UIUC 2L Taking Questions Forum

[xspider]

Is OCI lottery or pre-select? How many firms come to oci?

100% pre-select, ~40-45 firms

Thanks a ton. Anyone have an idea how URMs perform at OCI? say at median or barely outside of top third.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's not as easy to predict URM jobs as it is admissions. The few I know who landed gigs had good grades, so I'm sure that was a major factor. I'd say if you're at median you better have something really special or else you're SOL. If you're top third-ish you might have a shot at some of the less selective firms. Maybe try to gun for a 1L diversity position, might be different.

I mean, it could be a tiebreaker b/t two candidates, but that assumes you had the grades/resume/interviewing skills to get there initially.

Gotcha, thanks a ton

[bluefish91]

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[Chardee_MacDennis]

Thanks for taking questions!

I know that there was a lot of discussion about where to live/not live last year, but as someone who is bringing my dog, do your recommendations change? I'm currently in a super dog friendly city and pretty much every apartment allows dogs. Is this the same in CU? Do apartments have dog parks? (She's small-breed if that matters).

Thanks for your insight!

I imagine that would depend on where you live. I know The Village allows pets. My apartment complex does, too. I don't think apartments down here have dog-specific parks, but you can certainly find a park.

[CPAlawHopefu]

I'm an incoming class of 2020 for University of Illinois College of Law and I have some questions, specifically regarding life as 1L at Chambana.

1. What % of 1L classes are taught by adjunct/TAs?
2. How does a typical day look like for 1L? (What time does the class start, when and how long is the lunch, how long are breaks, how many classes per day, what time does the last class of the day end? etc)
3. How many people per section on average?
4. I signed up my lease at the Village. I am OOS and will not have a car. The general consensus seems to be "You can survive without a car, but having one makes it so much easier". How big of a difference would this be?
5. What other public transportation is available other than buses/shuttles? (i.e. taxis? uber?)
6. What % of Law School student body drive?
7. How frequent do students go out to unwind?
8. How helpful/proactive is the career center? Reliable or waste of time and resource?
9. What would you say has been/was the biggest disappointment about UIUC College of Law?
10. In your opinion, based on your experience, is UIUC over-/under-rated? Is USNWR ranking of #44 appropriate? If not, how would you rank it? (Not only factoring in employment prospect but other factors as well such as the quality of life/academics/faculty).

Sorry for bombarding with so many questions. I've had a hard time finding someone willing to answer questions about UIUC so I've been saving them for threads like this ;P

Thanks in advance!

[Chardee_MacDennis]

I'm an incoming class of 2020 for University of Illinois College of Law and I have some questions, specifically regarding life as 1L at Chambana.

1. What % of 1L classes are taught by adjunct/TAs?
2. How does a typical day look like for 1L? (What time does the class start, when and how long is the lunch, how long are breaks, how many classes per day, what time does the last class of the day end? etc)
3. How many people per section on average?
4. I signed up my lease at the Village. I am OOS and will not have a car. The general consensus seems to be "You can survive without a car, but having one makes it so much easier". How big of a difference would this be?
5. What other public transportation is available other than buses/shuttles? (i.e. taxis? uber?)
6. What % of Law School student body drive?
7. How frequent do students go out to unwind?
8. How helpful/proactive is the career center? Reliable or waste of time and resource?
9. What would you say has been/was the biggest disappointment about UIUC College of Law?
10. In your opinion, based on your experience, is UIUC over-/under-rated? Is USNWR ranking of #44 appropriate? If not, how would you rank it? (Not only factoring in employment prospect but other factors as well such as the quality of life/academics/faculty).

Sorry for bombarding with so many questions. I've had a hard time finding someone willing to answer questions about UIUC so I've been saving them for threads like this ;P

Thanks in advance!

1. None actually taught by TAs. Some of the first-year writing classes are taught by adjuncts, but most are staff. This increases slightly after 1L year, but not much.
2. This really varies by student. You'll have 3 substantive classes each semester, plus writing/research/advocacy. It's more than manageable. My day started at 830. I would have classes until noon, then get a break until 130. A few more classes until about 330, then study until 530-6ish, depending on the workload. Very rarely worked late or on the weekends outside of finals. Others start at 830 and stay until midnight, rarely seeing the light of day.
3. 50ish
4/5. You'll manage, but having a car does make certain things easier. The Village has a shuttle that runs to the law school every 15 mins or so, and runs on the weekends. The MTD is pretty reliable for a small town. Ubers and taxis are reliable, too.
6. Like, drive to school? No clue. >50% I would imagine.
7. See #2. I went out 3-4 times/week. Others barely left the building.
8. Meh...
9. See above.
10. Both? In terms of employment, we're under-ranked, especially if the trend from last year continues. We have some good professors, but def not an academic powerhouse. School is trying to raise numbers, but not sure how that is going. QoL is fine, but you're living in a farm town for three years that's built around the campus. For me, it was fine for three years, but wouldn't want to live there longer than that. Others stayed and found jobs after graduation. I think high 20s/ low 30s seems about right.

[CPAlawHopefu]

I'm an incoming class of 2020 for University of Illinois College of Law and I have some questions, specifically regarding life as 1L at Chambana.

1. What % of 1L classes are taught by adjunct/TAs?
2. How does a typical day look like for 1L? (What time does the class start, when and how long is the lunch, how long are breaks, how many classes per day, what time does the last class of the day end? etc)
3. How many people per section on average?
4. I signed up my lease at the Village. I am OOS and will not have a car. The general consensus seems to be "You can survive without a car, but having one makes it so much easier". How big of a difference would this be?
5. What other public transportation is available other than buses/shuttles? (i.e. taxis? uber?)
6. What % of Law School student body drive?
7. How frequent do students go out to unwind?
8. How helpful/proactive is the career center? Reliable or waste of time and resource?
9. What would you say has been/was the biggest disappointment about UIUC College of Law?
10. In your opinion, based on your experience, is UIUC over-/under-rated? Is USNWR ranking of #44 appropriate? If not, how would you rank it? (Not only factoring in employment prospect but other factors as well such as the quality of life/academics/faculty).

Sorry for bombarding with so many questions. I've had a hard time finding someone willing to answer questions about UIUC so I've been saving them for threads like this ;P

Thanks in advance!

1. None actually taught by TAs. Some of the first-year writing classes are taught by adjuncts, but most are staff. This increases slightly after 1L year, but not much.
2. This really varies by student. You'll have 3 substantive classes each semester, plus writing/research/advocacy. It's more than manageable. My day started at 830. I would have classes until noon, then get a break until 130. A few more classes until about 330, then study until 530-6ish, depending on the workload. Very rarely worked late or on the weekends outside of finals. Others start at 830 and stay until midnight, rarely seeing the light of day.
3. 50ish
4/5. You'll manage, but having a car does make certain things easier. The Village has a shuttle that runs to the law school every 15 mins or so, and runs on the weekends. The MTD is pretty reliable for a small town. Ubers and taxis are reliable, too.
6. Like, drive to school? No clue. >50% I would imagine.
7. See #2. I went out 3-4 times/week. Others barely left the building.
8. Meh...
9. See above.
10. Both? In terms of employment, we're under-ranked, especially if the trend from last year continues. We have some good professors, but def not an academic powerhouse. School is trying to raise numbers, but not sure how that is going. QoL is fine, but you're living in a farm town for three years that's built around the campus. For me, it was fine for three years, but wouldn't want to live there longer than that. Others stayed and found jobs after graduation. I think high 20s/ low 30s seems about right.

Thanks! I appreciate you taking time to answer my questions.

Mind if I ask if you are currently a student there? If not, what class were you?