Rutgers Newark Forum

[LayingDownDaLaw]

pink-law...i had a 157 with 3.76 GPA, and I got waitlisted...non-URM, male, resident of NJ, undergraduate of Rutgers. I'm hoping something opens up as it is my top school, but I don't see it. This must have been a competitive cycle.

[inSouthAmerica]

@rutgers1L_10 - asians students are "students of color"? i find that hard to believe.

[bernie shmegma]

are you applying for FT or PT?

She made it sound like wl for PT at least is still a decent shot you get in. I think it is alot of people applying because of the economy but not really because they want to be attorneys. It seems more like desperation move.

Nice pseudonym!

[bernie shmegma]

no I didnt mean you. I read on other forums people tried to sue because they got denied.

I met an admissions officer from rutgers at a fair and all she wanted to talk about was the diversity. I could care less who I am sitting next too. I dont view people based on race but she was annoying.

I met her too. She was inappropriate. Of course people sue, but its usually not the minorities, but the opposite. Refer to Bakke, Gratz and Grutter, Seattle

[inSouthAmerica]

also see cheryl hopwood vs. university of texas school of law.
no i havent taken lrw, and no i do not know how to cite correctly.

[Rutgers1L_10]

Hey Rutgers 1_L or anyone else who is currently a student, what was the thing you didn't expect from Rutgers going in that you wish you had known prior?

1. I didn't expect the school to be so small, and close knit. Upperclassmen are much more invested in 1Ls than I thought they would be and they truly empathize with your "situation", for lack of a better word.
2. I didn't expect to have crappy internet in 2010--there's no excuse for that. (But that is a top priority of the Student Bar Association, and apparently they've raised a good deal of money to upgrade the entire internet system in the near future.)
3. I thought there would be a lot more consistency among the first year courses. I don't know why. Obviously different professors have their own teaching style, and therefore the class will be run in a very different manner and that includes everything from the subjects covered during the semester to the way the final exam is administered. 1L year is A HUGE LUCK OF THE DRAW!!! I can't overemphasize this enough!!!
4. Never expected so many alumni, and legal professionals to play such an integral role in the school. RU is a very popular school. The panelists, speakers, symposiums, webinars, court hearings etc. are a bit overwhelming and it makes you feel like people really like the school and respect the education it provides. Network with them every chance you get. The number of judges that say they don't get enough resumes from RU students is astounding. Too many RU students count themselves out of NJ Sup Ct and Appellate Ct clerkships and externships because they don't apply.
5. I wish I had known that 2L and 3Ls really want to help you get good grades and they are not there to hide the ball from you. If you ask and upperclassmen it is highly likely he/she will help you study, give you and outline, provide you with a study guide, or just talk to your about what your professor expects. I wish I had taken advantage of them very early in the semester.

[Rutgers1L_10]

Taking the train up from Baltimore tomorrow morning to visit the campus, finally. It's down to Seton vs. this for me and Seton is so much more goddamn expensive. Admissions said it's the last day of classes so I can't sit in on anything, unfortunately. Their work study student that does tours is out for the day...will trade food/beer for a campus tour if any of you 1Ls/etc read this

If you will be on the RU campus Friday there should be two classes
Half the 1L class has a constitutional law class at 9:55 and the other half has a Civ Pro class at 1:05
There are no other classes Friday, aside from those two. Although, I think technically Monday is the last day of class and there may or may not be a couple of upper electives holding classes.

But summer school starts May 17 so if you just want to observe a class that could be an option

[Rutgers1L_10]

@rutgers1L_10 - asians students are "students of color"? i find that hard to believe.

Yes, Asians are "people of color", and I'm not sure what definition for "people of color" you are drawing from. But the term describes racial minorities, which Asians happen to be.
Don't let the LSACs skewed view of minorities lead you down a path of thinking only black people and Latino's are minorities.
People of color is anybody that isn't white.

http://www.forpeopleofcolor.org/

Only during the law school application process are Asian not really considered minorities, but unfortunately Asians are in fact underrepresented in the legal profession as a whole. Where they are over represented is in the percentage of racial minorities that make up the student body. Most of the minorities that schools represent in their class statistics are usually Asian students. Black students and Latinos don't make up the entire portion of minorities at most law schools, especially considering so many school have their number of minority students in the 15-25% range.

[orange_ava]

Hey Rutgers 1_L or anyone else who is currently a student, what was the thing you didn't expect from Rutgers going in that you wish you had known prior?

1. I didn't expect the school to be so small, and close knit. Upperclassmen are much more invested in 1Ls than I thought they would be and they truly empathize with your "situation", for lack of a better word.
2. I didn't expect to have crappy internet in 2010--there's no excuse for that. (But that is a top priority of the Student Bar Association, and apparently they've raised a good deal of money to upgrade the entire internet system in the near future.)
3. I thought there would be a lot more consistency among the first year courses. I don't know why. Obviously different professors have their own teaching style, and therefore the class will be run in a very different manner and that includes everything from the subjects covered during the semester to the way the final exam is administered. 1L year is A HUGE LUCK OF THE DRAW!!! I can't overemphasize this enough!!!
4. Never expected so many alumni, and legal professionals to play such an integral role in the school. RU is a very popular school. The panelists, speakers, symposiums, webinars, court hearings etc. are a bit overwhelming and it makes you feel like people really like the school and respect the education it provides. Network with them every chance you get. The number of judges that say they don't get enough resumes from RU students is astounding. Too many RU students count themselves out of NJ Sup Ct and Appellate Ct clerkships and externships because they don't apply.
5. I wish I had known that 2L and 3Ls really want to help you get good grades and they are not there to hide the ball from you. If you ask and upperclassmen it is highly likely he/she will help you study, give you and outline, provide you with a study guide, or just talk to your about what your professor expects. I wish I had taken advantage of them very early in the semester.

Thanks Rutgers1L...it's things like this that make me love RU even more. =)

[LayingDownDaLaw]

Rutgers1L_10, I know this is a hard question to answer, but do you have any insight into the waitlist? How many people are actually on it? How many people wind up getting off of it and when does this stuff usually occur? Does most of it occur before June or are there a decent amount of people that will find themselves off the wait list in July and August?

Also, what determines the class size - could the admissions council add 1-2 students if they really couldn't make a decision to cut someone? And, lastly, how many students were put on wait list for FT wound up getting switched to admissions for night classes?

I know these are a lot of questions, but I'm really trying to weigh all my options.

[bernie shmegma]

pink-law...i had a 157 with 3.76 GPA, and I got waitlisted...non-URM, male, resident of NJ, undergraduate of Rutgers. I'm hoping something opens up as it is my top school, but I don't see it. This must have been a competitive cycle.

I'd bet on you getting in, but I don't gamble.

[ericng314]

@rutgers1L_10 - asians students are "students of color"? i find that hard to believe.

Yes, we are. We're just overrepresented. And also, I'm guessing Rutgers-Newark considers some of us minorities b/c I'm in MSP and I'm Asian.

[Rutgers1L_10]

Rutgers1L_10, I know this is a hard question to answer, but do you have any insight into the waitlist? How many people are actually on it? How many people wind up getting off of it and when does this stuff usually occur? Does most of it occur before June or are there a decent amount of people that will find themselves off the wait list in July and August?

Also, what determines the class size - could the admissions council add 1-2 students if they really couldn't make a decision to cut someone? And, lastly, how many students were put on wait list for FT wound up getting switched to admissions for night classes?

I know these are a lot of questions, but I'm really trying to weigh all my options.

I don't have any insight into how many people are WL'd.
Last year people were getting off the WL until August (but that is true for a number of schools). We had people leave Rutgers just before the first week of school because they got off the WL @Fordham. St. John's actually sent me a letter of acceptance during my first week @Rutgers, although I will admit I applied to St.J but withdrew around Jan. so I'm not sure what happened there. St. J also sent a friend of mine a bill at the end of the fall semester for 1L tuition, while he was enrolled at Rutgers. But I digress.

The class size at RU is roughly ~185 students. They don't go much bigger than that because they have 6 tracks of students all divided into ~30-33 students per track so that all students have a small section of ~30-33 people, and that your LRW class is roughly 15 students (1/2 of a track). My class size was 190 and they said that was a "big" class. I think last year they had about 4500 apps.

I don't know of anyone specifically that was WL'd FT and got put in PT. If you are moved into the PT it's not just a matter of what time your classes meet, but it affects when you graduate, what classes you are enrolled in, when you can do write on for journal, when you take LRW, and when you can do moot court. So they will not move a student into the PT program unless that student asks to be moved and has a compelling reason why they cannot complete the FT program. I do know of students that applied to the PT program and got admitted to the FT program. I also know of students that were FT in the fall and then moved to PT in the spring, and vice versa, or student that were PT as 1Ls and moved to FT as 2Ls
The PT students at Rutgers, from what I've seen are all either full-time workers, or single-parents or commute from far away due to other circumstances. They don't just use the PT program as an overflow for the FT program or to stack up students that they otherwise wouldn't have accepted into FT.

[NickyD51]

Now I've resorted to checking my spam email just in case... Cmon Rutgers let me know so I can get on with my life!!!!!!!

[underdog]

ditto

[NJ914]

Just got back from my visit. Absolutely loved it. Will be attending and withdrawing my other acceptances/waitlists. See the rest of you in August

[inSouthAmerica]

congrats NJ914 - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110366588982164

[NJ914]

congrats NJ914 - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110366588982164

oof, deleted my facebook a little while back - there a thread here on TLS for the class of '13 or is that group it? If so I'll probably reactivate, would be cool to meet others that'll be attending.

[inSouthAmerica]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 5&t=112015

nobody uses it, we use this thread.

[don_geis]

In via email yesterday, 4/22/10. gpa 2.95, lsat 159,,

[Rutgers1L_10]

Does the SBA at Rutgers do 2 semi-formal events one in the fall and one in the spring? What are the social events like for RU students? Does the SBA put together many events at local bars for the students?

Is there anything you wished Rutgers had compared to other schools mainly private schools that might have more funding?

Not sure if you have answered this but what made you choose RU versus any other option you may have had?

Thank you so much for your time -- and good luck on finals!!!

SBA actually does not specifically put on events. All the student organizations fall under the umbrella of SBA. There is an actual SBA with it's own officers, and members but all of the events are done by individual student groups. The "Buddy Mixer" in the fall is sponsored by SBA but all of the student groups provide the buddies to 1Ls.
There are two big events that are sponsored by two student groups. One is Mehla and is sponsored by the Asian and Pacific Island Law Students Associateion (APALSA) and the other is Jazz for Justice sponsored by the Black Law Students Assoc. Those are the big events. But there are lots of other small events. I think during the fall there is practically 1 event every week. It can be very demanding!!! Also 2L and 3Ls don't ever have Friday classes so the events are usually held on Thursday evenings. If you're a 1L and have Friday classes you can be very tempted to want to go home and study, but there's also the need to want to network and hang out. My advice is balance. Plan your schedule so that you attend a few events. Don't miss out on all the good food and drinks and parties. Get your work done and then have a good time.

Actually, Rutgers doesn't do a lot of things at Local bars because there's sadly only 1 local bar. I suppose that's one thing I wish they did better. But because the Law school is so small the local bar is very friendly, and I'm sad to say they know me by heart. Spent a little too much time in the bar fall semester. But McGoverns is right across the street from the law school and is an absolutely fantastic place to grab a drink after class (or in between classes), grab lunch, or watch a game on the big screen. It's normally packed on Thursdays and any day 1Ls finish their LRW assignments.

Because Rutgers is a public school access to the library is open to any student at the university. I do wish they limited access to undergrads. They can be incredibly distracting. There are certain areas of the library that are off limits to u-grads and only available to law students such as the private study rooms. But they can access the computer lab, which is not very big to begin with. Again, on the day LRW papers are due computer space can be key and the last thing you want to see as you're closing in on your grace period to turn in your paper before your grade gets docked is some pimply undergrad printing chemistry homework--drives me crazy!! But so goes the workings of a public school.

I picked RU because i got a full scholarship, and I needed to be in this region of the country for family purposes.
But I applied because I thought they had a rich history and tradition. I thought they had great clinical training, I liked what the faculty members were working on and the ability to do research with them. I like the diversity of the school, I like the urban campus, and I like the job prospects. RU wasn't my first choice but personal circumstances kept me from my 1st choice, but RU was a solid replacement. What I know about the school has changed a lot since my first day. This school is like a bottle of aging wine. The longer you have it the better it gets. That sounds uber corny, but what I mean is that in the beginning it's all about finding your way and your life is very 1L-centric. You're almost sheltered from everything in the school. But after spring things that happen in the school begin to open up and you begin to learn about programs and networks and associations that you didn't know about before. School begins to become a very different experience--for the better.

[wolverine98]

Rutgers1L_10 or anyone else. does rutgers allow for 1 year deferrals?
i was admitted as a PT student but would like to defer 1 year...
is this possible with an automatic seat in the class of 2015?

[Rutgers1L_10]

Rutgers1L_10 or anyone else. does rutgers allow for 1 year deferrals?
i was admitted as a PT student but would like to defer 1 year...
is this possible with an automatic seat in the class of 2015?

As far as I know pretty much any school should allow you to defer if you have a real reason to want to do so (military, peace corps, TFA). Don't take that list to be exhaustive. But if you just can't attend this year call the admission office speak with them and talk to them about your options. If you defer they'll be able to take someone off the WL so it's not like they couldn't fill your seat.

[get it to x]

Hey Rutgers_1L, I'm curious if you could elaborate on the social scene a little bit more. I know you mentioned the nearby bar, but is it more that Rutgers students socialize with one another closer to where they live? Ex. Hoboken students getting together, etc. Or is it more decentralized than that?

[Rutgers1L_10]

Hey Rutgers_1L, I'm curious if you could elaborate on the social scene a little bit more. I know you mentioned the nearby bar, but is it more that Rutgers students socialize with one another closer to where they live? Ex. Hoboken students getting together, etc. Or is it more decentralized than that?

Yes there's only 1 bar near the school. It's "the spot" for after school drinks and socializing.
Outside of Newark most people tend to hang out either in Hoboken or in NYC. Hoboken is a bit over done IMO, but it has appeal.
It's not about who lives where, it's about who wants to go where. If you live in Newark you can hop on the train and be in NYC or Hoboken in 20 min. Nothing is far. There is also a pretty decent scene in Jersey City (the downtown/Paulus Hook/Grove St. areas).
I think Hoboken is more like a college-town bar scene. All the spots are centrally located on one street. That said, if you live in Hoboken you can easily walk, if you don't live in Hoboken you would be out of your mind to drive there on weekends. There is paid parking, but the train is so much more convenient and feasible. Typically a group of people will decide to get together and go to Hoboken on the weekends and just meet up at a train stop.
Obviously driving to NYC is also kind of ridiculous. A quick train ride will put you in the Village or Midtown and you won't have to worry about a car and parking.
So people aren't really shackled to Newark. The thing is, after a long day of class, and hours of studying ahead of you if it's just easier to walk across the street and grab a drink. Where you hang out and what you do on the weekends is all up to you.