UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[nametaken]

Is it a pain not living close to the law school? I noticed that the buses only run until about 6pm, so how do most people get to and from the campus afterwards?

I would say that it is actually less convenient 1L year to live closer to the law school. Because the largest group of students lives at Regents/Algonquin/the surrounding neighborhood, group studies are many times organized here, 1Ls meet up for bar review and other events together here, and it is the safest and easiest to get to school from when it snows. There will be parts of the year where the bus is the best way to get to school because of the snow, and it is convenient to have the bus stop right next to the building you live in. It is also the safest in terms of crime-- the area is well patrolled and is the farthest away from Inglewood of any place in Hyde Park. Getting downtown is also easiest from here-- lake shore trial if you like to run, lake shore drive if you have a car, and the metra train and 6 bus are all right outside the buildings.

What about living downtown? My roommate now is moving back and wants to live in the South Loop and says it should be easy to commute from there, but I'm wondering if any current students could give me some insight

It's easy to commute from downtown. If I were living downtown I would stay out of South Loop and live in River North, New Eastside, Gold Coast, etc. South Loop doesn't really have much to do and is about as expensive as further north.

great, thanks for the help!

[Emma.]

Is it a pain not living close to the law school? I noticed that the buses only run until about 6pm, so how do most people get to and from the campus afterwards?

I would say that it is actually less convenient 1L year to live closer to the law school. Because the largest group of students lives at Regents/Algonquin/the surrounding neighborhood, group studies are many times organized here, 1Ls meet up for bar review and other events together here, and it is the safest and easiest to get to school from when it snows. There will be parts of the year where the bus is the best way to get to school because of the snow, and it is convenient to have the bus stop right next to the building you live in. It is also the safest in terms of crime-- the area is well patrolled and is the farthest away from Inglewood of any place in Hyde Park. Getting downtown is also easiest from here-- lake shore trial if you like to run, lake shore drive if you have a car, and the metra train and 6 bus are all right outside the buildings.

What about living downtown? My roommate now is moving back and wants to live in the South Loop and says it should be easy to commute from there, but I'm wondering if any current students could give me some insight

It's easy to commute from downtown. If I were living downtown I would stay out of South Loop and live in River North, New Eastside, Gold Coast, etc. South Loop doesn't really have much to do and is about as expensive as further north.

I'm not HP's biggest fan, but I would still recommend living down there for 1L. If you choose to live up north, you should probably either (a) live close to the #2 bus route; or (b) have a car. If you live further north than the #2 you'll end up having to transfer from bus or train to a bus in order to get to and from school.

[JollyGreenGiant]

Per usual, I have to agree with Emma. Hyde Park is not an ideal place to live, but I highly recommend living there for 1L. It helps you build relationships and it's very convenient. I do advocate getting out and seeing the city, but I think you miss out on a lot of things if you don't live in HP for 1L.

[Bildungsroman]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

[Dany]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

lol

[Bildungsroman]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

lol

SOME OF US ARE NEUROTIC OK?

[Xifeng]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

lol

SOME OF US ARE NEUROTIC OK?

Preach.

[TaipeiMort]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

lol

SOME OF US ARE NEUROTIC OK?

They have been 2 weeks late the last 2 years winter quarter maybe your class will be more lucky.

[Emma.]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

No. You could get them any day from now until who knows when... sometime in May maybe?

[Flash]

2Ls and 3Ls, did they always release your 1L grades on a friday?

No. You could get them any day from now until who knows when... sometime in May maybe?

I'm hoping they don't come out til at least August.

[seanPtheB]

Does anyone know what the laws are like in Illinois when it comes to signing a lease and then trying to back out of it before moving in? When I visited UChi a couple of months ago the lady at Regents told me there were only 2 rooms left that fit the specifications I had asked for... (facing north, one br, etc.). Any chance she was being honest?

[ellewoods110]

Does anyone know what the laws are like in Illinois when it comes to signing a lease and then trying to back out of it before moving in? When I visited UChi a couple of months ago the lady at Regents told me there were only 2 rooms left that fit the specifications I had asked for... (facing north, one br, etc.). Any chance she was being honest?

More will open up. I haven't told them I'm moving out my unit yet, and I have a great 1 br facing north with great views.

[duckmoney]

Does anyone know what the laws are like in Illinois when it comes to signing a lease and then trying to back out of it before moving in? When I visited UChi a couple of months ago the lady at Regents told me there were only 2 rooms left that fit the specifications I had asked for... (facing north, one br, etc.). Any chance she was being honest?

Chances are everything will be governed by the terms of the lease, and they'll probably make you pay for the entire term of the lease if you sign it. There may be some way to be back out, but it would probably cost more than just living in Regents.

Also, the new Regents management company, MAC properties, is horrible.

[Dany]

Also, the new Regents management company, MAC properties, is horrible.

How so?

[JollyGreenGiant]

Does anyone know what the laws are like in Illinois when it comes to signing a lease and then trying to back out of it before moving in? When I visited UChi a couple of months ago the lady at Regents told me there were only 2 rooms left that fit the specifications I had asked for... (facing north, one br, etc.). Any chance she was being honest?

More will open up. I haven't told them I'm moving out my unit yet, and I have a great 1 br facing north with great views.

MAC doesn't do the "pay the app fee to reserve a room" thing like the prior owners?

But yeah, I would guess there would be many openings after the school year. Regents has high turnover, I'm guessing.

[knickerbocker]

How important is it to have a car? If I don't know how to drive, should I start learning now?

[tamereth]

Has anyone used Zipcar? Is there usually a car available (around Hyde Park) when you need one?

[Dany]

How important is it to have a car? If I don't know how to drive, should I start learning now?

I'd say most students don't have cars. Parking is expensive, and you can get everywhere you need to get via public transportation. No need to learn how to drive and get a car to live in Chicago, IMO.

[seanPtheB]

Does anyone know what the laws are like in Illinois when it comes to signing a lease and then trying to back out of it before moving in? When I visited UChi a couple of months ago the lady at Regents told me there were only 2 rooms left that fit the specifications I had asked for... (facing north, one br, etc.). Any chance she was being honest?

More will open up. I haven't told them I'm moving out my unit yet, and I have a great 1 br facing north with great views.

MAC doesn't do the "pay the app fee to reserve a room" thing like the prior owners?

But yeah, I would guess there would be many openings after the school year. Regents has high turnover, I'm guessing.

They do have the "pay the app fee to reserve a room" still, but all it does is guarantee you some kind of room in the entire complex. The only way you can lock in a specific room or room type is to sign a lease.

I guess I'll just wait a little longer until I am even more sure I'll be at Chi to sign a lease. Thanks for the respones guys!

[TaipeiMort]

How important is it to have a car? If I don't know how to drive, should I start learning now?

I love having a car. If you live near Regents area ( metra, 6 bus) it shouldn't be necessary.

[duckmoney]

How important is it to have a car? If I don't know how to drive, should I start learning now?

I love having a car. If you live near Regents area ( metra, 6 bus) it shouldn't be necessary.

If you can afford a car, it can be really nice to have. It lets you get out of Hyde Park much more easily. Public transportation is very slow if you're going anywhere but the loop. It also makes grocery shopping much easier / cheaper, but probably doesn't outweigh the costs of parking unless you have a family.

[Lisi]

Has anyone used Zipcar? Is there usually a car available (around Hyde Park) when you need one?

I haven't used a zipcar, since I have my own car here, but there always seem to be zipcars in the various parking lots a bit east of the law school. There are also several I-Go cars. It's probably about half and half. I can't speak much to the parking lots near Regents or in other lots around Hyde Park. I really enjoy having a car here. I would suggest zipcar as a good alternative though since it sounds like a pretty good deal, and there's tons of little errands that you might want to do that would be a lot more inconvenient with public transportation.

[Lisi]

Can someone please explain what makes UChi so much more "rigorous" than other law schools? I'm having a hard time understanding what the word means in context. Is UChi that much harder than a Columbia or NYU? Are the students really that much more concerned about their education than peer students elsewhere?

Thanks

I personally think the "rigor" element is a bit overly hyped. In large part, the "rigor" and "where fun comes to die" aspects of Chicago law school culture is largely do to the reputation of the University of Chicago overall as this kind of school. And it's definitely true that the undergrad and some of the grad programs are very intense and prone to attract very narrowly focused academic types (people who don't tend to excel at balancing work and play at socially recommended levels).

I did undergrad at Chicago and felt that my experience was a bit more "rigorous" than the experiences my friends had at peer schools. However, as far as I can tell with law school, there's not very much a difference between Chicago and peer schools. People at top law schools are all overachievers who have always done well (and expect to continue to do well despite what the curve may have to say about that). I'm not sure about NYU, but the Columbia law students I've known have been just as intense and engaged as my Chicago classmates. I don't find my classmates to be competitive at all. People don't talk about grades, and I never hear people comparing themselves to others. The only thing that might throw you off and make Chicago seem more rigorous is the quarter system. It makes you feel like you're always working (because each quarter goes by so quickly). It takes some getting used to. However, on the "less rigorous" side of things, I think it helps that the first quarter 1L grades count so little toward our overall average (it's nice to take your first set of law school exams without having them determine 50% of your 1L GPA). Also, for me personally, the small class size makes the school seem less rigorous: there are only so many events, talks, etc. to attend (a large variety of opportunities stresses me out when I have no time for them), and since we all know each other and our profs know us, I'm more likely to be kept in the loop about stuff that I've forgotten.

[American_in_China]

Just made it off the waitlist; not sure about where I'm heading though. I'm coming up next Wednesday and staying through Friday night or Saturday. Any tips on stuff going on I should see? I'm already scheduled to go sit in on Levmore's Torts and Nussbaum's Emotion, Reason, and Law. Any other classes I should visit?

On a living note; are the grad housing apartments a few blocks west of the school that bad? As much as everyone suggests Regent's, I'm on a tight budget and the cost is way lower over there. I lived in a POS apartment my last year of undergrad and while I was in China, so the only thing I really care about is safety and proximity to a gym.

Also, is there a good pool hall on campus or near it? The only dedicated pool hall I could find online was about 20-25 minutes north of school.
Thanks!

[Bildungsroman]

Just made it off the waitlist; not sure about where I'm heading though. I'm coming up next Wednesday and staying through Friday night or Saturday. Any tips on stuff going on I should see? I'm already scheduled to go sit in on Levmore's Torts and Nussbaum's Emotion, Reason, and Law. Any other classes I should visit?

On a living note; are the grad housing apartments a few blocks west of the school that bad? As much as everyone suggests Regent's, I'm on a tight budget and the cost is way lower over there. I lived in a POS apartment my last year of undergrad and while I was in China, so the only thing I really care about is safety and proximity to a gym.

Also, is there a good pool hall on campus or near it? The only dedicated pool hall I could find online was about 20-25 minutes north of school.
Thanks!

Which apartments are you talking about? Generally I'd say you're pretty safe if you're east of Cottage Grove (the north-south street that borders the east half of Washington Park). I wouldn't go south of Washington Park.