Cornell 1L taking questions Forum

[neskerdoo]

There were raspberry bars?

next time, you'll put animals first!

[mbw]

There were raspberry bars?

next time, you'll put animals first!

Yeah, KMaine, didn't you hear PETA supports tossing kids out of lifeboats before dogs? Oh, sorry, they were just talking about kids like mine. Your kids are probably safe...

[neskerdoo]

um, everyone hates PETA

[mbw]

um, everyone hates PETA

Even Dorf?

[neskerdoo]

um, everyone hates PETA

Even Dorf?

Oh, I was referring to mere mortals

[como]

are there any cool kids in your section or is it mostly nerds?

Some sections are more fun than others. Some don't seem fun at all.

are you subtly talking about our section?

i better not be part of that classification if you are..

I was thinking the same thing. I don't think Mr. Como has a full appreciation of the subtleties of the humor of our section.

Way to assume the worst, guys. Section C is obviously the most fun - we're somewhere between gunnerville and livesatruloff's. I enjoyed our ice cream social last Friday. Good times had by all...

[grumpy]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

[coward]

Does anyone know kmaine personally? I sent a PM but haven't seen a response and had a specific question.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could send him my way

Thanks,

[mbw]

Does anyone know kmaine personally? I sent a PM but haven't seen a response and had a specific question.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could send him my way

Thanks,

I sit next to him in our next class... I'll let him know.

[coward]

Really appreciate it mbw

[Jenaimarre]

are there any cool kids in your section or is it mostly nerds?

Way to assume the worst, guys. Section C is obviously the most fun - we're somewhere between gunnerville and livesatruloff's. I enjoyed our ice cream social last Friday. Good times had by all...

Imma let you finish, but I want to say that Section D is CLEARLY the best section this year...

[js87]

I'm really interested in Cornell, but I'm very debt averse. Cornell does not seem to give much in the way of merit money, and tuition is sky high (50k/yr). The highest merit scholarships I see on LSN seem to be 10k/yr. With a 171 LSAT (retake) and a 3.75 do you think I have a shot at any significant scholarship money? I will not qualify for any need-based aid due to a relatively high family income, but I am on my own for financing my legal education.

[mbw]

I'm really interested in Cornell, but I'm very debt averse. Cornell does not seem to give much in the way of merit money, and tuition is sky high (50k/yr). The highest merit scholarships I see on LSN seem to be 10k/yr. With a 171 LSAT (retake) and a 3.75 do you think I have a shot at any significant scholarship money? I will not qualify for any need-based aid due to a relatively high family income, but I am on my own for financing my legal education.

I know many people, myself included, who received more than that -- some as URMs, but other non-URMs with decent numbers, even lower than yours. However, Cornell combines merit and need $$s, so it's generally not driven by merit alone. Just the way they do it here.

[02082010]

For the three lines where they ask Why have you chosen to apply to Cornell, I wrote one sentence (that took up all three lines) that truly was the reason I decided to apply, but it's very generic. At the end of my PS I dedicated a substantial paragraph to Why Cornell. Is this okay you think?

[goosey]

i got the same score again---161.

am scheduled to visit cornell on the 30th--yay or nay?
its 4.5 hours away

[woeisme]

I'm really interested in Cornell, but I'm very debt averse. Cornell does not seem to give much in the way of merit money, and tuition is sky high (50k/yr). The highest merit scholarships I see on LSN seem to be 10k/yr. With a 171 LSAT (retake) and a 3.75 do you think I have a shot at any significant scholarship money? I will not qualify for any need-based aid due to a relatively high family income, but I am on my own for financing my legal education.

I know many people, myself included, who received more than that -- some as URMs, but other non-URMs with decent numbers, even lower than yours. However, Cornell combines merit and need $$s, so it's generally not driven by merit alone. Just the way they do it here.

Well, this is only true if you're qualifying for need-based aid. You can get exclusively merit aid as well. And I think the highest scholarship is like 105k, though a 171/3.75 would get that. But yeah, you should be able to get some money. I know someone who got some money from Michigan and was able to get Cornell to match. Cornell is pretty good about matching money at peer schools, so that's an option too.

[sheltron5000]

Just fyi, 173/3.7 did not get me a 105K scholarship. Either the $$$ ran low last year, or there's more to it. But, Cornell was generous, and I heard from quite a few people that they were good about matching peer schools, especially if you expressed sincere desire to choose Cornell.

[fsohn]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

[18488]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

this is pretty accurate.

[grumpy]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

Would you recommend deferring/waiting to apply?

[sheltron5000]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

Would you recommend deferring/waiting to apply?

Well, there's at least a year before you even start applying for jobs at all, and 2-3 before you really have to start worrying. The truth is that nobody knows what the legal market is going to look like, really. Everybody has theories, both good and bad, but nobody knows.

Information may be better in a year, or not; the market may be better in a year, or not. Either way if you're serious about practicing law, you should apply whenever you think you're at a good point to do it. No one can forecast what's going to happen even next year, or how hiring or even billing practices might change.

If you're set on nyc biglaw $$$, yeah, maybe you should wait a year, but you might find out that it's not what it used to be when it's your turn to apply.

I guess what I'm saying is that whatever decision you make, it's all kind of a flip of a coin because so much is up in the air right now.

Good luck, and remember to take all of us bitter law students with a grain of salt.

[kn6542]

For the three lines where they ask Why have you chosen to apply to Cornell, I wrote one sentence (that took up all three lines) that truly was the reason I decided to apply, but it's very generic. At the end of my PS I dedicated a substantial paragraph to Why Cornell. Is this okay you think?

I should thinks so. They don't ask for an essay. Just make sure that what you say in those three lines is genuine and consistent with everything else in your app. I honestly suspect that the point is to get an indicator of how much you've really thought about it, since ppl tend to blanket the entire T14.

[kn6542]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

Would you recommend deferring/waiting to apply?

I would consider what else you have to do in the meantime. If you think you can improve your app enough to get into a better school than you would now, and you have something reasonably productive to do, why not? I doubt it will hurt your career or life plan to wait a year. It's unlikely to HURT you, so consider whether it will help you and weigh the choice.
Check out the DOL forecast statistics. They won't tell you precisely what the legal market is going to do, but they will give you a clearer picture of things.

[grumpy]

can anyone attest to what happened with this year's OCI? was it the students at the very top or on law review who got biglaw? how helpful has career services been this year?

OCI was a gigantic $hit $how. The numbers I heard from Career Services is 60% got callbacks. A lot less than that got offers, based on the experiences I have heard from people who had them. I had good grades, and am on a journal. No luck for me.

Career services has been hit or miss. They don't seem to have a cohesive plan to help the large portion of the class of 2011 that has been hit by a perfect storm of hiring craptacularness. That said, Liz Peck is still very helpful, and I'm sure most of us will land on our feet somewhere in government or small law firms. Just not where we expected to be, or where career services told us we should expect to be.

Would you recommend deferring/waiting to apply?

I would consider what else you have to do in the meantime. If you think you can improve your app enough to get into a better school than you would now, and you have something reasonably productive to do, why not? I doubt it will hurt your career or life plan to wait a year. It's unlikely to HURT you, so consider whether it will help you and weigh the choice.
Check out the DOL forecast statistics. They won't tell you precisely what the legal market is going to do, but they will give you a clearer picture of things.

very helpful response. thank you. my numbers are high for cornell but i have personal/family reasons for wanting to be in the area. i guess it might be a good idea to reconsider.

[MC Southstar]

As far as I saw, Cornell never mentioned that you even had the option of submitting a Why Cornell statement, so I just wrote a generic sentence on the app. Am I OMG FUCKED cuz I tried to follow da rules?