Top Law Schools

Doorkeeper wrote:HLS 1L here: Feel free to ask or PM any Qs you have about Harvard.

Or visit the Ask a Law Student section and post on the Harvard thread.

Best and Worst of HLS so far? What you wish you knew before you started? What you did know and think we should know?

titansfan wrote:married, no kids -- i wonder if people who've been out of school longer disproportionately use TLS since they aren't applying at the same time as all of their peers / are looking for a similar community. small sample size, i know, but interesting.

efresh88 wrote:unmarried/no kids as well - just trying to even the playing field

I'm from the west coast and wondering if I should bring my car with me if I decide to enroll. I know its prohibitively expensive in NY and DC and they have good enough public transit to go without a car, does this hold true for Boston?

i was at harvard undergrad and have lived in lots of neighborhoods in the boston / cambridge/ somerville area during the past 8 years. i think it could make sense to bring a car but only if you are looking to live off-campus in certain areas of cambridge / somerville, where street parking is not so bad and where it's not too hard to find apartments that come with parking spaces. having a car can be great for getting to see things in the greater new england area -- there's lots of great hiking and skiing and such that is way easier to get to with a car. basically, no one i knew had a car during undergrad but after graduating having a car became more common (still maybe 1 out of 10) since your life expands outside of the campus bubble.

that being said, if you are trying to live in boston or as close to law school classes / a subway station as possible, having a car will be much more expensive and probably not worth it. i guess the decision you have to make is whether you are the kind of person who would go for cheaper rent and more space or the kind of person who would prefer the most convenient/walkable location possible.

last thing: the public transportation in boston is pretty great. (i know some new yorkers might disagree but aside from new york it doesn't get a lot better in the u.s.) you can get everywhere within cambridge/ boston really easily, and harvard is really well-connected to the rest of the city -- it's just four subway stops and around 15 minutes from downtown boston.

anyhow, feel free to PM me with more specific questions if you start looking for places. i have a decent understanding of the prices / neighborhoods around here.

Did you ever live on campus? I am a west coaster... how's getting to class in the snow?!

leebs2 wrote:

kingsfield69 wrote:

spicyyoda17 wrote:So that makes 3 of us with a spouse + a kid

Make it 4 of us. I'm bringing a wife and 2 kids!

Hey. Also wife with 2 kids! How interesting:-)

How 'bout that!

Happy to be joining! I'm 95% set on HLS so this is probably the end of the cycle for me, still can't really believe it's over...

Anyone else starting their 0L prep. I'm starting with Paper Chase and Legally Blonde... LOL

2013hopeful:D wrote:Anyone else starting their 0L prep. I'm starting with Paper Chase and Legally Blonde... LOL

+1.

2013hopeful:D wrote:Anyone else starting their 0L prep. I'm starting with Paper Chase and Legally Blonde... LOL

Check and check. Also watching all of Suits on Hulu.

2013hopeful:D wrote:

titansfan wrote:married, no kids -- i wonder if people who've been out of school longer disproportionately use TLS since they aren't applying at the same time as all of their peers / are looking for a similar community. small sample size, i know, but interesting.

efresh88 wrote:unmarried/no kids as well - just trying to even the playing field

I'm from the west coast and wondering if I should bring my car with me if I decide to enroll. I know its prohibitively expensive in NY and DC and they have good enough public transit to go without a car, does this hold true for Boston?

i was at harvard undergrad and have lived in lots of neighborhoods in the boston / cambridge/ somerville area during the past 8 years. i think it could make sense to bring a car but only if you are looking to live off-campus in certain areas of cambridge / somerville, where street parking is not so bad and where it's not too hard to find apartments that come with parking spaces. having a car can be great for getting to see things in the greater new england area -- there's lots of great hiking and skiing and such that is way easier to get to with a car. basically, no one i knew had a car during undergrad but after graduating having a car became more common (still maybe 1 out of 10) since your life expands outside of the campus bubble.

that being said, if you are trying to live in boston or as close to law school classes / a subway station as possible, having a car will be much more expensive and probably not worth it. i guess the decision you have to make is whether you are the kind of person who would go for cheaper rent and more space or the kind of person who would prefer the most convenient/walkable location possible.

last thing: the public transportation in boston is pretty great. (i know some new yorkers might disagree but aside from new york it doesn't get a lot better in the u.s.) you can get everywhere within cambridge/ boston really easily, and harvard is really well-connected to the rest of the city -- it's just four subway stops and around 15 minutes from downtown boston.

anyhow, feel free to PM me with more specific questions if you start looking for places. i have a decent understanding of the prices / neighborhoods around here.

Did you ever live on campus? I am a west coaster... how's getting to class in the snow?!

Ha, I did live on campus for the first couple years. Getting to class in the winter is not so bad. They really know how to deal with the snow shockingly well. (At least relative to the South, where I grew up and where schools often shut down due to .5 inches of snow.) They always clear the walkways here by the morning after huge blizzards. That's not to say it doesn't get really cold sometimes or that there aren't sludgy snow piles here and there, but it's nothing too intense.

Checking in. JS2 on 12/21. Excited to be able to post here. Married, no kids. Any other military veterans here?

Just requested to join the facebook group. Any idea as to how long it takes to get approved?

leebs2 wrote:Just requested to join the facebook group. Any idea as to how long it takes to get approved?

I requested to join after the end of a business day and was approved the morning of the next business day, so I would guess you would get approved tomorrow or Wednesday (though it might take longer due to the holidays). If any of your friends are currently in the group you can ask those people to add you immediately. I was able to add two of my friends.

hopeful16 wrote:

leebs2 wrote:Just requested to join the facebook group. Any idea as to how long it takes to get approved?

I requested to join after the end of a business day and was approved the morning of the next business day, so I would guess you would get approved tomorrow or Wednesday (though it might take longer due to the holidays). If any of your friends are currently in the group you can ask those people to add you immediately. I was able to add two of my friends.

Yeah one of my friends asked to join and since I knew they got into HLS I let 'em in. I was hesitant at first because I didn't know if we were allowed to, but since Harvard left adding privileges to members we should be alright.

JedBartlett wrote:

hopeful16 wrote:

leebs2 wrote:Just requested to join the facebook group. Any idea as to how long it takes to get approved?

I requested to join after the end of a business day and was approved the morning of the next business day, so I would guess you would get approved tomorrow or Wednesday (though it might take longer due to the holidays). If any of your friends are currently in the group you can ask those people to add you immediately. I was able to add two of my friends.

Yeah one of my friends asked to join and since I knew they got into HLS I let 'em in. I was hesitant at first because I didn't know if we were allowed to, but since Harvard left adding privileges to members we should be alright.

Thanks. I'm in.

leebs2 wrote:

kingsfield69 wrote:

spicyyoda17 wrote:So that makes 3 of us with a spouse + a kid

Make it 4 of us. I'm bringing a wife and 2 kids!

Hey. Also wife with 2 kids! How interesting:-)

Hey. Married with kids; 2L at H. If you have any specific questions about stuff related to that, feel free to PM. Although I am not sure that I've figured it out much myself.
ETA: but don't quote this post please.

1) what are your thoughts on family housing options?
2) w/a family, I'm assuming you have a car; how difficult/expensive is this?
3) have you noticed that most students in your shoes get generous aid? I know a few of us on here with families are concerned about that.

Thanks!

spicyyoda17 wrote: 1) what are your thoughts on family housing options?
2) w/a family, I'm assuming you have a car; how difficult/expensive is this?
3) have you noticed that most students in your shoes get generous aid? I know a few of us on here with families are concerned about that.

Thanks!

Please edit out the part where I mentioned personal details and asked that people not quote the post.

1. I live outside of Cambridge, because rent can be 30-40% cheaper - I pay about $2400 for a three bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer, playroom, etc. The advantages are that it's bigger and that there are more families around than in the mainly student housing in Cambridge. Also, for me personally, it was helpful to commute to school (20 min. bus ride) and focus only on school during the day, rather than having the option of going back home between classes.The disadvantage basically is that you feel a little disconnected and you're subject to the MBTA.

2. Car is a pain in Cambridge, but if you live in Cambridge, you'll have a resident sticker so it's somewhat less of a pain. I bring a car to school rarely, but I still had to get used to having quarters in the glove compartment that I would not touch for anything but parking at school but I still have to remember to refill the meter within two hours. Or depending on your financial situation, you can just pay for a spot in the new parking palladium under Wasserstein, and then having a car in Cambridge will not be a problem at all.

3. The way that aid works is (I have a topic I posted about this 18 months ago, if you want to dig it up [ETA: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... d#p4277729]) is the school gives you a cost of living estimate and then forces you to contribute about $42k (through borrowing), and also looks at your financial situation to see if you should be contributing more. Assuming that you possess $0, the remainder of your cost of living estimate is awarded as a grant. So for the regular student, the COL estimate is about $74k, which means that the person would have to contribute $42k and the school would grant the rest - that's why people say the maximum grant is about $32k.

However, students with children have a higher assessed COL, and for such students, the grant can be higher - up to the full cost of tuition. Each child adds about $15k to the estimate, so someone with two children and $0 would have a COL estimate of about $104k. Subtract the $42k required contribution, and you're left with about $62k. This person would then get free tuition (about $49k), and be eligible for loans for the remaining $13k.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Parents income is assessed until student is 26, then the assessment is reduced by 25% a year for the following three years.

2. Spouse's income counts, after deductions for child care and work related expenses. So analyze carefully whether your spouse's income will decrease your aid without actually resulting in additional income.

3. Massachusetts has generous entitlement programs, most famously MassHealth. If you're comfortable availing yourself of such programs, by all means do so. Some programs may also affect your grant from Harvard.

4. Assets are counted in determining your expected contribution, but only half because presumably your spouse has a stake in them as well. So if you have, for example, $42k of equity in a house and $30k in a 401k, then half of that - $36k - will be assessed to your expected contribution. You don't need to sell your house or cash out your 401k, because you will be eligible for loans to cover that amount, but those loans will not be eligible for LIPP.

2013hopeful:D wrote:

Doorkeeper wrote:HLS 1L here: Feel free to ask or PM any Qs you have about Harvard.

Or visit the Ask a Law Student section and post on the Harvard thread.

Best and Worst of HLS so far? What you wish you knew before you started? What you did know and think we should know?

Best = Professors
Worst = All of the students during finals.

Things I think you should know:
(1) The professors here are really nice and open with their time if you have interesting things to talk about,
(2) The 550 student size doesn't seem very big because you spend almost all of your time with your 80 student section,
(3) The Harvard name still carries a lot of weight when it comes to getting summer internships, especially if you want to work in places outside of the normal jobs,
(4) Work experience is a big leg up for summer work,
(5) Be prepared to work a moderate amount during the semester, and then a fuck ton during finals.

Hey everyone! Checking in! Does anyone know if Harvard has ever been known to match merit scholarships from other T14 law schools?

salad456 wrote:Hey everyone! Checking in! Does anyone know if Harvard has ever been known to match merit scholarships from other T14 law schools?

No. To my knowledge, Harvard does not give merit scholarships. Also, it would be difficult to find a comparable school to use as leverage

Does anyone know when HLS email accounts get created? Is that something to look out for now, or do they do it in bulk once all admissions offers are sent out?

Mr. Elshal wrote:Does anyone know when HLS email accounts get created? Is that something to look out for now, or do they do it in bulk once all admissions offers are sent out?

Mine's been created- they send you an email with a link and you setup your various Harvard accounts. I got it 4 days after my acceptance email.

Mr. Elshal wrote:Does anyone know when HLS email accounts get created? Is that something to look out for now, or do they do it in bulk once all admissions offers are sent out?

It took mine a week. If you gave them a secondary email when applying, they'll send the creation link there because they replace your primary email with your HLS email.

Merry Christmas all!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Also, I requested to join the facebook group a few days ago (Saturday, I think), but haven't been able to get in yet either (probably due to the holidays, understandably enough). Here's hoping to meeting some of you at the April ASW or before!

ksbRambo wrote:Checking in. JS2 on 12/21. Excited to be able to post here. Married, no kids. Any other military veterans here?

I'm another military veteran (USMC enlisted). Also married with no kids. I'm pretty sure there's at least one more veteran in here too. Also, merry Christmas to everyone!