Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum
- t-14orbust
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
When would we get our loan/aid disbursements? I want to head to Cambridge in August but money will be lacking.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
I disagree somewhat. I had a car at HLS and loved being able to use it, though I worked for a number of years prior to law school and was pretty attached to having that mobility. Public transportation is decent so long as you live near a T stop, but its reach outside of Boston is pretty limited and I enjoyed the ability to regularly get away to Maine or New Hampshire occasionally on the weekends.TripTrip wrote:Don't bring a car to Cambridge.stmichael91 wrote:What's the stance on having a car? Is public transportation good enough in Cambridge to get by?
The parking is terrible, there's very few places to drive to, and maintaining the vehicle is expensive when compared to how little use you'll get out of it. For any driving you do want to do, there's ZipCar.
I think the biggest consideration in bringing a car to HLS, though, is where you end up living while at school. If you are in Cambridge proper, especially if living in the HLS dorms, then honestly I would caution against having a car. Despite its benefits, parking is a huge issue. If you are willing to live a little away--even walking distance away--your options for parking are expanded. For me, I lived in Somerville right across the city line where Washington and Beacon streets intersect. It was a 15 minute walk to school and the parking on my street in Somerville was typically easy to find. That said, it can still be a pain to find parking in the winter with snow everywhere and you have to be careful of street cleaning (once a week I had to wake up early and make sure I was parked on the right side of the street).
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Thanks guys.
I'm on the road constantly so maybe it'll be refreshing not to drive all the time. Planning on living in the dorms if I decide to go and I don't mind walking (unless there's another polar vortex coming around...)
I'm on the road constantly so maybe it'll be refreshing not to drive all the time. Planning on living in the dorms if I decide to go and I don't mind walking (unless there's another polar vortex coming around...)
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- t-14orbust
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Anyone want to house a lowly 0L for April ASW? Will compensate in pitiful sums of cash and arguably good company, should you be so inclined.
I can sleep on a couch, floor, in the hallway (have slept on a staircase and in a bush before, so this will be a step up) etc. Just need a place to keep my stuff and somewhere to sleep where I won't be arrested.
I can sleep on a couch, floor, in the hallway (have slept on a staircase and in a bush before, so this will be a step up) etc. Just need a place to keep my stuff and somewhere to sleep where I won't be arrested.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Use airbnb if you're trying to save money
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Thanks everyone for your thoughts on mentorship! It makes sense
Another question:
1) If you could do HLS over again, what would you do differently?
2) How does one make the best out of their experience there?
Another question:
1) If you could do HLS over again, what would you do differently?
2) How does one make the best out of their experience there?
- Doorkeeper
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Re 1: I don't think there's much that I would change, academically. 1L is a slow learning process that's painful, but there isn't really a way to shortcut it and magically learn how to read cases quickly and efficiently. I probably would have prepared for exams a bit differently - focusing more on previous exams while studying.sonyvaio18 wrote:Thanks everyone for your thoughts on mentorship! It makes sense
Another question:
1) If you could do HLS over again, what would you do differently?
2) How does one make the best out of their experience there?
Re 2: Learn what is necessary to achieve whatever you want to do (biglaw, clerking, prosecution, etc) and focus on taking those steps that help you to achieve that goal. Don't become unfocused and too many activities and random shit because other people are doing it.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
I imagine this could've been asked before but did you find that there was any relationship between a student's LSAT score and law school performance? I realize this was and continues to be a hotly debated topic and everyone points me to 0.4 correlation between LSAT and 1L gpa... but i was wondering what your experience was like at HLS where the range of LSAT scores is presumably relatively small.
- ph14
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
No.esther0123 wrote:I imagine this could've been asked before but did you find that there was any relationship between a student's LSAT score and law school performance? I realize this was and continues to be a hotly debated topic and everyone points me to 0.4 correlation between LSAT and 1L gpa... but i was wondering what your experience was like at HLS where the range of LSAT scores is presumably relatively small.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
In relation to this, I didn't know what any of the things that I now want to do were called — except maybe IP — when I started law school. That really worked against me as I was looking for my first summer job, and, while it's working out — slowly — now, I'd be in a better place if I had just gone to OCS and OPIA and kept talking with them in November and December of my 1L year until they gave me decent answers. Well, and searched more thoroughly on OCS's "Career Exploration" and OPIA's "What is Public Interest Law?" pages; though they give pretty short shrift to my niche interests, they do at least use the right words, which was a problem for me at first.Doorkeeper wrote:Re 2: Learn what is necessary to achieve whatever you want to do (biglaw, clerking, prosecution, etc) and focus on taking those steps that help you to achieve that goal. Don't become unfocused and too many activities and random shit because other people are doing it.
That doesn't really apply to a person who wants to do biglaw litigation or transactional work, but it does apply to someone who wants to, say, work for a state legislature's Judiciary Committee (as I did last summer) or do educational adequacy/equity work (as I'm doing now). Even if you're going to biglaw, I'd never heard of, for example, emerging companies practice until I started researching firms last summer before EIP, and now that's one of the areas that I'm definitely going to try to get involved in during this coming summer.
So don't get too wrapped up in the usual things that other people do. If those don't appeal to you, keep looking. There's some niche thing that you'll like, if you keep looking.
But that's more for the later part of 1L year. For the first part of 1L year, focus as much as you can on doing the reading, learning the material, etc. There's time for all that other stuff later. Don't do more than one or two activities, because you won't care and no one else will either.
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- unc0mm0n1
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
I actually don't agree with this. I live 3 minutes from the law school and never have a problem with parking. Having a Cambridge address is great because you can park almost anywhere in Cambridge including many popular places like Kendall Square or Central Square. I love the fact I never have to pay for meters in those places. Many streets have resident only signs, whereas when I go to Somerville I never have trouble finding parking.owlofminerva wrote:I disagree somewhat. I had a car at HLS and loved being able to use it, though I worked for a number of years prior to law school and was pretty attached to having that mobility. Public transportation is decent so long as you live near a T stop, but its reach outside of Boston is pretty limited and I enjoyed the ability to regularly get away to Maine or New Hampshire occasionally on the weekends.TripTrip wrote:Don't bring a car to Cambridge.stmichael91 wrote:What's the stance on having a car? Is public transportation good enough in Cambridge to get by?
The parking is terrible, there's very few places to drive to, and maintaining the vehicle is expensive when compared to how little use you'll get out of it. For any driving you do want to do, there's ZipCar.
I think the biggest consideration in bringing a car to HLS, though, is where you end up living while at school. If you are in Cambridge proper, especially if living in the HLS dorms, then honestly I would caution against having a car. Despite its benefits, parking is a huge issue. If you are willing to live a little away--even walking distance away--your options for parking are expanded. For me, I lived in Somerville right across the city line where Washington and Beacon streets intersect. It was a 15 minute walk to school and the parking on my street in Somerville was typically easy to find. That said, it can still be a pain to find parking in the winter with snow everywhere and you have to be careful of street cleaning (once a week I had to wake up early and make sure I was parked on the right side of the street).
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
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Last edited by scoopDeeDoo on Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- patogordo
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
i wish i had gone to a t14 for free but i didn't have that option so lol
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- bedefan
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
This depends so much on your situation. If you want clerkships, top top firms, or federal government (and the easier time breaking into NYC or DC that all of this implies), take Harvard.scoopDeeDoo wrote:Sorry if this has already been asked, but do you regret going to HLS with the debt load instead of going to a T14 with substantial $$$?
If you want to do something more off the beaten track, I would guess you'd be better off graduating with little to no debt. (HLS has great support for people who want to do something unusual, I know, but I am learning it's nothing like the freedom of leaving with little to no debt.)
In my situation, I slightly regret taking HLS over a T25 with a full scholarship + an opportunity to TA (which would have meant zero debt). But this is mostly because the T25 was in the place I was living and I now realize I want to go back there. OTOH people I know who went to the T25 school are having horrible times finding work in the geographic area where the school is. So I guess this might be a grass is greener effect.
- Doorkeeper
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
Someone literally posted this exact same question about two or three pages back. You might want to look back on it and read the responses before you go and ask a new question.
Doorkeeper wrote:Also turned down a free ride at NYU and mega cash at Chicago. My specific goals from law school made Harvard the easy choice, but I agree with the sentiment that if you're just looking for NYC biglaw then the CCN full ride makes a lot of sense.
Happy to discuss more via PMs.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
When is the latest day that we can send our statement of intent form?
- ph14
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
That's the kind of question you want to find out from HLS.hwannabe1234 wrote:When is the latest day that we can send our statement of intent form?
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- ph14
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
That's the kind of question you want to find out from HLS.hwannabe1234 wrote:When is the latest day that we can send our statement of intent form?
- paglababa
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
maximum amount of grant aid HLS provides to anyone, just to think about BEST CASE SCENARIO?
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
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Last edited by scoopDeeDoo on Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions
The minimum you have to borrow before receiving grant aid is like $44k a year. COL + Tuition is like $78k. So the maximum aid for a single student with no income, assets, or expected parent contribution is something like $34k a year.paglababa wrote:maximum amount of grant aid HLS provides to anyone, just to think about BEST CASE SCENARIO?
Note that income depends on the time you are in school, so your only relevant income is likely to be the summers, beginning the summer before 1L.
Assets can bite you if you're a little older, i.e. old enough to avoid the expected parent contribution. If you have 30k in a 401k from working for 3-4 years, then that is counted as assets and reduces your aid. Same if you have equity in a house.
If you have children, then your cost of living can go up and you can get more than that in aid - but of course, your expenses are higher too. The maximum grant you can get period is the amount tuition costs.
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