Indiana University - Bloomington students taking questions Forum

[RMstratosphere]

2-- When do you get your financial aid money for the summer start? Did you have to complete (or change) the previous year's FAFSA?

I don't do summer start, but anecdotally, they comped summer start for full ride recipients, and some on partial scholarship as well. If you are talking about loan money, then I’m not sure if 4 credits meets the requirement for "being full-time" to get it. It might meat the minimum requirement, or the requirement might be 6.

Grammar fail.

[RMstratosphere]

For posterity's sake:

Ochoa's Contracts exam grade was available to be viewed at 11:00 pm Friday, 01/14/11.

There is a school wide rumor that she submitted the grades several days earlier in the week and some disconnect occurred between them being entered into the system and becoming accessible by students. Specifically I've heard that students meeting with OCPD early in the week had administration tell them their Contracts grade was up, yet they couldn't view it.

[superflush]

Grammar fail.

I'll give you the 2 typos, but anecdotally is a word.

Ochoa's Contracts exam grade was available to be viewed at 11:00 pm Friday, 01/14/11.
There is a school wide rumor that she submitted the grades several days earlier in the week and some disconnect occurred between them being entered into the system and becoming accessible by students. Specifically I've heard that students meeting with OCPD early in the week had administration tell them their Contracts grade was up, yet they couldn't view it.

It goes through some sort of process before it is up for us on OneStart. Which means that there is some sort of lag. I've also been hearing that the system flips its updates at certain times. I don't know if that is correct, but two of our grades came in right around 11pm.

[kings84_wr]

Last year I remember them coming in around 11pm mon-friday, but then on saturday in the afternoon earlier.

Feel lucky as last year we did not have any grades at least for another week haha.

[brokenwindows]

A

[chihuahua12]

If someone could elaborate a bit more on the summer start program that would be great. Any regrets? Is it worth it? How does it change the courses you take during 1L if you take torts over the summer?

Thanks.

[LogosEther]

If someone could elaborate a bit more on the summer start program that would be great. Any regrets? Is it worth it? How does it change the courses you take during 1L if you take torts over the summer?

Thanks.

I didn't do summer start, but I can tell you that instead of taking Torts in the first semester, the summer starters take Criminal Procedure.

[LSATWIZ]

How is the weather?

What kind of firms are you guys able to interview with?

How is day to day life? Does not having a car hurt socially - are you still able to go to parties, etc.? What do you do for food?

How is the weather relative to the northeast?

For people in the top percentiles of their class, what did they do to prepare for 1L?

[superflush]

How is day to day life? Does not having a car hurt socially - are you still able to go to parties, etc.? What do you do for food?

No. Not having a car doesn't hurt those things at all.

How is the weather relative to the northeast?

It's been really more or less the same (overall).

[LogosEther]

Weather is pretty much what you would expect. Summers are hot, winters are cold, neither are really extreme, unless you're sensitive.

Life at IU is very different from your typical commuter city school. Getting to school takes most people no more than fifteen minutes, so this is really nice. People can go home between classes, participate in campus activities, etc. It really adds time to your day. Of course Bloomington doesn't have the same stuff going on as a major metropolitan city, but hey, I'm not bored.

[superflush]

Weather is pretty much what you would expect. Summers are hot, winters are cold, neither are really extreme, unless you're sensitive.

Overall, it's moderately warmer here than what I'm used to on the east coast, but it doesn't make much of a difference overall. Like he says, summers are hot, winters are cold. If it is a few degrees warmer overall in August than what I'm used to, it doesn't really matter much. Same with the winter. A slightly "less harsh" winter doesn't make too big of a difference. It is still cold here.

[superflush]

How is day to day life? Does not having a car hurt socially - are you still able to go to parties, etc.? What do you do for food?

No. Not having a car doesn't hurt those things at all.

I'll elaborate on the car thing. Most people within walking distance from the law school. Most of the restaurants and bars are within walking distance as well. So, as long as you live within walking distance of the law school, you really shouldn't have trouble getting around when it comes to nightlife. If you live far away, you will have to rely on driving, bus, taxi etc. (most people find this to be a burden). Anecdotally, most of the people I know who live on the outskirts of town want to move closer to the law school next year.

[ryanshep]

To all those interested in what it takes to maintain the scholarship I just received this reply from the admissions office,

"Thanks for your continued interest in Indiana Law.

Satisfactory progress means remaining in good academic standing. You will keep your scholarship as long as you remain enrolled in the school."

90% sure I am heading to IUB.

[Lwoods]

To all those interested in what it takes to maintain the scholarship I just received this reply from the admissions office,

"Thanks for your continued interest in Indiana Law.

Satisfactory progress means remaining in good academic standing. You will keep your scholarship as long as you remain enrolled in the school."

90% sure I am heading to IUB.

Yay, awesome! Thanks for following up.

[danquayle]

How is day to day life? Does not having a car hurt socially - are you still able to go to parties, etc.? What do you do for food?

No. Not having a car doesn't hurt those things at all.

I'll elaborate on the car thing. Most people within walking distance from the law school. Most of the restaurants and bars are within walking distance as well. So, as long as you live within walking distance of the law school, you really shouldn't have trouble getting around when it comes to nightlife. If you live far away, you will have to rely on driving, bus, taxi etc. (most people find this to be a burden). Anecdotally, most of the people I know who live on the outskirts of town want to move closer to the law school next year.

Yeah, if anything having a car you must park is a burden. Socially everyone happens on or near campus, excluding the exceptional trips to like the winery, indy or b-dubs. I lived very close to campus, and most of my friends would park their cars next to my apartment where we'd begin our night.

As far as weather goes, Bloomington is pretty nice for the Midwest. If you're used to NY, Chicago or some other northern city you'll be happy with the difference. Remember that Southern Indiana is nearly the South. I came from Detroit, and I noticed that there was generally a 5-10 degree difference in weather. That might not seem like much, but it essentially meant spring came a month sooner than I was used to and winter a month later.

[superflush]

As far as weather goes, Bloomington is pretty nice for the Midwest. If you're used to NY, Chicago or some other northern city you'll be happy with the difference. Remember that Southern Indiana is nearly the South. I came from Detroit, and I noticed that there was generally a 5-10 degree difference in weather. That might not seem like much, but it essentially meant spring came a month sooner than I was used to, as did winter.

Yea. I should add that I haven't been here for the full here, so there might be some more significant differences that I haven't experienced yet (such as spring coming earlier).
The point that I was trying to make is that if it is 90° here and 85° back east in August, it doesn't make a huge difference. You still will need to run AC, and walking around will be pretty hot. And if in the middle of the night this week its 20° here and 15° back east, the difference doesn't matter much. Either way you'll probably want to run the heat, etc.

If you are coming from some place like Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, etc., then it will be somewhat of a shift if you aren't used it.

[danquayle]

As far as weather goes, Bloomington is pretty nice for the Midwest. If you're used to NY, Chicago or some other northern city you'll be happy with the difference. Remember that Southern Indiana is nearly the South. I came from Detroit, and I noticed that there was generally a 5-10 degree difference in weather. That might not seem like much, but it essentially meant spring came a month sooner than I was used to, as did winter.

Yea. I should add that I haven't been here for the full here, so there might be some more significant differences that I haven't experienced yet (such as spring coming earlier).
The point that I was trying to make is that if it is 90° here and 85° back east in August, it doesn't make a huge difference. You still will need to run AC, and walking around will be pretty hot. And if in the middle of the night this week its 20° here and 15° back east, the difference doesn't matter much. Either way you'll probably want to run the heat, etc.

If you are coming from some place like Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, etc., then it will be somewhat of a shift if you aren't used it.

You quoted me before I could respond...

But I do think 31 degrees and 40 degrees is a major difference, for example. And that happens a lot.

[thmgoodw]

How is day to day life? Does not having a car hurt socially - are you still able to go to parties, etc.? What do you do for food?

No. Not having a car doesn't hurt those things at all.

I'll elaborate on the car thing. Most people within walking distance from the law school.

Perhaps...but unless things have changed in recent years, all the apartments near the law school pretty much sucked. I was among the hoards that lived on the eastern side of campus and drove to class.

Tom
Class of '02

[thmgoodw]

Also for the grading curve:

The school has a 3.3 curve (with a bit of room for the profs, of course) but the standard deviation isn't set. So at some other law schools professors are required to hand out 7% A's, 10% A-'s, 25% B+'s, etc. (as an example). Not so at IU. Most professors stick to a pretty good and rational deviation but there is one outlier that I know of.

LOL, What? Anyone have any idea when that kicked in? I graduated in 2002 and it was squarely a 3.0-3.1 curve (i.e., a professor couldn't give out higher than a 3.1 average unless they had less than 20 students in the class).

Grade inflation I guess...

[thmgoodw]

2- When it comes to finding a place to live, I may be in the minority in that I'm wanting a place that is somewhat secluded; just sort of away from the hustle and bustle. I don't mind a short drive. Can someone point me in the direction of apartments that fit this description? Or does anyone think this is a bad idea?

I can't speak to how it is now, but when I went to IU back in the day I stayed at Fountain Park Apartments on East Tenth Street. There was actually a pretty large MBA student population there (particularly Asian and Indian) as the school bus route is a straight shot to Kelley from there.

[thmgoodw]

The idea was that a higher GPA curve would made IU students look better relative to other law schools, many of which also had a GPA curve. This makes senses to the degree that many job postings require a certain GPA threshold. Say if a gpa of 3.4 is required for a job posting. With the previous curve, that would probably take a top 20% class standing to apply. Under the new distribution, you'd probably only need a top 40% class standing...

Ah, yes. I don't recall where the top 20% cutoff was, but the top 10% curve cutoff was always within a few hundredths of 3.50, so I would guesstimate that top 20% might be around a 3.4. Heck, 3.65 was typically top 1-2%.

[thmgoodw]

1Ls get to submit a preference for our Con Law professor: Baude, Conkle, Johnsen, and Williams.
Can we please have some feedback, helpful hints, and tips from upper class folks?
Thanks in advance.

The little i know about Johnsen is she was Obama's appointment for legal counsel, but never got confirmed.

WIlliams is super smart and a great lecturer and makes con law very simple. Fairly socratic, we had a pretty big class, but I would imagine with 4 sections it would be even more socratic. You will learn tons from him.
He specializes in constitutional design, federalism, 2nd amendment.

The cons for Williams is he teaches a lot of his own views on Con law, which make a lot of sense and are very interesting, however they are not really the actual law. That being said con law is about the least used subject in practice for most lawyers so its not the end of the world. His unique views also make chemerinsky or any other supplement completely pointless or even harmful.

Old post, but just had to chime in. I had D. Williams for Con Law and it was horrific. I really hated his style and wanted to stick a fork through my eye every class. You might it consider it just telling us his views, but it seemed like it was a sermon indoctrination to many of us. I had some great professors, like Hoffman, Buxbaum, Geyh and Stake, but Williams was a piece of work. No doubt Williams has a high IQ, but so does Hoffman and he's not a douchebag.

On a side note, I hated his wife even more. We had a mandatory sensitivity or some sort of class wide event with speakers, with Susan as the MC. Susan would ask a question, and then anytime anyone disagreed with her position or didn't spout back the same viewpoint as Susan wanted, she would instantly cut off the person. IMHO, she is a b*tch.

[TatteredDignity]

I'll give you the 2 typos, but anecdotally is a word.

I think his issue was with usage. Anecdotally is an adverb, and it doesn't modify any verb in this case.

[thmgoodw]

FWIW, Gjerdingen was by far my least favorite professor.

Did you notice or hear about a non-correlation between Gjerdingen's grades versus other classes?

I had Heidt and absolutely loved him (one of my best friends paid something like $300 at the student auction to get a look at Heidt's seating chart that had lots of funny notes about students on them...not sure if he still does that). Pretty much everyone who did well in Heidt's torts classes finished extremely well overall. Whereas, all my friends who had Gjerdingen, all pretty much had some variety of "B" in his class, and those who got A's were not what I would consider good law students.

[RMstratosphere]

I'll give you the 2 typos, but anecdotally is a word.

I think his issue was with usage. Anecdotally is a adverb, and it doesn't modify any verb in this case.

This.