Columbia 1L Taking Questions (Class of '11)

[whyamidoingthis]

Is anyone here passing up on Hamilton for HYS?

I'm going to go with "Take that to another thread." kthnxbye

[00TREX00]

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[NoodlesHighChief]

Is signing up for the Columbia Dining Plan a good idea?

[NoodlesHighChief]

Also, I am very interested in Philosophy and want to study it as much as I can while in law school. What are the opportunities like to get involved with philosophy related activities while at CLS especially with the Center for Law and Philosophy?

[06132010]

Columbia gym is incredibly weak. Its very overcrowded, and you are only allowed to sign up for 30 minutes @ a time on the cardio machines (strictly enforced by other people who have signed up for your machine). There's a 1/10 mile track that absolutely sucks. You usually have to wait to use weights as well.

That sucks. The gym at my UG school is exactly the same (except they charge us $90/semester) and it's unbearable. I guess I'll look for gyms in the area when I visit Wednesday. Thanks.

[LGK]

I'm not a CLS student but I use the local gyms. There's a NYSC on 125th and Frederick Douglass Blvd which is probably around a mile walk from the law school, as well as a NYSC and an Equinox around 92-94th and Broadway, which is about a mile and a half from the law school. There's also a Lucille Roberts on 125th and Amsterdam, only half a mile away from you, but it never looks like it's open, or any good. Equinox is super pricey, and I'd guess that a Gold (primarily use the gym you signed up at, and can use other gyms only at off peak hours) membership at NYSC will run you around $75/mo. I go to the NYSC on 125th and Frederick Douglass and I've only had to wait for machines in the first few weeks of January. Maybe if you go right at 5:00-6:00 it's more crowded, but generally there's no waiting time. And there's also no rush to get off the machines since it's not crowded. By the time it takes you to walk each way, though, you might be better off waiting for machines at Columbia's gym.

[M51]

Yep, Columbia Gym sucks.

Dining plan is kind of pointless, since there's cheaper better food less than a block away no matter where you are. Don't actually know anyone who uses it.

I'm (was) also a philosophy major before coming here. There was a really interesting bioethics 1L elective with philosophy grad students, but they got some sort of special funding last second and took it off the law school selection list . Maybe they'll do something like that next year too. Either way, after 1L year you can take UG/GradSchool courses and they'll count for law school credits (up to a certain point, I think one per semester).

[06132010]

I'm not a CLS student but I use the local gyms. There's a NYSC on 125th and Frederick Douglass Blvd which is probably around a mile walk from the law school, as well as a NYSC and an Equinox around 92-94th and Broadway, which is about a mile and a half from the law school. There's also a Lucille Roberts on 125th and Amsterdam, only half a mile away from you, but it never looks like it's open, or any good. Equinox is super pricey, and I'd guess that a Gold (primarily use the gym you signed up at, and can use other gyms only at off peak hours) membership at NYSC will run you around $75/mo. I go to the NYSC on 125th and Frederick Douglass and I've only had to wait for machines in the first few weeks of January. Maybe if you go right at 5:00-6:00 it's more crowded, but generally there's no waiting time. And there's also no rush to get off the machines since it's not crowded. By the time it takes you to walk each way, though, you might be better off waiting for machines at Columbia's gym.

Thanks a lot. I guess if I walk a mile each way I can work out for a shorter period of time lol.

[NoodlesHighChief]

Yep, Columbia Gym sucks.

Dining plan is kind of pointless, since there's cheaper better food less than a block away no matter where you are. Don't actually know anyone who uses it.

I'm (was) also a philosophy major before coming here. There was a really interesting bioethics 1L elective with philosophy grad students, but they got some sort of special funding last second and took it off the law school selection list . Maybe they'll do something like that next year too. Either way, after 1L year you can take UG/GradSchool courses and they'll count for law school credits (up to a certain point, I think one per semester).

Thanks for the info. That is too bad about the bioethics course but its not really my thing. I was wondering if you have seen any conferences/seminars/workshops/research opportunities related to legal and political philosophy. Thanks again.

[sbalive]

Hey, so not sure anyone can answer this on time for me, but I got the list of classes for potential visits this coming Wed., and I wanted to get some suggestions if possible. The options that I've "narrowed down" to are:

Seminar: Deals Workshop: The Art of the Deal James McHugh 9:00-10:50 am JG 602
Constitutional Law† Jamal Greene 9:10-10:30 am JG 101
Property† Michael Heller 9:10-10:30 am JG 104
Law & Economics of Capital Markets Merritt Fox/Lawrence Glosten 9:15-10:30 am **WJ 103

Constitution and Foreign Affairs Sarah Cleveland 10:40 am-12:00 pm JG 105
Family Law Ariela Dubler 10:40 am-12:00 pm JG 104
Constitutional Law† Risa Goluboff 10:40 am-12:00 pm ***WJ L107
Constitutional Law† Nathaniel Persily 10:40 am-12:00 pm JG 101

I'm also interested in the 2 criminal law classes at 8 am, but I'm not sure if it's realistic for me to get there on time, but if they're like out of this world crazy good, I can try.

Criminal Law† James Liebman 8:00-9:20 am *JG 102
Criminal Law† Debra Livingston 8:00-9:00 am JG 104

Even if I don't get an answer, I've already gotten a lot of useful info about CLS from this thread - thanks for contributing!

[00TREX00]

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[huckabees]

Thanks, Trex.

How useful are these ASWs in helping you get a sense of what law school is really like?

I felt like my undergrad visits were about 5% applicable to my actual experience...

During the visit, it was all about the "vibes."

IRL, it was mostly about the profs and the work... (student body and campus were of course still important)

[sbalive]

Sb - skip Jamal Greene Constitutional Law unless you want to be bored out of your mind.

thanks for the tip - how about Property/Heller? Do you think that would be neat?

[chris0805]

I think Sarah Cleveland is a GREAT instructor, though she's much better in a seminar format than she is in straight up lectures so I don't know how that class will be.

I've also heard really good things about Heller.

In terms of the crim law, I had Liebman last year, and he was good, but not mindblowing. I would say he's worth it... at a normal time, but not at 8 AM.

[NewHere]

I concur with Chris about Liebman. Good professor, but if it's hard for you to be there at 8 am, it's not worth making a special effort for if you have other classes you can see instead.

I haven't had classes by any of the other professors, so I can't be of much help on this question.

[Cartwright4]

In a similar vein, between the following three classes and profs, which one do you think might be the best to check out tomorrow?

Property, Richard Briffault, 2:40-4
Criminal Law, Jeffrey Fagan, 2:40-3:40
Advanced Corporate Law: Mergers and Acqusitions, Jeffrey Gordon, 2:40-4

*The first two are 1L classes.

Obviously, this depends on what my interests are, but I guess I'm more interested in just getting a feel for classes at Columbia rather than hearing something I'm really interested in.

Thanks again for all the help guys!!!

[NewHere]

I like Briffault, and the advantage of going to his class is that it will probably be fairly easy to follow even though you haven't done the reading.
I like Fagan too, but I had him for a different class, so I don't know about his crim class.
No idea about Jeffrey Gordon.

[sbalive]

Thanks for the advice! I'm getting to New York early anyway, but I'll avoid going to class at 8 am (I like early classes and all, but that's a little crazy... not looking forward to the prospect of that next year). I think I'll do Heller & then if I've still got the energy for it, the Constitution & Foreign Affairs one. Looking forward to checking it all out tomorrow... I'm leaning pretty strongly towards Columbia, but I want to make sure it's worth the money

[Cartwright4]

I like Briffault, and the advantage of going to his class is that it will probably be fairly easy to follow even though you haven't done the reading.
I like Fagan too, but I had him for a different class, so I don't know about his crim class.
No idea about Jeffrey Gordon.

Awesome, I was leaning towards Briffault as it is; this confirms it. Thanks a lot!

[daisyduck]

I like Briffault, and the advantage of going to his class is that it will probably be fairly easy to follow even though you haven't done the reading.
I like Fagan too, but I had him for a different class, so I don't know about his crim class.
No idea about Jeffrey Gordon.

Awesome, I was leaning towards Briffault as it is; this confirms it. Thanks a lot!

Isn't Briffault's class from 2:40 to 4:00?
Apartment viewings are during that time slot... are you planning on skipping it?

[huckabees]

I like Briffault, and the advantage of going to his class is that it will probably be fairly easy to follow even though you haven't done the reading.
I like Fagan too, but I had him for a different class, so I don't know about his crim class.
No idea about Jeffrey Gordon.

Awesome, I was leaning towards Briffault as it is; this confirms it. Thanks a lot!

Isn't Briffault's class from 2:40 to 4:00?
Apartment viewings are during that time slot... are you planning on skipping it?

Are the apartment viewings continuous repeats or is it just one extremely long trip?

Seems like they'd make short rounds?

The viewings are from 1:30 to 4:30, so it seems like someone could do the viewing from 1:30 to 2:10 or something like that and still make Briffault's class?

[Cartwright4]

I like Briffault, and the advantage of going to his class is that it will probably be fairly easy to follow even though you haven't done the reading.
I like Fagan too, but I had him for a different class, so I don't know about his crim class.
No idea about Jeffrey Gordon.

Awesome, I was leaning towards Briffault as it is; this confirms it. Thanks a lot!

Isn't Briffault's class from 2:40 to 4:00?
Apartment viewings are during that time slot... are you planning on skipping it?

Are the apartment viewings continuous repeats or is it just one extremely long trip?

Seems like they'd make short rounds?

The viewings are from 1:30 to 4:30, so it seems like someone could do the viewing from 1:30 to 2:10 or something like that and still make Briffault's class?

Yeah, I'm getting to Columbia at 2 and am planning to do a quick housing tour (particularly of 115th and 116th housing) and then go to Briffault's class at 2:40. The program is kind of mysterious about how the housing tours will work, but I think they're doing them again really early on Thursday if you don't do it on Wednesday.

[huckabees]

For the housing tour, does anyone know where the tours "start" and how long each tour is?

Thanks

[Lem37]

It's not a tour. They give you specific addresses and time frames in which you can visit them (ie 420 w. 116th apt #4A, apartment share, between 1:15 and 2 pm).

[huckabees]

It's not a tour. They give you specific addresses and time frames in which you can visit them (ie 420 w. 116th apt #4A, apartment share, between 1:15 and 2 pm).

Thanks, Lem!

So do they only give this out upon registration? Or is it online somewhere? (Or emailed to us?)