Cornell 1L taking questions Forum

[Lavitz]

Asking for a friend:

Anyone know if Heise adjusts grades downwards if you skip class?

Heise cold-called him but he wasn't in class. Heise wrote something down. Is TCR to e-mail Heise, visit his office, or just ignore it?

Thanks.

[altoid99]

It seems as though PILIPP, Cornell's LRAP, gets mixed reviews on here. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem like it's tied to IBR like other T14 LRAPs. Cornell's website also doesn't provide much information. That information sheet they have up just looks horrid and confusing. After looking at it, it seems like Cornell could contribute tens of thousands of dollars annually to loan payments if your expected contribution is 0 and your law school loan payments are extremely high. But that just doesn't seem right. Can someone at Cornell or who has more information about PILIPP clarify? I'm not dead set on public interest but it would be nice to have a good LRAP option in case I do decide to go down that route.

[Lacepiece23]

Asking for a friend:

Anyone know if Heise adjusts grades downwards if you skip class?

Heise cold-called him but he wasn't in class. Heise wrote something down. Is TCR to e-mail Heise, visit his office, or just ignore it?

Thanks.

No clue about Heise, but I always just ignored it lol. Don't know whether its impacted my grades or not.

[FlanAl]

It seems as though PILIPP, Cornell's LRAP, gets mixed reviews on here. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem like it's tied to IBR like other T14 LRAPs. Cornell's website also doesn't provide much information. That information sheet they have up just looks horrid and confusing. After looking at it, it seems like Cornell could contribute tens of thousands of dollars annually to loan payments if your expected contribution is 0 and your law school loan payments are extremely high. But that just doesn't seem right. Can someone at Cornell or who has more information about PILIPP clarify? I'm not dead set on public interest but it would be nice to have a good LRAP option in case I do decide to go down that route.

So here's my understanding via emails with financial aid.

You have the option of using strictly Cornell's thing were they put you on a 10 year repayment plan, you pay like 13% of your income and cornell covers the rest of the payment. So like if you are a prosecutor for three years and then a great gig opens up in private practice you'll have had three years of loans actually paid off. I really like the idea of having the flexibility to go private, not because its what I want to do, but it just allows you way more flexibility later in your career.

The other option is less clear but from my emails with them it seems like they will cover your payments if you enroll in the federal program. Issue with that is that your loans aren't actually really getting paid and you have to stay in 10 years for them to be discharged. I'm still not 100% sure that this is the case.

The public interest office is really nice but they do a fairly poor job of advertising and explaining a lot of the benefits the school has for PI oriented people. I just found out the other day that as long as you volunteer at a PI org post graduation you are guaranteed 1k a month until you get a job. This isn't a ton of money but this is a super helpful thing that isn't advertised anywhere.

Feel free to pm if you have more specific cornell pi questions

[Lavitz]

Also, just a friendly tip: just because you've been called on today doesn't mean you're safe for the semester, or the next few weeks, or even the next couple of days. BHS strikes at any time.

She's likely to come back to him on the last day.

Close: the third-to-last day.

[bouleversement]

Can anyone speak to the merits of the international dual degrees, namely the MLLP with Humboldt and the Master en droit with Paris 1?

Has anyone applied? Been accepted? Enrolled? Graduated? Know someone who did any of these and thus might have some information apart from what can be found from the website?

I am looking for a frank assessment that I could not otherwise obtain by speaking with administrators. Someone might know that all the students in a particular program in recent years have regretted their decision. Or maybe that they cannot speak about the options afforded by the dual degree highly enough.

Thanks!

[Lincoln]

Can anyone speak to the merits of the international dual degrees, namely the MLLP with Humboldt and the Master en droit with Paris 1?

Has anyone applied? Been accepted? Enrolled? Graduated? Know someone who did any of these and thus might have some information apart from what can be found from the website?

I am looking for a frank assessment that I could not otherwise obtain by speaking with administrators. Someone might know that all the students in a particular program in recent years have regretted their decision. Or maybe that they cannot speak about the options afforded by the dual degree highly enough.

Thanks!

I know a few people in these, but I can't really speak to their value based on that small sample. I would say that the value of the dual degrees is dependent on what you are hoping to do with them. If you want to go to a firm, it seems highly unlikely that they would be an advantage. The one possible exception is a magic circle firm with a large international commercial arbitration practice, and even then the advantage is probably marginal if you already have the language skills.

On that note, are you near-fluent in both French and German? Otherwise your interest in both of these seems somewhat misplaced.

[FlanAl]

My take on it would be that you have really opened up 3 markets for yourself if you do well. You have a shot at good US jobs, good UK jobs and good jobs in France. People who do well at Cornell have the good shot at US and UK but with the European cred I think you get a better shot at UK action. And you get a shot in France too which I don't think you could really have with just the JD.

[Lincoln]

My take on it would be that you have really opened up 3 markets for yourself if you do well. You have a shot at good US jobs, good UK jobs and good jobs in France. People who do well at Cornell have the good shot at US and UK but with the European cred I think you get a better shot at UK action. And you get a shot in France too which I don't think you could really have with just the JD.

Although plausible, this seems like straight-up conjecture. The fact that you are off the regular schedule for summering and applying to US firms is a negative. Moreover, some US firms may interpret your dual degree as indicating a lack of interest in the type of US-centric work most large firms do. I also don't know anyone who did the dual degree program who ended up at a French firm. There are some at ICC or European offices of magic circle firms, but then I know people who were straight-up Americans who did that. If you know you want to work in France or Germany, it is a much better option than the JD, obviously. But I think the benefit lies in the margins.

[Arbiter213]

My take on it would be that you have really opened up 3 markets for yourself if you do well. You have a shot at good US jobs, good UK jobs and good jobs in France. People who do well at Cornell have the good shot at US and UK but with the European cred I think you get a better shot at UK action. And you get a shot in France too which I don't think you could really have with just the JD.

Although plausible, this seems like straight-up conjecture. The fact that you are off the regular schedule for summering and applying to US firms is a negative. Moreover, some US firms may interpret your dual degree as indicating a lack of interest in the type of US-centric work most large firms do. I also don't know anyone who did the dual degree program who ended up at a French firm. There are some at ICC or European offices of magic circle firms, but then I know people who were straight-up Americans who did that. If you know you want to work in France or Germany, it is a much better option than the JD, obviously. But I think the benefit lies in the margins.

Lincoln is more on point. I know from a friend's experience this year that only 3 or so top firms (all magical circle) even look at people with their Cornell colleagues because the schedule is off.

[bouleversement]

I know a few people in these, but I can't really speak to their value based on that small sample. I would say that the value of the dual degrees is dependent on what you are hoping to do with them. If you want to go to a firm, it seems highly unlikely that they would be an advantage. The one possible exception is a magic circle firm with a large international commercial arbitration practice, and even then the advantage is probably marginal if you already have the language skills.

On that note, are you near-fluent in both French and German? Otherwise your interest in both of these seems somewhat misplaced.

Yes, both French and German. I ultimately want to work in Europe and so was curious if the dual degrees were the most direct route or whether one would be better off staying on schedule, getting the best US placement possible, and then laterally down the road. I don't see anyone anywhere talking about the opportunities afforded to graduates of these programs and so appreciate your guys' input here.

Where do you see the degrees offering an advantage if not in a firm setting? Are you able to comment on the general profile of the students you know in these programs? For what are they using the degrees?

Is acceptance to the programs more or less automatic for those who meet the language requirements? I can't imagine there are that many students in a class as small as Cornell's who have both the language ability to complete these programs and the desire to do so.

Would these foreign dual degrees preclude some clerkship opportunities in the US in addition to firm jobs?

If you know you want to work in France or Germany, it is a much better option than the JD, obviously.

Is it so clear-cut?

[linkx13]

Can anyone give some insight into the Prosecution Clinic?

[linkx13]

It seems as though PILIPP, Cornell's LRAP, gets mixed reviews on here. I've looked it up and it doesn't seem like it's tied to IBR like other T14 LRAPs. Cornell's website also doesn't provide much information. That information sheet they have up just looks horrid and confusing. After looking at it, it seems like Cornell could contribute tens of thousands of dollars annually to loan payments if your expected contribution is 0 and your law school loan payments are extremely high. But that just doesn't seem right. Can someone at Cornell or who has more information about PILIPP clarify? I'm not dead set on public interest but it would be nice to have a good LRAP option in case I do decide to go down that route.

So here's my understanding via emails with financial aid.

You have the option of using strictly Cornell's thing were they put you on a 10 year repayment plan, you pay like 13% of your income and cornell covers the rest of the payment. So like if you are a prosecutor for three years and then a great gig opens up in private practice you'll have had three years of loans actually paid off. I really like the idea of having the flexibility to go private, not because its what I want to do, but it just allows you way more flexibility later in your career.

The other option is less clear but from my emails with them it seems like they will cover your payments if you enroll in the federal program. Issue with that is that your loans aren't actually really getting paid and you have to stay in 10 years for them to be discharged. I'm still not 100% sure that this is the case.

The public interest office is really nice but they do a fairly poor job of advertising and explaining a lot of the benefits the school has for PI oriented people. I just found out the other day that as long as you volunteer at a PI org post graduation you are guaranteed 1k a month until you get a job. This isn't a ton of money but this is a super helpful thing that isn't advertised anywhere.

Feel free to pm if you have more specific cornell pi questions

How would you say the PI community at Cornell is? My end choice will probably be between there and GLUC, but I'm learning heavily GLUC because of the LRAP, huge class size (for peers) and location

[FlanAl]

there isn't exactly a PI community at cornell, I personally think its a good thing. I from my limited experience it seemed like pi kids from harvard, gtown, nyu and other bigger t14s really cliqued themselves out of the rest of the class. at cornell it seems more like everyone is friends with everyone and you end up finding out who the other pi people are randomly. you also have less competition for PI jobs since no one else is gunning for them.

[Lincoln]

there isn't exactly a PI community at cornell, I personally think its a good thing. I from my limited experience it seemed like pi kids from harvard, gtown, nyu and other bigger t14s really cliqued themselves out of the rest of the class. at cornell it seems more like everyone is friends with everyone and you end up finding out who the other pi people are randomly. you also have less competition for PI jobs since no one else is gunning for them.

The downside is that there is less of a funnel to PI jobs from Cornell. My friends who were PI bound were pretty uniformly unhappy with the PI career office, and the ones who were successful in finding the types of jobs they wanted all did so on their own using their own knowledge and contacts. I think it's changing a bit, and the alumni who are in PI tend to be very approachable in terms of getting advice or connections, perhaps because they had similar experiences.

[linkx13]

there isn't exactly a PI community at cornell, I personally think its a good thing. I from my limited experience it seemed like pi kids from harvard, gtown, nyu and other bigger t14s really cliqued themselves out of the rest of the class. at cornell it seems more like everyone is friends with everyone and you end up finding out who the other pi people are randomly. you also have less competition for PI jobs since no one else is gunning for them.

I just don't see how that necessarily a bad thing

[FlanAl]

there isn't exactly a PI community at cornell, I personally think its a good thing. I from my limited experience it seemed like pi kids from harvard, gtown, nyu and other bigger t14s really cliqued themselves out of the rest of the class. at cornell it seems more like everyone is friends with everyone and you end up finding out who the other pi people are randomly. you also have less competition for PI jobs since no one else is gunning for them.

I just don't see how that necessarily a bad thing

I think if you were within your own PI clique you'd kinda end up following along with what everyone else thinks is the conventional wisdom (people do this a lot in law school, did anyone think in that they wanted to be a clerk or feel that they had to work at a V5 when they grew up before finding this website/go to law school?). Not having a bunch of PI people around forces you to reach out to alumni and other people practicing to figure out what you need to do which is better in the long run.

I'll admit that not having a support group at law school can be tough, and not having any of your friends realize how hard your job hunt is is also hard. But personally, I'd rather the have the isolation than have to deal with the kind of group stress that is characteristic of most aspects of law school.

[northerrn]

Anyone have any idea when 2L/3Ls find out what classes they got into from preregistration?

[Arbiter213]

Anyone have any idea when 2L/3Ls find out what classes they got into from preregistration?

Sometime before next week when add/drop starts.

Grade are up.

[igotolawschool]

Anyone have any idea when 2L/3Ls find out what classes they got into from preregistration?

Sometime before next week when add/drop starts.

Grade are up.

My brain has never made sense of how grading curves work. Any idea of the breakdown of the number of letter grades doled out in each class (how many A-s, B+s, etc.)? Just curious.

[igotolawschool]

Also, lawyering week. Schedule for that somewhere?

[Lavitz]

My brain has never made sense of how grading curves work. Any idea of the breakdown of the number of letter grades doled out in each class (how many A-s, B+s, etc.)? Just curious.

There's a binder at the registrar's office you can check which has this information. Depends on the prof.

Also, lawyering week. Schedule for that somewhere?

No idea. I'm assuming they're going to e-mail us to tell us when and where to meet.

[igotolawschool]

My brain has never made sense of how grading curves work. Any idea of the breakdown of the number of letter grades doled out in each class (how many A-s, B+s, etc.)? Just curious.

There's a binder at the registrar's office you can check which has this information. Depends on the prof.

Also, lawyering week. Schedule for that somewhere?

No idea. I'm assuming they're going to e-mail us to tell us when and where to meet.

Thanks, TLS king.

[Lavitz]

Thanks, TLS king.

[igotolawschool]

Thanks, TLS king.

That was a compliment, I hope it came off that way!