Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[094320]

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[Cowboy25]

What are the prices like for lunch/dinner in the Harkness Commons? I'm trying to prepare some semblance of a budget. Thanks for any help!

[094320]

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[Mista Bojangles]

As a dude w a decent appetite I don't think I've ever gotten out of the hark for less than $9

[Searchparty]

Out-of-town 0L student trying to book flights home to save money/get seats. I noticed that Thanksgiving falls very late this year, as it did last year-- 2 weeks before exams begin. It is a short and poorly timed break; do many students skip going home to hit the books? Trying to schedule around workload, how does a trip home on the October 13-14 break look? Not sure when to anticipate being the most and least busy.

Thanks much in advance for any answers! Sorry if this has already been addressed; I didn't see it looking through the thread.

I was a slow & steady studier for 1L--I never had any tortuous days, but I also took 0 days off. This was my style in undergrad--one semester in UG when I had 5 papers due at the end of finals, I started early and knocked out one paper a week for 5 weeks. So I kept it. Therefore, I didn't take the long breaks off.

Home was far enough away that traveling itself was exhausting, so I didn't. A lot of people stayed, so there was the option of celebrating Thanksgiving with a group of friends. If you live close enough to home that the flight is to like Philly or DC, I'd go home. But if it's LA, you're probably better off staying in Boston for Thanksgiving for 1L.

That October break is sort of the last calm moment before the storm. Post-that weekend is when I remember things starting to get pretty stressful and study groups ramping up, etc. I stayed in the area, but others left. Depends on your style. I'd note that when picking extracurriculars like journals that you should opt for ones where the brunt of your work, like subcite, falls before that weekend.

Went home during October and November break. If you're that stressed, you can allocate some study time while you're home for the break. Honestly, you could easily study harder before and after the break to make up for it.

[despina]

I agree with the above. As a woman who hates paying $12 for a huge restaurant meal I'm only going to eat half of, the Hark was a decent option for me. Salad and a roll or other side would often come to less than $6, or I'd spring for the made-to-order pasta bowls for like $7.50. But yeah, it's not a great option if you have a more serious appetite.

[Searchparty]

What are the prices like for lunch/dinner in the Harkness Commons? I'm trying to prepare some semblance of a budget. Thanks for any help!

A lot of the food is by weight, so you can get a cheap meal if you stick to the lighter stuff. Definitely don't get the zucchini! There are also sandwiches and some other meal that rotates that are NOT by weight. I'd say the sandwiches are around $5. I guess this week's grill meal is $6.50 (http://radining.compass-usa.com/hls/Doc ... h-18th.pdf).

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

What are the prices like for lunch/dinner in the Harkness Commons? I'm trying to prepare some semblance of a budget. Thanks for any help!

Depends how much you eat. A lot of the food is by weight. I often got meals there for like $4, but I'm also someone who can eat a bagel for lunch and call it a meal. Chicken fingers & fries is I think like $6-7?
If you're a boy I guess I'd budget at least $10 per meal.

$10 sounds about right, maybe just a little on the high side but reasonable for budgeting purposes.

Freebie lunches are a godsend. Conservatively you can discount lunch cost by 15% (ie 1 per week). In reality it's probably closer to 2-3 per week over the semester (with some weeks having a decent freebie every day and other weeks having little to nothin)

[Searchparty]

What are the prices like for lunch/dinner in the Harkness Commons? I'm trying to prepare some semblance of a budget. Thanks for any help!

Depends how much you eat. A lot of the food is by weight. I often got meals there for like $4, but I'm also someone who can eat a bagel for lunch and call it a meal. Chicken fingers & fries is I think like $6-7?
If you're a boy I guess I'd budget at least $10 per meal.

$10 sounds about right, maybe just a little on the high side but reasonable for budgeting purposes.

Freebie lunches are a godsend. Conservatively you can discount lunch cost by 15% (ie 1 per week). In reality it's probably closer to 2-3 per week over the semester (with some weeks having a decent freebie every day and other weeks having little to nothin)

Second this! Depending on how cheap you're willing to be, most weeks you can get 3-4, but a lot will be pizza. Fridays usually have very few if any lunch events. Here's the calendar, although the calendar obviously won't fill until the month begins, but you can go back into previous school months for an idea. https://myrooms.law.harvard.edu/MasterC ... endar.aspx

[lastminuteHLS]

For days when you want to bring your own food, are there any microwaves? I figured I wouldn't be able to store food anywhere, but I'm hoping there's at least a place to heat it up. I've heard journals have nice things like that, but I'm going to assume at least for a while I'd need to find a public microwave.

[ph14]

For days when you want to bring your own food, are there any microwaves? I figured I wouldn't be able to store food anywhere, but I'm hoping there's at least a place to heat it up. I've heard journals have nice things like that, but I'm going to assume at least for a while I'd need to find a public microwave.

Yes, there are microwaves in the Hark.

[Person1111]

I am a strong advocate of taking time off for Thanksgiving. I took a full week off 1L and 3L (and Tuesday-Saturday off 2L), thought it was a great sanity booster, and don't think it hurt me on exams. I was also one of those people who goofed off until Thanksgiving and then spent 10-16 hours in Langdell every day in December, so YMMV.

[094320]

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[lawbeahs]

Do you guys have any opinions (positive or negative) about the joint HLS/Cambridge University J.D./LLM?

I'm interested in legal academia and was wondering if the LLM would be helpful in landing a job as a law professor. I am also considering relocating to London after law school (e.g., working for a US firm at a London office).

Thanks for your input!

[kitkat288]

I have a question concerning time restrictions- I am considering keeping my old tutoring job which is only 2 hours a week with a bit of a commute, and occasional extra sessions. This would block out one night a week where I couldn't participate in other activities ( and it would have to be a tuesday or a thursday).

Would not being able to do anything on either tuesday or thursday be limiting in terms of classes or study groups or anything like that?>=

[ph14]

I have a question concerning time restrictions- I am considering keeping my old tutoring job which is only 2 hours a week with a bit of a commute, and occasional extra sessions. This would block out one night a week where I couldn't participate in other activities ( and it would have to be a tuesday or a thursday).

Would not being able to do anything on either tuesday or thursday be limiting in terms of classes or study groups or anything like that?>=

You might have LRW on a Tuesday or Thursday night (5-7 pm, I think (?)). Why don't you wait until you get your schedule before you make any commitments?

[t-14orbust]

I know that the first semester's loan disbursement comes out in Late August/Early September. For budgeting purposes, when will the disbursement for second semester go out? I know there is a short winter term so I'm wondering if it goes out early Winter term or early spring term. I'm basically trying to figure out how many weeks my loan disbursements need to stretch out for.

[despina]

In 2013, my account showed the funds as deposited 12/16.
In 2012, the date was 12/17.

Keep in mind that your spring funds have to cover J-term and winter beak as well as the semester. So even though they divide up your sum close to evenly between semesters, the fall amount is just 3.5 months (September, October, November, and half of December), while the winter amount is five months (half of December, half of May, plus January through April).

[t-14orbust]

In 2013, my account showed the funds as deposited 12/16.
In 2012, the date was 12/17.

Keep in mind that your spring funds have to cover J-term and winter beak as well as the semester. So even though they divide up your sum close to evenly between semesters, the fall amount is just 3.5 months (September, October, November, and half of December), while the winter amount is five months (half of December, half of May, plus January through April).

Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for. I'll definitely be budgeting those in, as well as a few weeks of buffer cash for early in the summer.

[delusional]

Do you guys have any opinions (positive or negative) about the joint HLS/Cambridge University J.D./LLM?

I'm interested in legal academia and was wondering if the LLM would be helpful in landing a job as a law professor. I am also considering relocating to London after law school (e.g., working for a US firm at a London office).

Thanks for your input!

I don't have any particular knowledge of this, and I suspect that our LR contingent could advise you better. But based on a scarce few conversations with professors...
I think that the "check-the-box" mentality of law students works until EIP and maybe clerkship applications. After that, there are very few boxes. You would be far better off figuring out what you know and like, and building on that as much as you can, than you would be thinking about what additional things you can suffer through to increase your odds by a few points.

There are a thousand other things that are completely intuitive. Good grades are better than bad ones. Clerkships are very important; the higher the better. If your JD/LLM represents a genuine interest in something like how British law and American law diverged, and you write great stuff about that, then it will be a huge plus. If it doesn't, it will be another nice school on your resume, like you probably already have and like half your classmates will have. Ultimately, in my thoroughly uninformed opinion, your career success (or your showing the aptitude in law school) will be the dispositive factor in whether you can get academia. HLS Magna+Cambridge+COA Clerkship+nothing interesting to say = no academia. HLS+exceptional success + niche expertise+unique rigorous interesting writing=academia.

In short, if you want to go to Cambridge, do the joint degree. If you want nothing to do with it but you want to add qualifications to be a professor, don't go.

[ph14]

I don't think the joint JD/LLM will help you as much as a COA clerkship, an academic fellowship, or even getting some practice experience, unless, as Delusional stated, your academic interests somehow align in a particular way with the Cambridge LLM.

[Doorkeeper]

Do you guys have any opinions (positive or negative) about the joint HLS/Cambridge University J.D./LLM?

I'm interested in legal academia and was wondering if the LLM would be helpful in landing a job as a law professor. I am also considering relocating to London after law school (e.g., working for a US firm at a London office).

Thanks for your input!

Generally speaking, it will not help you become a law professor. If you really want to work with X faculty member in Cambridge to write a paper for the year, then that's a different story.

I have no idea whether it would help you get a job in London, or do your job better in London.

[wert3813]

I trust someone will link a lr list when it's out?

[wwwcol]

I trust someone will link a lr list when it's out?

I'm sure somebody will, but FYI, the wording of the HLR website suggests that membership will not be finalized until at least a couple days from now, so I wouldn't hold my breath while waiting

[dirkgently]

Where can I check to see what kind of stuff I'll need to bring to Gropius? Mostly concerned about how well/poorly the kitchen will be stocked and what kind of bed sheets I'll need.