Duke Law Class of 2012 Forum

[aholmes87]

I was planning on bringing a bike too, but with all the talk I have heard about the roads in Durham not being that great I think that I'm going to skip that.

[dresq]

shit just got real.

+1

Even with the scholarship the bill is quite large. Has anyone started applying for private loans yet? Are most people planning on using gradplus?

Probably gradplus. 8.5% seems pretty steep, bit I have a hard time believing I'll be approved for better terms through a private lender, especially these days. I will try, though.

I'm a summer start so I am here already and this city is not very bike friendly. I live at Alexan and am pretty sure that I would be hit by a car by the end of the summer session if I tried to bike to school.

You just have to get used to riding with traffic, as traffic. I used to live in a house off of Dixon, and my regular training rides always went past the school as I headed out 751 towards Hillsborough. Never got hit in Durham. The trick (which seems scary for people who don't ride a lot) is to ride about 1 ft. to the left of the white line. It forces cars to see you, acknowledge you, and wait until it's safe to pass you. If you ride right on the line, they think they can pass you without going into the next lane, and they come way too close to you. That's how people get hit (or run off the side of the road). Other than that, just watch out for people who turn in front of you (which is how I've always been hit). That said, I don't want to get rained on or sweaty before class, so I'll be driving to school anyway, but I will be riding my bike around Durham a lot for exercise. If you want to ride to school, you can.


P.S. Summer starters, how's orientation so far?

[dmnshm]

shit just got real.

+1

Even with the scholarship the bill is quite large. Has anyone started applying for private loans yet? Are most people planning on using gradplus?

Probably gradplus. 8.5% seems pretty steep, bit I have a hard time believing I'll be approved for better terms through a private lender, especially these days. I will try, though.

I'm a summer start so I am here already and this city is not very bike friendly. I live at Alexan and am pretty sure that I would be hit by a car by the end of the summer session if I tried to bike to school.

You just have to get used to riding with traffic, as traffic. I used to live in a house off of Dixon, and my regular training rides always went past the school as I headed out 751 towards Hillsborough. Never got hit in Durham. The trick (which seems scary for people who don't ride a lot) is to ride about 1 ft. to the left of the white line. It forces cars to see you, acknowledge you, and wait until it's safe to pass you. If you ride right on the line, they think they can pass you without going into the next lane, and they come way too close to you. That's how people get hit (or run off the side of the road). Other than that, just watch out for people who turn in front of you (which is how I've always been hit). That said, I don't want to get rained on or sweaty before class, so I'll be driving to school anyway, but I will be riding my bike around Durham a lot for exercise. If you want to ride to school, you can.


P.S. Summer starters, how's orientation so far?

So far, the people are great. Some of the activities were a bit disorganized (I'm assuming that the fall orientation will run smoothly and be much more comprehensive). And we already got homework for Civ Pro (1st class on Monday). Other than that, not much to say.

Edited for accuracy

[BarrelState]

I am glad to hear others are considering biking to school as well. Since I'll be living at Colonial Village, my hope is to blaze a trail through Duke Forest and avoid the road as much as possible.

[dresq]

I am glad to hear others are considering biking to school as well. Since I'll be living at Colonial Village, my hope is to blaze a trail through Duke Forest and avoid the road as much as possible.

Not an option. Duke Forest doesn't link up. You have to go straight down highway 751, but it's only 2 miles from there to the school. There's a round-a-bout and a pretty busy highway interchange/exit in between. I've gone through there a million times, but you will have to be careful and assert yourself. You can probably just hitch a ride with me when it rains

[BarrelState]

Thanks Dresq! I have to admit though that I am disappointed to hear my mountain-biking dream is over. I definitely have no problem on the road however (fighting cars is a must here in Seattle).

[Bosque]

I don't think I am going to bike to school most days, but I am still going to bring my mountain bike. It would be nice to ride it somewhere that is not completely flat and empty.

[aholmes87]

I just applied for all my loans. I hope the amount of money I'm paying is worth it. Even after scholarship the number seems mind blowing.

I really hope I did everything that I needed to do for this process, I would hate to show up for school and realize that I missed something that I needed to do for loans.

[skiridedrive]

I just applied for all my loans. I hope the amount of money I'm paying is worth it. Even after scholarship the number seems mind blowing.

I really hope I did everything that I needed to do for this process, I would hate to show up for school and realize that I missed something that I needed to do for loans.

would you mind listing the steps you took to apply for these loans? Thanks

[dresq]

I just applied for all my loans. I hope the amount of money I'm paying is worth it. Even after scholarship the number seems mind blowing.

I really hope I did everything that I needed to do for this process, I would hate to show up for school and realize that I missed something that I needed to do for loans.

I've been working on that, too. I think my Stafford is good to go. My credit check for GradPlus is still not done (been waiting since Monday). Presumably I can finish that up once my credit clears. I still have to deal with my Perkins through the university. I'll save that until the end. BTW, I'm doing Stafford/GradPlus through CFNC.

Out of curiosity, anyone do their GradPlus through CFNC, and if so, how long did your credit check take?

would you mind listing the steps you took to apply for these loans? Thanks

Have you been to the ACES website yet? It's reasonably self-explanatory from there. Just view your awards, and then choose how much of each type of loan you want to accept. You have to do some online entrance counseling about how the federal loans work. After that, you choose a lender, and then go through the lender's application process.

[aholmes87]

I set aside the whole night to do the loan process, but as dresq said it is pretty easy. The entrance counseling has you put in a few references and some personal information. The loan applications weren't that bad either. I spent maybe an hour doing it all.

Dresq a question that you might be able to answer, was the federal entrance counseling that we had to complete for both Stafford and Perkins? I thought that it said it was, but in my to do list on ACES it still tells me that I need to do the Perkins entrance counseling.

[dresq]

Dresq a question that you might be able to answer, was the federal entrance counseling that we had to complete for both Stafford and Perkins? I thought that it said it was, but in my to do list on ACES it still tells me that I need to do the Perkins entrance counseling.

My to do list says the same thing, but you're right - the entrance counseling should have been for both, and they are identical when I click on the Perkins link anyway. It's looking like I might be on the phone with CFNC and the fin. aid office tomorrow. I want to get this stuff done and over with.

[aholmes87]

It also said on the site that it may take five business days to process new information received. I'm going to wait and see. If things are still on my to do list I will give financial aid a call.

[dresq]

It also said on the site that it may take five business days to process new information received. I'm going to wait and see. If things are still on my to do list I will give financial aid a call.

I noticed that, too, but I still have no idea how/when to sign the MPN for the Perkins, though, since it's through Duke. I'll probably just call tomorrow afternoon and clear everything up as far as what the procedure is.

I just checked my CFNC status, too, and my credit check did clear today. So I finished that up, and at least that's out of my hands now.

[aholmes87]

Let us know what Duke has to say about the MPN for the Perkins.

[Pogopop]

Has anyone done anything about parking permits yet?

[aholmes87]

Nothing, but from what I've heard 1Ls have a decent walk from the parking lots that they are allowed to park at.



On another note, summer starters how is class going along? How are you guys liking Durham/law school?

[dmnshm]

Nothing, but from what I've heard 1Ls have a decent walk from the parking lots that they are allowed to park at.



On another note, summer starters how is class going along? How are you guys liking Durham/law school?

Classes are ok, the prof's are both great in my opinion (I think that Duke's rep for having prof's that are actually good at teaching is very true based on this experience, Weistart is particularly pedagogically sound), but it's definitely very difficult. I can't imagine having three classes at the same time (plus legal writing). I don't think there is anything that really prepares you for it. I think that the best advice on this board is to take advantage of your summer to clear your mind and (mentally) prepare for the fall, since avoiding burnout is paramount (maybe reading Getting to Maybe, if you really need something to do).

As for Durham/law school...the library is really sweet, which is nice since you spend so much time there. Durham is ok. It's not a bad place to be, I also wouldn't say its the coolest place I've ever lived, but I've only been here for a few weeks and it's already growing on me. There is a quality Thai place right next to Pinnacle, and some pretty solid options for Indian food also (I'm not an expert, so if someone out there wants to correct me and tell me that it's all crap, feel free), if you're into culinary diversity. Bad news is the law school food is overpriced.

Going back to contracts hw.

Edit: USNEWS ranks Durham as the 5th-best city to live in. http://www.usnews.com/articles/business ... l?PageNr=2

[atlrochester]

+1, and I'd add that I think people are having more fun than they expected (making friends, doing things together), i know i am

[dresq]

Let us know what Duke has to say about the MPN for the Perkins.

The university says (from http://finaid.duke.edu/loans/options/pe ... apply.html):

Complete and return the Perkins Loan Master Promissory note and Truth-in-Lending Disclosure Statement that will be mailed to you from the Student Loan Office.

Here's what I did:

After you complete the entrance counseling online, download an interactive pdf of the Perkins MPN. I completed that and mailed it to the financial aid office at the law school. As of today, the Perkins MPN no longer shows up in my "to do" list on ACES, so I guess that worked, too.

[aholmes87]

Thanks Dresq. My to do list still says I need to do the MPN for my grad plus loans, I'm hoping that disappears when they get processed by access group.

[dresq]

My to do list still says I need to do the MPN for my grad plus loans.

Ditto.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you go with CFNC? They have no origination fee or federal default fee, and they have the same 0.25% reduction for automated payments as access group.

[Bosque]

Anyone know by when we should get all this loan stuff finalized?

[dresq]

Anyone know by when we should get all this loan stuff finalized?

I applied for Stafford on June 1. It has gone through the school approval process and is in processing at my lender as of June 15. I mailed my Perkins MPN on June 5, and it was finalized by the university as of June 16. I applied for GradPlus on June 4, and it's still awaiting the university's approval. All of the funds that have been approved by the university are scheduled to be dispersed on August 14. I assume the rest will be dispersed then, too. That's the best time line I can offer.

Seems anecdotally like it will take roughly 3-4 weeks or so to go through all of the processing.

[Bosque]

Guess I gotta start all this by the end of June then.