Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

Kobaine51 · Post by **Kobaine51** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 12:35 am

How is the pick up?

robotrick · Post by **robotrick** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:28 am

Kobaine51 wrote:How is the pick up?

I found that there was the most action early and late in the semester. There's a Facebook group where people will occasionally post to get games together, and of course there's the IM league. Pretty decent talent, too.

Mack.Hambleton · Post by **Mack.Hambleton** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:46 am

Does Jeremy Lin ever come back on campus

LS2515 · Post by **LS2515** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:46 am

Mack.Hambleton wrote:Does Jeremy Lin ever come back on campus

You will soon learn that HLS actually has nothing to do with Harvard

yomisterd · Post by **yomisterd** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 3:06 am

robotrick wrote:
Kobaine51 wrote:How is the pick up?
I found that there was the most action early and late in the semester. There's a Facebook group where people will occasionally post to get games together, and of course there's the IM league. Pretty decent talent, too.

also, the court is small and it can get up to triple or quad next when its busy, generally from like 3-6 in the afternoon.

nothingtosee · Post by **nothingtosee** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:04 pm

On a scale of 1-10, how much does your writing sample matter:
a. For EIP
b. For clerkship applications

TripTrip · Post by **TripTrip** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:07 pm

nothingtosee wrote:On a scale of 1-10, how much does your writing sample matter:
a. For EIP

Zero, provided you mean biglaw.

codyoneill · Post by **codyoneill** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:08 pm

nothingtosee wrote:On a scale of 1-10, how much does your writing sample matter:
a. For EIP
b. For clerkship applications

The general consensus for clerkships is that your writing sample can hurt you, but not really help you.

As in, you will be considered for the clerkship and get an interview based on grades and professor recommendations.
The writing sample is to confirm that you can write well, but is not usually a distinguishing feature.

Obviously every judge does it differently, so your mileage may vary, but that's the general landscape.

ph14 · Post by **ph14** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 1:56 pm

codyoneill wrote:
nothingtosee wrote:On a scale of 1-10, how much does your writing sample matter:
a. For EIP
b. For clerkship applications
The general consensus for clerkships is that your writing sample can hurt you, but not really help you.

As in, you will be considered for the clerkship and get an interview based on grades and professor recommendations.
The writing sample is to confirm that you can write well, but is not usually a distinguishing feature.

Obviously every judge does it differently, so your mileage may vary, but that's the general landscape.

Writing sample definitely matters to my judge. It can both knock you out and score you big points in your favor. YMMV though, judges do things very differently.

LS2515 · Post by **LS2515** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:10 pm

I have heard that writing samples matter a lot for clerkships and not so much for EIP.

S.Lee2018 · Post by **S.Lee2018** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:07 am

Can students work for judges as an extern during the semester? I did not find anything about externship placements on the school's website.

Person1111 · Post by **Person1111** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:11 am

HLS doesn't really encourage judicial externships, but there is a clinic that coordinates judicial externship placements for credit.

despina · Post by **despina** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:17 am

hlsperson1111 wrote:HLS doesn't really encourage judicial externships, but there is a clinic that coordinates judicial externship placements for credit.

It's called the Judicial Process clinic -- friends of mine really loved it.

http://hls.harvard.edu/dept/clinical/cl ... ts-clinic/

hop · Post by **hop** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:52 pm

During 2L summer, is it possible to split between a firm and gov't (e.g., DOJ)? If so, any thoughts on logistics, as the timing for eip and slip are so different? Thanks.

094320 · Post by **094320** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:54 pm

Mr. Elshal · Post by **Mr. Elshal** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:03 pm

TripTrip wrote:
PMan99 wrote:No one will care if you have a coffee maker / microwave / etc. in your room. Gropius is tiny tho.
+1, but fwiw I don't know of anyone who kept a coffee maker in their room.

I kept an espresso machine in my room and found it useful, but I come from a family where espresso is a pretty big thing, so living somewhere without being able to make it whenever I wanted was not really an option. No one will care if you have it (except to the extent that you occasionally offer them some and they appreciate it.

Also, at the rate I was drinking it, my machine probably saved me a ton of money compared to Starbucks or the local, insanely-priced cafes

crookedjaws · Post by **crookedjaws** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:06 pm

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m_ross · Post by **m_ross** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 2:37 pm

crookedjaws wrote:Would anyone recommend the Big/Little Sister WLA mentoring program? Or have any stories/experiences? Sounds like a lot of fun!

Yes! If you're an incoming 1L, 100% do it. My mentor was great at keeping me grounded and focused, and helping calm me down when I was stressing about outlines/finals/jobs/relationships/whatever. You will also always have your BSA, but I found having extra mentors could only be a good thing.

despina · Post by **despina** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 3:02 pm

m_ross wrote:
crookedjaws wrote:Would anyone recommend the Big/Little Sister WLA mentoring program? Or have any stories/experiences? Sounds like a lot of fun!
Yes! If you're an incoming 1L, 100% do it. My mentor was great at keeping me grounded and focused, and helping calm me down when I was stressing about outlines/finals/jobs/relationships/whatever. You will also always have your BSA, but I found having extra mentors could only be a good thing.

Agreed -- doesn't hurt to have an extra person who has committed to answer your questions and help you figure out what's what at HLS, especially if you're a woman.

Indifference · Post by **Indifference** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:07 pm

Am I right in thinking the student health insurance kicks in on August 1st? My old insurance won't cover the immunizations I need, so I'd rather wait till I switch over.

crookedjaws · Post by **crookedjaws** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:40 pm

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tomwatts · Post by **tomwatts** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:08 pm

acrossthelake wrote:
hop wrote:During 2L summer, is it possible to split between a firm and gov't (e.g., DOJ)? If so, any thoughts on logistics, as the timing for eip and slip are so different? Thanks.
I know someone who did, so I know it's possible. I believe the order was firm first, then govt. I don't know how he did it, though, in terms of timing. I know he got the firm offer first, but beyond that I dunno gl.

Speaking as someone who split a summer, I will say that it is not optimal. A lot of employers don't like it generally, so you cut out a ton of stuff that you otherwise could do. They won't even look at your application if they see that you're starting in, say, early July.

Also, it makes the summer really heavy. A number of firms require a minimum of 8 weeks, and a number of PI jobs require a minimum of 8 weeks, so I ended up doing 16 weeks of work during the summer. Other people do, like, 6 weeks at one and 4 weeks at the other, but how much can you really learn from a place in 4 weeks?

That being said, splitting a summer is possible if you find the right pair of things. You get the firm first at EIP and then you get the PI job later.

sk7415 · Post by **sk7415** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:27 pm

How much time commitment are non-LR Journals, if one were to join as a 1L? Can any current students speak to pros/cons about joining a journal as a 1L?

lawlorbust · Post by **lawlorbust** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:35 pm

sk7415 wrote:How much time commitment are non-LR Journals, if one were to join as a 1L? Can any current students speak to pros/cons about joining a journal as a 1L?

Each subcite is maybe a full day on a weekend. Difficult to generalize, but there are a bunch of different ways for 1Ls to get more involved (reading submissions, editing online pieces, working on their own pieces, etc.) Pros are that the HLS journals by-and-large are very, very good in their respective fields and a great way to explore a specific interest. And it's always nice having things to put down on the resume come EIP.

No cons, really, but the work (esp. subciting) can be quite dry and I wouldn't do a journal just for the sake of doing a journal.

robotrick · Post by **robotrick** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:18 pm

lawlorbust wrote:I wouldn't do a journal just for the sake of doing a journal.

Definitely. This is what I did and hated every moment of it. I gained nothing from the exercise of subciting, wasted a couple Saturdays, and had by far the worst time(s) of my 1L year.