Obviously Dean Pless knows a lot more about Illinois Law than I do, but if you have any general questions about 1L life I will try and answer them.

Is Illinois winning the basketball game?

1) How's the 3L placement looking so far (I mean anecdotally)? Do you know of anyone whose offers were rescinded? [sorry, not really a question about 1L life but I just wanted anecdotes from 1L's - as in, what's the general *feel*/anxiety level right now]

2) How would you rate the student body: (a) Awesome - very helpful, collegial, always ready to be friendly and accessible, go out together to bars, share outlines all the time; or (b) pretty good - quite helpful and quite friendly, kinda above average or more than you expected but nothing spectacular; or (c) average - helpful when help needed, friendly when approached, some cliques are formed, there are a few douches and some gunners, but on the whole you are satisfied; or (d) below average - not really helpful, more cliques and groups than you're comfortable with, more douches and gunners than you expected going in, on the whole you wish things would be slightly better; or (e) horrible - let me not even explain this [and I really don't expect this to be the answer].

3) How's Urbana-Champaign? I have heard mixed stories about the place. Some say it's not bad at all while some say it's a hellhole. I am thinking it's pretty much an average large college town with cold winters, yes, and less-than-spectacular offerings all right but still a decent place to spend 3 years. How would you describe your experiences there so far?

4) How friendly/helpful are the people at Career Services there? Do they seem genuinely concerned about getting you the best? Do they offer seminars or workshops etc on resume writing, etiquette stuff, interviewing skills etc.?

5) How are the professors in general? You could use the scale above from #2 if you'd like.

6) Does one need a car in Urbana-Champaign?

This much for now. Thanks

1. ?
2. a of course. Honestly, if you are an over-the-top, rude, mean, in-your-face gunner you will probably isolate yourself pretty quickly because people don't respond well to that here.

3. Champaign is definitely smaller than Austin (where I am from), but it is big enough. I fell in love with the whole big ten feel here... It helped that I came to visit during the fall and saw reds, oranges, and seasons for the first time.

I live between the civilization and the corn so I have a cornfield view on my balcony and a Meijer, Walmart, and movie theater on the other side of me. It is cold, but not as cold as Chicago (no dramatic lake effect).... I lived in Texas for 25 years and can tolerate it.

Champaign is a fun place to live. There is a huge undergrad bar scene here, but there are also a lot of more laid back bars that graduate students hang out at... Unless they are law student dudes trying to pick up undergrads with the whole "I'm a law student" line... Those guys might be at the undergrad bars. Chicago is only about a two hour drive and I go there sometimes to hang out with my cousins there on the weekends.

4. Career Services people are very informative. Yes, they offer stuff like that. Some of the meetings where they talk about that stuff is mandatory.

5. The professors here are AMAZING. Just go look at their credentials on the website. Seriously, the smartest most intriguing people I have ever met. Class is fun and often funny. Ofc it is law school and they will call you out and pull the Socratic method like every other law school. You don't have to stand up or anything though. I honestly got teared up on the last day of one of my classes last semester because I was sad that I was not going to get to attend that class anymore, and the teacher gave a really touching send off.

6. NO, you don't need a car. Everyone lives on campus and everything is in walking distance around there. People gasp when they find out I live 12 minutes away from school because it is so "far."

I am a freak and pay no attention to UIUC sports like basketball. Most people do. Every week people are asking for football, basketball, etc. tickets on the mailing list. I pay attention to law school softball. I am also not that great at law school softball and slid into first last semester. (I actually fell into first, but my team thought I was just "that" hardcore so I played it off even though I was all scraped and bruised up . )

Thanks for taking some questions; everyone associated with Illinois seems very friendly.

What are some good neighborhoods to look at housing in? Do you mind sharing approximate living costs around there (rent, heating costs)?

I've heard that the student body there is a little on the competitive side compared to many schools. Any truth to this?

edit: ha

First of all it is not a stupid body. We have very smart bodies. I would not say people are outwardly uber competitive here. I was really worried about that being the case when I came to law school, and you don't see it at all here. I don't ever here people talking about grades, bragging about job interviews, or anything like that. People are competitive in law school, but that is just the nature of law school in general. I would say that people here are used to being at the top of their game and not failing or doing average, but when you put a bunch of over achievers together and grade them against each other everyone can't be at the top. That is just how law school is though.

Housing- Savoy is a really nice area that a lot of people live in. I live at Watersedge apartments. They are really nice too. Housing is not bad at all. Maybe 600-700ish range for a nice large one bedroom. You can also do roommate matching and find roommates on teh law school forum.

Have you found your first year to be typical of a 1L student? How much studying/reading do you do every night?

Who is your most hated rival?

Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Notre Dame? WHO?!

My biggest rival is Spiderman...

I don't know what a typical amount of studying is at other schools. I was freaked out that I was going to be reading, briefing, and writing memos all of the time and have no life. Honestly, it is not like that here. People here are very well rounded. I am supposed to be participating in my beer league darts game right now, but I am here posting on here and putting off finishing an oral argument for tomorrow. Usually I have time to do recreational things like softball, darts, going out for sushi, etc. I don't go out every night, but I am by no means studying around the clock. There is room for a high quality of life. The whole month and a half or so before finals is complete hell though. Not going to lie. I literally studied all day every day for almost a month (Thanksgiving break included). You can avoid that by doing outlining and other things steadily through out the semester. It does hit everyone like a brick wall though. You are memorizing all of the material you have learned from an 800 page book. Ok, I'm rambling.

Who is going to be at Guidos for the Open House?

I'll be there for a visit the Thursday after the ASD next month. Definitely looking forward to it

Ouch. Denied! D:

Well, I'm probably going to Texas, but I gotta say, the lure of the Big Ten and the Midwest had me thinking for a while. I got to meet Dean Pless at the Houston law forum, and he was really nice and just a cool guy.

The tradition and history behind the universities and the region, well, it was pretty enticing. Although I think it's a huge downside that you guys don't have a dairy factory on campus like UW-Madison. Think about it!

thanks for taking the time hkm6315.

Off-topic, but I asked Dean Pless about it and figured I'd pose the same question to you:

Have you been to the Blind Pig, and if so, do a lot of law students hang out there? Also, how amazingly awesome (or so I've heard) is the beer selection>

hahaha. Blind Pig does have an amazingly awesome beer selection. That is my favorite bar. You are guaranteed to find law students there any weekend night. Guidos is another big grad student spot along with Legends. You can always run into an interesting bunch of townies at Blind Pig too... Or maybe I just am a magnet for interesting townies... I am from Texas.

I'll be going there after I visit the campus next month. I guess we'll find out what they think of us New Jersey-ans.

If you're willing to live with others, my friends had a 4 bedroom apartment in Urbana very close to campus for around $250 per person.

As an Illinois undergrad I would say our biggest rival is different for each sport, in Basketball it is Indiana after that whole Eric Gordon fiasco (long story short, Indiana stole a top recruit from us using some shady tactics that got their coach fired). In football I always felt students got pretty jacked up for games against Wisconsin. Probably since we are both always competing for 2nd or 3rd in the Big 10 (With Ohio State usually finishing first). Mizzou games are also fun since we have that Busch Braggin rights game with them as the first game of the season for both teams.

I've been told campus goods stores sell shirts that say "Muck Fichigan"

When I was touring UW for undergread, I went to a football game and I vividly remember Badgers fans and UIUC fans yelling back and forth to each other..."Hey Asshole!" and then... "F*ck You!"

Does that mean anything?

Yes but they won without both of us there... (and lost last week with me there) so maybe we should just go to cheer Finally, someone I know on here!

I'm also a 1L at Illinois. I moved here after living in NYC for 11 years and can't complain. This is a fantastic environment for law school. There's plenty to do, if you want to, but you never feel overwhelmed with social obligations or big city distractions. It's affordable and people are nice. It's not the most scenic place (unless you have a strange love for cornfields) but that was really on the bottom of my priority list.

But yes, basically you've got it right: it's a large college town with *moderate* winters (doesn't get below 35 here very often at all). Not sure what you mean by "less than spectacular offerings". The bar scene here is actually pretty fantastic all things considered.

That part is true. The back of said T-shirts also say "Ann Arbor is a whore"

I think I may need to get one of these, even though I'd never wear it