NYU 1L Taking Questions Forum

[smokeylarue]

This thread was a great read, thanks for the late night entertainment.

In all honesty, if everything this guy spews is true, he'll probably get above average grades but I'm pretty certain he's someone most of his classmates dislike but he probably doesn't think that. The amount of personal anecdotes and info he has said on this thread make him very easily identifiable ("I made everyone laugh before an exam" - I mean really lol) and I'm sure his classmates who read this thread are just judging him even more now.

Again, thank you for the great read.

[Mal Reynolds]

I thought U Chicago students were bad.

[daryldixon]

And yeah, rudeness will screw you over royally. I promise I'm a really nice guy in person—you can see this in the posts in this thread before the trolls arrived. You can ask any of my sectionmates: they'll say I was a bit of a gunner the first few weeks, then I calmed down. And that maybe I'm a little goofy sometimes, but I always help my sectionmates out when they need it. For heaven's sakes, I spent almost an hour on the phone with a sectionmate who wasn't even in my study group when she called up like a day or two before the exam with a complicated question in Contracts. It was an hour I didn't have to spare, but she needed that hour more than I did. I swear I'm really not a d***.

LOL, you really don't see it. You are the person everyone doesn't like. I guarantee that your section mates talk shit about you when your aren't around.

You can go on thinking you are better than everyone and that your anti-social gunnerish behavior is justified but in the end you are only lying to yourself. This whole thread is full of your self-important justifications for your own gunnerish and anti-social behavior. But the truth is that no one cares about your justifications or your promises that you really aren't a douche bag. What matters is how you act. In this thread and (according to your descriptions) at your law school, you act like a douche bag. Just because no one at your school has confronted you to your face doesn't mean they haven't noticed. But you are probably too busy gunning to realize how many people you have already alienated. Here is a quick test: How many of your classmates have text messaged you in the last 48 hours about non-academic subjects? If the answer is less than two then you have already failed. Because whether you know it or not, your classmates are texting each other. They are hanging out every weekend and they are making plans to takes trips together.

I hope you get good grades, because you are going to need them. No one is going to hire an unaware pompous braggart that thinks he is the smartest person in the room. The best you can hope for is getting good enough grades to get a clerkship and then becoming an appellate troll at some Big Law firm that values your brief writing abilities but conveniently forgets to invite you to any event where you might interact with a client. Seriously bro, good luck with your life.

[bjsesq]

I thought U Chicago students were bad.

They are.

[kwais]

And yeah, rudeness will screw you over royally. I promise I'm a really nice guy in person—you can see this in the posts in this thread before the trolls arrived. You can ask any of my sectionmates: they'll say I was a bit of a gunner the first few weeks, then I calmed down. And that maybe I'm a little goofy sometimes, but I always help my sectionmates out when they need it. For heaven's sakes, I spent almost an hour on the phone with a sectionmate who wasn't even in my study group when she called up like a day or two before the exam with a complicated question in Contracts. It was an hour I didn't have to spare, but she needed that hour more than I did. I swear I'm really not a d***.

LOL, you really don't see it. You are the person everyone doesn't like. I guarantee that your section mates talk shit about you when your aren't around.

You can go on thinking you are better than everyone and that your anti-social gunnerish behavior is justified but in the end you are only lying to yourself. This whole thread is full of your self-important justifications for your own gunnerish and anti-social behavior. But the truth is that no one cares about your justifications or your promises that you really aren't a douche bag. What matters is how you act. In this thread and (according to your descriptions) at your law school, you act like a douche bag. Just because no one at your school has confronted you to your face doesn't mean they haven't noticed. But you are probably too busy gunning to realize how many people you have already alienated. Here is a quick test: How many of your classmates have text messaged you in the last 48 hours about non-academic subjects? If the answer is less than two then you have already failed. Because whether you know it or not, your classmates are texting each other. They are hanging out every weekend and they are making plans to takes trips together.

I hope you get good grades, because you are going to need them. No one is going to hire an unaware pompous braggart that thinks he is the smartest person in the room. The best you can hope for is getting good enough grades to get a clerkship and then becoming an appellate troll at some Big Law firm that values your brief writing abilities but conveniently forgets to invite you to any event where you might interact with a client. Seriously bro, good luck with your life.

I think this hits the nail on the head. OP, you lack what people call self-awareness. People with self-awareness simply do not talk the way you do. They just don't. Doesn't mean you are a bad person, doesn't mean you have bad intentions. Your intentions actually seem pretty solid. But in making this thread and answering simple questions with novellas about how awesome you are, you have exposed yourself as someone who lacks some basic social skills.

Also, you need to put the breaks on the NYU culture crap. You have never attended a single other law school. You have zero idea what the culture elsewhere is like. What is especially telling is that your lines about NYU are VERBATIM of what is spewed at their admitted student events. I imagine NYU is a pleasant place to attend, just like I have found CLS a pleasant place to attend. Just like my friends at Penn and Harvard have found as well. The difference between these other places and NYU (and this is coming from the mouths of many students I know who chose CLS over NYU) is that the force-feeding of "WE ARE COLLEGIAL!" and "WE DON'T COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER!" just gets to be too much and comes off as extremely self-conscious on the part of NYU. You said that jerks are not allowed at NYU. What kind of statement is this. At what point when NYU is admitting anyone with a 171 and a pulse are they screening for jerks.

Get real OP. You are going to need to mature and calm down before OCI or else you are going to be in for a rude awakening. Everyone in law school knows people who underperform their grades. Few of those under-performers thought it would happen to them. When everyone on here tells you that you are walking in that direction, maybe listen instead of having some quip ready about how super-duper-awesome and helpful and friendly you are. That said, I wish you good luck, because you seem like a well-meaning person.

[Taus11]

.

[deebanger]

And yeah, rudeness will screw you over royally. I promise I'm a really nice guy in person—you can see this in the posts in this thread before the trolls arrived. You can ask any of my sectionmates: they'll say I was a bit of a gunner the first few weeks, then I calmed down. And that maybe I'm a little goofy sometimes, but I always help my sectionmates out when they need it. For heaven's sakes, I spent almost an hour on the phone with a sectionmate who wasn't even in my study group when she called up like a day or two before the exam with a complicated question in Contracts. It was an hour I didn't have to spare, but she needed that hour more than I did. I swear I'm really not a d***.

LOL, you really don't see it. You are the person everyone doesn't like. I guarantee that your section mates talk shit about you when your aren't around.

You can go on thinking you are better than everyone and that your anti-social gunnerish behavior is justified but in the end you are only lying to yourself. This whole thread is full of your self-important justifications for your own gunnerish and anti-social behavior. But the truth is that no one cares about your justifications or your promises that you really aren't a douche bag. What matters is how you act. In this thread and (according to your descriptions) at your law school, you act like a douche bag. Just because no one at your school has confronted you to your face doesn't mean they haven't noticed. But you are probably too busy gunning to realize how many people you have already alienated. Here is a quick test: How many of your classmates have text messaged you in the last 48 hours about non-academic subjects? If the answer is less than two then you have already failed. Because whether you know it or not, your classmates are texting each other. They are hanging out every weekend and they are making plans to takes trips together.

I hope you get good grades, because you are going to need them. No one is going to hire an unaware pompous braggart that thinks he is the smartest person in the room. The best you can hope for is getting good enough grades to get a clerkship and then becoming an appellate troll at some Big Law firm that values your brief writing abilities but conveniently forgets to invite you to any event where you might interact with a client. Seriously bro, good luck with your life.

[kaiser]

I certainly don't question OP's intentions, as he sounds like he genuinely does just want to help. But I agree that he lacks self-awareness to some extent, and does not seem to realize how his words come off. To OP, I would say that you need to be a bit more conscious of this. The tone/attitude you convey is as important, if not more important, than the words you speak.

I myself am an NYU law grad, and come next summer, it will be folks like me who volunteer to help in the recruiting process (i.e. your recruiting process). So, while I certainly haven't forgotten what its like to be a student, I've been slowly shifting my mindset from being a student to helping assess and recruit students (whether for the law school or for my firm). Trust me, I know how hard it is to walk the fine line between playing up accomplishments/selling yourself, and still coming off as humble and not arrogant. All I'm saying is try and be mindful of the way others interpret and process what you say.

[$alty]

you people need to chill. OP is right that he'll probably end up above median and has said everything with a good tone throughout the thread.

[hellojd]

*facepalm*

I stumbled into this thread out of curiosity and to offer to take questions as well. To everyone here, as another NYU 1L, I promise most of us are not as condescending as OP.

OP, I think you really have good intentions, although as others have mentioned you don't seem to realize that you come across as very unlikeable. Thank goodness people in my section don't go on and on about how they could've gone to HLS and what named scholarship they have (after extensive convos with most people in my section I have no clue who is here on a scholly and who isn't and who could've gone to HLS).

And did you really predict you got an "A, A-, and B+" but "hopefully not the B+"?

In any case, I will also try to help answer any questions you all may have!

[deebanger]

*facepalm*

I stumbled into this thread out of curiosity and to offer to take questions as well. To everyone here, as another NYU 1L, I promise most of us are not as condescending as OP.

OP, I think you really have good intentions, although as others have mentioned you don't seem to realize that you come across as very unlikeable. Thank goodness people in my section don't go on and on about how they could've gone to HLS and what named scholarship they have (after extensive convos with most people in my section I have no clue who is here on a scholly and who isn't and who could've gone to HLS).

And did you really predict you got an "A, A-, and B+" but "hopefully not the B+"?

In any case, I will also try to help answer any questions you all may have!

[dj_roomba]

And yeah, rudeness will screw you over royally. I promise I'm a really nice guy in person—you can see this in the posts in this thread before the trolls arrived. You can ask any of my sectionmates: they'll say I was a bit of a gunner the first few weeks, then I calmed down. And that maybe I'm a little goofy sometimes, but I always help my sectionmates out when they need it. For heaven's sakes, I spent almost an hour on the phone with a sectionmate who wasn't even in my study group when she called up like a day or two before the exam with a complicated question in Contracts. It was an hour I didn't have to spare, but she needed that hour more than I did. I swear I'm really not a d***.

LOL, you really don't see it. You are the person everyone doesn't like. I guarantee that your section mates talk shit about you when your aren't around.

You can go on thinking you are better than everyone and that your anti-social gunnerish behavior is justified but in the end you are only lying to yourself. This whole thread is full of your self-important justifications for your own gunnerish and anti-social behavior. But the truth is that no one cares about your justifications or your promises that you really aren't a douche bag. What matters is how you act. In this thread and (according to your descriptions) at your law school, you act like a douche bag. Just because no one at your school has confronted you to your face doesn't mean they haven't noticed. But you are probably too busy gunning to realize how many people you have already alienated. Here is a quick test: How many of your classmates have text messaged you in the last 48 hours about non-academic subjects? If the answer is less than two then you have already failed. Because whether you know it or not, your classmates are texting each other. They are hanging out every weekend and they are making plans to takes trips together.

I hope you get good grades, because you are going to need them. No one is going to hire an unaware pompous braggart that thinks he is the smartest person in the room. The best you can hope for is getting good enough grades to get a clerkship and then becoming an appellate troll at some Big Law firm that values your brief writing abilities but conveniently forgets to invite you to any event where you might interact with a client. Seriously bro, good luck with your life.

can u point to the antisocial or gunnerish behavior of OP? He seems like the opposite...

[beautyistruth]

I've got to agree with OP's description of the collegiate atmosphere of NYU. (NYU 1L here). Obviously, none of us have been to another law school. All of this might be true of every other law school, or they might not, or they might just be true about this particular 1L class at NYU. But, from my experience, NYU was more collaborative and collegiate than even my undergraduate program was.

As an example, every time anybody made a recording of a lecture, they would offer it to the entire section without fail. Whenever I missed class, I felt comfortable asking anybody for class notes without awkwardness. Whenever anybody asked me for class notes, I gave them my notes without question. In contrast, I felt much more uncomfortable asking people for notes in undergrad. Granted, some people might not like this type of atmosphere. I knew some type A students from my undergrad program who hated being asked for notes, and I imagine they would hate this type of atmosphere and dislike NYU's atmosphere. But I'd say that my experience so far has exceeded my expectations, even after NYU's assurances that their student body was exceptionally collegiate.

[Swimp]

I've got to agree with OP's description of the collegiate atmosphere of NYU. (NYU 1L here). Obviously, none of us have been to another law school. All of this might be true of every other law school, or they might not, or they might just be true about this particular 1L class at NYU. But, from my experience, NYU was more collaborative and collegiate than even my undergraduate program was.

As an example, every time anybody made a recording of a lecture, they would offer it to the entire section without fail. Whenever I missed class, I felt comfortable asking anybody for class notes without awkwardness. Whenever anybody asked me for class notes, I gave them my notes without question. In contrast, I felt much more uncomfortable asking people for notes in undergrad. Granted, some people might not like this type of atmosphere. I knew some type A students from my undergrad program who hated being asked for notes, and I imagine they would hate this type of atmosphere and dislike NYU's atmosphere. But I'd say that my experience so far has exceeded my expectations, even after NYU's assurances that their student body was exceptionally collegiate.

*collegial

[kwais]

Law school brochures and 1L shills for schools often hold this note sharing thing up as a startling revelation. You are an adult, you make friends, if they have notes that you missed, they email them to you. What do you think is going on everywhere else? People screwing their friends in a systematic fashion?

[beautyistruth]

Or people refusing to give you notes because they feel like their notes are their intellectual property or something (which was the predominate vibe in undergrad). I'll admit, it could just be a product of everybody behaving like adults.

[UnderrateOverachieve]

I will say that I get upset when someone on Law Review gives out outlines from the outline bank. I refuse to do it. We all made an agreement not to and it undermines the value of the outline bank; there aren't that many other perks and the bank is suppose to help keep your grades up when you are wasting hours and hours on a useless citecheck or edit.

[kaiser]

I will say that I get upset when someone on Law Review gives out outlines from the outline bank. I refuse to do it. We all made an agreement not to and it undermines the value of the outline bank; there aren't that many other perks and the bank is suppose to help keep your grades up when you are wasting hours and hours on a useless citecheck or edit.

That policy of Law Review is misguided and plain silly for a number of reasons:

1. NYU maintains an online outline bank that all students can access. You make it sound like, without the Law Review stash, you would be without course outlines to help keep your grades up given the time commitments of LR. Thats simply not true at all. You have the general online bank, and you can of course ask past students, who would likely be more than happy to share outlines.

2. It undermines the very sense of collegiality that NYU so loves to play up

3. By the time you begin serving on law review, you have already gotten your stellar grades, and already completed EIW. In other words, by the time you begin on LR, you are completely set. So who cares about having that exclusive perk once you have essentially already "won" the game? What is the harm in sharing them with others once you are already at the top?

[UnderrateOverachieve]

I will say that I get upset when someone on Law Review gives out outlines from the outline bank. I refuse to do it. We all made an agreement not to and it undermines the value of the outline bank; there aren't that many other perks and the bank is suppose to help keep your grades up when you are wasting hours and hours on a useless citecheck or edit.

That policy of Law Review is misguided and plain silly for a number of reasons:

1. NYU maintains an online outline bank that all students can access. You make it sound like, without the Law Review stash, you would be without course outlines to help keep your grades up given the time commitments of LR. Thats simply not true at all. You have the general online bank, and you can of course ask past students, who would likely be more than happy to share outlines.

2. It undermines the very sense of collegiality that NYU so loves to play up

3. By the time you begin serving on law review, you have already gotten your stellar grades, and already completed EIW. In other words, by the time you begin on LR, you are completely set. So who cares about having that exclusive perk once you have essentially already "won" the game? What is the harm in sharing them with others once you are already at the top?

I am sorry I was not more clear. I don't go to NYU. I was pointing out why at some schools I wouldn't willingly give ALL notes and what not to people.

[kwais]

I will say that I get upset when someone on Law Review gives out outlines from the outline bank. I refuse to do it. We all made an agreement not to and it undermines the value of the outline bank; there aren't that many other perks and the bank is suppose to help keep your grades up when you are wasting hours and hours on a useless citecheck or edit.

That policy of Law Review is misguided and plain silly for a number of reasons:

1. NYU maintains an online outline bank that all students can access. You make it sound like, without the Law Review stash, you would be without course outlines to help keep your grades up given the time commitments of LR. Thats simply not true at all. You have the general online bank, and you can of course ask past students, who would likely be more than happy to share outlines.

2. It undermines the very sense of collegiality that NYU so loves to play up

3. By the time you begin serving on law review, you have already gotten your stellar grades, and already completed EIW. In other words, by the time you begin on LR, you are completely set. So who cares about having that exclusive perk once you have essentially already "won" the game? What is the harm in sharing them with others once you are already at the top?

I am sorry I was not more clear. I don't go to NYU. I was pointing out why at some schools I wouldn't willingly give ALL notes and what not to people.

If you are going to play the prestige game and join law review, I don't think you also get to seek sympathy for the extra work. Accept the consequences of your actions. Also, get a good grade because you out-compete your classmates on gameday, not because you hide outlines from some portion of them.

[Steveloblaw]

DERAILED.

Back on subject, NYU 1L's - where are all y'all living? Pro/cons to spending your 1L in the village, as opposed to a bit of a commute from Queens or Brooklyn?

[hellojd]

DERAILED.

Back on subject, NYU 1L's - where are all y'all living? Pro/cons to spending your 1L in the village, as opposed to a bit of a commute from Queens or Brooklyn?

I currently live in on-campus housing, but in the past I've also lived in Brooklyn.

Parts of Brooklyn and Queens can be really nice, but keep in mind that at least in Brooklyn the nice parts don't offer much of a rent discount over Manhattan prices.

It's really, really nice to be a quick walk from campus. Many people do commute from the other boroughs, and they seem to manage just fine. However, I can't help but imagine that it kills at least an extra 45 mins-1 hr every day to do so. If you're already spending a pretty penny on law school, I think spending a bit more to make life more manageable and comfortable is worth it.

Cons: on-campus housing is definitely not fancy. The furniture is pretty bad (twin beds really suck), and you don't really have a living room / kitchen to write home about.

Other pros: don't have to deal with a terrible housing market, which is really one of the worst things about living in NYC. No deposits, additional paperwork, crazy landlords, or rodent control problems.

[eerie_erie]

DERAILED.

Back on subject, NYU 1L's - where are all y'all living? Pro/cons to spending your 1L in the village, as opposed to a bit of a commute from Queens or Brooklyn?

I currently live in on-campus housing, but in the past I've also lived in Brooklyn.

Parts of Brooklyn and Queens can be really nice, but keep in mind that at least in Brooklyn the nice parts don't offer much of a rent discount over Manhattan prices.

It's really, really nice to be a quick walk from campus. Many people do commute from the other boroughs, and they seem to manage just fine. However, I can't help but imagine that it kills at least an extra 45 mins-1 hr every day to do so. If you're already spending a pretty penny on law school, I think spending a bit more to make life more manageable and comfortable is worth it.

Cons: on-campus housing is definitely not fancy. The furniture is pretty bad (twin beds really suck), and you don't really have a living room / kitchen to write home about.

Other pros: don't have to deal with a terrible housing market, which is really one of the worst things about living in NYC. No deposits, additional paperwork, crazy landlords, or rodent control problems.

Maintenance work at D'Agostino gets taken care of really quickly and is always done in a professional manner, in my experience of 2.5 years living there.

[girlmonster]

Lol…yes, a natural talent for logical reasoning won't help you in law school, but scrubbing toilets will. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of it?

I don't know what's more appalling -- the blatant self-superiority, or the fact that you actually think it's acceptable to condescend to someone's honest living and imply that their need for a paycheck somehow renders them less able to succeed in law school.

FWIW OP, genuinely "nice" people don't usually keep a tally of every semi-decent, human thing they do.

[skprowler]

So I feel like I should drop in my two cents. Also a 1L at NYU, don't know my grades yet, but I think I have an idea of who the OP is. And honestly, I'd be surprised if he doesn't do better than he said on this board, and I do worse, but we'll see. And his memory is better than he's "bragged" about, prolly the closest to a photographic memory I've ever met. Having said all that, I can see how OP came off as pompous, but I can tell you he doesn't mean to. And regardless of how the message is delivered, the message is one to listen to.

I would also agree with his classification of NYU vs some of the other top schools. It all depends on where you go and what kind of a friend group you develop, but I know of 1L horror stories this fall from at least 5 of the other top 10 schools with mischief or just general coldness. We also have handfuls of Columbia 1Ls and above that come and hang out with us in the village instead of staying uptown.

On other notes, I did use supplements heavily, and found them VERY useful. Both the E&Es and the Hornbook, they helped to clarify and see things from a high level, and the questions helped define the edge cases. Again, we'll see if they helped me get "good" grades, but I know personally my level of understanding was MUCH higher after going through them. I'm also not used to reading cases, so maybe thats why they helped me more? Just remember to stick to what the professor is teaching, otherwise you'll waste time learning topics that you didn't cover and won't be tested on.

Also, on living, I would recommend living on campus or in the village for at least the first year. Mercer is way better than D'Ag, though D'Ag is much closer. I know a lot of people who commute, but they seem somewhat more disconnected from the rest of the class, though if you're married or already live in NYC, you may want to stay elsewhere. Oh, and though they have XL-twin beds, you can bring your own bed. I know some people who did that and have the twin as a couch.

Hope it all helps, and good luck to the 1L's on their grades, and the 0L's on their applications!