Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Lubberlubber]

median grades im pretty sure, any shot at quinn in DC? Pretty set on litigation, no spectacular softs.

For what its worth i think im decent at interviewing, just that not sure ill even be offered one.

on a related note: what should i be bidding on in terms of vault rankings for dc firms?

Go ask in the HLS EIP Thread, under legal employment.

[hellohi]

Is it common for HLS students to be members of non law school clubs at Harvard?

[englawyer]

Is it common for HLS students to be members of non law school clubs at Harvard?

its possible, especially other grad-school level clubs (eg http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/current_stu ... ations.php). i think undergrad clubs might be pushing it though, the age gap might be a little weird.

[chapmaco]

OK I have sort of a 4 part social life question, and I hope they haven't all been covered yet but I have have been rifling through posts and it's taking forever.

a. I read that social life at HL revolves around one's 1L section, is that an exaggeration?

b. If you live in a dorm, like say the Groupus Complex, where everyone is packed in tight together, does that tend to become more your social scene, or is it still the section, or some kind of mix?

c. What is it like living is Hastings? Do you get to know the people you live with or is it very insular? Also, this in relation to Groupus living.

d. Having a car. How important or useful is it for social life, or life in general in Cambridge? How is parking?

Thanks so much for the help!

[justinp]

OK I have sort of a 4 part social life question, and I hope they haven't all been covered yet but I have have been rifling through posts and it's taking forever.

a. I read that social life at HL revolves around one's 1L section, is that an exaggeration?

b. If you live in a dorm, like say the Groupus Complex, where everyone is packed in tight together, does that tend to become more your social scene, or is it still the section, or some kind of mix?

c. What is it like living is Hastings? Do you get to know the people you live with or is it very insular? Also, this in relation to Groupus living.

d. Having a car. How important or useful is it for social life, or life in general in Cambridge? How is parking?

Thanks so much for the help!

a. Depends on your own preferences, really. Some people are very plugged into the section social scene, other people socialize more with folks from their dorm, or an organization, or with friends outside the law school, or have families, or whatever else. I think the section is probably the base of most folks' social scenes though, just because that's who you get to know from daily interactions.

b. Again, depends.

c. Don't know, didn't live there.

d. Not necessary at all for living in the Central/Harvard/Porter stretch of Cambridge. Would probably be nice if you want to live in Inman or some parts of Somerville. Depends on how habituated you are to waiting for busses, honestly. It'd probably drive me crazy to live in some parts of Cambridge/Somerville without a car, but someone from NYC or whatever who is used to it taking 30 minutes plus to get anywhere past walking distance might not have a problem.

[chapmaco]

Cool thanks for the info. Any other opinions on parking issues, how useful a car is in Cambridge, etc..?

[pupshaw]

The vast majority of people don't have a car, so I think it's certainly not necessary.

[GertrudePerkins]

Cool thanks for the info. Any other opinions on parking issues, how useful a car is in Cambridge, etc..?

I think I have a naturally anti-car disposition, so that probably influences my answer, but I have never felt the need to have a car in Cambridge. If you live anywhere from Central to Porter, you can walk to anything you need and hop on the Redline to get most anywhere else. If you have a designated parking spot, that would make it much easier to have a car, but if you're street parking, consider that you'll have to contend with street cleaning, blizzards, etc.

[DistanceRunner]

0L here, wondering if anyone can share information about where/how to find old outlines and practice tests?

Any thoughts about the usage of such tools would also be welcome!

[Mista Bojangles]

0L here, wondering if anyone can share information about where/how to find old outlines and practice tests?

Any thoughts about the usage of such tools would also be welcome!

HLS maintains an official bank of professors' past exams. Outlines you can either scrounge from 2L/3Ls you know, or use one of a number of outline banks to which you can get access through student group membership. ACS has a huge one that had everything I ever needed in 1L.

I'm personally completely unconvinced that making your own outlines is necessary (I did well 1L without ever attempting it). It's A LOT more work, but profs and some students will tell you that making your own outline from scratch is valuable b/c the process itself of condensing the info is helpful and instructive, etc. I'm sure there is something to that, but it's really about balancing/managing your time effectively. Find what works for you, but definitely don't be one of the types who start building outlines before Thanksgiving solely because they've heard it's necessary.

[Shooter]

Cool thanks for the info. Any other opinions on parking issues, how useful a car is in Cambridge, etc..?

Re: cars

I have a very pro-car disposition, and I ended up selling my car at the end of my first year because I only used it once. Parking and insurance are extraordinarily expensive, the roads are very difficult to navigate and the weather usually creates dangerous (or at least unpleasant) driving conditions. Plus, there are very few times that you will find it necessary to stray from Cambridge during 1L.

Re: outlines

I'll basically just echo the advice that has already been given. Making your own outlines is very time-consuming and it is not necessary to get good grades. During my first year I did the readings, took notes in class and obtained outlines through ACS, FedSoc, 2L's and 3L's, etc. I chose 1 or 2 outlines per class that I found to be the most comprehensive, and used my notes to make adjustments. That worked perfectly well. Try to get outlines as soon as possible to reduce the stress of searching. Also, commercial outlines can be very helpful as long as they are used in conjunction with the professor-specific methods described above.

[GertrudePerkins]

I'm personally completely unconvinced that making your own outlines is necessary (I did well 1L without ever attempting it). It's A LOT more work, but profs and some students will tell you that making your own outline from scratch is valuable b/c the process itself of condensing the info is helpful and instructive, etc. I'm sure there is something to that, but it's really about balancing/managing your time effectively. Find what works for you, but definitely don't be one of the types who start building outlines before Thanksgiving solely because they've heard it's necessary.

I'm one of those students who found the process of making the outline very helpful. The product was never clean and shiny, and would never be helpful to other students (lots of my own abbreviations/jargon and minimal formatting), but the process of having to re-skim and condense all the material was what helped me learn it. Timing-wise, I would begin right around (usually just after) Thanksgiving (and then the spring semester equivalent).

I ultimately agree with Mista Bojangles that you just need to find what method works for you, but at least consider the "process not product" approach to outlining.

[lawschoolboundfuture]

Im planning on living in Hasting next year. Any opinions on it?

[tomwatts]

I made all my own outlines as a 1L. It's a good thing to be able to do, in case you get a visiting prof and you can't get something to work off of. My process was definitely unusual (though I didn't realize it at the time): I transcribed as much as I could during class, and then about every two weeks (starting in mid-October), I'd condense my notes down into outline form. I tried to alternate weeks, so I'd do two classes one week and two classes the next. Then, not long before finals, I condensed my longer outlines into shorter outlines (so 120 pages of notes became a 40-page long outline that became a 4-page short outline).

One thing that was nice about this was that when everyone else was flipping out about outlining and studying ridiculous amounts near finals, I wasn't really at all. I had my outlines. I just had to condense them down into short outlines that I could page through during an exam.

Your approach depends a lot on you and the professor and the type of exam, though. This just happened to work really well for the professors I had in my first semester.

[despina]

Cars: I second the comments above that most people don't have cars, that cars can be extremely expensive and a huge pain in Cambridge, and that it's totally fine to get by with out a car. Don't forget that there's also a decent bus system if you want to save a little money by not living right near the T, although you'll have to do your research on which lines are reliable. For example, the 77 to Arlington is generally pretty reliable, while the 66 to Brookline and the 96 to Davis can be a pain and wouldn't be great for a daily commute. HLS subsidizes monthly bus passes, so this is quite cheap for a daily commute. A lot of people use ZipCar now and then for errands that require a car.

Outlines: basically, everyone uses them differently. I did a variety of the things described above -- making my own outlines from scratch, studying straight off someone else's outline, and making hybrid outlines from my own notes and several old outlines. The key to surviving exam stress is to realize that there are a lot of ways to study, and the best way for me might not be the best way for you. Anyone who makes you feel like you "must" do X, Y, or Z is someone to avoid because they are just going to stress you the hell out.

[englawyer]

Im planning on living in Hasting next year. Any opinions on it?

hastings is kind of a jack of all trades, master of none:

1) it loses to gropius on the "well its cheap and close to campus" angle. it is a significant price bump

2) it loses to off campus apartments in the "i have my own place" angle. you still need to share kitchens and bathrooms

that said, it could work for someone that eats out a lot, that is not too cost sensitive, and that really wants to live close to campus. a bonus is that it is the most convenient place possible for access to the gym (hemenway) and it is fairly close to harvard square proper.

[Yukos]

Thanks everyone for the great outlines input. Obviously I think it's something we'll figure out as we go along but it's nice to see all the ways people tackle it and, especially, to know there's no "right way" to make/use them.

[094320]

..

[sd1234]

I know this isn't exaaactly the right place to ask this question, but I don't know of a better one, and figured some current students might know something about this:

I'm a 0L about to start at HLS in the fall. It's always been my plan to do a joint MPP/MPA/MA (depending on the LS I ended up attending) with a focus on international development. I got into HLS off the WL late, after I'd already been studying for the GRE for the MPP programs (though probably 2 months more study are ahead of me if I want to do really well). However, I just found out that the Kennedy School accepts LSAT scores for HKS applicants who are doing the joint JD/MPP program. Basically, I'm wondering if my 170 on the LSAT is sufficient, or if I should try to hit the 99% on the GRE (which I don't think would be easy for me, but perhaps not impossible).

A couple of details about my math/econ background, since that's what they're mostly losing out on seeing from me if I don't submit a GRE score:
Took calc 1, intro econ, and intermediate macro already (did very well in all of them). Going to take intermediate micro over the summer. Took first year statistics at a foreign university in a foreign language (and only got a B+...but I like to think the language thing cuts me some slack?).

Other relevant details: 1 year WE in a developing country initiating a project for an NGO, 3.93 ug gpa from a top-50 school, fluent in 2 language, competent in 4.

Do any of you have any knowledge of this stuff? In particular if tomwatts has any insight, since I know he's a JD/MPP student at the moment.

Thanks!!

[tomwatts]

So your question is whether you want a top-notch GRE score to go with your 170 LSAT score if you're in at HLS and want to apply to HKS.

My real answer is that I have no solid information either way. I did take the GRE between when I applied and when I re-applied, and that was about the only thing — other than being in at HLS already — that changed between when I applied and re-applied. I don't think that was the difference, though; I think it was that I was already part of the Harvard family, if you will. I suspect the GRE score was a small boost, if anything.

You might get a straight answer from someone in admissions at HKS, though. If it's going to be a significant amount of effort to study for the test, I'd ask them first. I took the GRE because I was just leaving the test prep industry at the time, and I basically didn't have to study at all to get a perfect score.

Oh, and if you're interested in the MPA-ID, I think you have to take the GRE or GMAT (and can't substitute an LSAT score).

[despina]

This is totally anecdotal too, but the word on the street seems to be "if you get into HLS, and have some sort of good reason to apply to HKS, then you're very likely to get in." My understanding is that HKS is somewhat less selective, and tends to be generous in admitting HLS JD's.

I definitely second the idea that you might as well ask HKS directly. I'm sure they won't say "you're golden with a 170, come on in" but they might say, "the GRE wouldn't add much information beyond the LSAT score and a transcript showing your quantitative background."

See my caveats on the previous page about the marginal added value of the MPP if you already have a quantitative background, and my caution about LIPP-eligible debt.

[PinkCow]

Looking to do some cross-registered goodness next year. Can people give me any recommendations?

I'm particularly interested in classes at the Kennedy school, but the grading scheme looks pretty difficult, and P/F doesn't seem available. Also not sure how the .5/1 credit system works.

Help?

[tomwatts]

I'm particularly interested in classes at the Kennedy school, but the grading scheme looks pretty difficult, and P/F doesn't seem available. Also not sure how the .5/1 credit system works.

The grading scheme is not likely to be a serious problem unless you're the sort who flips out about an A-. People don't gun HKS classes, as a general rule, so the competition is not particularly stiff.

A class that is 0.5 credits at HKS counts as 1 credit at HLS, and it (usually) meets for half of the semester, either the first half or the second half. It's an ordinary number of hours per week while it meets (generally 3); it just ends early or starts late. A class that is 1 credit at HKS counts as 3 credits at HLS, and it's generally 3 hours per week.

The HKS schedule is a little off relative to the HLS schedule, because HKS uses a M/W or Tu/Th format, rather than HLS's consecutive days of the week. Also, the blocks of time in which classes are scheduled don't quite line up (although they're close). And HKS can start or end classes on slightly different days than HLS does, and they take slightly different holidays.

It looks as though the course listing is up here, but I don't think you can get course evaluations easily. PM me with whatever you think you might be interested in and I can be more specific about what I think is worth taking and what is not.

[Searchparty]

Looking to do some cross-registered goodness next year. Can people give me any recommendations?

I'm particularly interested in classes at the Kennedy school, but the grading scheme looks pretty difficult, and P/F doesn't seem available. Also not sure how the .5/1 credit system works.

Help?

Also, cross registration class grades don't affect your Latin honors calculation

[gertie]

What types of things will we be doing during Orientation? My boyfriend is coming to help me move and I'm wondering if we will be doing student only events August 30-September 2nd or if it will be more of a free weekend.

It seems like the official orientation starts Sept 2nd so I assume that is when most of the scheduled events begin. How much happens during move-in weekend?