Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Langdell]

Hypothetical that's not so hypothetical: if you're#22 on the waitlist for Klarman's 14th Amendment, will you get in or not?

[tomwatts]

Hypothetical that's not so hypothetical: if you're#22 on the waitlist for Klarman's 14th Amendment, will you get in or not?

Yes. Apparently this year someone who was #95 on the waitlist got in. The waitlist moves a lot.

[Searchparty]

Can anyone expand on what it's like to be on HLR? Seemingly a lot of work, but more specifically?

This may be a stupid question, but is there monetary compensation?

[bob loblaw11]

Thanks for all the answers earlier. This thread has been so helpful.

Do Secondary Journals conduct a write-on competition as well?

[pupshaw]

Thanks for all the answers earlier. This thread has been so helpful.

Do Secondary Journals conduct a write-on competition as well?

No, but CR-CL does have an application process. Most (all?) others you just sign up for.

[094320]

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[arez]

What's the deal with Mackinnon's class? Is the final in October after the last class, or during the normal period? And what's the consensus on it?

Wondering this as well.

[ph14]

Can anyone expand on what it's like to be on HLR? Seemingly a lot of work, but more specifically?

This may be a stupid question, but is there monetary compensation?

It's a lot of work. As a 2L you start out as a "poolworker." Basically you do a wide variety of assignments, assigned at random, with assignments worth more "pool" days than others. Assignments vary from subcites (checking Bluebooking, the text of the piece, making edits and suggestions), reading, summarizing, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an article that was submitted for consideration for publication, a proof read of a piece, checking out books from the library/pulling sources, writing a memo suggesting edits and changes to a student-written piece, etc. This year, I think it was 18 pool days a month or so for fall semester for 2Ls. Assignments vary from being short (for example, you could do a book pull pretty quickly sometimes and be done in 20 minutes) to being pretty long (a few hours depending on how in depth you want to do the assignment and also the learning curve; you get faster as the semester goes on). A few weeks into spring semester 2L you get an officer position, which basically specializes you in an area. You might be a notes editor, which focuses on improving student writing, executive editor, which focuses on the technical aspects of editing mainly, articles editor which reviews article submissions and decides which ones should advance in the internal publication mechanism, forum editor which focuses on online content, and there are lots of other positions.

No monetary or class credit compensation, but you do get free food and coffee.

[Searchparty]

Can anyone expand on what it's like to be on HLR? Seemingly a lot of work, but more specifically?

This may be a stupid question, but is there monetary compensation?

It's a lot of work. As a 2L you start out as a "poolworker." Basically you do a wide variety of assignments, assigned at random, with assignments worth more "pool" days than others. Assignments vary from subcites (checking Bluebooking, the text of the piece, making edits and suggestions), reading, summarizing, and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of an article that was submitted for consideration for publication, a proof read of a piece, checking out books from the library/pulling sources, writing a memo suggesting edits and changes to a student-written piece, etc. This year, I think it was 18 pool days a month or so for fall semester for 2Ls. Assignments vary from being short (for example, you could do a book pull pretty quickly sometimes and be done in 20 minutes) to being pretty long (a few hours depending on how in depth you want to do the assignment and also the learning curve; you get faster as the semester goes on). A few weeks into spring semester 2L you get an officer position, which basically specializes you in an area. You might be a notes editor, which focuses on improving student writing, executive editor, which focuses on the technical aspects of editing mainly, articles editor which reviews article submissions and decides which ones should advance in the internal publication mechanism, forum editor which focuses on online content, and there are lots of other positions.

No monetary or class credit compensation, but you do get free food and coffee.

Thank you

[bob loblaw11]

No, but CR-CL does have an application process. Most (all?) others you just sign up for.

No. Most (if not all?) journals you just join as early as your 1st semester and they give you work and then they promote you based on how well you did the work they gave you.

Thank you both!

[dcg2120]

Hope you guys are all OK. Best wishes.

[Yardbird]

Harvard students,

I'm making a calculator to help calculate COA with tuition/COL increases but I need some data to help the project (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=208464). The data specifically needs to come from current students who can look at their budget for the past 1-3 years. I would like to know the average rent, utilities, food, cable/internet for the following schools. If you can help out, please fill out this form. Thanks!

Link to Form (LinkRemoved)

[094320]

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[Blessedassurance]

Harvard students,

I'm making a calculator to help calculate COA with tuition/COL increases but I need some data to help the project (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=208464). The data specifically needs to come from current students who can look at their budget for the past 1-3 years. I would like to know the average rent, utilities, food, cable/internet for the following schools. If you can help out, please fill out this form. Thanks!

Link to Form (LinkRemoved)

rent depends on where you're living. i can only speak to the finances associate with living in gropius (the cheapest dorm). i know people who live in sommerville with a roommate and end up paying like 500 bucks tho. if you live in the dorms you don't have to pay utilities, internet, gym etc. food is really dependent on individual preferences. with respect to accommodation, it can range from 500 to whatever, depending on your personal preferences.

[Mista Bojangles]

A prof of mine recently sent out an email including this line:

Remember that oral participation is required for this class and can be used to adjust your grade.


Can someone comment on this? Is this actually true? What happened to grading being blind?

ETA: This is a large 1L class btw

[Person1111]

Exam grades are blind, but final grades are not. Typically what happens is that the professor will blindly grade the exams, send them back to the registrar ordered by student ID number, the registrar will send them back by name with a proposed curve, and the prof can then adjust the grades before they are finalized.

[tomwatts]

A visiting prof last year said that he had intended to use participation in the way that the email above suggests, but he found out from the registrar that he's not allowed to in a class of the size of the 1L classes.

[pupshaw]

In any case, isn't it pretty late in the semester to be sending that reminder? Not much you can do about your participation at this point.

ETA: For whatever it's worth, I'm in a large, multi-section elective, and the professor has a similar policy.

[ph14]

A prof of mine recently sent out an email including this line:

Remember that oral participation is required for this class and can be used to adjust your grade.


Can someone comment on this? Is this actually true? What happened to grading being blind?

ETA: This is a large 1L class btw

I think these are mostly empty threats, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[delusional]

I echo that they are likely empty threats, and each professor seems to have his own idea what's allowed. Another professor told us in the beginning of the semester that he is disclosing it in advance, per the registrar's policy. Even if there were such a policy, it's unlikely that anyone would find out, because there are very rarely any meaningful explanations given for grades, even if you go ask. You might get exam tips, but that's often about it.

[honeybadger12]

Feel free to direct me somewhere else if this has been answered but IM sports was my main extracurricular in undergrad; could someone speak to how that is at Harvard/HLS? Are there usually enough people in the gym to get a pickup bball game in?

[Doorkeeper]

Feel free to direct me somewhere else if this has been answered but IM sports was my main extracurricular in undergrad; could someone speak to how that is at Harvard/HLS? Are there usually enough people in the gym to get a pickup bball game in?

Basketball games are pretty frequent and it's easy to get a pickup game going among friends. There's also an IM Basketball league.

[lakers24fan]

I'm still debating between SLS and HLS and I just got my financial aid package from Harvard a few days ago -- they're giving me about $2000 less than Stanford. Not to say that this (relatively) small difference would be a deciding factor in my decision, but do you guys/gals think I should ask Harvard if they could match? I don't know if this would be petty, considering it's only a couple grand. But hey, $2000 is $2000...

[ph14]

I'm still debating between SLS and HLS and I just got my financial aid package from Harvard a few days ago -- they're giving me about $2000 less than Stanford. Not to say that this (relatively) small difference would be a deciding factor in my decision, but do you guys/gals think I should ask Harvard if they could match? I don't know if this would be petty, considering it's only a couple grand. But hey, $2000 is $2000...

Might as well ask, especially where you have some leverage.

[094320]

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