Penn Students Taking Questions Forum

[PennBull]

Recently posted this is another thread but I figured this would be a good place to ask as well:

Just trying to work out my ED strategy in september

Everything I see about Penn's I like, while NYU seems to be more questionable. I don't know where the TLS "CCN MVP" thing came from but I really don't see the sense in it unless it's more just a relic of the past or something.

Penn seems to have top notch placement numbers, both in clerkships and biglaw.. only thing that is a little scary at Penn is from this thread:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&start=75
seems that if you miss out on big law at Penn you might be trouble.. whereas below median at some schools, like Michigan (because of their LRAP,) might not be in as much trouble. However NYU hasn't released this data at all, so it's hard to compare the two against each other I think.

Add in the fact that NYU has the crazy COL and in general less scholarship money, is there any good reason to favor NYU over Penn? I'm just legitimately curious if there is a big positive to this T6 school VS a T7 school that I've missed in my reading so far.

Hoping someone here may have similarly decided between NYU and Penn.. are there any other considerations I'm not really considering here?

Do you want biglaw, and, if so, where do you want to work?

[SaintsTheMetal]

Do you want biglaw, and, if so, where do you want to work?

Yes I am hoping to spend a while in Biglaw, and at this point hoping to transition into a small firm/entrepreneurship after paying off loans and building up some capital. Obviously a 0L plan so that could totally change once I am in school. Taking the patent bar summer between UG and LS if that matters at all.

In a perfect world, I would like to get back to California.. have ties to SF Bay but LA is aite too.. I realize the market here sucks though so I'd be happy with NYC or other big city BigLaw if getting back to cali would be tough

[r6_philly]

Do you want biglaw, and, if so, where do you want to work?

Yes I am hoping to spend a while in Biglaw, and at this point hoping to transition into a small firm/entrepreneurship after paying off loans and building up some capital. Obviously a 0L plan so that could totally change once I am in school. Taking the patent bar summer between UG and LS if that matters at all.

In a perfect world, I would like to get back to California.. have ties to SF Bay but LA is aite too.. I realize the market here sucks though so I'd be happy with NYC or other big city BigLaw if getting back to cali would be tough

I think NYU and Penn are essentially peer schools anyway, unless you want to target certain firms in NY which seem to favor NYU a bit. But for CA I can't really say it makes too much of a difference, NYU may have a better alum network, but you will also be a big fish in a small pond at Penn and our alum network is still strong in CA.

One thing to consider, I believe the curve is harsher at NYU. And it is significantly easier to get on Law Review at Penn.

[yikes0117]

Penn + Texas ties is a killer, and I mean killer, combination. Texas firms will dip quite far below median to snag one of their own.

THE COMBINATION LITERALLY KILLS THINGS.

well hot damn!

[PennBull]

Do you want biglaw, and, if so, where do you want to work?

Yes I am hoping to spend a while in Biglaw, and at this point hoping to transition into a small firm/entrepreneurship after paying off loans and building up some capital. Obviously a 0L plan so that could totally change once I am in school. Taking the patent bar summer between UG and LS if that matters at all.

In a perfect world, I would like to get back to California.. have ties to SF Bay but LA is aite too.. I realize the market here sucks though so I'd be happy with NYC or other big city BigLaw if getting back to cali would be tough

I think NYU and Penn are essentially peer schools anyway, unless you want to target certain firms in NY which seem to favor NYU a bit. But for CA I can't really say it makes too much of a difference, NYU may have a better alum network, but you will also be a big fish in a small pond at Penn and our alum network is still strong in CA.

One thing to consider, I believe the curve is harsher at NYU. And it is significantly easier to get on Law Review at Penn.

All of this. When it comes to biglaw, Penn/NYU are a straight wash if the prices are the same. Pick the school you think you would enjoy more.

[Veyron]

Agreed. Although I would contend that we have a much more dedicated, if smaller, alumni network than NYU.

[r6_philly]

Agreed. Although I would contend that we have a much more dedicated, if smaller, alumni network than NYU.

I would also agree with this, but my knowledge is on the east coast. I also think the Penn Law community as a whole is much more tighter knit than NYU, but that's also just a personal perception.

[Micdiddy]

Wow, this thread has kept trucking for a long time. Very cool.

I apologize if this question has been asked, but I will be going to law school next year and I have a wife who is very particular about where she likes to live. She hates the big city feel with crowded streets, graffiti and random shady looking people everywhere. She would love nice parks (especially dog friendly) , a good art community, and convenient, close utilities (like not having to drive through crazy traffic for a grocery store). How does Penn fit into these categories? I obv understand it IS in a big city, but I know some big cities have places where there is a small town feel (like the Wrigleyville/Boystown area in Chicago).

[TLSNYC]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

[r6_philly]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

Go to the OCI site, on the last line of the large red bold letters at the top, click on "click here for an introduction."

You get 60 bids, you rank them based on your analysis. The computer run it through a process and spits out a bunch of screening interviews for you. If you do it right, you may get up to 20 interviews from the 60 bids. If are not careful you may get as low as 10 interviews I suppose.

[clee33]

Wow, this thread has kept trucking for a long time. Very cool.

I apologize if this question has been asked, but I will be going to law school next year and I have a wife who is very particular about where she likes to live. She hates the big city feel with crowded streets, graffiti and random shady looking people everywhere. She would love nice parks (especially dog friendly) , a good art community, and convenient, close utilities (like not having to drive through crazy traffic for a grocery store). How does Penn fit into these categories? I obv understand it IS in a big city, but I know some big cities have places where there is a small town feel (like the Wrigleyville/Boystown area in Chicago).

Penn itself is across the river from center city in an area called university city. UC is essentially Penn and Drexel's campuses. Both schools do a good job of presenting themselves well. While it definitely would still be called an "urban setting" there is also plenty of green and open space. In my opinion it doesn't really have the big city feel.

Are you deadset on living right next to the school? If not, you may want to looking into living by the Ben Franklin Parkway, like Franklintown or something. It's definitely more airy and spread out, plus you would be right by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Collection, as well as the start of Fairmount Park. There's also a Whole Foods around there.

[Micdiddy]

Wow, this thread has kept trucking for a long time. Very cool.

I apologize if this question has been asked, but I will be going to law school next year and I have a wife who is very particular about where she likes to live. She hates the big city feel with crowded streets, graffiti and random shady looking people everywhere. She would love nice parks (especially dog friendly) , a good art community, and convenient, close utilities (like not having to drive through crazy traffic for a grocery store). How does Penn fit into these categories? I obv understand it IS in a big city, but I know some big cities have places where there is a small town feel (like the Wrigleyville/Boystown area in Chicago).

Penn itself is across the river from center city in an area called university city. UC is essentially Penn and Drexel's campuses. Both schools do a good job of presenting themselves well. While it definitely would still be called an "urban setting" there is also plenty of green and open space. In my opinion it doesn't really have the big city feel.

Are you deadset on living right next to the school? If not, you may want to looking into living by the Ben Franklin Parkway, like Franklintown or something. It's definitely more airy and spread out, plus you would be right by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Collection, as well as the start of Fairmount Park. There's also a Whole Foods around there.

Hmm, this is fantastic information. No I'm not dead set on living right next to the school, but there's a chance we'll only have one car so within biking distance, or extremely reliable and convenient public transportation would be a necessity.
My wife's favorite grocery store is Whole Foods, so she'll be happy about that. Thanks for the info!

[PennBull]

Wow, this thread has kept trucking for a long time. Very cool.

I apologize if this question has been asked, but I will be going to law school next year and I have a wife who is very particular about where she likes to live. She hates the big city feel with crowded streets, graffiti and random shady looking people everywhere. She would love nice parks (especially dog friendly) , a good art community, and convenient, close utilities (like not having to drive through crazy traffic for a grocery store). How does Penn fit into these categories? I obv understand it IS in a big city, but I know some big cities have places where there is a small town feel (like the Wrigleyville/Boystown area in Chicago).

Penn itself is across the river from center city in an area called university city. UC is essentially Penn and Drexel's campuses. Both schools do a good job of presenting themselves well. While it definitely would still be called an "urban setting" there is also plenty of green and open space. In my opinion it doesn't really have the big city feel.

Are you deadset on living right next to the school? If not, you may want to looking into living by the Ben Franklin Parkway, like Franklintown or something. It's definitely more airy and spread out, plus you would be right by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Collection, as well as the start of Fairmount Park. There's also a Whole Foods around there.

Hmm, this is fantastic information. No I'm not dead set on living right next to the school, but there's a chance we'll only have one car so within biking distance, or extremely reliable and convenient public transportation would be a necessity.
My wife's favorite grocery store is Whole Foods, so she'll be happy about that. Thanks for the info!

Clearly your wife has never been to Wegmans.

[PennBull]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

Go to the OCI site, on the last line of the large red bold letters at the top, click on "click here for an introduction."

You get 60 bids, you rank them based on your analysis. The computer run it through a process and spits out a bunch of screening interviews for you. If you do it right, you may get up to 20 interviews from the 60 bids. If are not careful you may get as low as 10 interviews I suppose.

For the bid list review period going on now, do we just send them a word document with a list 1 through 60, or is there an input thing somewhere?

[keg411]

Hmm, this is fantastic information. No I'm not dead set on living right next to the school, but there's a chance we'll only have one car so within biking distance, or extremely reliable and convenient public transportation would be a necessity.
My wife's favorite grocery store is Whole Foods, so she'll be happy about that. Thanks for the info!

Clearly your wife has never been to Wegmans.

Seriously, take your one car on a field trip across the bridge to the Cherry Hill Wegman's. It's the best grocery store ever and your wife will love it.

[Micdiddy]

Neither me now my life have ever heard of Wegmans, but I am sure if we do end up in PA we'll stop by. Thanks for the tip!

[Veyron]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

Go to the OCI site, on the last line of the large red bold letters at the top, click on "click here for an introduction."

You get 60 bids, you rank them based on your analysis. The computer run it through a process and spits out a bunch of screening interviews for you. If you do it right, you may get up to 20 interviews from the 60 bids. If are not careful you may get as low as 10 interviews I suppose.

There are 80 bids young padawan.

[elterrible78]

I am almost certain this question has been asked, but it'd be great if someone could humor me (and I do know what the search function is). Is the whole "collegiality" thing at Penn overblown, or have you all found it to be a pretty accurate characterization of the atmosphere?

[r6_philly]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

Go to the OCI site, on the last line of the large red bold letters at the top, click on "click here for an introduction."

You get 60 bids, you rank them based on your analysis. The computer run it through a process and spits out a bunch of screening interviews for you. If you do it right, you may get up to 20 interviews from the 60 bids. If are not careful you may get as low as 10 interviews I suppose.

There are 80 bids young padawan.

60 this year.

[Veyron]

Can anyone help clarify how bidding works...so we just number firms 1 to x based on the order in which we would prefer to interview with them? How low do we bid until? 20? I could not find instructions on the OCI site.

Go to the OCI site, on the last line of the large red bold letters at the top, click on "click here for an introduction."

You get 60 bids, you rank them based on your analysis. The computer run it through a process and spits out a bunch of screening interviews for you. If you do it right, you may get up to 20 interviews from the 60 bids. If are not careful you may get as low as 10 interviews I suppose.

There are 80 bids young padawan.

60 this year.

60 in the first round. Penn still has mysteries left to be revealed to you.

Is the whole "collegiality" thing at Penn overblown

In a word - no. Though if I hear that word one more time I will do decidedly UN-collegial things to the person who says it.

[clee33]

Hmm, this is fantastic information. No I'm not dead set on living right next to the school, but there's a chance we'll only have one car so within biking distance, or extremely reliable and convenient public transportation would be a necessity.
My wife's favorite grocery store is Whole Foods, so she'll be happy about that. Thanks for the info!

No problem.

Yeah the only issue with that area is that it's about a 10-15 minute walk to public transportation that goes to penn.

Certainly bikeable though.

[r6_philly]

Hmm, this is fantastic information. No I'm not dead set on living right next to the school, but there's a chance we'll only have one car so within biking distance, or extremely reliable and convenient public transportation would be a necessity.
My wife's favorite grocery store is Whole Foods, so she'll be happy about that. Thanks for the info!

No problem.

Yeah the only issue with that area is that it's about a 10-15 minute walk to public transportation that goes to penn.

Certainly bikeable though.

There are also buses.

[PennBull]

I am almost certain this question has been asked, but it'd be great if someone could humor me (and I do know what the search function is). Is the whole "collegiality" thing at Penn overblown, or have you all found it to be a pretty accurate characterization of the atmosphere?

This is my favorite question from prospective students haha...it's definitely not overblown. Penn seems to attract certain kinds of students. We definitely party a lot, enjoy being around one another, are very relaxed, never talk about grades and stuff like that unless it's with a close friend, have ZERO problems with malicious gunning (we have the occasional asshattery in class, but in my section I am proud to say we didn't even have that. We were all chill and completely void of gunners. Section 3 represent).

It is a very fun and relaxed atmosphere. Absolutely blew my mind this year how a law school could end up this way.

As I always say, I can't speak for other law schools, but it is definitely a fun and super friendly environment Penn has created, and you'd enjoy it.

[tracy77]

What do you think the law schools are mainly looking at when choosing applicants(besides LSAT and GPA)? By the way, are you going to be a lawyer after graduating? And which area do you prefer to practice?

Hi all!

I'm trying to procrastinate (aren't we all) so I figured I would make a thread to keep me busy.

Random info about me:
3L
~ top 25-30% (after 1L... probably have fallen below that by now... oops)
Involved in the Penn IP Group (as a 2L... not anymore)
Applied to way too many schools so I know a lot about admissions
Worked as an RA 1L summer, Worked at a V10 2L summer (DC)
Secondary Journal (Made board for 2010-2011)
I do awesomely awesome pro bono work

Questions can be about anything, not just Penn.

Edit: You can also feel free to PM me if you have a question you don't want everyone reading

UPDATE: I'm done with law school Will still be around over the summer but not sure I'll stick around after that (maybe one of those super cool "First Year Biglaw Associate Taking Questions" threads will be mine!) but hopefully some current students will take over for me here

[mindarmed]

Are there any current splitters around that would be able to give advice? Does Penn really value the additional "Why Penn?" essay?