Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[DoubleChecks]

Several reliable sources have confirmed that grades are out tomorrow. And what, you guys aren't going to be checking at midnight and hourly thereafter? What kind of HLS students are you?

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Are you kidding? I actually called my friend who's a computer repairman to see if maybe it was my refresh button that wasn't working.

lol generally grades, classes, etc. are all released at 5 pm. i would be pleasantly surprised if it were released earlier (but hey, I'm one for good surprises!)

[DoubleChecks]

btw, 1Ls, grades are out on myPlan

[ph14]

Anyone know what kind of grades you need to work at a litigation firm? Quinn, Boies, W&C, etc.

[englawyer]

Anyone know what kind of grades you need to work at a litigation firm? Quinn, Boies, W&C, etc.

You have a chance at Quinn/Boies with avg grades (a few H for the year). W&C is more selective than the other two and requires top grades.

[Curious1]

What kinds of jobs did you guys have the summer before law school, and what kinds of jobs would you recommend for getting a leg up for 1L employment? I'm looking around and it's tough to find anything, especially since I'm an international and the awkward 3 months where I have to transfer my F-1 is presenting obstacles. (not eligible for SEO, etc.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

[The Gentleman]

What kinds of jobs did you guys have the summer before law school, and what kinds of jobs would you recommend for getting a leg up for 1L employment? I'm looking around and it's tough to find anything, especially since I'm an international and the awkward 3 months where I have to transfer my F-1 is presenting obstacles. (not eligible for SEO, etc.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about finding a 0L summer job. Given the choice between working over the summer and relaxing for a few months, I would strongly recommend doing the latter. I quit my job in June, hung out at the beach, and read a bunch of garbage novels. It was awesome. And I don't think that any employer, especially a 1L employer, is going to care about a 2-3 month gap before you start law school. From what I have gathered, most people just chill out over 0L summer.

But if you insist on doing something, you could look into volunteering at a county prosecutor's office for a few hours each week. (Although the visa thing might be an issue.) That would give you some legal experience and cover letter material, and wouldn't monopolize your entire summer.

TLDR: 0L Summer Daiquiris > 0L Summer Working

[ph14]

What kinds of jobs did you guys have the summer before law school, and what kinds of jobs would you recommend for getting a leg up for 1L employment? I'm looking around and it's tough to find anything, especially since I'm an international and the awkward 3 months where I have to transfer my F-1 is presenting obstacles. (not eligible for SEO, etc.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about finding a 0L summer job. Given the choice between working over the summer and relaxing for a few months, I would strongly recommend doing the latter. I quit my job in June, hung out at the beach, and read a bunch of garbage novels. It was awesome. And I don't think that any employer, especially a 1L employer, is going to care about a 2-3 month gap before you start law school. From what I have gathered, most people just chill out over 0L summer.

But if you insist on doing something, you could look into volunteering at a county prosecutor's office for a few hours each week. (Although the visa thing might be an issue.) That would give you some legal experience and cover letter material, and wouldn't monopolize your entire summer.

TLDR: 0L Summer Daiquiris > 0L Summer Working

+1. Relax, you'll get a 1L summer job. If you want to do something so you have something to discuss in interviews, it doesn't really matter what you do. Just try and do something related to the legal profession.

[nixxers]

What kinds of jobs did you guys have the summer before law school, and what kinds of jobs would you recommend for getting a leg up for 1L employment? I'm looking around and it's tough to find anything, especially since I'm an international and the awkward 3 months where I have to transfer my F-1 is presenting obstacles. (not eligible for SEO, etc.)

Any advice would be appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about finding a 0L summer job. Given the choice between working over the summer and relaxing for a few months, I would strongly recommend doing the latter. I quit my job in June, hung out at the beach, and read a bunch of garbage novels. It was awesome. And I don't think that any employer, especially a 1L employer, is going to care about a 2-3 month gap before you start law school. From what I have gathered, most people just chill out over 0L summer.

But if you insist on doing something, you could look into volunteering at a county prosecutor's office for a few hours each week. (Although the visa thing might be an issue.) That would give you some legal experience and cover letter material, and wouldn't monopolize your entire summer.

TLDR: 0L Summer Daiquiris > 0L Summer Working

+1. Relax, you'll get a 1L summer job. If you want to do something so you have something to discuss in interviews, it doesn't really matter what you do. Just try and do something related to the legal profession.

+1, if you want something to talk about in interviews, join an SPO your first semester. all my interviewers want to hear about are PLAP hearings.

[DoubleChecks]

No employer will ask what you did during your summer before 1L year of law school, unless you happened to have done something super interesting that is actually on your resume. I agree with the others -- just relax and have fun. Employers will have more than enough "fun" asking you about SPOs and especially your 1L summer job.

[Curious1]

No employer will ask what you did during your summer before 1L year of law school, unless you happened to have done something super interesting that is actually on your resume. I agree with the others -- just relax and have fun. Employers will have more than enough "fun" asking you about SPOs and especially your 1L summer job.

Awesome. Thanks for all the responses. I do like to keep busy so maybe I'll teach English somewhere or tutor LSATs or something.

Hope to see y'all in march.

[094320]

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[fumagalli]

For those of you who didn't major business or economics in college, what did you guys do to get to understand basic to advanced economics? I'm assuming you have to know how the economy works and its major trend and everything to work as a corporate lawyer but I only took one class on economics in college.

I try to read the wall street journal and the economist but I don't understand half the content and even if I sort of understand it doesn't stick with me because I have no structural basis on the subject so I can't form an opinion or make some sort of judgement after reading something.

What do you think would help? Hope to get lot of opinions!

[The Gentleman]

1L here, so I don't know about how necessary economics is in corporate practice. But I don't think that it will hurt you in your 1L coursework. Depending on your professors, some basic econ stuff might come up (like efficient breach in contracts or care/activity effects in torts) but nothing that you won't be able to handle. I've never taken an economics course in my life and I'm doing fine.

Although I did read a pretty cool book 0L summer called The Armchair Economist. Might be worth checking out if you're looking for some interesting summer reading.

http://www.amazon.com/Armchair-Economis ... 0029177766

[caminante]

I have no idea whether or not you need to learn econ for law school.

However, I was an econ major and I <3 free online education.

1. iTunes U has the entire free intro courses to micro and macro econ from Berkeley.
micro: http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/eco ... d461558855
macro: http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/eco ... d460479692

2. Khan Academy has illustrated examples to most micro-econ topics as well as other finance related topics. These are amazing and in-depth explanations, but you will not know how they all fit into the big picture if you're not following along with the iTunes U or similar course.
http://www.khanacademy.org/#microeconomics-1

Once you have basic micro and macro down you can pretty much follow along with most economic-ish conversations. You might want to understand stat and how regressions work a bit, but I have no idea what your math background is to know if that would be difficult for you or not.

*This is only for econ, finance is another subject altogether. If you want to learn about that too I'd recommend finding a course on iTunes U and then following along with Khan Academy's stuff on finance

[tomwatts]

While here, you can take the occasional econ/finance-ish class (e.g. basic accounting) at the law school and cross-register for classes at HBS, HKS, and MIT's Sloan. You can get a heavy dose of anything relevant if you haven't had it up to this point.

I heard at one point that you can't cross-register for introductory classes at HBS from HLS, but you can cross-register for introductory classes at Sloan, so you're covered anyway.

[roranoa]

Do you know anyone who went into finance after graduation? Or an alumni who went into finance after a few years of corporate law? I just wanna know how many people do that.

[splbagel]

Are 1L's basically guaranteed to get HRES apartment housing if we want it (and sign up in time)? Or is it pretty competitive?

[tomwatts]

Do you know anyone who went into finance after graduation? Or an alumni who went into finance after a few years of corporate law? I just wanna know how many people do that.

It's not enormously common, but definitely at least a few people each year do it. Last semester, this guy came to talk to the Harvard Association of Law and Business, many of whom want to do the same sort of thing as he did (go to Goldman Sachs after HLS). I think the current President of HALB, among others, will be going straight into finance after law school.

[094320]

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[caminante]

Are 1L's basically guaranteed to get HRES apartment housing if we want it (and sign up in time)? Or is it pretty competitive?

lolno. i got a horrible lottery number and was guaranteed to not get it.

I'm confused about the whole lottery system. I have read that once you are approved for housing, you can choose from "currently available" options at any time, even before the lottery spots start. Also, that as soon as the first lottery window happens all units set aside for law students in Terry Terrace and one other building are added to the "currently available" options that people can choose from before their allotted view and submit time.

So, is it just that there are never very many options in the "currently available" category or that most people just tend to wait until their view and submit window?

[094320]

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[splbagel]

Are 1L's basically guaranteed to get HRES apartment housing if we want it (and sign up in time)? Or is it pretty competitive?

lolno. i got a horrible lottery number and was guaranteed to not get it.

I'm confused about the whole lottery system. I have read that once you are approved for housing, you can choose from "currently available" options at any time, even before the lottery spots start. Also, that as soon as the first lottery window happens all units set aside for law students in Terry Terrace and one other building are added to the "currently available" options that people can choose from before their allotted view and submit time.

So, is it just that there are never very many options in the "currently available" category or that most people just tend to wait until their view and submit window?

I mean, when I was looking, I didn't want anything in the "currently available" category--I didn't want rent to start in March when I wasn't living in the area, and I didn't find anything that started later. I got the absolute last allotted view time, so I just got an apt. elsewhere. You're definitely not guaranteed and you definitely shouldn't count on it, unless you get an earlier view time, in which case, sure absolutely.

So is it a reasonable strategy to hope for a good view time, and initiate serious craigslist hunting only if HRES doesn't work out? Or should I start looking for apartments now and hope to visit them over March ASW?

[Curious1]

The fickle housing you guys are talking about only applies to the off campus right? You're guaranteed (pretty much) your choice of the dorms?

[094320]

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[smittytron3k]

I have a studio near Porter that I am considering moving out of (just because I'm kind of getting sick of Cambridge and might want to move to the city for 3L year). $1220/mo, with dishwasher, new kitchen/appliances, walk-in closet, hardwood/tile, and full bathroom, 10-15 mins walking from the law school. My lease ends on September 1, but I would be willing to talk an August 1 or August 15 start date if you're interested. PM me for more details.