Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions Forum

[Luis Gomez]

Hi,
As you already know I am an international student admitted to Illinois which is clearly my first choice (still working the financial part). Recently I quited my job to prepare for law school and I would like advice from the current students on what areas to focus on. My undergrad was in Mexican law.

English is my second language, so I am taking advanced writing classes. I am also enrolled on two undergraduate online courses on the American government and the American judicial system (very general info). I took an intro to the Constitution, Business Law and Family law during a semester abroad (at BSU and USD, all undergrad courses).

I hope not to bore anyone with this, but I would like to know if I am missing something?
Is there anything you wished you studied before law school or any useful knowledge you take for granted?

Thanks for your time I will really appreciate all answers as this is a pretty big deal for me.

[hkm6315]

^ In answer to your questions: NO.

I was an anthropology major and took 0 law related or political science courses in undergrad. People have all kinds of degrees in law school and it doesn't matter what you took in undergrad. Granted, there are a lot of political science majors, but your degree and the classes you took in undergrad really don't give you any sort of advantage. If you ask admissions what the best major is for law school, they will tell you to major in what you enjoy and what you will succeed most in.

[Ace4Wins]

Hello,

I recently was waitlisted to the University of Illinois and have a couple of questions. I am from Southern California and strongly desire to work in this area after obtaining a law degree. Are Illinois Law graduates realistically able to find biglaw job opportunities in Southern California after graduating when considering the current economic climate?

I have a close friend at Washington University in Saint Louis who is a 2L and doing very well there as he is on full scholarship yet he can not land a 2L summer associate position in his hometown of New York City. I guess he has been offered one interview after submitting 60 applications. He is a really solid guy, did a 1L summer internship at the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Long Island, is on a law journal and went to Cornell for his undergraduate degree so I am dismayed by his feeling that it will be really hard to find a job outside of St. Louis or the Midwest. WUSTL and University of Illinois are similarly ranked schools that feed into the same primary hiring markets so I was concerned to hear his prospects and wondered if Illinois students looking to move outside of the Midwest area are experiencing the same problems finding jobs. With competition from UCLA, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley as well as UC Hastings, UC Davis, and UC Irvine, will I be able to land a job that pays $145-160K and thus enables me to quickly pay off my law school debts. If admitted, I just want to make sure I am making a good financial investment by attending University of Illinois.

Additionally, I applied in mid-January and was waitlisted so in mid-February. I thought I would get waitlisted from law schools in mid-April so does these mean my chances of getting admitted are higher than most?

Thank you very much for your candid responses and hopefully I’ll be a part of the Class of 2013!

[hkm6315]

^ Honestly I cannot at all predict how the economic climate will be once you are applying for summer associate jobs with biglaw firms three years from now... It does look like things might look a little better for this year's 1Ls who will be applying for jobs this summer, but yes, the market is tough everywhere. You just have to get creative, look up firms on Martindalehubbell.com, and keep plugging away. Traditionally people would have job offers and be done with interviewing by December of their second year... I have a firm interview on Monday, am exploring two other options, and am still not 100% positive of what I will be doing and it is March... I know people who are still getting job offers now. So yeah, things are tough for everyone everywhere, but hopefully they will get better by the time you are out there interviewing in 3 years. I do know one person that has a job in California, but I don't know of a ton of people out there purely because there are not a bunch of people who go here who want to move out there. BUT, this school is ranked 23rd in the country, so if you do well here and want to go to another part of the country, that is completely doable. I have friends who are going to DC, NY, TX, and CA this summer. So yes, you can apply and get jobs outside of the midwest.

The waitlist is unranked so when you were waitlisted has nothing to do with a rank on the waitlist. If you are really interested in coming here, I would send a letter of continued interest and maybe try to visit and get a tour and meeting with Paul or Suzanne in admissions.

[mako_shark]

Is there anything you wished you studied before law school or any useful knowledge you take for granted?

As an international student myself, I’ll reiterate hkm's answer - no, you don't really need to study ahead for any of the courses in the summer. + its the last summer you'll really have haha
If there was one class that perhaps I wish I had more background knowledge would be constitution law, that being having a more familiar background in the history of the US constitution. That being said, don’t go too far into learning legal reasoning/implications because you want to go into your Con Law class with an open mind for learning the legal concepts, but some background knowledge can’t hurt. That idea of going into your classes with a clear and open mind extends to all your other classes like torts, contracts, property etc – teachers have different styles, use different books and interpret cases to their own style - so you don’t want to disadvantage yourself by having a biased or improper understanding about the law from prior knowledge, which might throw off how you interpret what the professor is trying to get across.

[Ace4Wins]

Thank you very much for your advice! I am happy to learn University of Illinois law students are able to find employment opportunities throughout the U.S. Ultimately, I want my law degree to give me flexibility and options after graduating and it seems like an Illinois law degree fulfills this objective. The link to http://www.martindale.com was very interesting and I definitely will use this website during law school! Again, I appreciate your thoughtful response and insight regarding the waitlist.

[cr073137]

Is there anything you wished you studied before law school or any useful knowledge you take for granted?

As an international student myself, I’ll reiterate hkm's answer - no, you don't really need to study ahead for any of the courses in the summer. + its the last summer you'll really have haha
If there was one class that perhaps I wish I had more background knowledge would be constitution law, that being having a more familiar background in the history of the US constitution. That being said, don’t go too far into learning legal reasoning/implications because you want to go into your Con Law class with an open mind for learning the legal concepts, but some background knowledge can’t hurt. That idea of going into your classes with a clear and open mind extends to all your other classes like torts, contracts, property etc – teachers have different styles, use different books and interpret cases to their own style - so you don’t want to disadvantage yourself by having a biased or improper understanding about the law from prior knowledge, which might throw off how you interpret what the professor is trying to get across.

Hey, I'm an international and I'll be joining U Illinois in fall. Has there been any program, internship or scholarship that you haven't been able to apply because of your status? Also, how do you see employment prospects for international students graduating from Illinois? I have heard mixed things about it. Some say that it is actually easier to get a job because of our language abilities and background. Others say that its a bit harder now to get a job with the crisis specially with small firms because they can just hired someone else and not have to deal with the paperwork.

[Luis Gomez]

Is there anything you wished you studied before law school or any useful knowledge you take for granted?

As an international student myself, I’ll reiterate hkm's answer - no, you don't really need to study ahead for any of the courses in the summer. + its the last summer you'll really have haha
If there was one class that perhaps I wish I had more background knowledge would be constitution law, that being having a more familiar background in the history of the US constitution. That being said, don’t go too far into learning legal reasoning/implications because you want to go into your Con Law class with an open mind for learning the legal concepts, but some background knowledge can’t hurt. That idea of going into your classes with a clear and open mind extends to all your other classes like torts, contracts, property etc – teachers have different styles, use different books and interpret cases to their own style - so you don’t want to disadvantage yourself by having a biased or improper understanding about the law from prior knowledge, which might throw off how you interpret what the professor is trying to get across.

Thanks for the insight, I am pretty excited about UIUC and just made both my deposits.

[Eruannon]

First off, thanks a lot for doing this hkm.

I am kind of stressed out about the living arrangement for next year. Do you know where the best places to live are? I would prefer being very close to downtown or campus. How did you find a roommate?

[notoriousscrat]

Hey, I did the admitted students day today and while I was loved the school (it reminded me very nicely of my undergrad as far as the openness of the professors, etc), I worry a bit about my fit with the student body. Every one was very nice and cool but I didn't meet anyone who I could imagine being friends with. Classmates, sure, but I'm very nerdy and all my friends have always been as well. So, my real question here is are there nerds there? Like, Star Trek loving, dungeons and dragons playing, xkcd reading nerds? It feels like a silly question, since Illinois is such a great school, but the lack of nerdyness I saw is really giving me pause.

[ChattelCat]

First off, thanks a lot for doing this hkm.

I am kind of stressed out about the living arrangement for next year. Do you know where the best places to live are? I would prefer being very close to downtown or campus. How did you find a roommate?

If you've been admitted you should get a login for the Admitted Students Forum -you should have no trouble at all finding a roommate there.

Also, I wouldn't stress about finding a place to live! There are thousands of apartments in Champaign-Urbana. I didn't start looking until mid-May and found a great place to live my first year. I did all my searching online and it wasn't problematic (and that was two years ago so there's probably a lot more online now). The best place to start if you're looking online is to check out management companies - Royse and Brinkmeyer was my management company first year and they are fantastic and have a lot of properties in all price ranges http://www.royseandbrinkmeyer.com and they have several close to campus/downtown. The biggest management company in town is Campus Property Management http://www.cpm-apts.com, though quality varies drastically I've heard. I would also recommend checking out the UIUC Tenant Union http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/ to check out any complaints once you've narrowed down your search.

[ChattelCat]

Hey, I did the admitted students day today and while I was loved the school (it reminded me very nicely of my undergrad as far as the openness of the professors, etc), I worry a bit about my fit with the student body. Every one was very nice and cool but I didn't meet anyone who I could imagine being friends with. Classmates, sure, but I'm very nerdy and all my friends have always been as well. So, my real question here is are there nerds there? Like, Star Trek loving, dungeons and dragons playing, xkcd reading nerds? It feels like a silly question, since Illinois is such a great school, but the lack of nerdyness I saw is really giving me pause.

My first instinct is to tell you that in my experience, my class is pretty diverse in terms of interests (I'm a 2L), so I would think you could definitely find people with common interests. However, not being a Star Trek and D&D type of person myself, I can't definitively answer yes or no to your question...sorry! (might be something you could start a thread on in the Admitted Students Forum - you might be able to test the waters that way)

[mako_shark]

Is there anything you wished you studied before law school or any useful knowledge you take for granted?

As an international student myself, I’ll reiterate hkm's answer - no, you don't really need to study ahead for any of the courses in the summer. + its the last summer you'll really have haha
If there was one class that perhaps I wish I had more background knowledge would be constitution law, that being having a more familiar background in the history of the US constitution. That being said, don’t go too far into learning legal reasoning/implications because you want to go into your Con Law class with an open mind for learning the legal concepts, but some background knowledge can’t hurt. That idea of going into your classes with a clear and open mind extends to all your other classes like torts, contracts, property etc – teachers have different styles, use different books and interpret cases to their own style - so you don’t want to disadvantage yourself by having a biased or improper understanding about the law from prior knowledge, which might throw off how you interpret what the professor is trying to get across.

Hey, I'm an international and I'll be joining U Illinois in fall. Has there been any program, internship or scholarship that you haven't been able to apply because of your status? Also, how do you see employment prospects for international students graduating from Illinois? I have heard mixed things about it. Some say that it is actually easier to get a job because of our language abilities and background. Others say that its a bit harder now to get a job with the crisis specially with small firms because they can just hired someone else and not have to deal with the paperwork.

cr073137, I wouldn’t worry about being international, for the most part the majority of scholarships are in favor of diverse individuals which usually include international students. Firms are always looking to increase their diversity so I would feel slightly advantaged if you were compared with a traditional candidate with the same academic credentials. That being said the academic credentials are going to have a large factor, as well as your interests, major, work experience. All in all, I feel the international aspect is always in our favor and should always be viewed as an advantage. The only time’s I’ve felt slightly disadvantages was when applying for US Government Jobs. A lot of the fed job’s require US Citizenship or Work authorization that is applicable to one of the immigration acts (can’t remember right now). I looked into the act, and basically the bottom line is the organization is allowed to discriminate by choosing not to interview or consider non US citizens, but they have no restriction that prevents them from hiring one that has proper student/working visa type. So yes, that clause would allow certain gov organizations to skip the paperwork if they really wanted, but for the most part most of the agencies I’ve contacted with have all been receptive to international candidates.

[mako_shark]

First off, thanks a lot for doing this hkm.

I am kind of stressed out about the living arrangement for next year. Do you know where the best places to live are? I would prefer being very close to downtown or campus. How did you find a roommate?

Eruannon, definitely use the admitted students forum to help find a roommate, it’s a fantastic resource. One thing to note though is there are some advantages if your potential roommate is also a UIUC grad – because then they’ll already be familiar with the places to live. That being said, a lot of UIUC grads tend to live in campustown in undergrad but realize for law school its might be a good idea to find a place a bit quieter than the heart of campustown, and move a little further out. With my current class, theres quite a few law students that have found apartments in the complexes that run along State Street in Champaign. Basically anywhere on State north of Kirby and South of Springfield is pretty close to the 4 Blue which stops directly in front of the laws school and runs every half an hour during the day. Being in this area puts you close enough to walk to campustown as well as downtown champaign. Bankier Apartments owns a large apartment complex that quite a few law students are using this year at 303 W Green which would geographically a good place to situate yourself between downtown and campustown. But what is an ideal place also depends on your preferences of using the bus/driving/walking etc etc. I’m sure Suzanne Rogers will be posting a list of links to the most commonly used realtors websites, so you should definitely take a look at those on the admitted students forum.

[Cover ID]

Who is the SBA President? Is it one of you?

[sanpiero]

How are the 1Ls faring at spring OCI? Do you guys have jobs for the summer yet?

*I was too lazy to go through the entire thread to search for this info. So, I apologize if this has already been discussed.

[ChattelCat]

Who is the SBA President? Is it one of you?

Our SBA president is not on TLS as far as I know (and not one of the people answering questions thus far)

[Eruannon]

Thank you so much Chattel and Mako. I will definitely utilize those boards. These realty company links are also coming in great help, these places look so much nicer than what I am used to at my school now.

[im_blue]

With competition from UCLA, USC, Stanford, UC Berkeley as well as UC Hastings, UC Davis, and UC Irvine, will I be able to land a job that pays $145-160K and thus enables me to quickly pay off my law school debts. If admitted, I just want to make sure I am making a good financial investment by attending University of Illinois.

I think your expectations should be more realistic. Your chances of getting a $145-160K job even in Chicago are much less than 50%, let alone doing that in Southern California.

[blurbz]

I would definitely just google champaign banks and look at the banks that are nearby. There are Chase Banks, National City Banks, Busey Banks, but no Bank of America.. I have Bank of America so that is a little frustrating. But honestly, it has never been a problem because I never have to deposit money. There are ATMs all over. Even Bank of America ATMs. I know there is not actually an ATM in the law school, but there is one within walking distance...

As for living situations, I know a lot of people found roommates on the admitted students forum. I think people also made connections and found roommates at the admitted students days. People live at the Village at Colbert Park in Savoy, Prospect Pointe in Savoy, One Illinois apartments, Baytowne Apartments, and Hessel on the Park Apartments. Savoy is a pretty hot spot for law students to live and a lot of law students live at the Village at Colbert Park, but I have heard mixed reviews. There are A TON of places on campus, but then you have to ask if you want to deal with undergrad and fraternity/sorority noise. Hessel on the Park is within walking distance and there are actually apartment complexes across the street around the actual park. Don't know the names. Those are nice because they are walking distance or a short bus ride (bus stop is right there), and they are not on actual campus so you will likely avoid all of the noise.

I am incredibly partial to WATERSEDGE APARTMENTS because I live there and will stay here all three years, and think they are pretty much the best apartments on earth. It is really quiet because there are all professionals and families who live here, 5 miles from campus (which is considered far here), right next to all of the shopping I would ever need, there is a back road Baytowne Road where I miss any traffic coming to school, and my balcony overlooks amazing views of corn and soybean fields even though the Meijer and movie theater are a block away. http://www.watersedgeapartments.net/ PLUS, they allow pets. They have the feel of a condo and my front door opens up to my staircase so there is no common stairwell. They do have a month or two long waiting list. Baytowne is another really nice apartment complex that I could basically hit with a stone from where I am. --LinkRemoved-- The only downside about these two is that they live "far" off of campus comparably to a lot of other apartment complexes. But like I said, 5 miles from the law school is considered far here because really anything more than 5 miles or 15 minutes and you are in a field of corn. lol.

Thanks for being such a great resource. It's really incredibly helpful!

A few quick questions:
1. Are watersedge apartments furnished? If so, how are they?
2. I don't party much, but I like to have a good time and worry that being so far off campus, especially if I don't get a roomate, will make it hard to be social. Is that a valid concern? Additionally, though I have a car, how is public transportation from watersedge to the law school?

Again, thanks so much!

[ChattelCat]

If you're looking for furnished places there are several on campus, but if you want to be slightly farther away (and by farther I mean no more than a 10 minute drive to school) try Town and Country http://www.tandcapartments.com, the Pointe http://www.pointe-ui.com, or the Village (which also has a free shuttle which takes you directly to the law school) http://www.villagecp.com

and keep in mind that "far" in Champaign-Urbana is generally not more than a 10 minute drive just about anywhere. I live on the far edge of Urbana (in a really nice complex called Amber Pointe (though not furnished) http://www.amberpointeapartments.com) and if I went any farther I would be living in the middle of a cornfield. My "commute" to school is seven minutes (I've timed it). From out on Prospect (where Watersedge and Baywater are) you're looking at a little more traffic but never more than a 10-15 minute commute. Basically to give you a good idea of how close everything is you can drive from the far edge of Champaign to the far edge of Urbana in about 20-25 minutes. If you look on Google maps and do the driving directions it will give you a good idea of how close everything is - most people go out in downtown Champaign (everything is basically on Neil or Walnut between Springfield and Columbia Street) or on Green Street where all the undergrad bars are.

[mako_shark]

Hey, I did the admitted students day today and while I was loved the school (it reminded me very nicely of my undergrad as far as the openness of the professors, etc), I worry a bit about my fit with the student body. Every one was very nice and cool but I didn't meet anyone who I could imagine being friends with. Classmates, sure, but I'm very nerdy and all my friends have always been as well. So, my real question here is are there nerds there? Like, Star Trek loving, dungeons and dragons playing, xkcd reading nerds? It feels like a silly question, since Illinois is such a great school, but the lack of nerdyness I saw is really giving me pause.

My first instinct is to tell you that in my experience, my class is pretty diverse in terms of interests (I'm a 2L), so I would think you could definitely find people with common interests. However, not being a Star Trek and D&D type of person myself, I can't definitively answer yes or no to your question...sorry! (might be something you could start a thread on in the Admitted Students Forum - you might be able to test the waters that way)

I'm a 1L, and I’ll say that our class also pretty diverse in terms of interests. And like ChattelCat i can't definitely answer your question; however I wouldn't be surprised if there are some people with those shared interests. That being said, living in a college town and spending a great amount of time in the law school, and with the same section group (for your first year) friendships seem to develop quite easily. If one of your interests is computer/video games, you’ll find no shortage of guys that still play. Myself I stopped in college but there are a lot of people who are still with it. There’s an n64 and some other systems in one of our break rooms and some guys are there religiously on their breaks. I’ve heard that Call of Duty MW2 seems to be a favorite choice as a study break between readings at home too. haha

[Eruannon]

Hey guys, another question. I'm from the Northern part of the state and there isn't much to do for the outdoors type (unless you venture up to Wisconsin). How close are the nearest hiking trails to Champaign? If there are any that is.

[nyskidude]

I have a quick question. How many credits are you allowed to take per semester? I've always been the type to take as many as possible, and although that may have to change in law school, I was just wondering what the max was. Thanks!

[mako_shark]

I have a quick question. How many credits are you allowed to take per semester? I've always been the type to take as many as possible, and although that may have to change in law school, I was just wondering what the max was. Thanks!

capped at 16 i believe, but if you have transfer credits over from an externship, or file a specific reason i think its 18.