Cornell 1L taking questions Forum

[Killingly]

Oh well that makes me feel better! I haven't even gotten accepted but I just wanted to cover some bases. Thanks for the replies!

[Arbiter213]

If you want to ever leave this hermitage, though, you better fucking have wheels or super nice friends.

[msblaw89]

If you want to ever leave this hermitage, though, you better fucking have wheels or super nice friends.

So Ithaca really IS that bad?

[Arbiter213]

If you want to ever leave this hermitage, though, you better fucking have wheels or super nice friends.

So Ithaca really IS that bad?

No, Ithaca is fine. There's just VERY limited transportation in and out (slightly better if your goal location is NYC).

[FlanAl]

Life with a car seems way better. Having to plan your shopping around other people is a pain and there is a ton of stuff to do around here that is only a short driving distance.

[vexion]

Life with a car seems way better. Having to plan your shopping around other people is a pain and there is a ton of stuff to do around here that is only a short driving distance.

Just be prepared for everyone and their fucking grandma asking you for rides.

[Mr. Somebody]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

[horrorbusiness]

does cornell require parents' info on the FAFSA for me to receive institutional grants?

they're a bit unclear, from the website (http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admiss ... al_faq.cfm) :

"Federally, all graduate students are considered independent and do not need to provide parental information on the FAFSA form.

Institutionally, all students are considered dependent unless they petition the Financial Aid office and receive a dependency waiver. This should be done well before March 15th, 2012."

by their standards, i'm going to be considered a dependent, i believe.

[msblaw89]

does cornell require parents' info on the FAFSA for me to receive institutional grants?

they're a bit unclear, from the website (http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admiss ... al_faq.cfm) :

"Federally, all graduate students are considered independent and do not need to provide parental information on the FAFSA form.

Institutionally, all students are considered dependent unless they petition the Financial Aid office and receive a dependency waiver. This should be done well before March 15th, 2012."

by their standards, i'm going to be considered a dependent, i believe.

From what I understand, you can file as independent with the FAFSA... but the Need Access form requires both your information and your parents. The school also require that you submit your parents 2011 tax return

[vexion]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

[msblaw89]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

Whoa! $700 fr a parking decal?

[PinkCow]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

Whoa! $700 fr a parking decal?

Welcome to Ithaca. Wait till you explore the beauties of Collegetown price gouging.

[msblaw89]

Have any of you heard about the NYC legal market and biglaw? Is it starting to pick up again? Or should I be concerned about taking out 150k loan (assuming I don't get any merit scholarships)

[CyLaw]

Have any of you heard about the NYC legal market and biglaw? Is it starting to pick up again? Or should I be concerned about taking out 150k loan (assuming I don't get any merit scholarships)

Do you have personal funding that is reducing the amount to 150k?

[vexion]

Have any of you heard about the NYC legal market and biglaw? Is it starting to pick up again? Or should I be concerned about taking out 150k loan (assuming I don't get any merit scholarships)

Do you have personal funding that is reducing the amount to 150k?

Painful truth.

Anything we've heard about the NYC market and BigLaw is the same shit the rest of the legal world has heard. Go read ATL, the WSJ Law Blog, or The American Lawyer (LinkRemoved). It's crappy, revenues are back up to pre-crash levels, but bonuses aren't, growth is slow-to-non-existent, whatever. We're a bunch of students, we don't even work there yet. Market research firms are issuing full-fledged reports on this stuff. We're comparably ill-informed.

[Ikki]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

If you are paying for parking you are doing it wrong. There's plenty of parking on the Buffalo-Stewart-Seneca-Schuyler quadrant. Walking up the edgemoor hill is a good exercise anyway.

[vexion]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

If you are paying for parking you are doing it wrong. There's plenty of parking on the Buffalo-Stewart-Seneca-Schuyler quadrant. Walking up the edgemoor hill is a good exercise anyway.

90% of the reason to own a car in Ithaca is to make Wegman's runs whenever you want. Parking half a mile away and lugging even a week's worth of groceries uphill to Hughes sounds like hell. Not to mention I would never park on the street on Buffalo or Seneca in the wintertime... that's a recipe for disaster.

[Ikki]

How much of a pain and extra expense it is to have a car if you decide to live in Hughes?

I didn't live in Hughes, but if I had to guess... You can't find free parking anywhere near the law school. Parking passes are something like $700/yr iirc, and the closest spot you could get is about a five minute walk uphill, near the stadium. So, that much pain/expense.

If you are paying for parking you are doing it wrong. There's plenty of parking on the Buffalo-Stewart-Seneca-Schuyler quadrant. Walking up the edgemoor hill is a good exercise anyway.

90% of the reason to own a car in Ithaca is to make Wegman's runs whenever you want. Parking half a mile away and lugging even a week's worth of groceries uphill to Hughes sounds like hell. Not to mention I would never park on the street on Buffalo or Seneca in the wintertime... that's a recipe for disaster.

Granted most people that have been here for more than a year say this winter has been relatively forgiven, I have not had any trouble parking in either street even when we had snow flurries. If you want to buy groceries and not walk half a mile, you can always go at night and park near Hughes, parking is free after 6:00pm.

[Mr. Somebody]

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[Lincoln]

I had SF as a backup, and received an offer there (which I turned down for NYC). I know of several people who are doing their 2L SAs in CA. It's probably easier to get NYC from Cornell than CA, but it's definitely doable.

[Killingly]

Got into Cornell today, so it's Cornell vs Michigan now. It will probably come down to aid/feel of the school. Does anyone know when aid packages will be released? I assume it's sometime after the March 15 deadline. Also, is there any chance I might receive a small merit scholly or is merit aid determined at the time of admissions?

Also, I'm able to go to Michigan's ASW, but not to Cornell's ASD. I'll just be driving to Ithica to poke around by myself. Do you think I'd be doing Cornell a disservice by not attending a ASD or will I get the same idea just walking around/talking to people?

[msblaw89]

Got into Cornell today, so it's Cornell vs Michigan now. It will probably come down to aid/feel of the school. Does anyone know when aid packages will be released? I assume it's sometime after the March 15 deadline. Also, is there any chance I might receive a small merit scholly or is merit aid determined at the time of admissions?

Also, I'm able to go to Michigan's ASW, but not to Cornell's ASD. I'll just be driving to Ithica to poke around by myself. Do you think I'd be doing Cornell a disservice by not attending a ASD or will I get the same idea just walking around/talking to people?

I contacted financial aid and they said they start sending stuff out the first week of March

[Killingly]

Got into Cornell today, so it's Cornell vs Michigan now. It will probably come down to aid/feel of the school. Does anyone know when aid packages will be released? I assume it's sometime after the March 15 deadline. Also, is there any chance I might receive a small merit scholly or is merit aid determined at the time of admissions?

Also, I'm able to go to Michigan's ASW, but not to Cornell's ASD. I'll just be driving to Ithica to poke around by myself. Do you think I'd be doing Cornell a disservice by not attending a ASD or will I get the same idea just walking around/talking to people?

I contacted financial aid and they said they start sending stuff out the first week of March

Thanks! I guess I'll send my taxes over tomorrow, because the earlier the better?

Any idea on merit scholly stuff? I don't expect anything, but it'd sure make my decision easier.

[Chucky21]

How quickly does Hughes fill up? I am leaning towards Cornell but still waiting on a couple of schools, do I need to think about sending my deposit in soon? Any idea on how much time I have if I want to stay in Hughes?

[PinkCow]

Got into Cornell today, so it's Cornell vs Michigan now. It will probably come down to aid/feel of the school. Does anyone know when aid packages will be released? I assume it's sometime after the March 15 deadline. Also, is there any chance I might receive a small merit scholly or is merit aid determined at the time of admissions?

Also, I'm able to go to Michigan's ASW, but not to Cornell's ASD. I'll just be driving to Ithica to poke around by myself. Do you think I'd be doing Cornell a disservice by not attending a ASD or will I get the same idea just walking around/talking to people?

I contacted financial aid and they said they start sending stuff out the first week of March

Thanks! I guess I'll send my taxes over tomorrow, because the earlier the better?

Any idea on merit scholly stuff? I don't expect anything, but it'd sure make my decision easier.

All scholarship information should get lumped together. IMO, lawschoolnumbers might be a good idea of what kind of $ you could be looking at. Cornell says they only give need-based, but that's not really true. So, find similar stats and you might get an idea.

Also, regarding ASD, don't sweat it. A lot of it is just mingle time with people who (a) won't come or (b) you'll forget by the time fall starts. The cool stuff like tours and taking to staff can be arranged any time you visit. The admin staff is very friendly and helpful, and someone will be able to give you tours and the like if you prearrange it.