UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

[eliminatorjr]

Hey here's a super dumb question: what does the Green Lounge look like on a normal day?

[20141023]

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[Florence Night]

Definitely more like the latter picture. It looks like the former like the twice a year.

[Crowing]

Hey here's a super dumb question: what does the Green Lounge look like on a normal day?

Depends on the time of day and what is going on. Usually during lunchtime all the tables are occupied to some degree.

ETA: RC fail on my part. If you just mean how it is arranged, then Reg's 2nd picture is pretty accurate.

[c0llegeStUd3nt]

Someone posted earlier in this thread that the only thing he/she might recommend doing during the summer before 1L would be to prepare a resume and some rough draft cover letters for 1L summer job applications.

I found some ok resume guides for a 1L law school resume, but was kindof curious as to what the cover letters would look like (as they seem different than any cover letter I've ever written). Does anyone have a sample cover letter they would be willing to pm me (with personal information redacted as needed, obviously).

Also, are you able to work with career services on this at Chicago during 1L year. What have your experiences been with the availability of career services administrators?

[beepboopbeep]

Someone posted earlier in this thread that the only thing he/she might recommend doing during the summer before 1L would be to prepare a resume and some rough draft cover letters for 1L summer job applications.

I found some ok resume guides for a 1L law school resume, but was kindof curious as to what the cover letters would look like (as they seem different than any cover letter I've ever written). Does anyone have a sample cover letter they would be willing to pm me (with personal information redacted as needed, obviously).

Also, are you able to work with career services on this at Chicago during 1L year. What have your experiences been with the availability of career services administrators?

I don't think they're that different, to be honest. At least mine weren't. But I don't really know if mine were any good. There's a packet of HLS cover letters floating around google (edit: here) that were pretty helpful - they'd be much more useful than anything I could send you, though they're a little intense. IMO they're too long but I'm also not a career advisor, so, grain of salt.

There are two or three times during the year, IIRC, that they have meeting signups on the OCS site. But you can also just meet with them outside of the scheduled periods - it's no big deal. I met with Paul Woo a couple times and found what he said pretty useful - we mostly talked about what kind of story I would tell employers w/r/t my pre-law-school experience, and general career goal stuff. I've also been able to talk to the clerkship folks and found them pretty helpful.

[Crowing]

Someone posted earlier in this thread that the only thing he/she might recommend doing during the summer before 1L would be to prepare a resume and some rough draft cover letters for 1L summer job applications.

I found some ok resume guides for a 1L law school resume, but was kindof curious as to what the cover letters would look like (as they seem different than any cover letter I've ever written). Does anyone have a sample cover letter they would be willing to pm me (with personal information redacted as needed, obviously).

Also, are you able to work with career services on this at Chicago during 1L year. What have your experiences been with the availability of career services administrators?

CSO will meet with you before the 1L job search starts on December 1. They will look at your resume and probably redo like all of it.

CSO is pretty available but in general I've found talking to upperclassmen more helpful since they've actually recently gone through the experience on the ground. But some of the CSO staff are decently helpful, some more than others.

[c0llegeStUd3nt]

Someone posted earlier in this thread that the only thing he/she might recommend doing during the summer before 1L would be to prepare a resume and some rough draft cover letters for 1L summer job applications.

I found some ok resume guides for a 1L law school resume, but was kindof curious as to what the cover letters would look like (as they seem different than any cover letter I've ever written). Does anyone have a sample cover letter they would be willing to pm me (with personal information redacted as needed, obviously).

Also, are you able to work with career services on this at Chicago during 1L year. What have your experiences been with the availability of career services administrators?

I don't think they're that different, to be honest. At least mine weren't. But I don't really know if mine were any good. There's a packet of HLS cover letters floating around google (edit: here) that were pretty helpful - they'd be much more useful than anything I could send you, though they're a little intense. IMO they're too long but I'm also not a career advisor, so, grain of salt.

There are two or three times during the year, IIRC, that they have meeting signups on the OCS site. But you can also just meet with them outside of the scheduled periods - it's no big deal. I met with Paul Woo a couple times and found what he said pretty useful - we mostly talked about what kind of story I would tell employers w/r/t my pre-law-school experience, and general career goal stuff. I've also been able to talk to the clerkship folks and found them pretty helpful.

Got it, thanks for the response. The link of samples is very helpful, I guess these cover letters aren't much different than what I am used to writing. I was most confused by what type of balance between undergrad, W/E, and law school stuff I should have, but looking at these clears it up a bit. Thank you!

[c0llegeStUd3nt]

Another question that I'm not sure has been answered here:

I am looking at the budget and under medical insurance the school website writes, "*All law students are required to have acceptable medical insurance coverage. Students do not have to join the University's plan if they provide evidence of comparable coverage under their own plan."

Do most people end up having to buy the University plan? For those students who didn't have to get the University plan, what types of medical insurance plans are considered "comparable coverage?"

Also, what would you estimate you paid for textbooks 1L year? (The answer to this question might be more readily available, I am just struggling with the search function).

[beepboopbeep]

Another question that I'm not sure has been answered here:

I am looking at the budget and under medical insurance the school website writes, "*All law students are required to have acceptable medical insurance coverage. Students do not have to join the University's plan if they provide evidence of comparable coverage under their own plan."

Do most people end up having to buy the University plan? For those students who didn't have to get the University plan, what types of medical insurance plans are considered "comparable coverage?"

Also, what would you estimate you paid for textbooks 1L year? (The answer to this question might be more readily available, I am just struggling with the search function).

You have to fill out a form saying what your plan is and it has to have certain coverage (emergency room visits, etc). I haven't heard of anyone who had problems getting their plan "approved", especially given that the coverage comparison stuff is entirely self-reported. Assuming you're under 26, your parents' insurance should be fine.

I was pretty unconcerned with saving money on textbooks since my parents had a college savings fund that they wanted to clear out without taking the penalty. Probably spent about $1000 on the year buying almost every textbook used or new when I couldn't get a decent used copy (or when they were too close in price). But you can be way, way more economical about it. There's a bookserv where upperclassmen sell their stuff at a very big discount. One thing I did do and highly recommend is getting old versions when there aren't many changes - I got the previous edition of my Ks book for like $1.50 and it had 95% of the cases compared to the current edition, which cost $200. There are reference editions of every textbook in the library, too, so if you need to wait a week or two for a cheap used edition to come in it's possible to do all your reading with those. I imagine book cost would run higher if buying supplements, but fuck that.

[20141023]

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[2014]

Another question that I'm not sure has been answered here:

I am looking at the budget and under medical insurance the school website writes, "*All law students are required to have acceptable medical insurance coverage. Students do not have to join the University's plan if they provide evidence of comparable coverage under their own plan."

Do most people end up having to buy the University plan? For those students who didn't have to get the University plan, what types of medical insurance plans are considered "comparable coverage?"

Also, what would you estimate you paid for textbooks 1L year? (The answer to this question might be more readily available, I am just struggling with the search function).

There is guidance somewhere about what comparable is. Ultimately you just have to certify it's comparable anyway, no one inspects it, so as long as you have insurance you should be fine.

I spent like 600 i think 1L year. That was for all used books except Crim which was brand new at the time.

[midwest17]

Another question that I'm not sure has been answered here:

I am looking at the budget and under medical insurance the school website writes, "*All law students are required to have acceptable medical insurance coverage. Students do not have to join the University's plan if they provide evidence of comparable coverage under their own plan."

Do most people end up having to buy the University plan? For those students who didn't have to get the University plan, what types of medical insurance plans are considered "comparable coverage?"

Also, what would you estimate you paid for textbooks 1L year? (The answer to this question might be more readily available, I am just struggling with the search function).

There is guidance somewhere about what comparable is. Ultimately you just have to certify it's comparable anyway, no one inspects it, so as long as you have insurance you should be fine.

I spent like 600 i think 1L year. That was for all used books except Crim which was brand new at the time.

https://studenthealth.uchicago.edu/page ... -2013-2014 bottom of the page.

That said, I've also never heard of them actually auditing someone's health insurance to make sure that it actually fulfills the requirements.

[Canof09]

Just curious if anyone here has any thoughts/input on the Patino Fellowship. Does pretty much everyone end up applying or is it only a small number of students? I submitted my application about a week ago and was just wondering if anyone has a feel for how competitive this thing is.

From what I understand, they select ~10 finalists and then interview them pretty rigorously to select the winner. Anybody go through the interview last year? Feel free to PM me if you would rather do that.

Looking forward to meeting you guys in a few months.

[Rahviveh]

2L's, do you know if the Doctoroff classes the law school is offering next year counts against the 12-credit limit to taking classes across the midway?

[beepboopbeep]

2L's, do you know if the Doctoroff classes the law school is offering next year counts against the 12-credit limit to taking classes across the midway?

1L obviously, but at the Doctoroff talk a couple weeks back, Douglas promised that those classes will not count against the limit.

[20141023]

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[Rahviveh]

I would hope there are at least four Doctoroff classes available. That way I can have 4 Doctoroff classes next year and 4 ATM classes my 3L year, or vice versa. Better yet the LSA should work on getting that limit raised.

[20141023]

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[Rahviveh]

I would hope there are at least four Doctoroff classes available. That way I can have 4 Doctoroff classes next year and 4 ATM classes my 3L year, or vice versa. Better yet the LSA should work on getting that limit raised.

lol yeah... I would be more than willing to take as few law school classes as possible over the next 2 years. Especially if they're taught by Judge Wood.

Hopefully, after tomorrow, nobody ever has to wake up before 8:30 in the morning for law school again.

[Jaqen]

I would hope there are at least four Doctoroff classes available. That way I can have 4 Doctoroff classes next year and 4 ATM classes my 3L year, or vice versa. Better yet the LSA should work on getting that limit raised.

lol yeah... I would be more than willing to take as few law school classes as possible over the next 2 years. Especially if they're taught by Judge Wood.

[beepboopbeep]

I would hope there are at least four Doctoroff classes available. That way I can have 4 Doctoroff classes next year and 4 ATM classes my 3L year, or vice versa. Better yet the LSA should work on getting that limit raised.

lol yeah... I would be more than willing to take as few law school classes as possible over the next 2 years. Especially if they're taught by Judge Wood.

I think your hatred of Wood might even surpass my dislike of Ferzan. It's actually kinda impressive.

[WhiteyCakes]

I would hope there are at least four Doctoroff classes available. That way I can have 4 Doctoroff classes next year and 4 ATM classes my 3L year, or vice versa. Better yet the LSA should work on getting that limit raised.

lol yeah... I would be more than willing to take as few law school classes as possible over the next 2 years. Especially if they're taught by Judge Wood.

I think your hatred of Wood might even surpass my dislike of Ferzan. It's actually kinda impressive.

Start your brief.

[Rahviveh]

Ferzan at least offered the entertainment value of watching a train wreck. Wood is more akin to watching women's soccer, or Cloud Atlas (good luck staying awake + figuring out what's going on).

[Jaqen]

Ferzan at least offered the entertainment value of watching a train wreck. Wood is more akin to watching women's soccer, or Cloud Atlas (good luck staying awake + figuring out what's going on).

I didn't have Ferzan but can cosign that Wood really is that bad.