UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[gchatbrah]

This is a dumb question, but does anyone know if interviews for the summer Clinic positions are formal? Like should I wear a suit or is business casual fine? Tia

I wore a suit for the IJ Clinic interview. Got the job.

I think everyone I saw that day interviewing for a Clinic position wore a suit.

[Xifeng]

This is a dumb question, but does anyone know if interviews for the summer Clinic positions are formal? Like should I wear a suit or is business casual fine? Tia

Suit up

[20141023]

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[Crowing]

I agree a car is unnecessary, but it is definitely nice to have to go shop downtown or to go to other places that are kinda irritating to access on public transit (like Chinatown). But I would probably not have mine if I had to pay for parking.

1) Peapod
2) Amazon Prime
3) iGo / Zipcar / taxi

All those cost more money than your own car. And I've heard a lot of bad experiences from Peapod. Plus Trader Joe's is awesome so I'd rather go there.

I also like being able to drive home on holidays.

[20141023]

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[LSATSCORES2012]

Regarding driving in the winter... I drove for two years in Colorado, where we would get 400+inches of snow every year (13x as much as Chicago got last year) so this comes with the disclaimer that I'm somewhat used to it. (Then again, I also spent the last four years driving in Florida). On the one hand, where I lived in Colorado they plowed every road thoroughly... whereas here they only plow the main roads. This can make driving on back roads difficult, and you need to stay in the center because the snow builds up in the middle and it's tramped down where tire tracks push it down. I don't know if they have any such courses in Chicago, but my first winter in Colorado I took a winter driving course (not like in a classroom... you use their cars and drive around on an ice course)... it was a ton of fun, and it was also really helpful, so if you're going to have a car it's definitely worth doing.

A car isn't necessary at all. If you end up living in Regents, you're just a few blocks away from Treasure Island, and can walk/take a bus just about anywhere you need to.

That having been said, I have a car, and I'm going to keep it here. I like to buy a few weeks worth of food at once (too much to carry on a bus), and frequently shop at places, like Trade Joes, Target, Costco, that aren't in Hyde Park. When I needed to get a suit downtown, having a car made it infinitely easier than taking buses at random times of day would have been. When it's 11PM and I realize that I left something important in my locker, it's nice to be able to hop in and easily get it. I also get sick on buses, so I usually drive to school in the mornings.

But these are all conveniences that you don't need. I think they're worth it. I live in university housing, not regents, so parking is about 1/3 the price of regents. If I had to pay the regents price, I probably wouldn't have a car.

If you're unsure, you can always bring a car, and if, by winter break, you don't feel you want it, just drive it home over the break.

[elterrible78]

Also would like to weigh in on the side of "a car is unnecessary."

There are definitely times I wish I had one, but I generally walk to school (the 172 is also ridiculously convenient just about anywhere that students live, but I hate the bus), order from Peapod (which I've had no problems with, like Regulus), and grab an iGo car for those occasions that I want to do some shopping and not take a bus. Public transport is easy from Hyde Park to O'Hare (and depending on the traffic, can be quite a bit quicker). I've spent essentially my entire life having a car, and when I weigh out the costs/inconveniences vs. the occasional convenience, I'm really glad I don't have one here.

Plus, there are always suckers like LSATSCORES2012 to give you a ride if you really need one.

[Crowing]

Really? I've never had any issues with Peapod. What kind of stuff have you heard?

Also, I also shop at Trader Joe's - but we can get there directly by bus (0 transfers). iGo/Zipcar are expensive if you use them a lot, but if it is only a couple times a month, they aren't bad at all.

Broken eggs and rotten produce. I'm sure that's not the norm though or they wouldn't have any business. I don't like paying another like 10%+ for delivery though =\

I really don't like Treasure Island because it's just expensive as fuck for no good reason. Where I'm from I won't even go to Whole Foods partly due to the prices, and TI is like Whole Foods on crack.

I'm not sure what kind of parking is near Regents but there are a ton of spots down South Shore drive which are always free. God knows I'm the stingiest motherfucker alive so that's fantastic. I also like to go to Chinatown a lot and without a car I think the only reasonable ways of getting there are by the Metra and by cabbing. Cabbing is always my last resort for everything because it makes me feel like I'm pissing dollars.

ETA: I should definitely concur that getting groceries downtown with the bus is totally doable. But I like to go infrequently and get a lot at once which is a lot easier with a car obviously. I'm also a big fan of Costco which is like a lazy and cheap person's dream.

[Bildungsroman]

Treasure Island is outrageously overpriced. Make friends with someone who has a car and does regular trips to Target. Hell, just take the 6 to the Target in the loop and carry back as much as you can.

[beepboopbeep]

Treasure Island is outrageously overpriced. Make friends with someone who has a car and does regular trips to Target. Hell, just take the 6 to the Target in the loop and carry back as much as you can.

+1. The only grocery store I've ever experienced that was worse than TI is what preceded it in that space. I mean it's not bad, just stupid expensive.

Also, there's a TJ's on Roosevelt that's a short walk from the first 6 stop in the loop.

Crow... if your car's ever broken down and you need to get to Chinatown, take 55 to red line.

[20141023]

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[Crowing]

Really? I've never had any issues with Peapod. What kind of stuff have you heard?

Also, I also shop at Trader Joe's - but we can get there directly by bus (0 transfers). iGo/Zipcar are expensive if you use them a lot, but if it is only a couple times a month, they aren't bad at all.

Broken eggs and rotten produce. I'm sure that's not the norm though or they wouldn't have any business. I don't like paying another like 10%+ for delivery though =\

I really don't like Treasure Island because it's just expensive as fuck for no good reason. Where I'm from I won't even go to Whole Foods partly due to the prices, and TI is like Whole Foods on crack.

I'm not sure what kind of parking is near Regents but there are a ton of spots down South Shore drive which are always free. God knows I'm the stingiest motherfucker alive so that's fantastic. I also like to go to Chinatown a lot and without a car I think the only reasonable ways of getting there are by the Metra and by cabbing. Cabbing is always my last resort for everything because it makes me feel like I'm pissing dollars.

ETA: I should definitely concur that getting groceries downtown with the bus is totally doable. But I like to go infrequently and get a lot at once which is a lot easier with a car obviously. I'm also a big fan of Costco which is like a lazy and cheap person's dream.

Peapod specifically asks you to look at the eggs and other products to make sure that they aren't broken / rotten before they leave, so worst case scenario is you don't get those items on that day and they refund you for them. (We've never had any broken eggs or rotten produce, but they did bring us paper towels instead of toilet paper one time; they promptly refunded it, though.) I agree that the markup sucks, but after calculating how much it would cost to pay for insurance / gas / maintenance / parking (which you don't have to worry about) for a car, Peapod is unquestionably less expensive.

Also, my wife and I travel out to Mitsuwa (a huge Japanese supermarket in Arlington Heights) and H Mart (a huge Korean supermarket in Niles) about once a month, but we have our Japanese friends take us (they are all post-doctorate researchers in the medical school that we met since moving up here); the good thing about Regents is that there are tons of people of every ethnicity, and they usually have money, so if you just become friends with them you're set. (It's a different sort of "friends with benefits" relationship. )

We also go to Costco with friends - the good thing is that if you have a Costco membership, a lot more people are willing to take you there because it means they don't need to pay for a membership, so you don't feel like as much of free rider in those instances.

Haha well that has always been the way to go--it's better to be friends with the person with the car than to have the car yourself.

I've been on the wrong end of that relationship since high school. Even now, the car is technically mine, but my SO uses it the vast majority of the time.

[wsparker]

Thanks for all the responses re car/snow. I will probably end up taking my car at first and seeing if I need it.

Does anyone know about Hyde Park Tower Apartments?

[20141023]

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[Mal Reynolds]

Gunners flocking IN DROVES to Richard Epstein's class.

[20141023]

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[2014]

We (the current 1Ls) are about to reach the point in our legal careers where we are allowed to start making "big" decisions - the first of which is the selection of our spring elective.

Here are our options for this upcoming quarter:

American Legal History: The Twentieth Century (Weinrib, Laura) - 85 Slots
Criminal Procedure I: The Investigative Process (Richard Epstein) - 85 Slots
Development of Legal Institutions (Richard Helmholz) - 53 Slots
Evidence (Emily Buss) - 118 Slots
Foreign Relations Law (Daniel Abebe) - 85 Slots
Jurisprudence I: Theories of Law and Adjudication (Brian Leiter) - 56 Slots
Legislation and Statutory Interpretation (Jennifer Nou) - 85 Slots
Local Government Law (Lee Fennell) - 87 Slots

My question for you upperclassmen: For someone who wants to work in biglaw doing corporate transactions, all of the above options seem pretty equally irrelevant. Accordingly, the way that I am looking to bid on a spring elective is to select the course with the least amount of reading / "easiest" (yes, I know it is relative) test. What say you?

Legal History - Had a lot of reading with LaCroix, Weinrib was on sabbatical last year. I imagine it is reading intensive, but good if you were a liberal arts major and like that kind of thing.

Crim Pro - This is probably a bad idea to take if you want to learn anything. He doesn't teach black letter law at all, he just goes on tangents. It will probably be entertaining though. No idea on reading load.

Evidence - If you want a relevant class this is probably the best call, but it will have a lot of upperclassmen in it and idk if that intimidates you or not. Not very useful for corporate. I imagine the reading load mirrors her CP1 reading load.

Foreign Relations - Abebe taught intl trade last year which got mixed reviews, kind of depends on how you feel about him as a professor but the biggest complaint I heard was that he didn't really add much value. Reading load was not awful I don't think.

Theories of Law - Despite his internet behavior, Leiter is apparently a very clear and effective teacher. He teaches you everything you need to know in class and so you could probably get by doing less than all of the reading. This will also be the most minimally subscribed one if that interests you.

Legislation - I heard it was a "hard" class, though it's all relative. Pretty reading intensive and she is supposedly brutal in cold calls. It also is likely to attract the clerkship gunner crew. That said, it might be the most useful class in terms of being able to apply it to other classes and potentially practice.

Local Govt Law - As you guys will know by now, Fennell is also very clear but I feel like you would need to be interested in the topic for this to be a good one. No idea about the reading load since she taught torts our year which is so case heavy and this likely isn't. It might mirror your property reading but I can't be sure.

[skers]

Jesus that's a shitty list. I'd do Helmholz.

[AspiringAcademic]

If the list of electives is getting you down about this law school business, there does appear to be some progress in alternate career paths:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-a ... cafe/8200/

[20141023]

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[beepboopbeep]

Also, of these two professors, which one is more generous with grading (as in they don't have the huge spectrum of grades the Hemtoltz supposedly has)?

While I'm going to end up picking classes based on interest either way, I'd be interested in hearing a rundown of this for all professors on the list as well, if people have that knowledge.

Also, do OCI firms have any preferences on these? I've heard evidence/crim pro can be useful for certain 1L summer gigs (judicial internships, USAO, etc), but nothing about whether firms care.

[WheninLaw]

Also, of these two professors, which one is more generous with grading (as in they don't have the huge spectrum of grades the Hemtoltz supposedly has)?

While I'm going to end up picking classes based on interest either way, I'd be interested in hearing a rundown of this for all professors on the list as well, if people have that knowledge.

Also, do OCI firms have any preferences on these? I've heard evidence/crim pro can be useful for certain 1L summer gigs (judicial internships, USAO, etc), but nothing about whether firms care.

As a general comment - y'all are way too fixated on how professors hand out grades. The best advice I received last year, on picking my elective, was from a 3L with insane grades. He said "take what interests you." People tend to do better in classes they care about (which should seem obvious). It makes me laugh when people take X class, that they could care less about, because Y professor gives a lot of median grades. Really?

It depends on the firm practice area, but I doubt many of these would help (maybe Evidence?) and the firms certainly do not care. Maybe they might ask why you took Crim Pro if you want to do transactional work, who knows. Seriously though, this is your one opportunity all year to take the class you want to take. Do it.

2014's assessments sounded spot-on to me. FWIW, I loved the Hammer for Property. Buss is great. Epstein will not teach you law, but it will be entertaining. Leiter is a good professor. Nou is intense and new. Fennell is clear, though dry at times.

[20141023]

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[PopTorts13]

Gunners flocking IN DROVES to Richard Epstein's class.

Definitely not a gunner, but knowing this makes me second guess bidding on this class. Gunners absolutely ruin my education and I prefer to pick a class with as few of them as possible. My current courses have a few that run wild in contracts and crim.

[Xifeng]

The only reason I'd err on the side of not taking evidence is it might be covered on the bar, and so you might remember less.