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iagolives wrote:

borntorun wrote:

iagolives wrote:So, I know we have to pay income tax on our loan money (or, at least, I'm 95% sure we do), but I don't think they withheld money for us. Does anyone know what our tax rate is? Also, as i'm not currently a resident of the state of MA, does anyone know if I'm going to have to pay state taxes in my actual state of permanent address, MA, or both? I know it seems early, but I need to get my budget set up and I have to know how much money I have to play with to do so. Thanks!

I'm 99% sure student loans aren't taxable. Scholarships are taxable on the amounts not used to cover tuition, books, etc. but I've never heard of anyone having to pay taxes on their student loans.

Wait, so if I am living off of my student loans entirely (i.e. not working and no stock dividends), I won't be paying any taxes next year? That's hard for me to believe. I mean, I hope its true as the amount of money I'll have to live off of will increase by 25%, but I feel like the government wouldn't let me rip them off like this.

Well I didn't take out enough money to support myself if I had to pay taxes on my loans...it didn't even cross my mind. So hopefully I don't have to pay taxes on them...because if I do then I'm screwed.

Well, it's income tax. You don't have income. It's not your money to keep. So yeah, go get your living expenses check and cash it for $1 bills, throw it on your bed, and roll around

mightyaphrodite wrote:Well, it's income tax. You don't have income. It's not your money to keep. So yeah, go get your living expenses check and cash it for $1 bills, throw it on your bed, and roll around

This + 5-6 new HLS friends doing the same + awesome techno mix = best. party. ever.

In all seriousness, though, thanks for the help, all!

mightyaphrodite wrote:Well, it's income tax. You don't have income. It's not your money to keep. So yeah, go get your living expenses check and cash it for $1 bills, throw it on your bed, and roll around

--ImageRemoved--

Weatherman Adam Jones predicts rain in Cambridge.

I'm going to make it rain in class with my loan money.

iagolives wrote: Wait, so if I am living off of my student loans entirely (i.e. not working and no stock dividends), I won't be paying any taxes next year? That's hard for me to believe. I mean, I hope its true as the amount of money I'll have to live off of will increase by 25%, but I feel like the government wouldn't let me rip them off like this.

You're not ripping them off; they're ripping you off. You're going to pay those loans back with after-tax dollars (excluding the interest, which is deductible), and you're going to be in a much higher tax bracket than your living expenses allotment would put you in now (if it were income).

Anyone else actually complete the JD Admissions online services survey? TLS gets a mention!

excelsiorcaelo wrote:Anyone else actually complete the JD Admissions online services survey? TLS gets a mention!

Does it? That's awesome! I opened it up but then remembered how much I hate surveys. I should probably go do it, though.

EDIT: Completed.

Also, have any of you really gotten into Sidebar? I haven't and I'm just curious if I'm missing out or anything.

iagolives wrote:Also, have any of you really gotten into Sidebar? I haven't and I'm just curious if I'm missing out or anything.

I never really figured out what it was supposed to be useful for.

excelsiorcaelo wrote:Anyone else actually complete the JD Admissions online services survey? TLS gets a mention!

Yeah, I definitely gave TLS an affinity (and frequency) score of 5.

Sidebar kind of sucks. But maybe when the Class of 2012 info gets added to it (if it hasn't been already) it'll be more useful.

The post-admission status check site also REALLY sucks. Mine hasn't been updated since April or something.

OK, without turning this into a hipsters vs. the establishment-type of debate, does anyone know if I will be totally screwed if I get a MacBook instead of the HLS recommended Lenovo? Anyone know about the compatibility of HLS IT with Apple products? Any help would be much appreciated!

excelsiorcaelo wrote:Sidebar kind of sucks. But maybe when the Class of 2012 info gets added to it (if it hasn't been already) it'll be more useful.

The post-admission status check site also REALLY sucks. Mine hasn't been updated since April or something.

The 2012 info is sort of available. If you do an advanced search and just select "Admitted Student" under Academic Role, you can get a (complete?) listing of our class. Not that it really gets you much besides names and sometimes pictures. I agree about the post-admission status check; they could've just left it out.

macs are fine. they just have to meet these specs

http://www.law.harvard.edu/about/admini ... specs.html

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz seems pretty excessive.

I've got an AMD dual-core at 1.86 GHz, with 2.5 Gb of RAM, and I really don't feel like dropping a grand to upgrade.

So my e-mail for some reason decided to not give me updates to the HLS thread....I thought nobody had posted on it in a month!

Good to know you all were still at it

Just received confirmation of my immunization receipt. Sweet.

jrs12 wrote:

iagolives wrote: Wait, so if I am living off of my student loans entirely (i.e. not working and no stock dividends), I won't be paying any taxes next year? That's hard for me to believe. I mean, I hope its true as the amount of money I'll have to live off of will increase by 25%, but I feel like the government wouldn't let me rip them off like this.

You're not ripping them off; they're ripping you off. You're going to pay those loans back with after-tax dollars (excluding the interest, which is deductible), and you're going to be in a much higher tax bracket than your living expenses allotment would put you in now (if it were income).

For those of you who still wanted a definitive answer, loan proceeds are 100% NOT taxable. Its stated explicitly in the tax code. (Totally not looking up the section). Scholarship proceeds, as was mentioned earlier, may be tax-free to the extent used for tuition-related costs.

However, if may be to your advantage to have taxable scholarships if you don't have much other income because it will allow you to take advantage of the Lifetime Learning Credit. The credit pays out 20% of your first $10,000 of education expenses, but only if you have taxable income to offset it with. If you have no income, you get no credit, even when you dropped $50k on tuition+. If you already have some income, but not a lot, a taxable scholarship will generate taxable income in the 10% or 15% brackets. But then you get 20% back, 5% of which can be used to offset the tax on the other income. Bam!

Also, student loan interest is only deductible up to $2500, and only if you earn less than about 70k. Not useful for those going to big/mid law.

Who here advised against majoring in accounting?

I just got an e-mail saying that I need to send in official transcripts for summer programs I did that did not involve taking classes at a university in any way.

Sigh. RC fail somewhere, I guess. If you don't see me in August, you'll know why.

So who else is going to get a "word of the day" thing going in their section?

Email the section in the morning before classes with a word or phrase of the day. Ridiculous words or phrases. "Scooby Dooby Doo" for example (and no, just saying "scooby" wouldn't count). Whoever squeezes it into the discussion gets points! Or something.

Objection wrote:So who else is going to get a "word of the day" thing going in their section?

Email the section in the morning before classes with a word or phrase of the day. Ridiculous words or phrases. "Scooby Dooby Doo" for example (and no, just saying "scooby" wouldn't count). Whoever squeezes it into the discussion gets points! Or something.

If we are in the same section and I have to sit through a discussion about how the Establishment Clause effects the rights of spelunkers, I will mace you.

iagolives wrote:

Objection wrote:So who else is going to get a "word of the day" thing going in their section?

Email the section in the morning before classes with a word or phrase of the day. Ridiculous words or phrases. "Scooby Dooby Doo" for example (and no, just saying "scooby" wouldn't count). Whoever squeezes it into the discussion gets points! Or something.

If we are in the same section and I have to sit through a discussion about how the Establishment Clause effects the rights of spelunkers, I will mace you.

You don't have to make the discussion about it, just fit the phrase in.

"Dark Overlord" or something.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... d#p1254315

PKSebben wrote:

Harry Pothead wrote: So apparently a professor caught someone using the word of the day today. Someone said "dark overlord" and the prof was like "what is that? Word of the day or something?" and she proceeded to use it for the rest of class.

mad points for somebody.

Yes, I'm stealing this idea from Michigan.

Krswmact wrote:macs are fine. they just have to meet these specs

http://www.law.harvard.edu/about/admini ... specs.html

Do you guys think these specs are serious? I have a Mac that is four years old and works fine, but doesn't meet any of the specs listed on the website.

3moreyears wrote:

Krswmact wrote:macs are fine. they just have to meet these specs

http://www.law.harvard.edu/about/admini ... specs.html

Do you guys think these specs are serious? I have a Mac that is four years old and works fine, but doesn't meet any of the specs listed on the website.

I don't think a 2 Ghz processor is necessary for anything law school related. (The specs they give look more like Starcraft 2 system requirements than law school system requirements.)

i would just ask IT about your old mac, just to make sure that the testing software is compatible with the operating system. Before I bought my computer in Dec I checked the websites of all of the schools I was considering and some were very specific about the version of the operating system.