Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[tomwatts]

I think Harvard normally matches need-based aid from other schools.

[canoe]

Supposedly, hls has a page that's only accessible to current hls students containing info. about clerking for non-US citizens. The URL is

https://www.law.harvard.edu/current/car ... izens.html

I'd really appreciate it if someone with a hls id could perhaps pm me either pdf files or whatnot located in the above url, if any. I'm specifically interested in clerking for COA. I already know international students can't get paid as judicial clerks after the 2009 appropriations act. Just wanted to see if there was info. on visa issues, as I'm willing to clerk with no pay.

[Blessedassurance]

http://www.uscourts.gov/Careers/CareerC ... ments.aspx

what's your motivation for wanting to clerk?

[ph14]

Supposedly, hls has a page that's only accessible to current hls students containing info. about clerking for non-US citizens. The URL is

https://www.law.harvard.edu/current/car ... izens.html

I'd really appreciate it if someone with a hls id could perhaps pm me either pdf files or whatnot located in the above url, if any. I'm specifically interested in clerking for COA. I already know international students can't get paid as judicial clerks after the 2009 appropriations act. Just wanted to see if there was info. on visa issues, as I'm willing to clerk with no pay.

It's password protected precisely because it's not supposed to be disseminated to the public.

[BelugaWhale]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

[az21833]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

is this the way things work at hls?

[ph14]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

is this the way things work at hls?

What?

[toothbrush]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

is this the way things work at hls?

wait, do you think people don't share exams because it's harvard ?

[pupshaw]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

is this the way things work at hls?

wait, do you think people don't share exams because it's harvard ?

I took it as surprise that people DO share exams at HLS, as if they don't elsewhere.

[toothbrush]

does anybody have an old exam for first amendment law with Tushnet I could look at? I don't care if it's a P, I just don't have a single one to take a look at.

is this the way things work at hls?

wait, do you think people don't share exams because it's harvard ?

I took it as surprise that people DO share exams at HLS, as if they don't elsewhere.

i gave him a bit more benefit of the doubt.

[az21833]

well, didnt know sharing exams was common practice in LS. how would i? certainly was not in ug

[BelugaWhale]

wtf? No idea what's going on but just that he hasnt been teaching this class for too long and for some reason the banks dont have this class.

[toothbrush]

well, didnt know sharing exams was common practice in LS. how would i? certainly was not in ug

yes it was.

and yes, it's pretty common practice. HLS is known for having many banks. certain student groups (journals etc) will have private banks of exams that the members can draw from. i'm not at hls but that's what i've read here on tls

[GertrudePerkins]

wtf? No idea what's going on but just that he hasnt been teaching this class for too long and for some reason the banks dont have this class.

Sorry man, just looked at my journal's bank (which has a lot of good stuff) but it doesn't have any Tushnet 1st Amendment.

As for the more general question of sharing old exam answers or outlines, yes, it's quite common at HLS. Especially if you're not currently in the class, why would you not help a brother or sister out?

[justinp]

wtf? No idea what's going on but just that he hasnt been teaching this class for too long and for some reason the banks dont have this class.

Sorry man, just looked at my journal's bank (which has a lot of good stuff) but it doesn't have any Tushnet 1st Amendment.

As for the more general question of sharing old exam answers or outlines, yes, it's quite common at HLS. Especially if you're not currently in the class, why would you not help a brother or sister out?

but how can i GUN HARD FOR DAT DS if i'm helping others?

[Lurkington]

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[GertrudePerkins]

Joking aside, what is the general student culture? Collegial or cutthroat? If my computer crashes and I need an outline will I get laughed at or helped out?

Are the professors generally accessible? Are they good at teaching?

Did the school help you find 1L summer employment? Where they useful? Are you satisfied with Career Services? Summer funding program seems weak compared to other schools, any experiences / feedback on this?

Thoughts on class size? Is it easy to network (with students, profs, firms, whatever), or do you get lost in the crowd?

I'd also love to hear about clinical experiences.


Thanks!!!

All good questions. About which I promise to share my two cents after the next two days of miserable finals-taking.

[094320]

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[tomwatts]

Joking aside, what is the general student culture? Collegial or cutthroat?

It's really diverse. I think the majority of it is more collegial than cutthroat, but it varies widely. I haven't come across a lot of people who are unfriendly gunners. There are a lot of people who try to do well, but very few of them try to cut other people down while doing it.

If my computer crashes and I need an outline will I get laughed at or helped out?

Odds are you'll get helped out.

Are the professors generally accessible? Are they good at teaching?

They vary in accessibility, but most are pretty accessible if you try. They're surprisingly good at teaching given that they have never had any training whatsoever in teaching and have just sort of worked it out on their own. There are superstar teachers who are extremely good, and there are meh-ish teachers, and everything in between.

Did the school help you find 1L summer employment? Where they useful? Are you satisfied with Career Services? Summer funding program seems weak compared to other schools, any experiences / feedback on this?

Summer funding is fine. The majority of students are on SPIF for their 1L summers, and they manage to live in NYC, DC, or wherever else. The school sort of helped me find 1L summer employment, but you have to work at it more than I expected. I had an unusually bad experience finding my 1L summer job, and I probably would've done better if I had met with OCS/OPIA more and earlier.

Thoughts on class size? Is it easy to network (with students, profs, firms, whatever), or do you get lost in the crowd?

I found it remarkably easy to get an alum on the phone, even in a less-common area of interest (California state government). Networking with firms is actively part of weekly events. Profs vary a bit, and so do the other students, but if you want to connect, you can. But I'll reiterate: the alumni network is ridiculously strong and pretty accessible.

I'd also love to hear about clinical experiences.

Haven't done one yet.

[DoubleChecks]

Haven't seen a response to the clinical work yet, so I will comment, having done two and have friends who have done a few.

The experience varies from clinic to clinic. It would be best to get a heads up on how your specific clinic is run. I did negotiation clinic which I loved. Loose structure so 2 to 4 credits, hard to tell the difference. You're in a team of 2-3 and you all work hard to try to get the project done. Not as much law as it is negotiation/mediation. If you enjoy that stuff, it is a very fun, unstructured clinic that can leave you feeling like you accomplished something. Have to have taken the negotiation clinic beforehand, which I personally loved, but I am a negotiation-addict. Most people I talked to loved the clinic (I took it in the winter so I got to immerse myself and not worry about grades/other classes)...though I have met a handful that thought it was too many hrs/waste of time for what you end up learning. But meh, that's law school in general.

I have friends in the WilmerHale transaction clinic. Show up every day, very much like a job. Most said it is kind of boring. Did not ask too much about it but that was the impression I got.

Capital Punishment clinic was another one I took. Again, if you enjoy that type of work, it can be quite rewarding. Depending on where you land for the winter (it is a winter-spring clinical), you can get anywhere from intense to chill. I went to a really chill place in TX. Pretty lax, good work (very LRW-like), unstructured, and went to death row a few times to meet clients. Good experience. In the spring, it was remote access. I would not recommend taking too many credit hours for this just because it is too unstructured/distant to get 4 credits worth (20 hrs a week). I felt like I was begging for work at times. Similar work but you don't get the same feel by doing it from the comfort of your own home, though obvious benefit is you get to do it from the comfort of your own home.

Other friends of mine have done the human rights clinic. The former sounds like it can get REALLY intense (at some points, sounded like more work than 2 classes combined o.O), but you're doing substantive work. Not to sound repetitive, but if you enjoy the work...good experience.

I feel like there are a lot of clinics here, and they really vary in the experiences they offer. Do some research beforehand in how the ones you are interested in are like, then do one. I recommend doing a clinic before one graduates. Law school classes teach you stuff that is maybe 1% applicable to the real world. Clinics give you at least some higher percentage.

I hope this post made sense. I drank a lot an hour ago. Pretty much finished law school today. sw00t.

[Person1111]

Joking aside, what is the general student culture? Collegial or cutthroat? If my computer crashes and I need an outline will I get laughed at or helped out?

Are the professors generally accessible? Are they good at teaching?

Did the school help you find 1L summer employment? Where they useful? Are you satisfied with Career Services? Summer funding program seems weak compared to other schools, any experiences / feedback on this?

Thoughts on class size? Is it easy to network (with students, profs, firms, whatever), or do you get lost in the crowd?

I'd also love to hear about clinical experiences.


Thanks!!!

General student culture is fine. I have seen very almost no incivility, tearing pages out of books, or stuff like that, although there are some people who are prickly and unpleasant. You can usually find someone to hook you up with notes/an outline, although some people are more cagey and secretive about their materials, and a few will expect a quid pro quo if they help you out. I post every H/DS exam and outline to one of the outline banks and will share my materials on request, and I don't think I'm terribly unusual in that respect.

Professors vary widely. Some are accessible, some are not. Some are awesome teachers, some are mediocre, a few are downright terrible. Some of the terrible profs are people who are titans in the field(s) they teach (e.g. Sunstein) so don't assume that just because your professor is a genius that he can teach well.

The school tried to help me find 1L employment, but I largely found it on my own. Most people who were on the ball in December got very desirable stuff, and everyone seems to end up with something they are happy with.

Class size doesn't strike me as too big, although I came from a huge public undergrad so those from smaller schools may find it overwhelming. As always, the key is to be proactive. There are plenty of opportunities to take smaller classes if you want, including in core upper-level classes.

Clinical opportunities are great. I had sort of an idiosyncratic clinical experience (generally very good!) and it would likely out me to talk about it in too much detail, so PM me for more details.

[Lurkington]

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[AllTheLawz]

Phenomenal answers, thank you all very much.

Obviously all of you had the opportunity to attend some very good schools with very high scholarships; assuming that your debt load is (much) higher having attended Harvard, in hindsight are you happy with your decision?

This seems like a great question to ask and I definitely asked it when I was applying to law schools, but honestly its impossible to get an effective answer. I don't know what life would've been like or how things would have turned out at another school so I can basically only say that I don't have any strong regrets about taking Harvard over another top 10 school for free. Obviously, I sometimes think about the ~$150k debtload I have coming up and how awesome it would be to have less than a third of that but its not really due to anything I regret about Harvard.

I will tell you to think long and hard about whether you want to attend law school, though. A few handfuls of people end up dropping out or taking a leave simply b/c they don't like law school.

[englawyer]

Phenomenal answers, thank you all very much.

Obviously all of you had the opportunity to attend some very good schools with very high scholarships; assuming that your debt load is (much) higher having attended Harvard, in hindsight are you happy with your decision?

This seems like a great question to ask and I definitely asked it when I was applying to law schools, but honestly its impossible to get an effective answer. I don't know what life would've been like or how things would have turned out at another school so I can basically only say that I don't have any strong regrets about taking Harvard over another top 10 school for free. Obviously, I sometimes think about the ~$150k debtload I have coming up and how awesome it would be to have less than a third of that but its not really due to anything I regret about Harvard.

I will tell you to think long and hard about whether you want to attend law school, though. A few handfuls of people end up dropping out or taking a leave simply b/c they don't like law school.

i had the option 3 years ago. i don't regret going to HLS, at least right now before those high payments start to kick in. I always thought that if I went the other way, I would always wonder "what if". I know that sounds corny, but I'd rather have 100k more debt than a nagging feeling that I should have just gone for the higher ranked school. I've met some impressive people here, had a great three years, and got a job I'm very happy with.

That said, I was considering a T10-ish scholarship rather than a T6. I would have taken $$$ at NYU or Columbia, and would recommend that choice to others.

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

So room selection is coming up next Monday for 0Ls. Can anybody comment on where the nearest track and field is to North Hall? Hemenway looks nice but I like to do my running on a track so I can vary the tempo. Also, how bad is the walk from North to the main campus during the winter?

Thanks in advance