Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

Just submitted my material to Quinn. Anyone know when they start interviewing??

They already started dude

There's a whole thread on this in the employment forum

[MyopicVisage]

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[tomwatts]

Does anyone know if you have to be a US citizen or permanent resident (read green card) to participate in the SEC Boston office externship?

That sounds like the sort of thing to ask them directly about.

[MyopicVisage]

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[esther0123]

Does any current HLS students/alums have experience acquiring loan from Harvard University Employees Credit Union (huece)? Are the rates likely going to fluctuate severely over the 3 years period? I am an international student whose only means of financing my expenses are HLS grants and loans + huece...

[AllTheLawz]

Does any current HLS students/alums have experience acquiring loan from Harvard University Employees Credit Union (huece)? Are the rates likely going to fluctuate severely over the 3 years period? I am an international student whose only means of financing my expenses are HLS grants and loans + huece...

Whether the loans fluctuate will depend on whether its a fixed rate or variable rate loan. If its variable rate, it will fluctuate based upon an underlying benchmark rate (e.g. LIBOR, 10yr treasury, etc.). Nobody here can tell you what the underlying benchmark rate will do.

[MyopicVisage]

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[tomwatts]

You can look at history to get a sense of typical ranges, though. Google can tell you all that you need on that.

[lawbeahs]

I have a question about the take home pay calculator on the HLS website. This thing has to be faulty, right? I put in 160k debt at graduation, and it's giving me a monthly payment of nearly 4k, with a total repayment of nearly 450k. I put the same numbers in other calculators, and I get half those totals. Please tell me my 160k doesn't become 450k after interest lol.

[toothbrush]

I have a question about the take home pay calculator on the HLS website. This thing has to be faulty, right? I put in 160k debt at graduation, and it's giving me a monthly payment of nearly 4k, with a total repayment of nearly 450k. I put the same numbers in other calculators, and I get half those totals. Please tell me my 160k doesn't become 450k after interest lol.

(not an hls student) You aren't giving enough info to know for sure what went wrong, but I doubt 160k debt turned into 450k with 4k payments/mo. The GULC repayment calc is fairly credited if you wanted to cross-check http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admission ... geid=61621

[robotrick]

I have a question about the take home pay calculator on the HLS website. This thing has to be faulty, right? I put in 160k debt at graduation, and it's giving me a monthly payment of nearly 4k, with a total repayment of nearly 450k. I put the same numbers in other calculators, and I get half those totals. Please tell me my 160k doesn't become 450k after interest lol.

I tried it using the numbers you said (and assumed BigLaw salary) and got approximately $230k. To get to over $450k you would need to owe over $300k at graduation. As toothbrush said, the GULC calculator is also a good one.

[sonyvaio18]

I've posted this once before, but it got buried many pages back. Thought that new current students/alumni could respond.

For any current or past HLS students, could you comment on:
• What you would do differently?
• What you most appreciated your time there?
• How you balanced life/fun and work?

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

I've posted this once before, but it got buried many pages back. Thought that new current students/alumni could respond.

For any current or past HLS students, could you comment on:
• What you would do differently? Not read textbooks at all - E&Es, plus syllabi of SCOTUS opinions for landmark cases, would have been sufficient and would have saved so much time. Would not have participated in any SPOs - no need to get used as free labor during the school year when you've got all of 1L summer.
• What you most appreciated your time there?
• How you balanced life/fun and work? This is so idiosyncratic that I doubt anyone's answers will be very helpful to you. I'll just say this: I don't understand why people worry so much about balance - you'll learn quickly what needs to get done and you should already know how you operate in terms of procrastinating/planning ahead. There will be weeks when nothing is going on and you can go out four or five night a week, some weeks where you can only grab drinks over dinner, and some where you can't go out at all. Balance will come naturally - not something that you need to consciously think about months in advance.

I wrote out some quick thoughts, but you sound like you're on a fishing expedition. Are you looking for something in particular? If not, then you should go back through this thread, where you'll find that your questions have already been discussed at length.

Edit: I don't mean to be snarky. I'm just tired and too lazy to edit my words to make them less asshole-y.

[Mr. Elshal]

I've posted this once before, but it got buried many pages back. Thought that new current students/alumni could respond.

For any current or past HLS students, could you comment on:
• What you would do differently? Not read textbooks at all - E&Es, plus syllabi of SCOTUS opinions for landmark cases, would have been sufficient and would have saved so much time. Would not have participated in any SPOs - no need to get used as free labor during the school year when you've got all of 1L summer.
• What you most appreciated your time there?
• How you balanced life/fun and work? This is so idiosyncratic that I doubt anyone's answers will be very helpful to you. I'll just say this: I don't understand why people worry so much about balance - you'll learn quickly what needs to get done and you should already know how you operate in terms of procrastinating/planning ahead. There will be weeks when nothing is going on and you can go out four or five night a week, some weeks where you can only grab drinks over dinner, and some where you can't go out at all. Balance will come naturally - not something that you need to consciously think about months in advance.

I agree with the answers above. I'll also add that I would have liked to be in class more frequently (second semester I missed over a third of some classes, almost always for unavoidable reasons). I found that missing black letter classes really hobbled me around exam time.

And definitely would have done fewer extra-currics in general. I did 5 or 6 my first semester and then cut down to 3 for my second semester (because I took on leadership roles in 2). While I had a lot of fun exploring my interests, it took up way too much time and I would definitely keep them too a minimum.

You definitely should not try to plan how you're going to "balance" your life before you know what it consists of. You'll figure it out as you go along. The nicest thing about section-mates is that you're mostly on the same schedule, so you all have roughly the same availability for socializing and fun. It'll be fine. Just let it happen.

[Doorkeeper]

I've posted this once before, but it got buried many pages back. Thought that new current students/alumni could respond.

For any current or past HLS students, could you comment on:
• What you would do differently?
• What you most appreciated your time there?
• How you balanced life/fun and work?

1. I would've not stressed as much during 1L. I think it definitely ended up harming me around exam time and ended up being a self-defeating enterprise. I also would've started creating my outlines earlier in the semester. Your outline should be done by the time reading period starts.
2. The professors. Most of them are absolutely amazing and I constantly feel thankful to be able to take classes from _____insert famous law professor who also turned out to be a nice person here_______
3. Don't do student groups. Pick one extracurricular and that's it. Read ahead for classes if it's possible so you don't feel slammed during the week. For 1L spring, take an easy seminar to lighten the workload. During 2L and 3L, take at least 1-2 seminars a semester and no more than 2 BLL classes. Start creating your outlines a few weeks before reading period. With that being said, definitely take time during the week or weekend to do whatever you want to do (visit museums, go out for dinner, go drinking, etc).

[despina]

I also would've started creating my outlines earlier in the semester. Your outline should be done by the time reading period starts.

Lots of people have said variations on this throughout the thread but it's worth repeating here: just because X study technique works for Y person doesn't mean you should be doing it or that it will necessarily work for you.

Every semester, I've only barely started my outlines before reading period starts. Making outlines is my main method of studying, so by the time my outline is done I'm basically ready for the exam. I'm usually not done with my outline until a day or two before the exam for that class. This has consistently worked for me. The thing that has helped keep my stress level manageable is realizing that if the way I do things works for me, I genuinely don't have to worry that somebody else is using a totally different technique or is on a totally different timeline.

3. Don't do student groups. Pick one extracurricular and that's it.

Again, this is great advice for many people but would have made me miserable. Most of my close friends and I did a journal, an SPO, and one to three other student groups with varying levels of commitment. Yes, that's insane, and you shouldn't do that just because you feel like you "should" or to build your resume or whatever. But if you're genuinely interested in a lot of things, or if you're the type of person who feels restless or unfulfilled without a full schedule of things you genuinely care about or find fun, then you also shouldn't limit yourself just because someone tells you that you should avoid student groups.

[094320]

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[despina]

...in addition, SPOs can be an interesting chance to get direct-client experience, and provide some sort of grounded perspective. Your clients' problems are likely much worse than yours.

Oh, so real. Nothing like talking to someone who is about to be evicted, deported, or imprisoned to give you some perspective on what your degree is for, and to remind you that you can handle even the worst possible school stress!

[lawlorbust]

You can look at history to get a sense of typical ranges, though. Google can tell you all that you need on that.

note that the benchmark rates are all at historic lows and any fluctuation will be upwards.

[MyopicVisage]

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[sjgonzalez3]

What's the consensus on bringing a car to campus? Not recommended?
Has anyone brought his/her car to school and doesn't regret doing it? For what reason?

Thanks!

I know you're trying to avoid going back through the pages here, but it sounds like you're doing the initial information search.

Since a lot of questions have already been asked by the c/o 2017's earlier admits, even going through the last 20-30 pages of this thread will give you a wealth of answers to questions like this one and ones you will probably soon think of. I would highly recommend it.

[wert3813]

What's the consensus on bringing a car to campus? Not recommended?
Has anyone brought his/her car to school and doesn't regret doing it? For what reason?

Thanks!

I know you're trying to avoid going back through the pages here, but it sounds like you're doing the initial information search.

Since a lot of questions have already been asked by the c/o 2017's earlier admits, even going through the last 20-30 pages of this thread will give you a wealth of answers to questions like this one and ones you will probably soon think of. I would highly recommend it.

Also the search function.

[MyopicVisage]

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[wert3813]

Maybe I'm doing this wrong, but I tried "car" in the "Search for" field below this thread, nothing came up

Search only this forum. Search +car harvard. Profit.

[despina]

The short answer:

Cars are expensive to park, totally unnecessary for daily life in Cambridge / Boston, and impossible for a commute to the law school. Most HLS students don't have cars on campus.

However, it's very nice to have one for grocery shopping and weekend trips. Many who have cars are people whose spouse / partner is not a law student.