Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[Mr. Elshal]

Yup. I want to say one under Lewis (with the secret ICE CREAM VENDING MACHINE! SNICKERS ICE CREAM BARS WOO! There's also a fridge there).

There are also microwaves in the clinic kitchens.

omg what

Isn't there also a second ice cream vending machine under Hauser? I could swear I've seen more than one in the halls

Yup. And it's very easily accessible during class breaks in Langdell North.

[tomwatts]

On splitting:

When I split between two internships in summer 2014, I finished exams on Thursday, May 8, and began work at a NY biglaw firm on Tuesday, May 13. I finished there on Thursday, July 3, and started at a PI job in California on Monday, July 7. I finished there on Friday, August 29, and classes began in Cambridge on Monday, September 8.

(Owing to the fact that I was a JD/MPP and teaching Ec 10 at the College, I actually had to be back by a course start on Wednesday, September 3, but that wouldn't apply to most people.)

So I did 8 weeks at one, 8 weeks at the other, and had 1 week before HLS classes began again. These were both places that required a minimum of 8 weeks — the firm was agreeable to my starting early but not to my doing fewer weeks, and the PI job was agreeable to my starting late but not to my doing fewer weeks.

[Mack.Hambleton]

^impressive

[a.sleepyhead]

(nvm)

[foxes]

Yup. I want to say one under Lewis (with the secret ICE CREAM VENDING MACHINE! SNICKERS ICE CREAM BARS WOO! There's also a fridge there).

There are also microwaves in the clinic kitchens.

omg what

Isn't there also a second ice cream vending machine under Hauser? I could swear I've seen more than one in the halls

Yup. And it's very easily accessible during class breaks in Langdell North.

life changing information

[Elyane]

Is there a good guide to preferencing somewhere?

[tomwatts]

Is there a good guide to preferencing somewhere?

Preferencing... courses? Or...?

There's a pretty good chance that HLSDope has relevant data or info, but it's hard to give general tips. Unless you literally mean, "How do I use Helios?"

[Mack.Hambleton]

How common is it to do study abroad as a 3L? Any good reasons not to? I never got a chance as an undergrad so mite b cool

[despina]

How common is it to do study abroad as a 3L? Any good reasons not to? I never got a chance as an undergrad so mite b cool

Not common at all. I know only two people who did.

A decent number of people go abroad for a summer job though -- that way you get the experience of seeing what law practice is like in a foreign country, without sacrificing time at HLS.

[BlakcMajikc]

How common is it to do study abroad as a 3L? Any good reasons not to? I never got a chance as an undergrad so mite b cool

From what I remember, you can't do it second semester 3L and still graduate on time. But ask around.

[Indifference]

Thoughts on Lessig for Comparative Con Law, Feldman for 14th, in the same semester? Thoughts on them in general/am I setting myself up for unnecessary pain here?

[Mack.Hambleton]

Strategies for 1L fall course selection (for EIP specifically)? Go for easy H classes or more relevant classes like corporations etc

[pupshaw]

Strategies for 1L fall course selection (for EIP specifically)? Go for easy H classes or more relevant classes like corporations etc

Assume you mean 1L spring? If the only consideration is EIP go for an easy H.

[leslieknope]

Strategies for 1L fall course selection (for EIP specifically)? Go for easy H classes or more relevant classes like corporations etc

Assume you mean 1L spring? If the only consideration is EIP go for an easy H.

What about PI or clerkship people? What kind of courses are more helpful for that?

[tomwatts]

Strategies for 1L fall course selection (for EIP specifically)? Go for easy H classes or more relevant classes like corporations etc

Assume you mean 1L spring? If the only consideration is EIP go for an easy H.

What about PI or clerkship people? What kind of courses are more helpful for that?

In 1L spring? For PI, take something in your subject area of interest — e.g., if you're environmental PI, take an environmental class. For clerkships, just make sure it's blackletter — e.g., Corporations, Evidence, either Con Law, but not Law, Psychology, and Morality: An Exploration through Film — or something that sounds like serious law (Reading the Civil Procedure Canon is probably fine, Nietzsche for Lawyers is questionable).

[Mack.Hambleton]

Do firms care if you take somewhat obvious BS classes, or is it much more outweighed by what grade you get

[TripTrip]

Do firms care if you take somewhat obvious BS classes, or is it much more outweighed by what grade you get

Tbh firms don't really care about either of those things. But of the two, grades are more important than whether your classes are BS.

[mino]

If you're thinking of doing Negotiation Workshop at any time during your time at HLS, I'd recommend doing it in the Spring of 1L. It's a super popular class and you'll usually need to preference it first if you're trying to do it 2L or 3L. I'd recommend saving your number one preference for something else (Klarman/Feldman for con law, Warren for tax, trial advocacy workshop, etc.) and use that application to get Negotiation Workshop instead.

[ValeVale]

If you're thinking of doing Negotiation Workshop at any time during your time at HLS, I'd recommend doing it in the Spring of 1L. It's a super popular class and you'll usually need to preference it first if you're trying to do it 2L or 3L. I'd recommend saving your number one preference for something else (Klarman/Feldman for con law, Warren for tax, trial advocacy workshop, etc.) and use that application to get Negotiation Workshop instead.

Is the workload for the workshop a lot to handle during 1L? I definitely want to take it, but am concerned that its 8 hours. Is it manageable?

[seashell.economy]

How come 95% of people in the Harvard 55 books rattle on about being a witness to other people's misery? Do you all not have misery of your own to write about? Just wondering...

[Mack.Hambleton]

How come 95% of people in the Harvard 55 books rattle on about being a witness to other people's misery? Do you all not have misery of your own to write about? Just wondering...

What are you talking about

[seashell.economy]

Just seems like a lot of people writing about volunteering in slum towns, towns with high teen pregnancy rates, towns with kids falling through the cracks...but fewer people getting in with stories about coming from slum towns or popping out babies as teenagers. A lot of it just seems like poverty porn to me.

[TripTrip]

Just seems like a lot of people writing about volunteering in slum towns, towns with high teen pregnancy rates, towns with kids falling through the cracks...but fewer people getting in with stories about coming from slum towns or popping out babies as teenagers. A lot of it just seems like poverty porn to me.

That book was published 8 years ago. None of the authors are in this thread, and the question isn't generalizable because we definitely didn't all write about volunteering in slum towns.

But probably you're talking about TFA personal statements about what motivated the student to attend law school to pursue enacting changes in the system. If so, that's why. They may not have had significant personal misery growing up but still have emotion-evoking motivations for applying.

[seashell.economy]

Just seems like a lot of people writing about volunteering in slum towns, towns with high teen pregnancy rates, towns with kids falling through the cracks...but fewer people getting in with stories about coming from slum towns or popping out babies as teenagers. A lot of it just seems like poverty porn to me.

That book was published 8 years ago. None of the authors are in this thread, and the question isn't generalizable because we definitely didn't all write about volunteering in slum towns.

But probably you're talking about TFA personal statements about what motivated the student to attend law school to pursue enacting changes in the system. If so, that's why. They may not have had significant personal misery growing up but still have emotion-evoking motivations for applying.

There are two editions, one is from 2014, so some of the authors might be in this thread.
And, yeah, TFA essays are ripe for this kind of thing. But this isn't limited to TFA essays. And even if they were, I still think it's poverty porn.

[pylon]

Is there any way to search just this thread? I have a few questions about choosing 1L Spring Electives that have probably been covered extensively.