GULC Students Taking Questions Forum

[ChristineBaskets]

1) definitely - check amazon for some good used book deals - the bookstore recently changed management but I assume everything is still way too expensive. I managed to find a lot of my casebooks for under $50 used (in excellent condition for the most part), which made more sense to me than renting. I rented one that was $80 to rent and $240 to buy and was too new for used copies, and that was fine too.

2)I think a cell phone pic would be fine - I would ask someone to take it for you so that the angle isn't weird.

1) I almost always get my books online. I like having fresh, un-highlighted textbooks, so sadly I shell out a good bit of money for them, but sometimes you can get deals if you look early enough. I rent e&e's and the like tho, and had good experience with amazon, but I think you can just do whatever is cheapest or more convenient.

2) I downloaded a free passport photo app on my phone and sent them a photo from that.

Thanks guys. As far as supplements go, is there a wide selection in the library or should I be expecting to rent some books?

[BmoreOrLess]

1) definitely - check amazon for some good used book deals - the bookstore recently changed management but I assume everything is still way too expensive. I managed to find a lot of my casebooks for under $50 used (in excellent condition for the most part), which made more sense to me than renting. I rented one that was $80 to rent and $240 to buy and was too new for used copies, and that was fine too.

2)I think a cell phone pic would be fine - I would ask someone to take it for you so that the angle isn't weird.

1) I almost always get my books online. I like having fresh, un-highlighted textbooks, so sadly I shell out a good bit of money for them, but sometimes you can get deals if you look early enough. I rent e&e's and the like tho, and had good experience with amazon, but I think you can just do whatever is cheapest or more convenient.

2) I downloaded a free passport photo app on my phone and sent them a photo from that.

Thanks guys. As far as supplements go, is there a wide selection in the library or should I be expecting to rent some books?

Everything you would ever need (except for maybe Freer for Civ Pro?) is in the reading room, but they can't leave the reading room. If you like studying there, probably don't need to buy/rent anything. As a 1L, I'd probably go there and thumb through the supplements before you buy any. That's exactly what I still do because not all supplements, even within a specific type, are of equal usefulness. For example some e&e's are great (civ pro, tax) some are somewhat useful (torts) some are unhelpful (property) and some are downright bad (admin).

[Throwaonetwothree]

Hey TLS - I was wondering if there was a way to find out which DC/NYC biglaw firms have the greatest GULC alumni presence?

[TLSModBot]

Hey TLS - I was wondering if there was a way to find out which DC/NYC biglaw firms have the greatest GULC alumni presence?

Doesn't OCS put out something each year for EIW people that lists how many data points they're working with for determining median grades for getting accepted to the firm? My guess would be more data points = more people from GULC hired at that firm and might be a decent-ish proxy for what you're looking for.

From personal knowledge, Hogan, Latham, and Williams & Connolly all take numerous GULC people per year in DC (I think each was about 4 GULC students per class)

[Throwaonetwothree]

Hey TLS - I was wondering if there was a way to find out which DC/NYC biglaw firms have the greatest GULC alumni presence?

Doesn't OCS put out something each year for EIW people that lists how many data points they're working with for determining median grades for getting accepted to the firm? My guess would be more data points = more people from GULC hired at that firm and might be a decent-ish proxy for what you're looking for.

From personal knowledge, Hogan, Latham, and Williams & Connolly all take numerous GULC people per year in DC (I think each was about 4 GULC students per class)

Hmm...I was wondering if there was something more public access (purely out of curiosity). Do you know anything about the NYC market?

I think each was about 4 GULC students per class

Do you mean per section? Or total in an entire year's class?

[TLSModBot]

Hmm...I was wondering if there was something more public access (purely out of curiosity). Do you know anything about the NYC market?

I don't know the NY market because I wasn't focused there in EIW and most of my friends were DC-focused as well. Basic rule of thumb seems to be that the larger firms usually have one or two spots open for each of the T14 and then more for particular preferred schools or ones with more candidates they really like in a given year. Regionally proximate T13's will do even better (so Cornell will far outplace GULC in NY and NU will far outplace GULC in Chicago, but GULC can hold its own against both for at least some of the larger DC firms)

Do you mean per section? Or total in an entire year's class?

You're adorable - per entire class, not section. In DC the largest entering classes are in the 30-40 person range, so getting even 10% of that is pretty significant.

[pandapops]

How important is it to attend orientation? I was unfortunately in a bad accident last week that has left me unable to walk for the next 6-8 weeks and I'm considering whether or not I should defer until next year. I would really rather not do that but I have to be realistic about my situation. Due to doctor's appointments, etc., if I choose not to defer I won't be able to be in DC until right before classes start, on the 26th or so. Is it detrimental not to go to orientation? Also, I know this is impossible to answer unless you've been in my situation, but given the workload of 1L, do you think it is possible to keep up with the material while also doing physical therapy multiple times per week? Or should I just bite the bullet and defer? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Glasseyes]

Hey TLS - I was wondering if there was a way to find out which DC/NYC biglaw firms have the greatest GULC alumni presence?

I can only speak to DC, but you're probably looking at the big 4 DC firms: Covington, Hogan, Arnold & Porter, and WilmerHale. All four have lots of GULC folks, though they're all still pretty tough to land. My firm (one of the above) hired like 9 GULC kids this summer, counting 1Ls—pretty good showing. But generally speaking, every DC office is amenable to GULC kids pending you hit their grades targets and crush the interviews (both easier said than done).

My understanding of NY is that most offices probably all have plenty of GULC folks, with the exception of Wachtell, which doesn't really hire from GULC at all. NY offices have a fuckton of people from everywhere (hence the constant jokes about "warm bodies").

When in doubt, look at firm websites and search by school.

[Glasseyes]

How important is it to attend orientation? I was unfortunately in a bad accident last week that has left me unable to walk for the next 6-8 weeks and I'm considering whether or not I should defer until next year. I would really rather not do that but I have to be realistic about my situation. Due to doctor's appointments, etc., if I choose not to defer I won't be able to be in DC until right before classes start, on the 26th or so. Is it detrimental not to go to orientation? Also, I know this is impossible to answer unless you've been in my situation, but given the workload of 1L, do you think it is possible to keep up with the material while also doing physical therapy multiple times per nweek? Or should I just bite the bullet and defer? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Gah, that's terrible to hear. As you already intuited, no one can answer this but you. If you're gunning for a competitive career (i.e., biglaw or clerkships), I'd consider deferring. If your grades won't matter--unlikely, but I do know a few people in this situation--then by all means. Some people find the law school workload perfectly manageable; others, like me, basically churned away at all hours to pull good grades in 1L. It's pretty hard to predict what type of law student you'll be. Best of luck with your recovery.

[pandapops]

How important is it to attend orientation? I was unfortunately in a bad accident last week that has left me unable to walk for the next 6-8 weeks and I'm considering whether or not I should defer until next year. I would really rather not do that but I have to be realistic about my situation. Due to doctor's appointments, etc., if I choose not to defer I won't be able to be in DC until right before classes start, on the 26th or so. Is it detrimental not to go to orientation? Also, I know this is impossible to answer unless you've been in my situation, but given the workload of 1L, do you think it is possible to keep up with the material while also doing physical therapy multiple times per nweek? Or should I just bite the bullet and defer? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Gah, that's terrible to hear. As you already intuited, no one can answer this but you. If you're gunning for a competitive career (i.e., biglaw or clerkships), I'd consider deferring. If your grades won't matter--unlikely, but I do know a few people in this situation--then by all means. Some people find the law school workload perfectly manageable; others, like me, basically churned away at all hours to pull good grades in 1L. It's pretty hard to predict what type of law student you'll be. Best of luck with your recovery.

Ok, yeah that's about what I expected but in any case thanks for the response!

[GULCsect7]

I can only speak for myself, but I do not recall orientation being particularly necessary. I'm going into my 4E year though so it was a while ago. Maybe the only useful thing was a speech on the library resources. Once class starts there are loads of drop ins by the journal people, etc. My Legal Research and Writing (LRW) covered mock trial stuff extensively. Career services is very accessible... Honestly I think orientation was mostly cocktail parties and speeches from the deans.

In my experience the various administrators and professors have been great about meeting one-on-one if you ask, so perhaps you could arrange to meet with the librarians and anyone else you want to talk with separately.

Oh, my student mentor (can't remember the title they give to this role, but the third year student who was assigned to give advice to a small group of first year students) was absolutely terrific. She was very helpful across the board. My advice to anyone is to reach out to those folks if you have questions about anything.

I'm very sorry to hear about your accident. Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery!

[GULCsect7]

How important is it to attend orientation? I was unfortunately in a bad accident last week that has left me unable to walk for the next 6-8 weeks and I'm considering whether or not I should defer until next year. I would really rather not do that but I have to be realistic about my situation. Due to doctor's appointments, etc., if I choose not to defer I won't be able to be in DC until right before classes start, on the 26th or so. Is it detrimental not to go to orientation? Also, I know this is impossible to answer unless you've been in my situation, but given the workload of 1L, do you think it is possible to keep up with the material while also doing physical therapy multiple times per nweek? Or should I just bite the bullet and defer? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Sorry, didn't respond to the 1L work load question. My guess is that it is totally doable, even going to physical therapy. I have gone through law school while working a full time day job the entire time, and have very good grades. I'm not saying that to toot my own horn, but just to say that if you work efficiently and don't think of law school as a continuation of undergrad where you can lie around for much of the day it will definitely be doable, I think. To be fair, I take about 11 credits a semester while full time students take around 14 (I think), but I'm confident that if if you have, say, 10 hours of physical therapy a week you should be able to still keep up with law school coursework. But, as others have said, it is going to depend on how you work/study.

Maybe you could even join the night student section for a year to reduce the course load your first year, if that's an option.

Again, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. Please feel free to follow up with any questions directly or on here.

[buckiguy_sucks]

How important is it to attend orientation? I was unfortunately in a bad accident last week that has left me unable to walk for the next 6-8 weeks and I'm considering whether or not I should defer until next year. I would really rather not do that but I have to be realistic about my situation. Due to doctor's appointments, etc., if I choose not to defer I won't be able to be in DC until right before classes start, on the 26th or so. Is it detrimental not to go to orientation? Also, I know this is impossible to answer unless you've been in my situation, but given the workload of 1L, do you think it is possible to keep up with the material while also doing physical therapy multiple times per week? Or should I just bite the bullet and defer? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

i think it'd be manageable. like 1.5 hour sessions 3x a week would not make your workload unmanageable. as for orientation i would definitely consider just reaching out to the admissions office because this is definitely the kind of reason that would be good to miss it.

another consideration: if youre looking at going into heavy networking careers (ie biglaw) it may be better to defer the year so you have the stamina to mill about and get your networking on. just a thought

[Glasseyes]

Yeah, if all you've got going on is school and PT, and you're not a total procrastinator like me, you prob can swing it. I have a spouse plus kid going on at home, and I often forget just how much less time I have to study than my classmates, so when I bitch that I study for every waking hour, well, I have less free waking hours than most.

FYI, fall is 14 creds and spring is 17 (16 + 1 week one cred, which wasn't optional my year). Spring is fucking brutal, especially if you get someone like Butler who believes in aggressive cold calls and thinks 70 pages a night is chill.

[pandapops]

Thank you all so much for the advice, I really appreciate it! I'm really glad it's looking like I won't have to defer but I will be contacting the office of disability services today to get their input as well, so hopefully they also think it's plausible to start as planned.

[zg2144]

I just switched from section 5 to section 3. I'm really nervous about the additional reading and grading curve. I'm almost inclined to switch back to section 5... Anyone with any insight one way or the other? I am not planning on pursing PI but feel as though I would prefer the perspectives in section 3.

[Anonnonnon]

Yeah, if all you've got going on is school and PT, and you're not a total procrastinator like me, you prob can swing it. I have a spouse plus kid going on at home, and I often forget just how much less time I have to study than my classmates, so when I bitch that I study for every waking hour, well, I have less free waking hours than most.

FYI, fall is 14 creds and spring is 17 (16 + 1 week one cred, which wasn't optional my year). Spring is fucking brutal, especially if you get someone like Butler who believes in aggressive cold calls and thinks 70 pages a night is chill.

My Fall is 13 Credits, and Spring is 17 Credits (section one). Will this different credit split affect my life?

[DrSpaceman]

I just switched from section 5 to section 3. I'm really nervous about the additional reading and grading curve. I'm almost inclined to switch back to section 5... Anyone with any insight one way or the other? I am not planning on pursing PI but feel as though I would prefer the perspectives in section 3.

I was section 3. There's no difference in the grading curve in § 3 and the others, but there is more reading. It's interesting reading, and I'm glad I did it. PM me if you have other specific questions about the curriculum, profs, etc...

[buckiguy_sucks]

Yeah, if all you've got going on is school and PT, and you're not a total procrastinator like me, you prob can swing it. I have a spouse plus kid going on at home, and I often forget just how much less time I have to study than my classmates, so when I bitch that I study for every waking hour, well, I have less free waking hours than most.

FYI, fall is 14 creds and spring is 17 (16 + 1 week one cred, which wasn't optional my year). Spring is fucking brutal, especially if you get someone like Butler who believes in aggressive cold calls and thinks 70 pages a night is chill.

My Fall is 13 Credits, and Spring is 17 Credits (section one). Will this different credit split affect my life?

Nope

[Londonbear]

Hey TLS - I was wondering if there was a way to find out which DC/NYC biglaw firms have the greatest GULC alumni presence?

I would just check on the specific firms you're interested in and search by law school.

I think Capitol said something about data points and if it is what I'm think, GULC does put out a spreadsheet of median GPAs and it should also note how many data points they are using, but i think the least is 5 in the past few years for the firm to have an average.

Also GULC does provide the summer mentor list, which discloses the students who are going to specific firms, but I don't think it does it by office location. That might provide you with more recent data on how many summers are going to certain firms. All of this you need to be able to login to GULC.

[ChristineBaskets]

Hey guys - I was wondering when the Symplicity site becomes available to new students? Curious about signing up for Listservs and whatnot.

[buckiguy_sucks]

Hey guys - I was wondering when the Symplicity site becomes available to new students? Curious about signing up for Listservs and whatnot.

It's just your myaccess username and password so presumably when that becomes available

[Hand]

Hey guys - I was wondering when the Symplicity site becomes available to new students? Curious about signing up for Listservs and whatnot.

It's just your myaccess username and password so presumably when that becomes available

I get that you're all excited, but you're really not missing out on anything here.

[ChristineBaskets]

^Thanks, guys. I figured as much. I cant seem to log in with my MA username/password, so I guess it just isn't activated for new students yet...

I am curious: (and here's more of me being "excited"/nervous/insane) is there a singular location where RA positions or "job opportunities" within the Law Center are posted?

And is there a newsfeed or listserv where new internship opportunities, clerkship opportunities, etc are shared with students?

[buckiguy_sucks]

^Thanks, guys. I figured as much. I cant seem to log in with my MA username/password, so I guess it just isn't activated for new students yet...

I am curious: (and here's more of me being "excited"/nervous/insane) is there a singular location where RA positions or "job opportunities" within the Law Center are posted?

And is there a newsfeed or listserv where new internship opportunities, clerkship opportunities, etc are shared with students?

I don't even think RA positions get ~published~ all the RA positions i know of just happened from direct contact or a prof reaching out to just their class

There is just like a page on symplicity filled with 1L jobs if that's what you mean, also we have access to databases that just list government agencies/ judges/ etc. Unless you can set up symplicity to email you which you may be able to do i don't think there's a listserve