will depend on a variety of factors," which I get.

There must be someone who can confirm that this was or was not the case for them when they turned 29...
fwiw I'm in the same boat and haven't figured it out either. If you are getting money over the summer that might cancel out the benefit from no longer reporting parental income. I think I remember reading somewhere that a dollar of income for you is weighted more heavily than a dollar of income for your parent, so if you make anything, expect that to drop your grant down a bit more than you might expect. When my wife got a 20k raise it knocked my grant down by 9k. I don't know if that ratio stays constant or not, but it's a data point.
Ahhh, very good to know!

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by robotrick » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:05 pm

radio1nowhere wrote:Anyone have experience applying at least twice to RA with the same prof? I applied to RA with this dude last semester and didn't get it (NBD, I was a first-semester 1L and I had never met the prof), and now he's hiring again. Do I need to re-write my cover letter? Seems hard to do, given that he's researching the exact same stuff this semester and I'm interested for the same reasons..
I applied a second time to the same prof (and got it the second time). I changed my statement of interest a tiny bit to make it stronger by mentioning other relevant classes, strengthened interest in the subject, etc. Spent like 10 minutes sprucing it up.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by polareagle » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:05 pm

radio1nowhere wrote:Anyone have experience applying at least twice to RA with the same prof? I applied to RA with this dude last semester and didn't get it (NBD, I was a first-semester 1L and I had never met the prof), and now he's hiring again. Do I need to re-write my cover letter? Seems hard to do, given that he's researching the exact same stuff this semester and I'm interested for the same reasons..
If this is Kaplow, don't do it.
Last edited by polareagle on Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by tomwatts » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:07 pm

sfoglia wrote:There must be someone who can confirm that this was or was not the case for them when they turned 29...
I mean, yes, my parent contribution did go to zero when I turned 29, and yes, this would have increased my grant money somewhat (except that, as suggested above, I earned a bunch over the summer and that cut into my grant money somewhat). The only reason I'm hesitating is that COA is so ridiculously high now that it's hard to believe that they still use grants to cover all need above the base loan. But that's certainly what they did when I attended, and I graduated last year.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by lawlorbust » Thu Apr 28, 2016 9:08 pm

polareagle wrote:
radio1nowhere wrote:Anyone have experience applying at least twice to RA with the same prof? I applied to RA with this dude last semester and didn't get it (NBD, I was a first-semester 1L and I had never met the prof), and now he's hiring again. Do I need to re-write my cover letter? Seems hard to do, given that he's researching the exact same stuff this semester and I'm interested for the same reasons..
If this is Kaplow, don't do it. He's a nightmare to work for.
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