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rayiner

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:37 pm

dailygrind wrote:This might be out of left field, so feel free not to answer it...but Leiter commented on NU in his TLS interview and said something to the effect of:
Northwestern is an excellent place to be for someone with an empirical social science background interested in studying the legal system
in regards to finding a job in academia. While I'm not quite particularly interested in academia I am sort of curious about that area, and I'm guessing you might be too. Any comments you can offer on that?
I don't know much about academia, but I can guess what he's referring to. Just under half the law professors at NU have a social sciences PhD, a bunch of them in economics. Our Dean has a PhD in econ from LSE. My torts professor has a PhD in econ from MIT. So if you're interest is in "law and XYZ" type academia, you have a range of people with deep backgrounds in the social sciences to work with.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by Helmholtz » Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:38 pm

Joeshan520 wrote:What is the average age of your classmates? Do you find that because NU places such strong emphasis on post-graduate work experience that a majority of your classmates are older?
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/admissions/profile/

26 is the average age.

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rayiner

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:10 am

Joeshan520 wrote:What is the average age of your classmates? Do you find that because NU places such strong emphasis on post-graduate work experience that a majority of your classmates are older?
In last year's class, 83% of students had 2+ years of WE, and only 3% had no WE. The first number is higher for our class, and the second number is lower. This translates into an increased average age: 26. For comparison, according to JSUVA2012, UVA has 38% of students with no WE, and an average age of 24.

I think the age difference does have some ramifications. Everybody seems to have done something legit after school, which makes sense if you think about it. Working for 2 years between college and LS, as opposed to just going directly to LS, doesn't make a huge amount of sense unless you have a real professional job. I think it makes the atmosphere a bit more office-like and a bit less school-like, which is a positive thing IMO.

That being said, the differences are at the margins. By and large, 26 year olds behave a lot like 24 year olds. Eg: On Saturday I snuck into a bar without ID and played beer-pong. :lol:

On the note of class composition, there is one thing that stood out to me. At least in my section, there are a *ton* of engineers and finance people. At least 8 out of 63 people are engineers, which I think is quite a lot more than is the norm at law schools. Eg: Columbia's class profile shows that 7% of its incoming 2012 class has a science/engineering/math background. Maybe my section is an anomaly, but I wouldn't be surprised if NU's playing-up the business angle along with their favorable attitudes towards splitters has something to do with it.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by NayBoer » Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:32 pm

rayiner wrote:
dailygrind wrote:This might be out of left field, so feel free not to answer it...but Leiter commented on NU in his TLS interview and said something to the effect of:
Northwestern is an excellent place to be for someone with an empirical social science background interested in studying the legal system
in regards to finding a job in academia. While I'm not quite particularly interested in academia I am sort of curious about that area, and I'm guessing you might be too. Any comments you can offer on that?
I don't know much about academia, but I can guess what he's referring to. Just under half the law professors at NU have a social sciences PhD, a bunch of them in economics. Our Dean has a PhD in econ from LSE. My torts professor has a PhD in econ from MIT. So if you're interest is in "law and XYZ" type academia, you have a range of people with deep backgrounds in the social sciences to work with.
FYI to anybody interested in academic career prospects from NU, they have a new Law Scholars Program targeted to those wishing to teach law. It also works at getting you published. No idea how successful or well regarded it is.

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... index.html
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... olars.html

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rayiner

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:09 pm

NayBoer wrote:
rayiner wrote:
dailygrind wrote:This might be out of left field, so feel free not to answer it...but Leiter commented on NU in his TLS interview and said something to the effect of:
Northwestern is an excellent place to be for someone with an empirical social science background interested in studying the legal system
in regards to finding a job in academia. While I'm not quite particularly interested in academia I am sort of curious about that area, and I'm guessing you might be too. Any comments you can offer on that?
I don't know much about academia, but I can guess what he's referring to. Just under half the law professors at NU have a social sciences PhD, a bunch of them in economics. Our Dean has a PhD in econ from LSE. My torts professor has a PhD in econ from MIT. So if you're interest is in "law and XYZ" type academia, you have a range of people with deep backgrounds in the social sciences to work with.
FYI to anybody interested in academic career prospects from NU, they have a new Law Scholars Program targeted to those wishing to teach law. It also works at getting you published. No idea how successful or well regarded it is.

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... index.html
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... olars.html
The best part of this program is that you're completely funded by the PhD school...

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by chadwick218 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:07 pm

rayiner wrote:The best part of this program is that you're completely funded by the PhD school...
Although having only recently started as a 1L this past August, I am looking into the dual JD-PhD program. Unfortunately, I'd likely be going in somewhat backwards as the other JD-PhD candidates that I know spent their first two years outside of the law school. For those who are interested, I'll post more once I know something more concrete.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by sidgey » Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:36 am

Helmholtz wrote:I don't have time to read the other questions so I apologize if this has already been answered, but:

Do you like the fact that the law school is such a distance from the rest of the university?

Also, on a scale of 1-10, please rate the level of attractiveness of the NU female populace.

I'm so incredibly hot I probably skew the female attractiveness towards a 9, so don't be deceived when Rayiner tells u that's the avg.

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Helmholtz

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by Helmholtz » Wed Sep 23, 2009 6:17 am

sidgey wrote:
Helmholtz wrote:I don't have time to read the other questions so I apologize if this has already been answered, but:

Do you like the fact that the law school is such a distance from the rest of the university?

Also, on a scale of 1-10, please rate the level of attractiveness of the NU female populace.

I'm so incredibly hot I probably skew the female attractiveness towards a 9, so don't be deceived when Rayiner tells u that's the avg.
We already knew that, so it's sort of implied that it's everybody minus sidgey.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by hmlee » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:30 am

Is it true that some professors refuse to allow laptops in class and to browse TLS you have to use your phone under your desk?

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rayiner

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:03 am

sidgey wrote:
Helmholtz wrote:I don't have time to read the other questions so I apologize if this has already been answered, but:

Do you like the fact that the law school is such a distance from the rest of the university?

Also, on a scale of 1-10, please rate the level of attractiveness of the NU female populace.

I'm so incredibly hot I probably skew the female attractiveness towards a 9, so don't be deceived when Rayiner tells u that's the avg.
Truth. The TLS women really class up the place. ;)

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by sidgey » Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:46 am

hmlee wrote:Is it true that some professors refuse to allow laptops in class and to browse TLS you have to use your phone under your desk?
I'm in Ks right now on TLS on my laptop.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by hmlee » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:33 pm

sidgey wrote:
hmlee wrote:Is it true that some professors refuse to allow laptops in class and to browse TLS you have to use your phone under your desk?
I'm in Ks right now on TLS on my laptop.
Torts here... :)

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rkitten » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:20 am

If you don't mind my asking, what was your gpa/lsat combo?

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hmlee

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by hmlee » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:22 am

rkitten wrote:If you don't mind my asking, what was your gpa/lsat combo?
right around 3 / 170

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by elliefont » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:23 pm

accepting that most people are decently removed from undergrad lifestyle, how are you meshing as a class? Is it social and fun?

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by chadwick218 » Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:20 pm

elliefont wrote:accepting that most people are decently removed from undergrad lifestyle, how are you meshing as a class? Is it social and fun?
Others are very welcome to respond. My impression is that classmates are very professional and collegial. Although some classmates have characterized the school as having a “business-like feel,” I think that generally people are very welcoming, social, and fun. I think that because of the "experience" people are more willing to accept alternative viewpoints and ideas.

Bar reviews are still drawing strong crowds.

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rayiner

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:37 pm

elliefont wrote:accepting that most people are decently removed from undergrad lifestyle, how are you meshing as a class? Is it social and fun?
The major difference seems to be that there are a lot more married people around than at other schools. People don't seem to have trouble getting back into "school mode" though, and people seem pretty social*. However, you can definitely tell that it's professional school and not undergrad. Which isn't a bad thing, IMHO.

*) As far as law students go.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by jd-mba » Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:58 pm

Hi guys,

Thanks for being so helpful. Just a few questions, now that the dreadful LSAT is over.

1. I went from undergrad -> 2 year master -> applying for law school. Will I be clumped with the <1 year post graduate work experience group then? Maybe you can answer that from just looking at the backgrounds of the people you have in your class. LOTS of working during the school year ever since sophomore year of undergrad. I was hoping that plus supporting myself through grad school would bump me out of that category that seems to get no favor at all.

2. Why did you guys choose Northwestern? Was it because it was the highest ranking school you got into or was there some other factor that made it stood out from the other T14 schools? I'm curious of what the culture/environment is like, perhaps your impression when you visited etc. Good professor-student relations?

3. Best tips for the application process? I know I need to get apps out early, plan on doing that during the next 2-3 weeks. But anything else with regards to controllable factors in the application (e.g. personal statement, etc.)?

Thanks ahead of time! Hopefully I'll see you guys next year :)

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:02 am

jd-mba wrote:Hi guys,

Thanks for being so helpful. Just a few questions, now that the dreadful LSAT is over.

1. I went from undergrad -> 2 year master -> applying for law school. Will I be clumped with the <1 year post graduate work experience group then? Maybe you can answer that from just looking at the backgrounds of the people you have in your class. LOTS of working during the school year ever since sophomore year of undergrad. I was hoping that plus supporting myself through grad school would bump me out of that category that seems to get no favor at all.

2. Why did you guys choose Northwestern? Was it because it was the highest ranking school you got into or was there some other factor that made it stood out from the other T14 schools? I'm curious of what the culture/environment is like, perhaps your impression when you visited etc. Good professor-student relations?

3. Best tips for the application process? I know I need to get apps out early, plan on doing that during the next 2-3 weeks. But anything else with regards to controllable factors in the application (e.g. personal statement, etc.)?

Thanks ahead of time! Hopefully I'll see you guys next year :)
1) It's hard to say. It depends somewhat on the nature of the work experience in undergrad. Generally, they only count full-time post-graduate work experience. I know one person who came directly from a masters program, but I can't really extrapolate from that one data point.

2) Northwestern was the highest-ranked school I got into. I know a decent number of people who chose it over other schools in the lower T14. Location seems to be a major draw --- lots of people would rather be in downtown Chicago than say Ithaca or Ann Arbor.

If we took rankings out of the equation, I'd personally rather be at NU than most of the other schools in the T14. From the very first contact I had with the school (the admissions folks), I got a highly-polished professional vibe from the school. We had a multi-day workshop during orientation about leadership/teamwork skills which I thought was great and in keeping with the tone of the program. It's one of the smaller schools in the T14, which allows for a reasonable 1L section size and makes it quite easy to get to know everyone. The professors seem very approachable, and the administration is quite helpful. The Dean of Students (Prof. Zimmermann) is a super nice guy and very approachable. He spent quite a bit of time with me on the phone before I got to Chicago, and then scheduled an in-person meetup just a few days after I moved to the city.

3) The application process seems pretty similar to the other schools. Make sure you write the "Why NU?" essay. If you want that last bit of an edge, I'd say interview at the Chicago campus.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by jd-mba » Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:46 am

Thanks for the thoughts Rayiner. That's good to know. Guess I'll be getting on those applications and that "Why NU" statement. So you just moved there in August, right? Are you part of the McClurg/420 E Ohio cohort or did you opt to live elsewhere? My boyfriend is in in McClurg and I usually see med/law students left and right. As far as social life and bar review, have you guys been primarily sticking to the area around the law school? Are people more of the bar type at NU as opposed to clubs? Those aren't really important questions, just curious :)

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:59 am

jd-mba wrote:Thanks for the thoughts Rayiner. That's good to know. Guess I'll be getting on those applications and that "Why NU" statement. So you just moved there in August, right? Are you part of the McClurg/420 E Ohio cohort or did you opt to live elsewhere? My boyfriend is in in McClurg and I usually see med/law students left and right. As far as social life and bar crawl, have you guys been primarily sticking to the area around the law school? Are people more of the bar type at NU as opposed to clubs? Those aren't really important questions, just curious :)
Yeah, I'm in McClurg. Living 2 blocks away from the law school (specifically the law library) = WIN. The area is crawling with med/law students, which a can be a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, your LS friends are likely to be close by. On the other hand, since I'm new to Chicago, everyone I know is a law student at either NU and U of C, and living where I do doesn't really help with meeting a diverse group of people.

The bar crawls have been nicely spread out, though within convenient public transit distance from the LS obviously (1-2 mi). A lot of the good bars are in Lincoln Park, so we've had two of the bar nights up there so far (3 if you count the Chicago TLS meetup!).

As for bars versus clubs, I have no idea. The only club I want to do is the IP Law Society, and they've been too lazy to have any meetings yet. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by jd-mba » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:04 pm

rayiner wrote:
jd-mba wrote:Thanks for the thoughts Rayiner. That's good to know. Guess I'll be getting on those applications and that "Why NU" statement. So you just moved there in August, right? Are you part of the McClurg/420 E Ohio cohort or did you opt to live elsewhere? My boyfriend is in in McClurg and I usually see med/law students left and right. As far as social life and bar crawl, have you guys been primarily sticking to the area around the law school? Are people more of the bar type at NU as opposed to clubs? Those aren't really important questions, just curious :)
Yeah, I'm in McClurg. Living 2 blocks away from the law school (specifically the law library) = WIN. The area is crawling with med/law students, which a can be a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, your LS friends are likely to be close by. On the other hand, since I'm new to Chicago, everyone I know is a law student at either NU and U of C, and living where I do doesn't really help with meeting a diverse group of people.

The bar crawls have been nicely spread out, though within convenient public transit distance from the LS obviously (1-2 mi). A lot of the good bars are in Lincoln Park, so we've had two of the bar nights up there so far (3 if you count the Chicago TLS meetup!).

As for bars versus clubs, I have no idea. The only club I want to do is the IP Law Society, and they've been too lazy to have any meetings yet. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.
:) I meant bars vs. dance clubs in the area. But yeah, info on Northwestern-related clubs would be interesting too. Any of you guys considering doing that international team project program? I saw it in the viewbook and made me really want to apply. Not sure if other schools have similar programs, but that seemed pretty unique to me.

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:15 pm

jd-mba wrote: :) I meant bars vs. dance clubs in the area. But yeah, info on Northwestern-related clubs would be interesting too. Any of you guys considering doing that international team project program? I saw it in the viewbook and made me really want to apply. Not sure if other schools have similar programs, but that seemed pretty unique to me.
All of the official outings have been at bars, though two of them were at places that had music and some semblance of a dance floor. There are a number of good clubs in the area, though, and it's easy enough to gather up people to go, presuming you can get them out of the library. :lol:

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by jd-mba » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:17 pm

rayiner wrote:
jd-mba wrote: :) I meant bars vs. dance clubs in the area. But yeah, info on Northwestern-related clubs would be interesting too. Any of you guys considering doing that international team project program? I saw it in the viewbook and made me really want to apply. Not sure if other schools have similar programs, but that seemed pretty unique to me.
All of the official outings have been at bars, though two of them were at places that had music and some semblance of a dance floor. There are a number of good clubs in the area, though, and it's easy enough to gather up people to go, presuming you can get them out of the library. :lol:
hahah, i heard the library is simply beautiful and you guys hate the med students that creep over, is that true? are people already spending their afternoons/evenings in the library? how many weeks in has it been, 4? :(

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Re: Northwestern 1L taking questions

Post by rayiner » Sun Sep 27, 2009 12:22 pm

jd-mba wrote:
rayiner wrote:
jd-mba wrote: :) I meant bars vs. dance clubs in the area. But yeah, info on Northwestern-related clubs would be interesting too. Any of you guys considering doing that international team project program? I saw it in the viewbook and made me really want to apply. Not sure if other schools have similar programs, but that seemed pretty unique to me.
All of the official outings have been at bars, though two of them were at places that had music and some semblance of a dance floor. There are a number of good clubs in the area, though, and it's easy enough to gather up people to go, presuming you can get them out of the library. :lol:
hahah, i heard the library is simply beautiful and you guys hate the med students that creep over, is that true? are people already spending their afternoons/evenings in the library? how many weeks in has it been, 4? :(
The library is great, spacious, modern and functional. On a day like today the view of lake Michigan is absolutely gorgeous. I quite like it when I see med students creep over --- it's great for potential spouse hunting. :lol:

I was a bit surprised by how much time people spend studying, but then again maybe it's to be expected.

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