Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges Forum

[bk1]

Is the school's estimate of $709 per semester for books pretty accurate? Is that if you buy new (implying that renting and/or buying used books would bring the total down)?

All new casebooks this term cost me $652. With a few used supplements that I've bought/will buyt $709 is on the money. Note this is all new stuff from amazon. New from the bookstore will be rather more (8-900, I'd guess), and used from online will be much less depending on how low you go on quality. hth.

Seconded. I bought all the required books and recommended supplements for around $700 new from AMZ.

[Flips88]

Is the school's estimate of $709 per semester for books pretty accurate? Is that if you buy new (implying that renting and/or buying used books would bring the total down)?

different perspective here. I buy used. For the most part it's not an issue. I don't mind another's highlighting and underlining. (However, the person that had my Con Law book highlighted and underlined way toooo much stuff). But this semester I bought books for 4 classes used when I could, new when I couldn't and it was about $430. With supplements that I eventually buy, it'll probably be $550.

[homestyle28]

Grades are out for 1L's, just fyi.

Holy crap, you're not kidding!

[Dany]

Y'all buy all new books?

[bk1]

Y'all buy all new books?

I don't like marks in my book. And used books at the school bookstore (where I could pick out the ones that are unmarked) are around the same price that you can find them new on the internet.

Is it the most economical decision? No, but I'm up to my eyeballs in debt anyways.

[Eugenie Danglars]

Y'all buy all new books?

I buy used if I can find ones with no markings. Can't deal with other people's markings.

Grades are out for 1L's, just fyi.

Holy crap, you're not kidding!

I wouldn't do that to you.

[rinkrat19]

Thanks, everyone.

[splitmuch]

Do any 2Ls know of a rough guide of translating GPA to percentile?

[bdubs]

Do any 2Ls know of a rough guide of translating GPA to percentile?

From another NU thread:

Can anyone clue me in on what GPA is top 10%, 25% and the like. I know they don't post class rank, but I'm just trying to get a sense of where I fall. Thanks.

3.8 - top 10%
3.65 - top 25%
3.5 - top 35%
3.35 - top 50%

[splitmuch]

Do any 2Ls know of a rough guide of translating GPA to percentile?

From another NU thread:

Can anyone clue me in on what GPA is top 10%, 25% and the like. I know they don't post class rank, but I'm just trying to get a sense of where I fall. Thanks.

3.8 - top 10%
3.65 - top 25%
3.5 - top 35%
3.35 - top 50%

Thanks

[Flips88]

Y'all buy all new books?

I'm used book man myself. Don't care how slutty the book has been in its past. It can still teach me.

[Wildcat14]

One more perspective on books. If you really want to keep your book costs down and are okay with used books (as I am), it's possible to get used books for $50 through a student organization during the first week. Level of highlighting varies.

Another option along those lines is previous editions, which I used for two classes in the fall and am using for two this semester. I couldn't stomach paying $200 for one book (new edition, no used copies online or in the bookstore), and got a used copy the previous edition for less than $20 online. Maybe two cases that we covered in class weren't included, and I was able to either borrow a book for those days or find the case/brief online. All in all, I probably spent around $500 on books this year.

If your orientation follows the same schedule as ours, there'll be a panel with your first-semester professors that week, and it's worth asking the question then. Two of our doctrinal profs indicated that while they'd prefer the newest, the older edition would generally be fine, while another told us that we needed the newest version of the casebook, but that an older version of the secondary text would be just as good.

[splitmuch]

We are quite cliquey. I was expecting a jab more along the lines of, "I didn't know this year's 1L's actually drank."

That's what I would have gone with.

Ahem. Rude.

[freaknroll]

People always talk about 2 years of WE, a 3+ GPA and a 172-3+ are a lock for Northwestern, what exactly qualifies as work experience though? Are people generally referencing corporate, white collar jobs or will any, obviously excluding things like flipping burgers, job that distances you from your undergrad graduation suffice?

[Snape]

With the right GPA and LSAT flipping burgers is just fine.

[rinkrat19]

People always talk about 2 years of WE, a 3+ GPA and a 172-3+ are a lock for Northwestern, what exactly qualifies as work experience though? Are people generally referencing corporate, white collar jobs or will any, obviously excluding things like flipping burgers, job that distances you from your undergrad graduation suffice?

They seem to not really care, as long as you were living like a grownup. (i.e. supporting yourself with your burger-flipping money, rather than just flipping burgers to buy xbox games while living in your parents' basement.)

[IAFG]

People always talk about 2 years of WE, a 3+ GPA and a 172-3+ are a lock for Northwestern, what exactly qualifies as work experience though? Are people generally referencing corporate, white collar jobs or will any, obviously excluding things like flipping burgers, job that distances you from your undergrad graduation suffice?

They seem to not really care, as long as you were living like a grownup. (i.e. supporting yourself with your burger-flipping money, rather than just flipping burgers to buy xbox games while living in your parents' basement.)

They don't really care about that either. In DVZ's dream world, every law student would have been a former management consultant/i-banker with a shot at Kellogg, but in practice they admit burger-flippers with 17X LSATs often enough.

[bdubs]

The OCI callback sheet is a total nightmare. How is it possible that so many of these firms have such high GPA medians? Do they all call back the same 20-30 candidates?

[09042014]

The OCI callback sheet is a total nightmare. How is it possible that so many of these firms have such high GPA medians? Do they all call back the same 20-30 candidates?

Kinda. Firms don't yield protect, at least not if you can fake interest even a little. So people with 3.75ish plus get callbacks at many firms. But they only take one job. Half the people they callback are below that number. And I'd guess the people who take the offer are in large part in the below median part.

The average person is probably getting 1-3 callbacks. The top ten percent of the class gets more like 10+.

Also a lot of these firms are only calling back a few people. If a firm calls back 3.85 3.9 3.95 3.4 3.3 their median goes down as 3.85. You aren't necessarily getting a good sample.

I'd subtract .2 from the median of these firms to have a better idea. But the lowest GPA field is probably fairly accurate.

[Samara]

Hello soon-to-be fellow NU attendees! I am excited to be at Northwestern next fall and I am 99% sure I'm willing to pay sticker. (I'm a big splitter, 3.09/175.) However, $200k+ is a lot of money and getting some scholarship/grant money would be quite welcome. I going to try for merit money, but don't expect any.

Does anyone know what I can expect from need-based financial aid? I'm married, so I'm independent (not that my parents have money to throw around anyway) but that also means my household income is decent. I will have about $20k of educational debt coming in and a significant amount of savings and other assets. Will I get anything? Should I be bracing myself for sticker?

[D-hops]

Hello soon-to-be fellow NU attendees! I am excited to be at Northwestern next fall and I am 99% sure I'm willing to pay sticker. (I'm a big splitter, 3.09/175.) However, $200k+ is a lot of money and getting some scholarship/grant money would be quite welcome. I going to try for merit money, but don't expect any.

Does anyone know what I can expect from need-based financial aid? I'm married, so I'm independent (not that my parents have money to throw around anyway) but that also means my household income is decent. I will have about $20k of educational debt coming in and a significant amount of savings and other assets. Will I get anything? Should I be bracing myself for sticker?

You should brace yourself for sticker. Northwestern combines their need and merit based aid into one aid package, but it is pretty much just merit based. I don't know of any splitters with numbers like yours that got any money. Congrats on NU, though!

[Flips88]

This may be a completely retarded question, but do they reevaluate aid after 1L or does the "we're out of money" line they gave me when I was admitted hold true for my entire time here?

[D-hops]

This may be a completely retarded question, but do they reevaluate aid after 1L or does the "we're out of money" line they gave me when I was admitted hold true for my entire time here?

They threw money at people that successfully got accepted at higher schools in the T14 as transfers and they were not insignificant amounts. So, if you have the grades to do it, I would recommend at least applying to transfer to HYSCCN and leverage that to some (or more) money.


This is the part where I whine that I didn't do this and really wished I had (that and retake the LSAT). C'est la vie.

[Samara]

Hello soon-to-be fellow NU attendees! I am excited to be at Northwestern next fall and I am 99% sure I'm willing to pay sticker. (I'm a big splitter, 3.09/175.) However, $200k+ is a lot of money and getting some scholarship/grant money would be quite welcome. I going to try for merit money, but don't expect any.

Does anyone know what I can expect from need-based financial aid? I'm married, so I'm independent (not that my parents have money to throw around anyway) but that also means my household income is decent. I will have about $20k of educational debt coming in and a significant amount of savings and other assets. Will I get anything? Should I be bracing myself for sticker?

You should brace yourself for sticker. Northwestern combines their need and merit based aid into one aid package, but it is pretty much just merit based. I don't know of any splitters with numbers like yours that got any money. Congrats on NU, though!

Thanks! I'm really happy to be attending because it seems like a perfect fit for me. (That, and it may be my only T14 acceptance.) I'm not risk-averse, but it's still a bit scary to take on that much debt. Will I at least get offered the full COA in loans? I'd like to not live like a broke college student again and housing in the city is expensive.

[09042014]

Hello soon-to-be fellow NU attendees! I am excited to be at Northwestern next fall and I am 99% sure I'm willing to pay sticker. (I'm a big splitter, 3.09/175.) However, $200k+ is a lot of money and getting some scholarship/grant money would be quite welcome. I going to try for merit money, but don't expect any.

Does anyone know what I can expect from need-based financial aid? I'm married, so I'm independent (not that my parents have money to throw around anyway) but that also means my household income is decent. I will have about $20k of educational debt coming in and a significant amount of savings and other assets. Will I get anything? Should I be bracing myself for sticker?

You should brace yourself for sticker. Northwestern combines their need and merit based aid into one aid package, but it is pretty much just merit based. I don't know of any splitters with numbers like yours that got any money. Congrats on NU, though!

Thanks! I'm really happy to be attending because it seems like a perfect fit for me. (That, and it may be my only T14 acceptance.) I'm not risk-averse, but it's still a bit scary to take on that much debt. Will I at least get offered the full COA in loans? I'd like to not live like a broke college student again and housing in the city is expensive.

Yea, unless you have credit issues, you get the full amount. Be prepared to dip into savings if you want to live downtown. It's nearly impossible to afford the rent unless you live like a poor college student.