UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[2014]

Our class had a grand total of one person target Indy I believe and they got it, so that's the only info I know. I'm sure it's not a sure thing but I can't see why we wouldn't give you the best shot of it of any school.

[cotiger]

I'm very much interested in UChi, but I'm a bit concerned about the high number of grads that end up in small firms (2-50). Over the last three years, UChi has had the highest number of grads go to those firms of any school in the T14 (7.6% vs the next highest of 6.4% at UVA, and 2.4-3.6% at peers HCN). What do you think accounts for this?

[iskim88]

I'm below both medians and was never interviewed. I'm probably Dinged right?

[WheninLaw]

I'm below both medians and was never interviewed. I'm probably Dinged right?

Depends how much below? If we are talking 3.7/170, then likely waitlisted. If 3.3/168, then dinged.

[lawschool20175]

Are there firms from Los Angeles at OCI? I really want to return to the west coast to practice and want to make sure I will have the opportunity to come back.

[WheninLaw]

Are there firms from Los Angeles at OCI? I really want to return to the west coast to practice and want to make sure I will have the opportunity to come back.

A ton of Los Angeles firms come to our OCI. Actually, a huge chunk of the class is going there this summer. If for some random reason the L.A. office of a particular firm isn't coming, you can certainly still interview and express your preference for that office.

I don't have access to my OCI bidlist anymore (I did CA), but I found this random document in my OCI folder so maybe it's complete. I have no idea. It is for all the LA/SD firms that came. If you see a firm twice it is because they have multiple offices in LA/SD. Also, feel free to PM me with more specific questions.

Baker & Hostetler
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Bryan Cave
Cooley
DLA Piper
Foley & Lardner
Foley & Lardner
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Goodwin Procter
Holland & Knight
Irell & Manella
Irell & Manella
Jones Day
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Mayer Brown
Morrison & Foerster
Morrison & Foerster
Munger, Tolles & Olson
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Paul Hastings
Paul Hastings
Pillsbury Winthrop
Quinn Emanuel
Sheppard Mullin
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
susman godfrey llp
Wilson Sonsini

[lawschool20175]

Are there firms from Los Angeles at OCI? I really want to return to the west coast to practice and want to make sure I will have the opportunity to come back.

A ton of Los Angeles firms come to our OCI. Actually, a huge chunk of the class is going there this summer. If for some random reason the L.A. office of a particular firm isn't coming, you can certainly still interview and express your preference for that office.

I don't have access to my OCI bidlist anymore (I did CA), but I found this random document in my OCI folder so maybe it's complete. I have no idea. It is for all the LA/SD firms that came. If you see a firm twice it is because they have multiple offices in LA/SD. Also, feel free to PM me with more specific questions.

Baker & Hostetler
Boies, Schiller & Flexner
Bryan Cave
Cooley
DLA Piper
Foley & Lardner
Foley & Lardner
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Goodwin Procter
Holland & Knight
Irell & Manella
Irell & Manella
Jones Day
Kirkland & Ellis
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Mayer Brown
Morrison & Foerster
Morrison & Foerster
Munger, Tolles & Olson
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Paul Hastings
Paul Hastings
Pillsbury Winthrop
Quinn Emanuel
Sheppard Mullin
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Susman Godfrey LLP
Wilson Sonsini

Thanks! This is great. How about externships after 1L, do students from Chicago extern for judges in California? Does Chicago help you find these externships?

[WheninLaw]

Thanks! This is great. How about externships after 1L, do students from Chicago extern for judges in California? Does Chicago help you find these externships?

Most students will do a public interest job because Chicago will fund it to the amount of $5,000. Those opportunities (in CA) are not super difficult to get. You can certainly extern for judges. Of those that did, it was split between federal district court and federal appellate courts. The downside is that the school will not provide funding - you are on your own.

OCS will help, but you mostly find your 1L summer job on your own. It's pretty easy.

[lawschool20175]

Thanks! This is great. How about externships after 1L, do students from Chicago extern for judges in California? Does Chicago help you find these externships?

Most students will do a public interest job because Chicago will fund it to the amount of $5,000. Those opportunities (in CA) are not super difficult to get. You can certainly extern for judges. Of those that did, it was split between federal district court and federal appellate courts. The downside is that the school will not provide funding - you are on your own.

OCS will help, but you mostly find your 1L summer job on your own. It's pretty easy.

Thanks! This is very helpful.

[lawschool20175]

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

[Theopliske8711]

Has anyone had experience with Chicago re: scholarship matching with Columbia? I'm increasingly interested in UChi (not accepted yet; interviewed).

[beepboopbeep]

Has anyone had experience with Chicago re: scholarship matching with Columbia? I'm increasingly interested in UChi (not accepted yet; interviewed).

PM'ed. Had a good experience.

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

I actually really liked NYU and would've gone had the money situation been reversed - as it stood, NYU gave me pretty much nothing and Chicago gave a decent amount. But between similar money here and at CLS, I picked here mostly because 1) the cost-of-living difference between Hyde Park and NYC is enormous - rent alone is 10k+ per year, and 2) between CLS and UofC, I felt like UofC had much better class discussion/professors and less feeling like law school was just three years of suffering before you get a job. But YMMV. May have just been the classes I sat in on there.

[2014]

I'm very much interested in UChi, but I'm a bit concerned about the high number of grads that end up in small firms (2-50). Over the last three years, UChi has had the highest number of grads go to those firms of any school in the T14 (7.6% vs the next highest of 6.4% at UVA, and 2.4-3.6% at peers HCN). What do you think accounts for this?

These are almost certainly mostly market paying boutique firms. In my experience I would treat these as mostly self selecting vs a getting stuck there situation. Our big firm summer placement is 80%+ and these are basically all mega full service firms, so the opportunity to do that type of work is prevalent.

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

Class size was a big deal for me, I really like being able to at least know all of my classmates on an acquaintance basis vs seeing people and having no idea if they even go to my school. Geographic flexibility mattered a lot to me too. NYU and Columbia do really well in placement obviously but it's wildly NYC centric. The success rate of NYC targeting Chicago students is really really good, but we do better for Chicago, California, and Texas and at the time I made my decision I wasn't sure where I wanted to be long term.

If I were making my decision now I would probably favor NYU in the following circumstances:
- Absolutely certain you want NYC
- At least 20k scholarship differential (to offset the higher COA)
- Chicago aversion as a city
- Public Interest (I don't know how this cuts actually, but i imagine the larger PI population is an advantage despite having to compete with more of your classmates)

Absent multiple of those factors I would probably end up here based on cost and general job placement stuff. Can't go wrong with either though.

[cotiger]

I'm very much interested in UChi, but I'm a bit concerned about the high number of grads that end up in small firms (2-50). Over the last three years, UChi has had the highest number of grads go to those firms of any school in the T14 (7.6% vs the next highest of 6.4% at UVA, and 2.4-3.6% at peers HCN). What do you think accounts for this?

These are almost certainly mostly market paying boutique firms. In my experience I would treat these as mostly self selecting vs a getting stuck there situation. Our big firm summer placement is 80%+ and these are basically all mega full service firms, so the opportunity to do that type of work is prevalent.

That's.. a really high number. I guess with all the TLS doom and gloom I'd started to expect the worst.

As for the boutiques, is there any reason in particular why UChi places so many grads into them relative to its peers?

[Rahviveh]

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

One thing that helped me make my decision was the CoL difference, as beep said earlier. In NYU I would have been forced to room with 2-3 other law students and still be paying more than what I pay here for my own place. So that was a big deal to me.

I guess one other advantage of NYU is ungraded LRW. But so far I haven't thought graded LRW is that bad. Others obviously disagree and if all things are equal this may be a significant factor.

[2014]

I'm very much interested in UChi, but I'm a bit concerned about the high number of grads that end up in small firms (2-50). Over the last three years, UChi has had the highest number of grads go to those firms of any school in the T14 (7.6% vs the next highest of 6.4% at UVA, and 2.4-3.6% at peers HCN). What do you think accounts for this?

These are almost certainly mostly market paying boutique firms. In my experience I would treat these as mostly self selecting vs a getting stuck there situation. Our big firm summer placement is 80%+ and these are basically all mega full service firms, so the opportunity to do that type of work is prevalent.

That's.. a really high number. I guess with all the TLS doom and gloom I'd started to expect the worst.

As for the boutiques, is there any reason in particular why UChi places so many grads into them relative to its peers?

Geographic self selection I imagine. We send more people to the south, Texas, Cali and a few smaller chicago firms than NY centric schools. The boutique model is more prevalent out of NYC than within.

[lawschool20175]

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

One thing that helped me make my decision was the CoL difference, as beep said earlier. In NYU I would have been forced to room with 2-3 other law students and still be paying more than what I pay here for my own place. So that was a big deal to me.

I guess one other advantage of NYU is ungraded LRW. But so far I haven't thought graded LRW is that bad. Others obviously disagree and if all things are equal this may be a significant factor.

Sorry, this might seem be obvious, but why does it matter if LRW is graded or ungraded? Is it known for being notoriously hard?

[lawschool20175]

I'm very much interested in UChi, but I'm a bit concerned about the high number of grads that end up in small firms (2-50). Over the last three years, UChi has had the highest number of grads go to those firms of any school in the T14 (7.6% vs the next highest of 6.4% at UVA, and 2.4-3.6% at peers HCN). What do you think accounts for this?

These are almost certainly mostly market paying boutique firms. In my experience I would treat these as mostly self selecting vs a getting stuck there situation. Our big firm summer placement is 80%+ and these are basically all mega full service firms, so the opportunity to do that type of work is prevalent.

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

Class size was a big deal for me, I really like being able to at least know all of my classmates on an acquaintance basis vs seeing people and having no idea if they even go to my school. Geographic flexibility mattered a lot to me too. NYU and Columbia do really well in placement obviously but it's wildly NYC centric. The success rate of NYC targeting Chicago students is really really good, but we do better for Chicago, California, and Texas and at the time I made my decision I wasn't sure where I wanted to be long term.

If I were making my decision now I would probably favor NYU in the following circumstances:
- Absolutely certain you want NYC
- At least 20k scholarship differential (to offset the higher COA)
- Chicago aversion as a city
- Public Interest (I don't know how this cuts actually, but i imagine the larger PI population is an advantage despite having to compete with more of your classmates)

Absent multiple of those factors I would probably end up here based on cost and general job placement stuff. Can't go wrong with either though.

Where do must law students live? Do they usually live in law school housing or rent their own apartments? I know Hyde Park does not have the best reputation, but did you feel safe in the neighborhood?

[lawschool20175]

Has anyone had experience with Chicago re: scholarship matching with Columbia? I'm increasingly interested in UChi (not accepted yet; interviewed).

PM'ed. Had a good experience.

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

I actually really liked NYU and would've gone had the money situation been reversed - as it stood, NYU gave me pretty much nothing and Chicago gave a decent amount. But between similar money here and at CLS, I picked here mostly because 1) the cost-of-living difference between Hyde Park and NYC is enormous - rent alone is 10k+ per year, and 2) between CLS and UofC, I felt like UofC had much better class discussion/professors and less feeling like law school was just three years of suffering before you get a job. But YMMV. May have just been the classes I sat in on there.

Thanks! How did you find the classes and curriculum? Chicago has a reputation of being very theoretical and economics-based.

[orbotop]

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

That's easy unless you love NYC, have a major $ offer, or have an aversion to a more academically challenging law school experience, especially as a 1L. And nobody would blame you if the latter is true! Rigor isn't great for its own sake, but it appeals to some, and it disproportionately describes Chicago classes.

Source: Chicago student with sibling at NYU who visited each twice before deciding, and profs who've spent time at each.

[WheninLaw]

When you were picking law schools, what made you choose Chicago over others? I am currently deciding between Chicago and NYU.

One thing that helped me make my decision was the CoL difference, as beep said earlier. In NYU I would have been forced to room with 2-3 other law students and still be paying more than what I pay here for my own place. So that was a big deal to me.

I guess one other advantage of NYU is ungraded LRW. But so far I haven't thought graded LRW is that bad. Others obviously disagree and if all things are equal this may be a significant factor.

Sorry, this might seem be obvious, but why does it matter if LRW is graded or ungraded? Is it known for being notoriously hard?

No, but it means that you actually have to put in work on your memo and brief. The good news is that it's very hard to get below median in LRW.

[Mal Reynolds]

Graded LRW blows but I wouldn't choose a law school over graded or ungraded.

[2014]

Where do must law students live? Do they usually live in law school housing or rent their own apartments? I know Hyde Park does not have the best reputation, but did you feel safe in the neighborhood?

Hyde Park their first year. There is one building that probably more than half of the class lives in, and another 10% or so live within about 3 blocks of that building. Most 2Ls and 3Ls move out of Hyde Park and are spread between South Loop, the loop and lincoln park with some exceptions.

Hyde Park itself is perfectly safe especially if you have the common sense to not wander around alone at midnight. It's the surrounding areas that get hairy, but you will have no reason to ever even pass through them.

[Mal Reynolds]

Does anyone live really close to the law school? I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do next year for housing. I'm thinking about getting a dog so I might try to go home during lunch to take care of him and I'm wondering what the market is like within walking distance of the law school. Also curious about what the tradeoffs are in terms of proximity to Treasure Island, HPP and other amenities around Hyde Park, not that there really are a whole lot.

[Canof09]

Where do must law students live? Do they usually live in law school housing or rent their own apartments? I know Hyde Park does not have the best reputation, but did you feel safe in the neighborhood?

Hyde Park their first year. There is one building that probably more than half of the class lives in, and another 10% or so live within about 3 blocks of that building. Most 2Ls and 3Ls move out of Hyde Park and are spread between South Loop, the loop and lincoln park with some exceptions.

Hyde Park itself is perfectly safe especially if you have the common sense to not wander around alone at midnight. It's the surrounding areas that get hairy, but you will have no reason to ever even pass through them.

I have a question about this. How do most upperclassmen get to class since they're not in Hyde Park? I am under the impression that most don't have cars. Public transport? How long is the trip on public transport from south loop, loop, and lincoln park?

Why do most upperclassmen leave? Just to be closer to downtown or what?