Cornell 1L taking questions Forum

[joepa]

This thread is really long, so I apologize if this has been addressed. Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell? Are students generally willing to help each other out? Also, is it hard to find non-dorm housing within walking distance to the law school? Thanks

[woeisme]

Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell?

Sure

Are students generally willing to help each other out?

Yeah, definitely.

Also, is it hard to find non-dorm housing within walking distance to the law school?

No, not really hard. The earlier you start, the more options obviously, but even if you look last minute, you'll be able to find something.

ETA: Wow, I just realized I was a dick with that first response. That was totally unintentional. It's not really that competitive. That is to say, it's less competitive than one would suspect. Law school is inherently competitive, but I don't think it feels that way. People are driven to be sure, but also very supportive.

[spanktheduck]

This thread is really long, so I apologize if this has been addressed. Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell? Are students generally willing to help each other out? Also, is it hard to find non-dorm housing within walking distance to the law school? Thanks

It's of course competitive(No more than anywhere else I imagine) but that doesn't mean people aren't friendly and don't help one another. It just means that people want to succeed. There is a ton of non-dorm housing within walking distance. Unfortuntuetatly most of it is either expensive or crappy, but there are some nice, cheaper places.

[18488]

Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell?

I'm not very competitive and I'm just fine . . .

[paraducks]

Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell?

i stole important pages from all of the books in the library during asw.

[galobi]

you can, however, do your 1L summer abroad (the Summer Institute in Paris) and do another semester/externship away.

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this cost extra money as opposed to being part of the regular tuition and costs if done during the regular academic year? the absolute last thing i'll need is more debt...

you used to be able to spend 2 semesters away from ithaca, but when i visited last wknd, we were told that the school is starting to crack down on that so you can only do 1 semester away from ithaca.

See, this is the kind of thing that makes me really, really nervous. It sounds like they basically told you, "Yeah, so many kids are trying to get the hell out of here that finally we had to close the gates and lock them in." I think I'm going to give the office a call in the morning, but can anyone else corroborate this description of Cornell's policy?

[markakis]

you can, however, do your 1L summer abroad (the Summer Institute in Paris) and do another semester/externship away.

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this cost extra money as opposed to being part of the regular tuition and costs if done during the regular academic year? the absolute last thing i'll need is more debt...

you used to be able to spend 2 semesters away from ithaca, but when i visited last wknd, we were told that the school is starting to crack down on that so you can only do 1 semester away from ithaca.

See, this is the kind of thing that makes me really, really nervous. It sounds like they basically told you, "Yeah, so many kids are trying to get the hell out of here that finally we had to close the gates and lock them in." I think I'm going to give the office a call in the morning, but can anyone else corroborate this description of Cornell's policy?

Please pm with response you get from your call. I also need to know if I can take two semesters away to do a JD/LLM Tax in GULC during my 3L. Thanks kindly

[galobi]

you can, however, do your 1L summer abroad (the Summer Institute in Paris) and do another semester/externship away.

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this cost extra money as opposed to being part of the regular tuition and costs if done during the regular academic year? the absolute last thing i'll need is more debt...

you used to be able to spend 2 semesters away from ithaca, but when i visited last wknd, we were told that the school is starting to crack down on that so you can only do 1 semester away from ithaca.

See, this is the kind of thing that makes me really, really nervous. It sounds like they basically told you, "Yeah, so many kids are trying to get the hell out of here that finally we had to close the gates and lock them in." I think I'm going to give the office a call in the morning, but can anyone else corroborate this description of Cornell's policy?

Please pm with response you get from your call. I also need to know if I can take two semesters away to do a JD/LLM Tax in GULC during my 3L. Thanks kindly

I would have called earlier, but honestly, I have no idea which office to call. Does anybody know who I should be contacting regarding this?

[fsohn]

This thread is really long, so I apologize if this has been addressed. Can anyone speak to the level of competitiveness at Cornell? Are students generally willing to help each other out? Also, is it hard to find non-dorm housing within walking distance to the law school? Thanks

I think spanktheduck summed up pretty well. Yes, I want to do well, and most everyone I know wants to do well. It ends at that though, in terms of competitiveness. People do not refuse to share notes with those who miss class, and I've never heard of stolen backpacks or laptops or the like.

[markakis]

you can, however, do your 1L summer abroad (the Summer Institute in Paris) and do another semester/externship away.

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't this cost extra money as opposed to being part of the regular tuition and costs if done during the regular academic year? the absolute last thing i'll need is more debt...

you used to be able to spend 2 semesters away from ithaca, but when i visited last wknd, we were told that the school is starting to crack down on that so you can only do 1 semester away from ithaca.

See, this is the kind of thing that makes me really, really nervous. It sounds like they basically told you, "Yeah, so many kids are trying to get the hell out of here that finally we had to close the gates and lock them in." I think I'm going to give the office a call in the morning, but can anyone else corroborate this description of Cornell's policy?

Please pm with response you get from your call. I also need to know if I can take two semesters away to do a JD/LLM Tax in GULC during my 3L. Thanks kindly

I would have called earlier, but honestly, I have no idea which office to call. Does anybody know who I should be contacting regarding this?

The person in charge of cornell's term away program is the dean of academic affairs, mr. john Siliciano. I do not have any contact info for him; as soon as I do, i'll make sure to pass it along. However, you could try Anne Lukingbeal (dean of students) @ 607-255-5839 e: anne-lukingbeal@lawschool.cornell.edu or al50@cornell.edu
Thanks kindly, sir

edit; never mind just found him
John A Siliciano
Phone: (607) 255-3062
Fax: (607) 255-7193
Email: jas83@cornell.edu

thanks once again

[galobi]

I just spoke to Larry Bush who confirmed that students are not permitted to do two semesters (i.e. Spring 2L and Fall 3L) out of Ithaca.

[18488]

I just spoke to Larry Bush who confirmed that students are not permitted to do two semesters (i.e. Spring 2L and Fall 3L) out of Ithaca.

Why would you want to? I mean, you're paying a lot of money (or someone's giving you a lot of money) to come to Cornell. shouldn't you want to take advantage of Cornell? Study abroad just isn't that valuable in most cases anyway unless you really plan on practicing in the particular country where you're studying abroad. Employers often look at it as a semester off. Plus, don't you want to learn American law, especially if you're going to practice American law?

[woeisme]

I just spoke to Larry Bush who confirmed that students are not permitted to do two semesters (i.e. Spring 2L and Fall 3L) out of Ithaca.

Why would you want to? I mean, you're paying a lot of money (or someone's giving you a lot of money) to come to Cornell. shouldn't you want to take advantage of Cornell? Study abroad just isn't that valuable in most cases anyway unless you really plan on practicing in the particular country where you're studying abroad. Employers often look at it as a semester off. Plus, don't you want to learn American law, especially if you're going to practice American law?

I think this is the concern. Someone earlier said something about "being trapped in Ithaca" - I don't think that this is much of an issue for people. It's more likely that Cornell is just concerned about the sanctity of the Cornell degree (no seriously), yet taking more than semester's worth of classes elsewhere. In this way the policy is in place not to address the concern that too many people would leave Cornell for too long, but rather that the Cornell degree wouldn't mean as much. That'd make more sense to me.

[kurthectic]

What banks are in Collegetown? I spotted HSBC during ASW. Anything else?

[como]

I know there's a BoA in the Commons...doesn't really answer your question, but it's close enough.

[spike]

What banks are in Collegetown? I spotted HSBC during ASW. Anything else?

There's a Bank of America branch in the commons & an ATM of theirs in collegetown.

[jxk]

What banks are in Collegetown? I spotted HSBC during ASW. Anything else?

M & T is in Collegetown. If you've never heard of it, that's okay, I hadn't either until I went to Cornell. It will probably be a lot easier in terms of convenience for you to open an account with M&T because there is a branch in ctown, and a branch on campus in Willard Straight Hall.

[kurthectic]

M&T is what I use here at Binghamton-- its an upstate NY bank, mostly. I was just wondering if I was going to have to move my money elsewhere but it sounds like M&T will be just fine. Thanks.

[stunguncoyote]

Do you know if anyone from your school will be attending The Pre-Law Summer Institute (PLSI) this summer in Albuquerque at UNM?

[galobi]

I just spoke to Larry Bush who confirmed that students are not permitted to do two semesters (i.e. Spring 2L and Fall 3L) out of Ithaca.

Why would you want to? I mean, you're paying a lot of money (or someone's giving you a lot of money) to come to Cornell. shouldn't you want to take advantage of Cornell?

Well, my personal reasoning would have to do with not wanting to give up a summer's income to go abroad, and not wanting to have to choose between a great externship in NYC and a potential study-abroad experience. But, who knows? Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't want to spend two semesters out of Ithaca. I have no idea since I'm not a student yet. Either way, I would feel more comfortable if the option were left open, and I feel somewhat justified in my discomfort knowing that there are Cornell students who indeed would like to do this (whether you agree with their reasoning or not), and have been told they can't even though it's been allowed in the past.

Study abroad just isn't that valuable in most cases anyway unless you really plan on practicing in the particular country where you're studying abroad. Plus, don't you want to learn American law, especially if you're going to practice American law?

It can't be that most of the students studying in Paris or whatever actually intend to practice law in Paris. I would hope that, if the experience wasn't valuable to American law students, Cornell wouldn't offer the program. Again, I'm not sure that I would want to go abroad, but I don't agree with you that there aren't a myriad of situations wherein a person would want to do so. For what it's worth, the Cornell students I talked to who studied abroad were going to New York firms, and all of them said it was one of the most amazing experience of their lives.

Employers often look at it as a semester off.

The Cornell students I talked to that went abroad did so in Spring 2L/Fall 3L, i.e., after they already had firm offers. So why is this relevant?

[como]

Which supplements do you guys recommend using for our 1L classes?

[awesomepossum]

so why do you guys think that Cornell Law was found to be the school where people studied the most hours?

super competitive or people just SAYING they're super competitive?

[como]

so why do you guys think that Cornell Law was found to be the school where people studied the most hours?

super competitive or people just SAYING they're super competitive?

I found it interesting that 3 upstate schools (Cornell, Syracuse, and Albany) were all top 10 for most hours spent studying. I think it speaks to the boredom factor in upstate more than anything.

[missv463]

i think if you are pursuing a jd/llm the semester away restrictions are different.

but as someone already said, if you do 2 or more semesters away, the question is, are you really earning a Cornell degree? it made sense to me when they discussed it during ASW. oh, and i don't think people want to do 2 semesters away because cornell sucks, but rather because they had the opportunity to.

but yeah, call the admissions office for the official reponse.

[missv463]

so why do you guys think that Cornell Law was found to be the school where people studied the most hours?

super competitive or people just SAYING they're super competitive?

I found it interesting that 3 upstate schools (Cornell, Syracuse, and Albany) were all top 10 for most hours spent studying. I think it speaks to the boredom factor in upstate more than anything.

that and because we have to take 16 credits the first semester