UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[Xifeng]

I've heard the metra is running but you can't bring backpacks on it, and it's bypassing a LOT of stops.

For the two-quarter classes, it depends. If you have the same prof for both quarters, it's like a normal exam. If you have Professor A and Professor B each teaching one quarter, usually how it works is you spend half the exam time on Professor A's half of the exam and half on Professor B's half of the exam and they each grade their own halves and then do math to figure out your final grade for the course.

[duckmoney]

Any thoughts as to whether trying to write on to a secondary journal is worth the time investment / provides meaningful boost for OCI or clerkships?

[JohnDorian]

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[duckmoney]

Could someone explain Corporate Lab for me? The page for it on the UChicago website isn't super clear. It says there's a transactional clinic but that there's a strongly recommended prerequisite class? If you've taken or are taking it, would you recommend it?

Let's talk.

I would love to hear more about this!


Also, are there any professors I should stay away from for the 1L elective due to insanely strict grading or an irregularly high workload? I know how this sounds, but if there's grade cutoffs at top firms based on 1L grades, it doesn't make sense to put more on your plate during a stressful time.

You don't even know what electives are being offered. Ask this again in March.

[Emma.]

Any thoughts as to whether trying to write on to a secondary journal is worth the time investment / provides meaningful boost for OCI or clerkships?

Yeah, I think it is worth it. Compared to people I know on LR, the Legal Forum people were much happier and some actually really enjoyed the journal.

FWIW, I'm not sure how much of a boost even LR gives you at OCI. The LR "boost" is really a function of having top 10% grades, IMO.

[TaipeiMort]

Any thoughts as to whether trying to write on to a secondary journal is worth the time investment / provides meaningful boost for OCI or clerkships?

Yeah, I think it is worth it. Compared to people I know on LR, the Legal Forum people were much happier and some actually really enjoyed the journal.

FWIW, I'm not sure how much of a boost even LR gives you at OCI. The LR "boost" is really a function of having top 10% grades, IMO.

I do think that LR helps you with mid-market firms/ biglaw satellites. I had two friends at median during the worst year who wrote on to law review that both got jobs, and commented that that LR helped them get there.

I don't think LR helps you with most top firms. They are just as willing to take the guy who didn't do well on the write-on with the high grades. Something that people don't realize is that there are a good number of people with really high grades who don't get LR. The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

[JollyGreenGiant]

The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

I don't think this is accurate. If you got on a secondary journal, then surely you had the requisite "good faith effort" for law review grade-on.
I'm guessing the cut-off was much higher than 179.5.

[Xifeng]

The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

I don't think this is accurate. If you got on a secondary journal, then surely you had the requisite "good faith effort" for law review grade-on.
I'm guessing the cut-off was much higher than 179.5.

Yeah, that confuses me.

Any awesome 2L/3L advice for us 1Ls, other than curling up in the corner?

[TaipeiMort]

The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

I don't think this is accurate. If you got on a secondary journal, then surely you had the requisite "good faith effort" for law review grade-on.
I'm guessing the cut-off was much higher than 179.5.

EDIT. Don't requote what I just typed. Sufficient to say it appeared to be a 180.5 cut off, which was irregular because it is usually a 179.5 or so. But, something DQed some reasonable entries last year, and the cut off was normal, and some high GPA people didn't make the good faith cut off.

[Emma.]

The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

I don't think this is accurate. If you got on a secondary journal, then surely you had the requisite "good faith effort" for law review grade-on.
I'm guessing the cut-off was much higher than 179.5.

EDIT. Don't requote what I just typed. Sufficient to say it appeared to be a 180.5 cut off, which was irregular because it is usually a 179.5 or so. But, something DQed some reasonable entries last year, and the cut off was normal, and some high GPA people didn't make the good faith cut off.

This can't be right. If you made a secondary journal then you made the good faith requirement and would have been offered LR.

Everything I heard pointed to a higher cut off for top 10% as a result of the very top grades being clustered in an unusually small group of people. In the past the grade cutoff has usually been between 179.5 and 180, but I think it is usually much closer to the higher end of that range.

[TaipeiMort]

The correction portion had a threshold that killed people last year. I know two people with 180.3, and 180.4 GPAs that didn't get LR but got secondary journals. I think the grade-on line was like 179.5 or something. They did well with top firms.

I don't think this is accurate. If you got on a secondary journal, then surely you had the requisite "good faith effort" for law review grade-on.
I'm guessing the cut-off was much higher than 179.5.

EDIT. Don't requote what I just typed. Sufficient to say it appeared to be a 180.5 cut off, which was irregular because it is usually a 179.5 or so. But, something DQed some reasonable entries last year, and the cut off was normal, and some high GPA people didn't make the good faith cut off.

This can't be right. If you made a secondary journal then you made the good faith requirement and would have been offered LR.

Everything I heard pointed to a higher cut off for top 10% as a result of the very top grades being clustered in an unusually small group of people. In the past the grade cutoff has usually been between 179.5 and 180, but I think it is usually much closer to the higher end of that range.

It was with the correction portion which secondary journals don't use and is hard todo right if you don't budget enough time.

[American_in_China]

Anybody got a breakdown on the exam "types" at Chicago? Are the 1L classes basically all issue spotters? I ask because given Chicago's rep it wouldn't surprise me if there was more "policy" type questions. (Note that my understanding of law school exams comes entirely from reading GTM two months ago)

[nygrrrl]

I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think it was my best option, but "best option" for me meant weighing a lot of different factors.
I was lucky enough to have really amazing options for school, and choosing was really difficult.Of course I have no way of knowing what those other schools would have been like, but I have never regretted my decision to come here.

This post made me happy. (HAI EMMA<3)

[marburger06]

It was with the correction portion which secondary journals don't use and is hard todo right if you don't budget enough time.

This is completely inaccurate. The secondary journals, like law review, use the editing portion of the exam and also weight it as 30% of the overall score.

[Dany]

Anybody got a breakdown on the exam "types" at Chicago? Are the 1L classes basically all issue spotters? I ask because given Chicago's rep it wouldn't surprise me if there was more "policy" type questions. (Note that my understanding of law school exams comes entirely from reading GTM two months ago)

Both issue spotter and policy.

[StrictlyBusiness]

It was with the correction portion which secondary journals don't use and is hard todo right if you don't budget enough time.

This is completely inaccurate. The secondary journals, like law review, use the editing portion of the exam and also weight it as 30% of the overall score.

Would someone like to explain this whole situation to us 0Ls. This page might as well be written in hieroglyphics at this point.

[Xifeng]

Anybody got a breakdown on the exam "types" at Chicago? Are the 1L classes basically all issue spotters? I ask because given Chicago's rep it wouldn't surprise me if there was more "policy" type questions. (Note that my understanding of law school exams comes entirely from reading GTM two months ago)

Both issue spotter and policy.

But you won't see a 100% policy question exam, for sure. I'll do a quick breakdown of our half's exams (this is from memory so it's not 100% accurate)

Elements (in-class): issue spotters (kind of with policy mixed in, it was odd); the other half had weird econ questions
Civ Pro (take-home): mostly issue spotters, a policy-type question
Property (in-cass): issue spotters w a short policy question at the end of one half
Contracts: issue spotter

Also, some exams incorporate multiple choice. For this quarter, the crim/contracts finals have a 2 hour multiple choice section and then a 6 hour take home section.

tl;dr study like it's an issue spotter, the policy questions usually aren't that bad, just say something that's not too stupid and talk about arguments from both sides

[cjcregg]

the other half had weird econ questions

this concerns me. ive never been able to master anything but the most basic econ concepts. was this econ material thoroughly reviewed before the exam?

[Xifeng]

the other half had weird econ questions

this concerns me. ive never been able to master anything but the most basic econ concepts. was this econ material thoroughly reviewed before the exam?

I wasn't in that class, but a lot of it was prisoners dilemma stuff. But it was all taught in the course. Even at Chicago, they don't throw in random econ questions just to punish you for not being an econ major.

[Dany]

the other half had weird econ questions

this concerns me. ive never been able to master anything but the most basic econ concepts. was this econ material thoroughly reviewed before the exam?

I wasn't in that class, but our professors are wonderful and I seriously doubt they'd put any economic concept on an exam that you hadn't discussed in class. If you're struggling with any econ concepts our profs have open door policies and will be happy to help you work on it. It's really not an issue if you don't have an econ background or if you dislike it. None of my classes have really done true economics stuff. You'll be fine.

[Xifeng]

I wasn't an econ major at all and none of the econ topics/approaches in 1L classes have been over my head. The professors explain it all really well.

[Flash]

Whoever does bar review emails next year has big shoes to fill.

[TaipeiMort]

Whoever does bar review emails next year has big shoes to fill.

I liked KP. Transcript share was funny.

[Emma.]

It was with the correction portion which secondary journals don't use and is hard todo right if you don't budget enough time.

This is completely inaccurate. The secondary journals, like law review, use the editing portion of the exam and also weight it as 30% of the overall score.

Would someone like to explain this whole situation to us 0Ls. This page might as well be written in hieroglyphics at this point.

Seriously, don't worry about any of this until about this time next year. If you hadn't figured out already, this thread gets used for a fair amount of upperclass-to-1L advice as well.

[Emma.]

I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think it was my best option, but "best option" for me meant weighing a lot of different factors.
I was lucky enough to have really amazing options for school, and choosing was really difficult.Of course I have no way of knowing what those other schools would have been like, but I have never regretted my decision to come here.

This post made me happy. (HAI EMMA<3)

NYGRRRL!!! <3 <3