Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

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TheNavigator

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TheNavigator » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:24 pm

Has anyone here done, or is doing, or knows anyone who did/is doing/will do the Harvard/Cambridge joint-degree JD/LLM program?

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/ils/hls-ca ... nt-degree/

If were to attend Harvard I would be very interested in it, but I don't know if I can justify the extra debt considering how much HLS would already cost. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this matter?

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Dcc617

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Dcc617 » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:25 am

New_Englander wrote:Has anyone here done, or is doing, or knows anyone who did/is doing/will do the Harvard/Cambridge joint-degree JD/LLM program?

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/ils/hls-ca ... nt-degree/

If were to attend Harvard I would be very interested in it, but I don't know if I can justify the extra debt considering how much HLS would already cost. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this matter?
I went abroad for a semester and it was a blast. Unless you have a specific reason to get the LLM, the I’d recommend looking at semester options instead.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TheNavigator » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:33 pm

Dcc617 wrote:
New_Englander wrote:Has anyone here done, or is doing, or knows anyone who did/is doing/will do the Harvard/Cambridge joint-degree JD/LLM program?

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/ils/hls-ca ... nt-degree/

If were to attend Harvard I would be very interested in it, but I don't know if I can justify the extra debt considering how much HLS would already cost. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this matter?
I went abroad for a semester and it was a blast. Unless you have a specific reason to get the LLM, the I’d recommend looking at semester options instead.
Where did you go? I think it could be useful for me to get the LLM, as I am planning on making a career in international, ideally public international, law. I am also particularly interested in doing transnational work with the UK. I would also love the opportunity to study at Cambridge for personal reasons, but the extra semester makes me nervous. Do you know of anyone who did a semester in England?

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Dcc617

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Dcc617 » Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:19 am

New_Englander wrote:
Dcc617 wrote:
New_Englander wrote:Has anyone here done, or is doing, or knows anyone who did/is doing/will do the Harvard/Cambridge joint-degree JD/LLM program?

https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/ils/hls-ca ... nt-degree/

If were to attend Harvard I would be very interested in it, but I don't know if I can justify the extra debt considering how much HLS would already cost. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this matter?
I went abroad for a semester and it was a blast. Unless you have a specific reason to get the LLM, the I’d recommend looking at semester options instead.
Where did you go? I think it could be useful for me to get the LLM, as I am planning on making a career in international, ideally public international, law. I am also particularly interested in doing transnational work with the UK. I would also love the opportunity to study at Cambridge for personal reasons, but the extra semester makes me nervous. Do you know of anyone who did a semester in England?
I did a semester in England. PM me for deetz.

TheNavigator

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TheNavigator » Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:25 pm

What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?

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Chuck Rhoades

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Chuck Rhoades » Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:36 pm

New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Search this thread and financial aid page. This has already been answered multiple times.

Lolstudent

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Lolstudent » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:16 pm

New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TheNavigator » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:54 pm

Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.
I am most interested in international public law, which I know is a very hard field to find work in. That is why I would consider attending HLS at sticker, as it would give me the most options after graduating, besides Yale of course. Do you think it would be significantly more advantageous to go to HLS for this than say, NYU or Columbia?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Lolstudent » Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:05 am

New_Englander wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.
I am most interested in international public law, which I know is a very hard field to find work in. That is why I would consider attending HLS at sticker, as it would give me the most options after graduating, besides Yale of course. Do you think it would be significantly more advantageous to go to HLS for this than say, NYU or Columbia?
I'm sorry, but I'm not able to speak to that, and I'd be surprised if anybody here could. I would recommend finding contacts in that field and asking them frankly about school rankings.

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eck456

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by eck456 » Mon Apr 29, 2019 10:12 pm

Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.
I am most interested in international public law, which I know is a very hard field to find work in. That is why I would consider attending HLS at sticker, as it would give me the most options after graduating, besides Yale of course. Do you think it would be significantly more advantageous to go to HLS for this than say, NYU or Columbia?
I'm sorry, but I'm not able to speak to that, and I'd be surprised if anybody here could. I would recommend finding contacts in that field and asking them frankly about school rankings.
So I think you’d need to think about (or if you have, explain more about) what kind of public international law you picture doing and for whom. If you’re an American, who do you picture yourself working for? If you’re not military or state department, we don’t really do PIL in that way unless you’re considering a career in academia. If you’re not American, is there a home country government you would picture yourself working for?

There are big law positions working on issues such as sovereign debt, investor state arbitration, etc but that would typically not be considered traditional PIL. There are also human rights positions where you would be working with treaty bodies and intergovernmental organizations, but again you probably would think of those more as direct service / advocacy positions, or in some cases a policy position. With all that said, I would recommend looking into the type of job you would be interested in and then look at where people who hold that job went to school and if they have other advanced degrees that might be a requirement to hold that type of position.

Moving on from that, assuming the jobs you want are possible for someone with a JD from an American law school, I would probably avoid NYU if you’re looking to get hired internationally. It just doesn’t have the international name recognition of either Harvard or Columbia - if you’re only planning to apply to American organizations and represent American interests (or alternatively do Big Law on international issues) I don’t think this is as much of a concern, but if you’re talking about European organizations and think tanks or Latin American, in my experience Harvard/ Berkeley/ Columbia / Yale/ (depending) Stanford are well known, but schools like NYU/ UVA/ Duke tend not to be as we’ll known. I don’t know as much about Asian markets, but that’s my experience in Lat Am/ the Middle East and Europe. It’s somewhat anecdotal, but I’ve worked with a decent number of organizations of different types across different geographic regions both pre- and during JD, and I’ve noticed a serious difference in having Harvard’s name recognition when applying for/ interviewing with/ working at international IGOs than some of my colleagues have.

so I would say the first step is to figure out what you really want to do, and then look at where the people who do those jobs actually went to school. Some international jobs require other degrees than a JD, so that’s important to note as well because you don’t want to go into debt for a degree that actually might not open the doors you’re hoping for. Additionally, you need to figure out if you’re hoping to work in American orgs/ firms who will have more of a familiarity with the American system, or if you’re really looking at getting hired locally / by international orgs that rely more on name recognition, in which case I would push you to do Columbia/ Harvard over NYU. If you’re talking super unicorn jobs (i.e. International Criminal Court, legal advisor for the Human Rights Commission, etc) you should really only be looking at H/Y for a potential shot at what are extremely competitive roles, especially if you’re considered as an American during the hiring process (Stanford’s international Law department is very tiny, but if a professor you could see yourself connecting with has a strong connection to the job you’re focused on that would potentially work as well, since it’s well regarded internationally there just aren’t a ton of staff so either the people are there or they’re not) Finally, if you’re focused on a LIPP or LIPP-style program to cover your student loans, you should make sure that the school you’re attending would count international jobs towards that, and that you’re not committing to domestic roles in order to qualify for the 10 years

Edited to add: if you’re thinking of going through Big Law to get international work experience, I would just consider the general employment numbers from the school, being aware there are many fewer international arb/ sovereign debt roles than other practice areas, and most people getting those offers will have strong language skills and/ or extensive international work experience or topic specific expertise and those personal factors would likely be the determining factors not the relatively small difference between biglaw placement power of NYU/ Columbia/ Harvard

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by TheNavigator » Tue Apr 30, 2019 11:43 pm

eck456 wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.
I am most interested in international public law, which I know is a very hard field to find work in. That is why I would consider attending HLS at sticker, as it would give me the most options after graduating, besides Yale of course. Do you think it would be significantly more advantageous to go to HLS for this than say, NYU or Columbia?
I'm sorry, but I'm not able to speak to that, and I'd be surprised if anybody here could. I would recommend finding contacts in that field and asking them frankly about school rankings.
So I think you’d need to think about (or if you have, explain more about) what kind of public international law you picture doing and for whom. If you’re an American, who do you picture yourself working for? If you’re not military or state department, we don’t really do PIL in that way unless you’re considering a career in academia. If you’re not American, is there a home country government you would picture yourself working for?

There are big law positions working on issues such as sovereign debt, investor state arbitration, etc but that would typically not be considered traditional PIL. There are also human rights positions where you would be working with treaty bodies and intergovernmental organizations, but again you probably would think of those more as direct service / advocacy positions, or in some cases a policy position. With all that said, I would recommend looking into the type of job you would be interested in and then look at where people who hold that job went to school and if they have other advanced degrees that might be a requirement to hold that type of position.

Moving on from that, assuming the jobs you want are possible for someone with a JD from an American law school, I would probably avoid NYU if you’re looking to get hired internationally. It just doesn’t have the international name recognition of either Harvard or Columbia - if you’re only planning to apply to American organizations and represent American interests (or alternatively do Big Law on international issues) I don’t think this is as much of a concern, but if you’re talking about European organizations and think tanks or Latin American, in my experience Harvard/ Berkeley/ Columbia / Yale/ (depending) Stanford are well known, but schools like NYU/ UVA/ Duke tend not to be as we’ll known. I don’t know as much about Asian markets, but that’s my experience in Lat Am/ the Middle East and Europe. It’s somewhat anecdotal, but I’ve worked with a decent number of organizations of different types across different geographic regions both pre- and during JD, and I’ve noticed a serious difference in having Harvard’s name recognition when applying for/ interviewing with/ working at international IGOs than some of my colleagues have.

so I would say the first step is to figure out what you really want to do, and then look at where the people who do those jobs actually went to school. Some international jobs require other degrees than a JD, so that’s important to note as well because you don’t want to go into debt for a degree that actually might not open the doors you’re hoping for. Additionally, you need to figure out if you’re hoping to work in American orgs/ firms who will have more of a familiarity with the American system, or if you’re really looking at getting hired locally / by international orgs that rely more on name recognition, in which case I would push you to do Columbia/ Harvard over NYU. If you’re talking super unicorn jobs (i.e. International Criminal Court, legal advisor for the Human Rights Commission, etc) you should really only be looking at H/Y for a potential shot at what are extremely competitive roles, especially if you’re considered as an American during the hiring process (Stanford’s international Law department is very tiny, but if a professor you could see yourself connecting with has a strong connection to the job you’re focused on that would potentially work as well, since it’s well regarded internationally there just aren’t a ton of staff so either the people are there or they’re not) Finally, if you’re focused on a LIPP or LIPP-style program to cover your student loans, you should make sure that the school you’re attending would count international jobs towards that, and that you’re not committing to domestic roles in order to qualify for the 10 years

Edited to add: if you’re thinking of going through Big Law to get international work experience, I would just consider the general employment numbers from the school, being aware there are many fewer international arb/ sovereign debt roles than other practice areas, and most people getting those offers will have strong language skills and/ or extensive international work experience or topic specific expertise and those personal factors would likely be the determining factors not the relatively small difference between biglaw placement power of NYU/ Columbia/ Harvard
Thank you for this, it is very informative and detailed. To answer your question about what kind of international law, I would very much be interested in working for the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser, the UN (or a sub-organization like the WTO for example), or an NGO or think tank based on foreign policy, such as the Council on Foreign Relations. I would also be willing to work in biglaw, and would be particularly interested in working in London on international arbitration.

Again thank you for your response, it has given me plenty to think about.

eck456

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by eck456 » Wed May 01, 2019 12:37 am

New_Englander wrote:
eck456 wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:
Lolstudent wrote:
New_Englander wrote:What made you choose Harvard Law over other law schools, who presumably offered you money?

Does anyone here regret going to HLS rather than taking on less debt at another law school?

In what situations, if any, would you recommend that someone who would have to fund their JD at HLS entirely through loans attend?
Full freight at HLS isn't a tremendously terrible life decision, but it isn't exactly ideal either. If you are shooting for academia, prestigious impact lit, etc., it may be worth it to go to HLS at full price over a substantial scholarship at another T6-10 school. If you would be happy with generic biglaw at a Vault-ranked firm, I would recommend the full ride at Michigan or wherever you got into. The "prestige" and all that is cool but owing $300K or even $250K (avg debt for graduates is around $145K if I recall correctly) is no joke. The LIPP program is a good option if you are interested in public interest work, so that may factor into your calculus.
I am most interested in international public law, which I know is a very hard field to find work in. That is why I would consider attending HLS at sticker, as it would give me the most options after graduating, besides Yale of course. Do you think it would be significantly more advantageous to go to HLS for this than say, NYU or Columbia?
I'm sorry, but I'm not able to speak to that, and I'd be surprised if anybody here could. I would recommend finding contacts in that field and asking them frankly about school rankings.
So I think you’d need to think about (or if you have, explain more about) what kind of public international law you picture doing and for whom. If you’re an American, who do you picture yourself working for? If you’re not military or state department, we don’t really do PIL in that way unless you’re considering a career in academia. If you’re not American, is there a home country government you would picture yourself working for?

There are big law positions working on issues such as sovereign debt, investor state arbitration, etc but that would typically not be considered traditional PIL. There are also human rights positions where you would be working with treaty bodies and intergovernmental organizations, but again you probably would think of those more as direct service / advocacy positions, or in some cases a policy position. With all that said, I would recommend looking into the type of job you would be interested in and then look at where people who hold that job went to school and if they have other advanced degrees that might be a requirement to hold that type of position.

Moving on from that, assuming the jobs you want are possible for someone with a JD from an American law school, I would probably avoid NYU if you’re looking to get hired internationally. It just doesn’t have the international name recognition of either Harvard or Columbia - if you’re only planning to apply to American organizations and represent American interests (or alternatively do Big Law on international issues) I don’t think this is as much of a concern, but if you’re talking about European organizations and think tanks or Latin American, in my experience Harvard/ Berkeley/ Columbia / Yale/ (depending) Stanford are well known, but schools like NYU/ UVA/ Duke tend not to be as we’ll known. I don’t know as much about Asian markets, but that’s my experience in Lat Am/ the Middle East and Europe. It’s somewhat anecdotal, but I’ve worked with a decent number of organizations of different types across different geographic regions both pre- and during JD, and I’ve noticed a serious difference in having Harvard’s name recognition when applying for/ interviewing with/ working at international IGOs than some of my colleagues have.

so I would say the first step is to figure out what you really want to do, and then look at where the people who do those jobs actually went to school. Some international jobs require other degrees than a JD, so that’s important to note as well because you don’t want to go into debt for a degree that actually might not open the doors you’re hoping for. Additionally, you need to figure out if you’re hoping to work in American orgs/ firms who will have more of a familiarity with the American system, or if you’re really looking at getting hired locally / by international orgs that rely more on name recognition, in which case I would push you to do Columbia/ Harvard over NYU. If you’re talking super unicorn jobs (i.e. International Criminal Court, legal advisor for the Human Rights Commission, etc) you should really only be looking at H/Y for a potential shot at what are extremely competitive roles, especially if you’re considered as an American during the hiring process (Stanford’s international Law department is very tiny, but if a professor you could see yourself connecting with has a strong connection to the job you’re focused on that would potentially work as well, since it’s well regarded internationally there just aren’t a ton of staff so either the people are there or they’re not) Finally, if you’re focused on a LIPP or LIPP-style program to cover your student loans, you should make sure that the school you’re attending would count international jobs towards that, and that you’re not committing to domestic roles in order to qualify for the 10 years

Edited to add: if you’re thinking of going through Big Law to get international work experience, I would just consider the general employment numbers from the school, being aware there are many fewer international arb/ sovereign debt roles than other practice areas, and most people getting those offers will have strong language skills and/ or extensive international work experience or topic specific expertise and those personal factors would likely be the determining factors not the relatively small difference between biglaw placement power of NYU/ Columbia/ Harvard
Thank you for this, it is very informative and detailed. To answer your question about what kind of international law, I would very much be interested in working for the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser, the UN (or a sub-organization like the WTO for example), or an NGO or think tank based on foreign policy, such as the Council on Foreign Relations. I would also be willing to work in biglaw, and would be particularly interested in working in London on international arbitration.

Again thank you for your response, it has given me plenty to think about.
No worries, you can PM me if you want to talk more but I would go Harvard/ Columbia for those outcomes (knowing they’re not guaranteed and you are going to have to hustle more than some of your classmates) but I think from NYU it’s just going to be more of a long term uphill battle. One note is there’s actually very little international arb in london - most is in Paris or New York. For London biglaw you’re probably better off with Capital Markets or international M&A, there just isn’t much arb work based there that they hire juniors for (there are teams, but mostly made up of people who started in other offices and transferred at a more senior level). If you speak Spanish there’s arb in Miami and Chinese there’s arb in San Francisco, but London is a lot more corporate work.

If you wind up at Harvard OCS is pretty good on this topic, but they’ll try to scare you out of trying to bid arbitration at all because it’s competitive enough that they’ve had people strike out who are determined on arbitration, even for NYC which typically is the least competitive market because of the quantity of jobs. On my end, someone’s going to get the job and if you prep well enough it might as well be you, but it’s a big risk to take. My understanding for London corporate is they want to make sure you actually want to live/ build a career there and so having ties/ work experiences to show you’re not just planning to gallivant in europe for a few years before trying to transfer out can help. One more - if you’re looking at British magic circle firms (in London, not in nyc offices) my understanding is that they do not pay what Americans would consider market biglaw wages and so you might be making significantly less than your peers at US firms. I didn’t wind up bidding London mostly because of the lack of arbitration and my lack of interest in corporate work, but that’s what I remember a friend who’s now working there telling me before she graduated HLS

jennie

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by jennie » Wed May 01, 2019 8:05 pm

Hi, I read people's discussions on the dorms, but I still have a few questions. I'm a light sleeper, and I like to go to sleep early, usually when other people are still up. i lived in the grad dorms before (Richard and Child right next to the HLS dorms), and a big problem I had was that the walls were not sound-proof (I assume the Gropius are the same since they're the same type of buildings), and I could hear everything happening in my neighbor's room (my neighbor was quite loud late night as well as early morning... despite my various attempts to communicate on this issue), footsteps in the hallway, and people opening and closing/slamming doors. It really affected me a lot since I just couldn't sleep and had to move out. I wonder if anyone has run into similar issues in Gropius (and if I should avoid Gropius regardless of my attempt to save money).

I'm also looking at North. I wonder if the walls in North are more sound-proof. And I wonder if the lounge in North is usually busy/noisy.

Thanks a lot!!!

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Goldie

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Goldie » Thu May 02, 2019 12:32 pm

jennie wrote:Hi, I read people's discussions on the dorms, but I still have a few questions. I'm a light sleeper, and I like to go to sleep early, usually when other people are still up. i lived in the grad dorms before (Richard and Child right next to the HLS dorms), and a big problem I had was that the walls were not sound-proof (I assume the Gropius are the same since they're the same type of buildings), and I could hear everything happening in my neighbor's room (my neighbor was quite loud late night as well as early morning... despite my various attempts to communicate on this issue), footsteps in the hallway, and people opening and closing/slamming doors. It really affected me a lot since I just couldn't sleep and had to move out. I wonder if anyone has run into similar issues in Gropius (and if I should avoid Gropius regardless of my attempt to save money).

I'm also looking at North. I wonder if the walls in North are more sound-proof. And I wonder if the lounge in North is usually busy/noisy.

Thanks a lot!!!
In my experience, the Gropius lounges weren't often very loud (I lived right across from one one year), but every now and then they would be. Someone would be gaming or hanging out there (or, on one occasion, having a full-blown party). The walls themselves, unless I'm totally forgetting, were cinder block, so there was less worry about hearing people next door, but you could hear any noises in the hallway. I think if you pick a room away from the kitchen and away from a lounge, the noise levels won't be unmanageable. (I'm not that light of a sleeper, so take that with a grain of salt.)

marthagraham

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by marthagraham » Sat May 04, 2019 11:51 am

when do 3Ls get grades?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by pavementfan » Sat May 04, 2019 6:05 pm

I was wondering, how elitist really is the culture at Harvard law? I understand it's a huge school, and there will be a broad array of people, but what can people coming from a lower-income/middle class background expect socially?

Lolstudent

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Lolstudent » Sun May 05, 2019 11:59 am

pavementfan wrote:I was wondering, how elitist really is the culture at Harvard law? I understand it's a huge school, and there will be a broad array of people, but what can people coming from a lower-income/middle class background expect socially?
I come from a refugee/super poor background so can speak to this. There are great disparities in wealth here but that fact doesn't really impact your day to day social life here. Some of your classmates will be wearing $6,000-10,000 Rolex, Omega, or Panerai watches to go with their $1,000 Moncler jackets, etc. Some, whether they come from wealth or not, will wear jeans and a casual sweatshirt. People on balance seem to be pretty low key about money and don't really rub it in your face because it's not exactly rare here. In my experience, the people with wealth do not treat anybody differently because of it.

The only possible impact could be spring break trips and whatnot that are out of your budget. Don't worry, you won't be social pariah here just because you grew up in a household with an income of less than $80K or whatever.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by dm1683 » Sun May 05, 2019 10:15 pm

Lolstudent wrote:
pavementfan wrote:I was wondering, how elitist really is the culture at Harvard law? I understand it's a huge school, and there will be a broad array of people, but what can people coming from a lower-income/middle class background expect socially?
I come from a refugee/super poor background so can speak to this. There are great disparities in wealth here but that fact doesn't really impact your day to day social life here. Some of your classmates will be wearing $6,000-10,000 Rolex, Omega, or Panerai watches to go with their $1,000 Moncler jackets, etc. Some, whether they come from wealth or not, will wear jeans and a casual sweatshirt. People on balance seem to be pretty low key about money and don't really rub it in your face because it's not exactly rare here. In my experience, the people with wealth do not treat anybody differently because of it.

The only possible impact could be spring break trips and whatnot that are out of your budget. Don't worry, you won't be social pariah here just because you grew up in a household with an income of less than $80K or whatever.
Seconded. I'm a first generation college student and it's obvious I'm in the minority as far as wealth (not refugee or anything, but solidly blue collar), but I haven't felt excluded or anything. People have nice things but if I had the money (or when I do) I would too.

If anything I feel a bit proud of myself about it (though I keep that inside too). Like "my dad worked in a factory and I'm right here with you" kinda thing.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by hlsboi2020 » Mon May 20, 2019 3:44 pm

Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by pi.radians » Tue May 21, 2019 12:01 pm

hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Calibrazy » Tue May 21, 2019 12:52 pm

pi.radians wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)
Do 1Ls get their elective grade when they are released to other upper level students?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by hlsboi2020 » Tue May 21, 2019 2:38 pm

Calibrazy wrote:
pi.radians wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)
Do 1Ls get their elective grade when they are released to other upper level students?
Thanks to pi.radians for that info!

To answer this question, I believe it depends on the professor. Some 1L elective grades will be released, but if profs are running behind, they are able to grade 3Ls and submit those grades, and then release non-3L grades later (the main rush/priority is getting 3L grades out before graduation. No such rush for 1Ls/2Ls)

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by april_ludgate » Tue May 21, 2019 3:01 pm

hlsboi2020 wrote:
Calibrazy wrote:
pi.radians wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)
Do 1Ls get their elective grade when they are released to other upper level students?
Thanks to pi.radians for that info!

To answer this question, I believe it depends on the professor. Some 1L elective grades will be released, but if profs are running behind, they are able to grade 3Ls and submit those grades, and then release non-3L grades later (the main rush/priority is getting 3L grades out before graduation. No such rush for 1Ls/2Ls)
How would that work in curved classes though?

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by hlsboi2020 » Tue May 21, 2019 3:18 pm

april_ludgate wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:
Calibrazy wrote:
pi.radians wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)
Do 1Ls get their elective grade when they are released to other upper level students?
Thanks to pi.radians for that info!

To answer this question, I believe it depends on the professor. Some 1L elective grades will be released, but if profs are running behind, they are able to grade 3Ls and submit those grades, and then release non-3L grades later (the main rush/priority is getting 3L grades out before graduation. No such rush for 1Ls/2Ls)
How would that work in curved classes though?
The registrar, etc., don't make the process for maneuvering this issue public, so we don't really know.

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Re: Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions

Post by Goldie » Tue May 21, 2019 4:57 pm

hlsboi2020 wrote:
april_ludgate wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:
Calibrazy wrote:
pi.radians wrote:
hlsboi2020 wrote:Anyone care to kick off speculation about when upper level grades will start being released? A few days before graduation, I take it?
I'll bite. Last year, grades were released on 5/21 and the year before, on 5/22. Both of those were Mondays (and 5/22 was probably because grades would not be released on a Sunday). Both times, grades were released between 1 and 2 pm. Grades were officially due 5/19 this year (second hand). This means the registrar has had two days to process those submitted grades.

If I had to guess, all available grades will be released sometime today or tomorrow in the early afternoon. Probably today. If a professor of yours has not submitted grades yet, you'll get them as soon as they are available. :-)
Do 1Ls get their elective grade when they are released to other upper level students?
Thanks to pi.radians for that info!

To answer this question, I believe it depends on the professor. Some 1L elective grades will be released, but if profs are running behind, they are able to grade 3Ls and submit those grades, and then release non-3L grades later (the main rush/priority is getting 3L grades out before graduation. No such rush for 1Ls/2Ls)
How would that work in curved classes though?
The registrar, etc., don't make the process for maneuvering this issue public, so we don't really know.
I don't know the "how" either, but it certainly does happen. As a 2L, I was in a couple classes with 3Ls, and one of the professors waited until a couple weeks after graduation to grade the 2L exams.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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