University of Illinois 2011!!! Forum

[solrac84]

Who is down with the best law school in the world, UIUC? Also, does any of you attending or going to attend skateboard? I think I saw pictures of a skate park in Champaign where we could shred in our free time.

[E\/ERLAST]

I am not going... but let me be the first to say congrats!

[booboosoft]

I'll be there. Did you say "shred?" Man I'm old...

[dude]

I'll prob be here too...

[booboosoft]

Where are all my UIUC peeps? Seems like everyone's dropped off in the last month or two...

[dude]

I don't know where your peeps be... but I would like to ask a quick question. What should I do: go to UIUC 45K; go to St. John's full ride; or go to Cardozo package pending?

[booboosoft]

I am not as well informed as most of the others on here, save for the few schools that I was considering, so take my opinion with a grain of salt... I would say that, unless you definitely want to stay in NYC, I would go to UIUC. If you do want to stay in NYC, then I feel like Cardozo has an edge over St Johns. That's all I got bro. Congrats on the money from UIUC though! Have you already dropped deposits?

[dude]

Thanks for the congrats. I have not yet removed my deposits becuase I just got off the Cardozo waiting list two days ago. UIUC is hard to say no to. But I just don't know if it will transfer well to the City or west coast. Cardozo does seem like my best NYC choice.

Are you for sure going to UIUC? iF so what about it really attracts you to the school?

[booboosoft]

Yeah, I'm in. The choices were basically UIUC w/ $60k, GW or Minnesota w/ nothing, or U Cincinnati with about $20k. I live in COlumbus OH, and my wife and I own house here, and she can't transfer her job. So.... I wanted to stay within a few hours away. Cincinnati was strong option (in-state tuition and scholly) but balked when I asked for more money and UIUC gave me 3 times as much as they did. Plus, the rankings and regional constrictions... Also, I bailed on GW because I didnt want to move back to DC and don't want to work in DC or NY. My wife told me we werent going to live in Minnesota...

AND I was really impressed by the ASD. The info and stuff they presented, of course, but also the conversations I had with current students when we were at the bar later that night. EVERYONE had something to say about how great the profs were, and how enthusiastic they appeared to be about teaching at UIUC. I know, it sounds like an ad, but ithey all made a point of telling me about that- even after several shots. Plus, as people have noted, Paul Pless is gr8.

Feel free to ping me if you would like more detail!

[dude]

That was me who said, "Paul Pless is gr8"... ugh so torn.

[hkm6315]

Where are you guys planning on living? Did anyone go to either of the orientations? I went to the one at the end of March.

[frogman]

Hessel on the Park.

[booboosoft]

I'm living in the ugliest building I've ever seen- I guess it's an office tower that has 2 or 3 floors of apartments. The Huntington Corporate Building.

[hkm6315]

I'm living at Watersedge Apartments. They are a few blocks past the Super Walmart right off North Prospect drive (if anybody is familiar with that area). The most exciting part is my balcony overlooking a massive cornfield. They were built within the last year or two. I have noticed that there are a lot of reeeeaaaallly old apartment buildings and homes in the area. Which is fine if they are maintained, but my cousin lived in a four bedroom house a few blocks from campus and I think it barely escaped becoming condemned. I refused to take my shoes off for the three days I stayed with her.

Are you guys mostly from Chicago or the Midwest? It seemed like a large number of 1Ls that I spoke to when I visited were from Chicago. I have lived in Austin, Texas all of my life. Transporting a U-Haul and my car on a 19 hour road trip with a malti-poo puppy should be interesting...

[hkm6315]

Oh, and yes, Paul Pless is super gr8! Seriously, that guy is awesome. This is the second cycle I have applied to law schools. I visited a handful of schools, and almost ended up going to IU-Bloomington last August, but I just wasn't really feeling anything... And I know the whole IUB campus just became incredibly flooded with the recent severe rains so maybe that was for the best.... I am glad that I took the LSAT again and held out because I am absolutely in love with UIUC. Everyone at the law school was incredibly warm and friendly and it reminds me a lot of UT-Austin with the huge sprawling campus, football fanaticism, and quad area.

[booboosoft]

I grew up in a suburb of Baltimore (MD), and have lived in Arlington (VA) as well, but moved back to Columbus (OH) about a year and a half ago, where I spent 4 interesting years in undergrad a long, long time ago. Midwest ties, yes. Midwest roots, no.

[dude]

I love Austin! Do you think Urbana is nearly as hip?

[hkm6315]

^ No, Austin definitely wins on that count. Champaign-Urbana is a cool area though and the school does remind me A LOT of the UT-Austin campus, except for the fact that its in a pretty small town in the middle of a gigantic cornfield. I don't think I really seem like a very "Texan" person, but I totally plan on being one of those obnoxious Texans who wears their boots and hat around and thinks the Republic of Texas is its own country because they never got over the nine year stint after the Texas Revolution that we actually were.... Ok, not really... I only own a hat and boots for the purpose of a cowgirl Halloween costume four years running and I actively swap my only tell "y'all" with "you guys" when I am around Midwestern people (all of my cousins and extended family).......... But seriously, I am pretty freaked out about leaving my whole life here behind.

[dude]

See, I don't mean to knock UIUC but I went to Ann Arbor for undergrad, and then I lived in Austin for two years. So I'm used to an edgy, cool culture and would like to enjoy that durring my law school years. Do you think that Urbana can offer any semblance of such a lifestyle.

PS You are from Austin - the absolute best of Texas!

[dude]

Oh ya I'm also trying to decide between UIUC 45K, St John's full ride, and Cardozo package pending...

[gengar]

AND I was really impressed by the ASD. The info and stuff they presented, of course, but also the conversations I had with current students when we were at the bar later that night. EVERYONE had something to say about how great the profs were, and how enthusiastic they appeared to be about teaching at UIUC.

I counted that as a negative during my experiences, tbh. Of all the students and staff I encountered during a campus visit, no one had anything to say that was even remotely neutral about the school, much less negative, and so responses to many of our questions seemed canned. I was also a bit perturbed that our campus tour was rather incomplete, focusing only on the best aspects of the building (for example, the only classroom shown to us was the high-tech courtroom mockup - I had to sneak into a normal classroom later to get a peak at one).

Following the visit, I mentioned this offhand to other admitted students in my group as well as others on a few mbs including TLS, and many felt the same way - so it definitely wasn't just me. Most of my other campus visits had what I felt was better disclosure. I will of course agree with others that Dean Pless is very kind.

[hkm6315]

^ Maybe your tour guide just sucked because I didn't get that feel at all. Both times I visited people were really nice and had good things to say.... They also just looked like cool people and they looked like they were having fun... To whatever extent law school can be fun. I have visited many other schools where that was not at all the case. The students didn't look that happy and people did have negative things to say. More than that, I just didn't have a good feel about it. I also went to the "food and booze" part afterwards that was probably about eighty people who were mostly current students. Everyone still seemed cool and laid back and I really liked what I heard from the handful of 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls I spoke to. These were not people who gave the tours or who gave a damn at all about "putting on a show" or "selling the school." They were just there to drink free beer and they were still being positive about the school.... I don't see how people having positive things to say is a bad thing. And yes, I did hear a few students say some neutral and negative things... But they were the same things that people complain about for law school in general and nothing major.

[hkm6315]

That would be a no-brainer for me. UIUC was top 25 and now is ranked 27 because Boston College and Notre Dame jumped in front of them this year. (I honestly was a little shocked they were behind it last year!) Point is that it is a pretty highly ranked school. St. Johns is 88 and I don't even know where Cordozo is, but they don't seem anywhere near UIUC in ranking. I have a friend who is going to Depaul in Chicago that is ranked in the 80s and he told me that he is struggling right now trying to find jobs because employers go to Northwestern, U of Chicago, and UIUC first unless you are at the top 5-10% at his school. So if you are looking for more opportunity/mobility, I would choose UIUC. If you are 100% sure you want to live in a specific city, then I think it can make more sense to go to a school in that area even if that school has a much lower ranking. Also if you know that school has better programs to offer that you are interested in. ie. If St. Johns has a top ranked IP program and you are only going to law school to do IP law. Not trying to be a rankings whore, just keeping it real.

If you are worried about the money part, Pless sent me a form on applying for residency and you can lower your cost of attendance even more by becoming a resident the second and third year. I have cousins, friends, and relatives who have attended UIUC and all loved the city. If you like Austin, you will like the Urbana-Champaign area. It is definitely a smaller town, but it has that cool college town feel. Its a big 10 with a huge undergraduate population! It is also a 2 hour and 20 minute drive from Chicago...

[gengar]

^ Maybe your tour guide just sucked because I didn't get that feel at all.

My point is precisely that my tour guide sucked. If I'd had a real tour with better disclosure, I and others on my tour wouldn't have felt the way we did.

What I look for from a campus visit is to find out what the school is about. Canned responses that are overwhelmingly positive don't help anyone's cause.

[hkm6315]

^Are you attending UIUC anyways though? That sucks for you. I had two awesome tour guides lol. One of them was this fun little tomboy girl in a boyscout shirt... I am pretty sure she was a lesbian. The other guy was really cool too. They were both really informative and open. It was funny though because my cousin (a girl) and I picked the lesbian tour guide and it just so happened that the other two girls who joined our tour were a lesbian couple who we hit it off with and talked to at lunch and hung out with later at the booze/food night. I then realized that it might have come across that my cousin and I were a couple as well and that people who had met us might think that I swung like that when I got to UIUC... Which I am honestly fine with since I am taken. Just thought it was kind of funny though.