Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[TripTrip]

Oh, student questions are the bane of actually learning what you need to learn, no doubt about it.

I don't understand this sentiment. Student questions tend to flush out ideas the professor hasn't fully explained. Do you just have terrible classmates?

[BlakcMajikc]

Oh, student questions are the bane of actually learning what you need to learn, no doubt about it.

I don't understand this sentiment. Student questions tend to flush out ideas the professor hasn't fully explained. Do you just have terrible classmates?

Student questions suck. Even through the start of 2L, the student q's have just been awful and a waste of time (usually getting the class off-track or focused on some nuance that no one cares about).

[TripTrip]

Oh, student questions are the bane of actually learning what you need to learn, no doubt about it.

I don't understand this sentiment. Student questions tend to flush out ideas the professor hasn't fully explained. Do you just have terrible classmates?

Student questions suck. Even through the start of 2L, the student q's have just been awful and a waste of time (usually getting the class off-track or focused on some nuance that no one cares about).

I'll respectfully disagree. In my experience, not all student questions suck. Some, but not all.

[tomwatts]

Some profs also suck at handling student questions/comments. There are people who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) because they think that's what they're supposed to do and they find it mildly amusing, and there are some who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) to draw out very particular points and respond to insights along particular lines. The latter are much easier to follow. The former are annoying, because you can never figure what they're driving at (if they're driving at anything at all). And, of course, student comments seem much worse in the former classes because no one can figure out what's relevant to say.

[splbagel]

It's frustrating because the professor will start making a point, and in the process, someone will ask a question that is related to what was being said to a certain extent. But, we'll shift our discussion to another point, without fully discussing the prior point. It just confuses me even more.

I totally sympathize with this and agree with tomwatts' response.

I'd also add that sometimes it's helpful to realize that a seemingly-circular or inconclusive discussion is not supposed to get to a single "right" answer, and that you don't need to understand every student question and corresponding (non)answer. Rather, sometimes a professor uses these types of discussions to illustrate a central debate behind a concept in the law, the arguments and counterarguments common in that debate, the theoretical concerns and practical puzzles, possible unintended outcomes, etc. You'll get better at recognizing this type of discussion. Sometimes a half hour of class will go by and all my notes will say is something like "is a list [a, b, and c] in a statute necessarily exhaustive? Who knows?! Watch out!"

[Blessedassurance]

Oh, student questions are the bane of actually learning what you need to learn, no doubt about it.

I don't understand this sentiment. Student questions tend to flush out ideas the professor hasn't fully explained. Do you just have terrible classmates?

Student questions suck. Even through the start of 2L, the student q's have just been awful and a waste of time (usually getting the class off-track or focused on some nuance that no one cares about).

I'll respectfully disagree. In my experience, not all student questions suck. Some, but not all.

(student who frequently asks questions)

it's all in your head, brother, it's all in your head.

[Searchparty]

Some profs also suck at handling student questions/comments. There are people who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) because they think that's what they're supposed to do and they find it mildly amusing, and there are some who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) to draw out very particular points and respond to insights along particular lines. The latter are much easier to follow. The former are annoying, because you can never figure what they're driving at (if they're driving at anything at all). And, of course, student comments seem much worse in the former classes because no one can figure out what's relevant to say.

I've noticed this distinction already and it's frustrating to be in the former situation.

In my experience, a lot of student questions seem to be "what if......" and while in some situations it helps apply the law to different sets of facts, but more often than not it doesn't help to solidify the material

[Doorkeeper]

Some profs also suck at handling student questions/comments. There are people who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) because they think that's what they're supposed to do and they find it mildly amusing, and there are some who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) to draw out very particular points and respond to insights along particular lines. The latter are much easier to follow. The former are annoying, because you can never figure what they're driving at (if they're driving at anything at all). And, of course, student comments seem much worse in the former classes because no one can figure out what's relevant to say.

I've noticed this distinction already and it's frustrating to be in the former situation.

In my experience, a lot of student questions seem to be "what if......" and while in some situations it helps apply the law to different sets of facts, but more often than not it doesn't help to solidify the material

These types of questions are best served for after class and/or at office hours. I found it highly disrespectful to my fellow students for people to openly ask such questions in class (unless they were prompted by the professor first). It's basically assuming your edification is more important than the other 79 students in the room. Ridiculous.

But then again, there is a minority of law students that have no fucking self-control and will always take the opportunity to show off.

[despina]

Some profs also suck at handling student questions/comments. There are people who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) because they think that's what they're supposed to do and they find it mildly amusing, and there are some who lead a discussion (or pursue Socratic questioning) to draw out very particular points and respond to insights along particular lines. The latter are much easier to follow. The former are annoying, because you can never figure what they're driving at (if they're driving at anything at all). And, of course, student comments seem much worse in the former classes because no one can figure out what's relevant to say.

I've noticed this distinction already and it's frustrating to be in the former situation.

In my experience, a lot of student questions seem to be "what if......" and while in some situations it helps apply the law to different sets of facts, but more often than not it doesn't help to solidify the material

These types of questions are best served for after class and/or at office hours. I found it highly disrespectful to my fellow students for people to openly ask such questions in class (unless they were prompted by the professor first). It's basically assuming your edification is more important than the other 79 students in the room. Ridiculous.

But then again, there is a minority of law students that have no fucking self-control and will always take the opportunity to show off.

I've often found other students' questions to be helpful, and I definitely don't think it's automatically disrespectful to ask a professor to clarify something -- if someone is confused about a key concept, it's likely that other people in the room could also use more explanation. Most profs know how to say "we'll get to that next week" or "that's not really relevant here" or "why don't you ask me about that after class" if answering the question would really be a lousy use of class time.

What is obnoxious to me are student hypos that are overly specific or seem designed to show off, or really complex questions posed in the last 2 minutes of a pre-lunch class when the professor seems to be wrapping up the lecture. It's also irritating when students ask basic questions that clearly are answered in the reading -- if you don't do your reading, that's cool, but don't expect class to stop for you.

[OkSo]

Am I the only one who finds 1L fall really difficult?

Once you get your schedule in order and get more efficient reading/studying, it will become less difficult. Just don't listen to your fellow 1L classmates. Do what go you here.

On this note, do you have any advice on how to get readings done in a decently short amount of time? I have more reading each week, here than I had in all of undergrad combined, and it's taking me forever to get through readings, even without highlighting or taking notes on any of it.

The extent to which this is going to be hard is going to depend on how rigorous your undergrad experience was in terms of reading load.

Over time you'll start to naturally get a feel for what's important, and what isn't, and it'll speed up.

Not a HLS student (yet), just curious about who the woman in your avatar is.

[wert3813]

The extent to which this is going to be hard is going to depend on how rigorous your undergrad experience was in terms of reading load.

Over time you'll start to naturally get a feel for what's important, and what isn't, and it'll speed up.

Not a HLS student (yet), just curious about who the woman in your avatar is.

What are the odds that this question has now been asked twice in like three months?

[094320]

..

[OkSo]

Thank you very much for the response ATL; I have a bit of research to do now.

[TripTrip]

That's... really creepy.

Can we talk about something Harvard related now?

[domino]

ahahah

[Doorkeeper]

Not a HLS student (yet), just curious about who the woman in your avatar is.

Simultaneously bragging and completely without any sense of social graces?

You'll fit right in here.

[wert3813]

Not a HLS student (yet), just curious about who the woman in your avatar is.

Simultaneously bragging and completely without any sense of social graces?

You'll fit right in here.

Merit I'm tired, but I laughed.

[Person1111]

Not a HLS student (yet), just curious about who the woman in your avatar is.

Simultaneously bragging and completely without any sense of social graces?

You'll fit right in here.

Do you ever have anything positive to say?

[Dr. C]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

[splbagel]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

I'm a current student and I don't personally know of any MDs currently enrolled.

[TripTrip]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

I wish I had done something like this.

To answer your question though, I don't know of any M.D.s in my section. The closest I can think of is a Masters in neuroscience.

[ph14]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

3L here, and I don't know of any doctors at HLS, although there might be. If that's important to you, feel free to contact the admissions office and they can probably put you in touch with any MDs currently at HLS, or alumni. Although i'm not sure how it would change your application process, really.

[BlakcMajikc]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

3L here, and I don't know of any doctors at HLS, although there might be. If that's important to you, feel free to contact the admissions office and they can probably put you in touch with any MDs currently at HLS, or alumni. Although i'm not sure how it would change your application process, really.

If it helps, I know of JDs (current and recent grads) applying to Med School. (But don't know of anyone the other way around.)

[unc0mm0n1]

Hello HLS students. I have a unique question for all of you: are there any physicians currently enrolled as law students at Harvard? I'm a public health physician who will be applying to HLS this year, and I'm wondering if there are others. I posted this question under the general topic for all grad students and didn't get any answers specific to Harvard. Thoughts?

3L here, and I don't know of any doctors at HLS, although there might be. If that's important to you, feel free to contact the admissions office and they can probably put you in touch with any MDs currently at HLS, or alumni. Although i'm not sure how it would change your application process, really.

If it helps, I know of JDs (current and recent grads) applying to Med School. (But don't know of anyone the other way around.)

This. I know two soon to be graduates who plan to apply to medical school, but no current doctors.

[drawstring]

Sorry if this has been asked many times before (I searched and didn't find what I was looking for), but does anyone know how people with straight passes or close to it tend to fare in hiring, both during summers and upon graduation?