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

[VulcanVulcanVulcan]

Agree that you 1L's shouldn't even be thinking about OCI until you have a semester's worth of grades and you have a good sense of where you stand. Other than, of course, you should be using OCI as a motivation to not blow this semester.

[Flips88]

Agree that you 1L's shouldn't even be thinking about OCI until you have a semester's worth of grades and you have a good sense of where you stand. Other than, of course, you should be using OCI as a motivation to not blow this semester.

Are we talking 1L or 2L OCI? 1L OCI is pretty worthless and nothing will matter till you have grades. If you're talking about worrying about 2L OCI as a 1L right now, then just LOL. You have all of next summer to work on OCI bidding/mass mailing strategy, etc. FFS, just worry about school for 1L.

[VulcanVulcanVulcan]

Agree that you 1L's shouldn't even be thinking about OCI until you have a semester's worth of grades and you have a good sense of where you stand. Other than, of course, you should be using OCI as a motivation to not blow this semester.

Are we talking 1L or 2L OCI? 1L OCI is pretty worthless and nothing will matter till you have grades. If you're talking about worrying about 2L OCI as a 1L right now, then just LOL. You have all of next summer to work on OCI bidding/mass mailing strategy, etc. FFS, just worry about school for 1L.

I meant 2L OCI. What I'm saying is, it's a good idea to have an idea of where you are in the class as soon as possible, but the first chance to do that is after first-semester grades. There are different approaches to take to improving yourself over the summer depending on your GPA. 2L OCI shouldn't even be on the horizon until January.

[Cobretti]

I'm going to be in town doing my interview in a few weeks. What should I check out in town while I'm there?

[rinkrat19]

I'm going to be in town doing my interview in a few weeks. What should I check out in town while I'm there?

It's a big city. You're gonna need to narrow it down a little further than that. My must-sees could be very different from yours.

Are you looking for restaurants, bars, clubs, touristy activities, museums, tours, neighborhoods...what?

[Cobretti]

I'm going to be in town doing my interview in a few weeks. What should I check out in town while I'm there?

It's a big city. You're gonna need to narrow it down a little further than that. My must-sees could be very different from yours.

Are you looking for restaurants, bars, clubs, touristy activities, museums, tours, neighborhoods...what?

Probably gotta check out a deep dish pizza place I figure. Other than that, touristy stuff would probably be cool.

Might be able to use a bar recommendation too...

[Blumpbeef]

[Might be able to use a bar recommendation too...

Coming on a thursday by any chance?

And everyone says Lou Malnati's is the best pizza, but I shamefully have yet to try it.

[Cobretti]

Ya, interview is on a Thursday afternoon.

[rinkrat19]

[Might be able to use a bar recommendation too...

Coming on a thursday by any chance?

And everyone says Lou Malnati's is the best pizza, but I shamefully have yet to try it.

I liked Lou Malnati's a lot more than Giordano's, and a bit more than Gino's East. Their sausage pizza was something of a revelation. Also make sure to have a proper Chicago hot dog at Portillo's.

If you like museums, Chicago has world-class science, natural history and art museums. The aquarium is supposed to be excellent as well, but I haven't been. Lincoln Park Zoo is surprisingly good for a free zoo. Don't bother with Navy Pier. Cubs and White Sox and Bears. (*grumbles something about the NHL lockout*)

My personal favorite is probably the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. One of the better collections of artifacts from the ancient Near East (Egypt, Persia, Nubia, Mesopotamia) in the country. But you have to like that kind of stuff, obviously.

[rinkrat19]

Ya, interview is on a Thursday afternoon.

Every Thursday is Bar Review. A school-wide email announces which bar earlier in the week.

[Cobretti]

Ya, interview is on a Thursday afternoon.

Every Thursday is Bar Review. A school-wide email announces which bar earlier in the week.

my MBA program has the exact same Thursday ritual, nice

[Holly Golightly]

I also recommend Signature Lounge (LinkRemoved) for a drink. Food at the restaurant is way overpriced, but if you just go to the lounge martinis cost about the same as they would at any other nice bar in the area, but you also get to feel classy and get the view from the 96th floor of the Hancock without paying to go to the observation deck.

[splitmuch]

I also recommend Signature Lounge (LinkRemoved) for a drink. Food at the restaurant is way overpriced, but if you just go to the lounge martinis cost about the same as they would at any other nice bar in the area, but you also get to feel classy and get the view from the 96th floor of the Hancock without paying to go to the observation deck.

Seconded. Food is over priced and low end drinks are over priced (8 bucks for a domestic I think) but you can also get high end cocktails/liquor for like 12 dollars.

[Blumpbeef]

I also recommend Signature Lounge (LinkRemoved) for a drink. Food at the restaurant is way overpriced, but if you just go to the lounge martinis cost about the same as they would at any other nice bar in the area, but you also get to feel classy and get the view from the 96th floor of the Hancock without paying to go to the observation deck.

Seconded. Food is over priced and low end drinks are over priced (8 bucks for a domestic I think) but you can also get high end cocktails/liquor for like 12 dollars.

It's about 15 for a cocktail. A neat bourbon isn't terribly expensive though.

[terriers]

Out of curiosity, at what point are we supposed to know what's going on with outlining, finals, and all that stuff?

I went to the outlining workshop, but didn't feel like I picked up that much, I'm not really in the mood to worry about it yet, but wondering if there's a time when I should actually start consolidating/preparing, hopefully in a month or so?

[rinkrat19]

Out of curiosity, at what point are we supposed to know what's going on with outlining, finals, and all that stuff?

I went to the outlining workshop, but didn't feel like I picked up that much, I'm not really in the mood to worry about it yet, but wondering if there's a time when I should actually start consolidating/preparing, hopefully in a month or so?

My TAs are telling us to start now.

[terriers]

...fantastic, I was trying to outline Civ Pro (mid-term tomorrow) and realized I had no idea what the hell I'm doing, need to work harder on meeting upperclassmen now.

[bk1]

Out of curiosity, at what point are we supposed to know what's going on with outlining, finals, and all that stuff?

I went to the outlining workshop, but didn't feel like I picked up that much, I'm not really in the mood to worry about it yet, but wondering if there's a time when I should actually start consolidating/preparing, hopefully in a month or so?

My TAs are telling us to start now.

FWIW: I started outlining in early October, but wasn't committing a ton of time at first. I started ramping up my outline work in early November and started PTs in late November. Ended up doing around 15 PTs total for 4 classes. I spent my almost every waking hour working once Thanksgiving break started.

[Georgia Avenue]

Eh. Think it's still a bit early to start outlining. I didn't really start doing any outlining until about 4-5 weeks out from finals. You should be fine if you just review your notes once a week, like on a Sunday while you're watching NFL or something. Of course, just do whatever works for you.

[homestyle28]

If I could do it over again I'd be spending this time locating good, already done outlines for your profs. Not that you have to use these, but they can give you a good idea on how to organize/prioritize material...I'd also start thinking about how you can be doing practice tests starting at Thanksgiving

[bk1]

Eh. Think it's still a bit early to start outlining. I didn't really start doing any outlining until about 4-5 weeks out from finals. You should be fine if you just review your notes once a week, like on a Sunday while you're watching NFL or something. Of course, just do whatever works for you.

By starting I meant more like reviewing concepts and less than a couple hours a week at that.

[Holly Golightly]

Eh. Think it's still a bit early to start outlining. I didn't really start doing any outlining until about 4-5 weeks out from finals. You should be fine if you just review your notes once a week, like on a Sunday while you're watching NFL or something. Of course, just do whatever works for you.

I would basically echo this.

[Eugenie Danglars]

Eh. Think it's still a bit early to start outlining. I didn't really start doing any outlining until about 4-5 weeks out from finals. You should be fine if you just review your notes once a week, like on a Sunday while you're watching NFL or something. Of course, just do whatever works for you.

By starting I meant more like reviewing concepts and less than a couple hours a week at that.

This is generally a good idea. One caveat- if your class splits up into a couple separate parts, work on an outline for one part when you're done with it. We did all of the rules in civ pro, then no more rules til the final, so I made the rules outline mid-semester. It helped a lot later!

[PaulAtriedes]

Hello rising 3Ls

Could you shed some light on any of these areas?:

1) Employment: How much faith do you place in the OIC system? Do you also look elsewhere for jobs? Excluding the bottom 10% of the class, does everyone who wants a big law job have the opportunity to get one?

2) 2 Year Degrees. What are your thoughts on the accelerated (2 year) JD program? I'm skeptical about it.

3) Living Expenses. Does anyone in the class live purely on their monthly allotment from federal loans? If not, how much does it cost to live normally but frugally - in short, what is the real cost of living in Chicago for a law student?

[bk1]

Hello rising 3Ls

Could you shed some light on any of these areas?:

I'm a 2L but I'll do my best to answer.

1) Employment: How much faith do you place in the OIC system? Do you also look elsewhere for jobs? Excluding the bottom 10% of the class, does everyone who wants a big law job have the opportunity to get one?

Nobody, not even top 10% of the class with law review should be placing exclusive faith in OCI. This is not a Northwestern thing, this is an everywhere thing. Whether you're at a T6 or even HYS, you should be mass mailing and attending job fairs. The reality is, at least from my anecdotal experience, is that very few people put a lot of effort into getting a job outside OCI (and this applies to people of every class rank from the top to the bottom of the class). Everyone who wants biglaw has an opportunity to try, but that does not mean everyone who wants it gets it. This is also true at schools that place better than NU (people strike out at HLS, CLS, UChi, etc), so it's not really a good question to ask whether everyone who wants it gets it because that's not really true anywhere (maybe HYS, maybe YS, I dunno). The question is what percentage of the class gets biglaw. It's too early for me to tell how well c/o 2014 is doing overall, but Chicago seems rough. NYC seems to be treating people quite well comparatively.

2) 2 Year Degrees. What are your thoughts on the accelerated (2 year) JD program? I'm skeptical about it.

There's not a lot of hard data here. My guess is that the AJD program gives worse employment prospects than the JD program, but I'm not sure by how much. All the AJDs I know tend to have done well, but it's hard to tell how much of that is due to their work experience (which seems to be higher than even the regular class). It's also not that much of a money saver since it's more of a 2.5 year program (you start in the summer). I personally wouldn't risk it and would do the JD program, but I think that while the difference is real, it's not monumental.

3) Living Expenses. Does anyone in the class live purely on their monthly allotment from federal loans? If not, how much does it cost to live normally but frugally - in short, what is the real cost of living in Chicago for a law student?

You can live within the budget for the 9 month school year just fine. Things get a bit tight if you're living in Streeterville, but other areas are cheaper. Summer can be a bitch due to the way people get money (SFPIF which funds PI positions for the summer tends to be a bit late, iirc). There's also moving costs to consider that can eat a lot of your budget, especially if you don't have outside money to get furniture and stuff like that if you don't have it and need to buy it. I know a lot of people take out either the laptop money or health insurance money and then don't use it on those things because they get it elsewhere (either already having a laptop and/or being on parents' insurance still). Not sure if that is entirely kosher, but I know a lot of people do it.