Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges Forum

[TTT-LS]

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[sidgey]

A few questions for the awesome NU students:

Is there any flag football played by the law students?

Does McClurg allow dogs, if anyone happens to know?

Do a lot of the law students live in McClurg? Is that a pretty popular building, and are there others that are also pretty popular and nice?

Thanks!!

211 E Ohio allows dogs and is super reasonable, esp compared to McClurg. Also it has a dog run in the building.

[luckyjd]

A few questions for the awesome NU students:

Is there any flag football played by the law students?

Does McClurg allow dogs, if anyone happens to know?

Do a lot of the law students live in McClurg? Is that a pretty popular building, and are there others that are also pretty popular and nice?

Thanks!!

211 E Ohio allows dogs and is super reasonable, esp compared to McClurg. Also it has a dog run in the building.

Isn't 211 predominantly owned condos though? I don't think they really have apartments for rent... Were you referring to 420 E Ohio? They allow dogs, too, but I think their rent is higher than McClurg.. although this may no longer be true with all the new renovations that McClurg has been doing to their apartments (which of course will drive rent up).

[Shellbelle]

not sure if anyone has asked (and I'm honestly too lazy to go back through the whole posting) but I was just wondering if Mac-s are ok at Northwestern.

I've heard a few schools frown on them for test taking purposes - apparently some schools' programs aren't mac friendly or something...

anyways - would be great to know.

Thanks!

[hmlee]

not sure if anyone has asked (and I'm honestly too lazy to go back through the whole posting) but I was just wondering if Mac-s are ok at Northwestern.

I've heard a few schools frown on them for test taking purposes - apparently some schools' programs aren't mac friendly or something...

anyways - would be great to know.

Thanks!

They work with our exam software. Beyond that, others will have to chime in, since I'm on a PC myself.

[rayiner]

not sure if anyone has asked (and I'm honestly too lazy to go back through the whole posting) but I was just wondering if Mac-s are ok at Northwestern.

I've heard a few schools frown on them for test taking purposes - apparently some schools' programs aren't mac friendly or something...

anyways - would be great to know.

Thanks!

I got through first semester fine with a Mac. We don't have any exam taking software --- we just have a website where we can download/upload our exams.

[Shellbelle]

cool - thanks!!

[hmlee]

not sure if anyone has asked (and I'm honestly too lazy to go back through the whole posting) but I was just wondering if Mac-s are ok at Northwestern.

I've heard a few schools frown on them for test taking purposes - apparently some schools' programs aren't mac friendly or something...

anyways - would be great to know.

Thanks!

I got through first semester fine with a Mac. We don't have any exam taking software --- we just have a website where we can download/upload our exams.

I consider the website to be our "software." But it's true, we write our exam answers in Word...

[rayiner]

not sure if anyone has asked (and I'm honestly too lazy to go back through the whole posting) but I was just wondering if Mac-s are ok at Northwestern.

I've heard a few schools frown on them for test taking purposes - apparently some schools' programs aren't mac friendly or something...

anyways - would be great to know.

Thanks!

I got through first semester fine with a Mac. We don't have any exam taking software --- we just have a website where we can download/upload our exams.

I consider the website to be our "software." But it's true, we write our exam answers in Word...

A web browser is software. A website is content, modulo the Javascript bits.

Actually, I didn't even write my exam answers in Word. You just gotta be able to submit it as a .doc. So Pages will work fine, as will Scrivener (what I used).

[hiromoto45]

Question: The majority of students at NU have a few years of WE and therefore and older than the average law student. Do employers expect or look specifically at NU students as older and significant WE candidates? For those students that do not fit this profile are they disadvantaged during recruiting?

[chadwick218]

Question: The majority of students at NU have a few years of WE and therefore and older than the average law student. Do employers expect or look specifically at NU students as older and significant WE candidates? For those students that do not fit this profile are they disadvantaged during recruiting?

Although I do believe that NU's WE requirement has helped it on the whole in terms of placement, I don't believe that any of the students w/out work experience are at a disadvantage so long as their grades are on par. With the exception of students who have a technical background and are interested in pursuing a career in IP or Patent Law, employees don't seem to care all that much about work experience.

[hmlee]

Question: The majority of students at NU have a few years of WE and therefore and older than the average law student. Do employers expect or look specifically at NU students as older and significant WE candidates? For those students that do not fit this profile are they disadvantaged during recruiting?

Although I do believe that NU's WE requirement has helped it on the whole in terms of placement, I don't believe that any of the students w/out work experience are at a disadvantage so long as their grades are on par. With the exception of students who have a technical background and are interested in pursuing a career in IP or Patent Law, employees don't seem to care all that much about work experience.

I would say that the one noted exception to this is with the book the Career Center sends out for summer judicial externships. They had a lot more applicants than normal this year because of the economy, and it seemed that judges preferred to interview/hire those with previous work experience in the legal field....

[TTT-LS]

Added data re: honors, as someone send me info for the classes of 2001-03. This info will be added to the master post earlier in the thread.

Class of 2003:
- Order of the Coif: 23 students (top 10%. Class size was ~233)
- Summa Cum Laude: 0 students
- Magna Cum Laude: 9 students (top 3.9%)
- Cum Laude: 53 students (top 27%)
Source: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/registr ... honors.htm

Class of 2002:
- Order of the Coif: 23 students (top 10%. Class size was ~233)
- Summa Cum Laude: 0 students
- Magna Cum Laude: 7 students (Under a transition rule, must have "4.00 GPA but at least the top 3%")
- Cum Laude: 61 students (Under the same rule, must have "3.63 GPA but at least the top 30%")
Source: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/registr ... honors.htm and http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... olicy.html (for the transition policy).

Class of 2001:
- Order of the Coif: 25 students (top 10.5%. Class size was ~240)
- Summa Cum Laude: 1 student (top 0.5%)
- Magna Cum Laude: 5 students (Under a transition rule, must have "4.00 GPA but at least the top 3%")
- Cum Laude: 65 students (Under the same rule, must have "3.63 GPA but at least the top 30%")
Source: http://www.law.northwestern.edu/registr ... honors.htm and http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academi ... olicy.html (for the transition policy).

[Drew2010]

How would you guys rate the CSO in general, and also in terms of helping with bidding strategy? Are there clear grade cut-offs for different firms, or ITE is data from previous years just useless?

Also, during the DANL students talked about how there is a different citation book for 1L courses, but they use the bluebook for the writing competition and the journals. How much time would you say it takes to become comfortable with the bluebook? I ask because AJD students compete in the write on competition along with transfers in the fall, and if it’s our first time using the bluebook, and our first experience with it, while they've been using it for an entire year, wouldn't we be at a disadvantage? Is there anything I could or should do to try and get familiar with it before hand?

Thanks in advance for any help or insight you guys could provide.

[TTT-LS]

..

[Drew2010]

How would you guys rate the CSO in general, and also in terms of helping with bidding strategy? Are there clear grade cut-offs for different firms, or ITE is data from previous years just useless?

I can't speak to how useful the GPA data was for the 2Ls, but my year the info the CCSA provided was very useful as far as planning one's bids and getting ready for OCI. To the extent you make active use of it, the counseling service can be helpful as well. That was my experience, anyhow. Good counseling isn't a cure-all, of course, and no amount of it will help you land Cravath from the bottom 25%. I think some students come into OCI with unrealistic expectations, and it is often those students who are least happy with the counseling they get.

On point of cut-offs for firms, based on what I saw I don't think firms have specific points below which they're not going to consider you. At least that was the case at the fall 2008 OCI. Several friends of mine got SA gigs (and permanent offers) from firms that traditionally hire students with substantially higher GPAs. The fact that our OCI is based on open bidding, rather than pre-screening, helps too. Most T14s work this way, but once you get outside the T20 or so it is increasingly rare.

Also, during the DANL students talked about how there is a different citation book for 1L courses, but they use the bluebook for the writing competition and the journals. How much time would you say it takes to become comfortable with the bluebook? I ask because AJD students compete in the write on competition along with transfers in the fall, and if it’s our first time using the bluebook, and our first experience with it, while they've been using it for an entire year, wouldn't we be at a disadvantage? Is there anything I could or should do to try and get familiar with it before hand?

Thanks in advance for any help or insight you guys could provide.

Learning enough of the BB to do the writing competition takes maybe a day or two, tops. It isn't hard, though it is annoying. Most journals put very little weight on the BB section of the write-on competiton, so it isn't a big deal really. What you write in the casenote matters a whole lot more. To the extent that you want to familiarize yourself with the BB in advance, I'd recommend buying a copy of the BB 18th Ed. and bgoing over Rules 1-12, 15-16, 18, and tables 6 and 10. If you handle the material covered by those parts effectively you'll be miles ahead of most write-on candidates.

Thanks a ton, that was all extremely helpful information. So far I’m planning on targeting two markets, Chicago and Miami. Chicago primarily through OCI, and Miami through the off-campus interview program, the Miami Law Consortium (although I’m not yet sure whether this will conflict with the fall write-on competition). I’ve tried to research a range of different firms, although honestly I haven’t really researched any outside of the V100 with offices in Chicago. I think I spread it out so on my research list I have about equal number of firms from the V1-25, V26-50, V51-75, and V75-100. Then I researched pretty much every biglaw firm in Miami with a starting salary over $110 (about 12-15 firms).

In terms of competitiveness, would you say that it is more difficult to land a non-V100, but still NLJ250, firm in Chicago, or a V100 secondary market office with strong ties to the area?

Also, a few of the NU students I talked to during DANL told me they felt that you could study/work your way into the top 1/3. They said that there are people who work really hard, people who do the work, and people that slack off, similar but not exactly like undergrad, but that how hard people worked didn’t correlate exactly with grades. Some of those who slacked just got law school exams and still did really well. Would you agree with the sentiment that if you really work hard, and smart, you can more than likely place in the top 1/3?

[michaellikesit]

If this were Fantasy Law School, and you could draft 2 fantasy students to NU's roster, who would those students be?

Please keep in mind that there is a correct answer, and that friendship depends on it.

...

[Goodfaithbelief]

At the risk of exposing my west coast confusion, can someone explain the pros and cons of different heating systems in apartments? I'm looking around and finding GFA, hot water and steam heating all listed. Any that should be avoided? Does one type tend to cost more each month?

My fear of hypothermia thanks you.

[09042014]

Before we start, we assure you we are the dregs of our class.

[Holly Golightly]

Checking in.

[Ragged]

What's it like to know you will be unemployed and in debt in a couple of years?

[09042014]

Holly will do shots with incoming students at ASW if you buy.

[09042014]

What's it like to know you will be unemployed and in debt in a couple of years?

Not sure if Corsair is going to post on this thread.

[Holly Golightly]

Holly will do shots with incoming students at ASW if you buy.

This is true. Let me know if you want to take me up on the "Challenges" part of this thread, while we're at it.

[IAFG]

What's it like to know you will be unemployed and in debt in a couple of years?

it feels, tastes and smells like cheap beer on the breath of a trashy blonde.

delicious.