Columbia students taking questions Forum

[guestuser313]

Hello, Does anyone have advice on doing a 1L summer internship at the FTC Northeast Region vs. the NY AG Bureau of Consumer Frauds? Thanks!

[almondjoy]

When's the best time to start looking for someone to sublet our apartment if we're gonna be away from NYC for the summer? Also how easy it that process for UAH residents? It seems pretty easy after doing some research on the housing websites but was interested in some anecdata

[LALaw90210]

How late do the ASW events usually go? I see that they have student org "after hours" starting at 8pm for one of the days. Do mosy people stay for the entire duration?

Asking because my SO will be coming to NY with me to scope out apartments and get a feel for the city, and I'm trying to figure out how much time there will be for that. Also are there any events that would be cool to bring her to? I'm thinking more the afternoon, reception type things.

[GreenEggs]

How late do the ASW events usually go? I see that they have student org "after hours" starting at 8pm for one of the days. Do mosy people stay for the entire duration?

Asking because my SO will be coming to NY with me to scope out apartments and get a feel for the city, and I'm trying to figure out how much time there will be for that. Also are there any events that would be cool to bring her to? I'm thinking more the afternoon, reception type things.

Depends which one you're going to, but the days pretty much all end by 5 PM, and the night activities are pretty disorganized/non-existent. There will probably be some events but it'll depend on what they are. Either way, you can bring your s/o to anything, no one will care.

[LALaw90210]

How late do the ASW events usually go? I see that they have student org "after hours" starting at 8pm for one of the days. Do mosy people stay for the entire duration?

Asking because my SO will be coming to NY with me to scope out apartments and get a feel for the city, and I'm trying to figure out how much time there will be for that. Also are there any events that would be cool to bring her to? I'm thinking more the afternoon, reception type things.

Depends which one you're going to, but the days pretty much all end by 5 PM, and the night activities are pretty disorganized/non-existent. There will probably be some events but it'll depend on what they are. Either way, you can bring your s/o to anything, no one will care.

Cool, thanks! Also, any classes in particular that you would reccomend sitting in on this semester?

[almondjoy]

How late do the ASW events usually go? I see that they have student org "after hours" starting at 8pm for one of the days. Do mosy people stay for the entire duration?

Asking because my SO will be coming to NY with me to scope out apartments and get a feel for the city, and I'm trying to figure out how much time there will be for that. Also are there any events that would be cool to bring her to? I'm thinking more the afternoon, reception type things.

Depends which one you're going to, but the days pretty much all end by 5 PM, and the night activities are pretty disorganized/non-existent. There will probably be some events but it'll depend on what they are. Either way, you can bring your s/o to anything, no one will care.

Cool, thanks! Also, any classes in particular that you would reccomend sitting in on this semester?

Idk if Jackson's Corporations class is an option but if so, I highly highly recommend. Lives up to the hype for sure.

[jbagelboy]

How late do the ASW events usually go? I see that they have student org "after hours" starting at 8pm for one of the days. Do mosy people stay for the entire duration?

Asking because my SO will be coming to NY with me to scope out apartments and get a feel for the city, and I'm trying to figure out how much time there will be for that. Also are there any events that would be cool to bring her to? I'm thinking more the afternoon, reception type things.

Depends which one you're going to, but the days pretty much all end by 5 PM, and the night activities are pretty disorganized/non-existent. There will probably be some events but it'll depend on what they are. Either way, you can bring your s/o to anything, no one will care.

my student orgs always had events but only a handful of admits would show up. So we ended up using the drink tickets provided by student services to our own devices. But you should go to the events and cop the free stuff! Morningside bars can be fun sometimes

okay not really but good way to jumpstart for free to something downtown.

[ty87]

Random question: I am a 0L and have a family member getting married the first weekend of September in London; is it a moderately bad idea to attend the wedding (assuming I left NYC Friday evening and returned for class Monday) during the first couple weeks of 1L or a really, really bad idea? Trying to either completely discard the possibility or make travel plans... Thx

[Nebby]

Random question: I am a 0L and have a family member getting married the first weekend of September in London; is it a moderately bad idea to attend the wedding (assuming I left NYC Friday evening and returned for class Monday) during the first couple weeks of 1L or a really, really bad idea? Trying to either completely discard the possibility or make travel plans... Thx

Why would it be bad? Just read your assignments and go to the wedding. Hell read on the flight

[ty87]

Why would it be bad? Just read your assignments and go to the wedding. Hell read on the flight

Thanks - not entirely sure what to expect the first few weeks.

[jbagelboy]

Random question: I am a 0L and have a family member getting married the first weekend of September in London; is it a moderately bad idea to attend the wedding (assuming I left NYC Friday evening and returned for class Monday) during the first couple weeks of 1L or a really, really bad idea? Trying to either completely discard the possibility or make travel plans... Thx

Nothing happens in the first few weeks. Don't worry about this. Just try not to miss the legal methods exam, which is usually at the end of September.

[ty87]

Nothing happens in the first few weeks. Don't worry about this. Just try not to miss the legal methods exam, which is usually at the end of September.

Last question: pushing my luck, what about taking a Friday or Monday off? Too far or can I make up what's discussed in class?

[Tiago Splitter]

Nothing happens in the first few weeks. Don't worry about this. Just try not to miss the legal methods exam, which is usually at the end of September.

Last question: pushing my luck, what about taking a Friday or Monday off? Too far or can I make up what's discussed in class?

Good chance you won't have class on one of those days.

[RSN]

Random question: I am a 0L and have a family member getting married the first weekend of September in London; is it a moderately bad idea to attend the wedding (assuming I left NYC Friday evening and returned for class Monday) during the first couple weeks of 1L or a really, really bad idea? Trying to either completely discard the possibility or make travel plans... Thx

If it's the first weekend in September, that Monday is Labor Day, so there won't be any class: http://web.law.columbia.edu/academic-ca ... g-calendar. The preceding Friday is the last day of Legal Methods, but if you don't fly until late you won't miss it, and even if you do, it doesn't really matter.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

You can literally not go to Legal Methods. It doesn't matter at all.

Read like one case so you know how to find the holding of an opinion, then go to Punta Cana.

[John_Luther1989]

I would note that it isn't 100% certain that the pre-semester course will be legal methods. There has been talk within the administration about switching to something more practical/useful like legislation and regulation (i.e. baby admin) and that could happen soon (though highly unlikely for this fall).

[packer_22]

I realize this is completely putting the cart before the horse (and there aren't hard and fast cutoffs to these things anyway) BUT

For a Columbia student, what are some of the grade cutoffs to do interesting things?

For example:
COA Clerk (SCOTUS??)
AIII Clerkship
DOJ Honors
Bristow Fellowship
Get a job with Big Fed (AUSA eventually)
SSC Clerkship
DA Office of big city (Bronx, Manhattan, Philly, Boston, LA, DC, etc)
BigLaw

I realize that all these things require MUCH more than just grades (letters of recommendation, Law Review probably, a stellar writing sample, etc) BUT what kind of grades put you in the running (or the converse, take you out of the running?)

Lastly, at what GPA should one start panicking? I know there are open jobs in the Mountain West, so there are SOME jobs out there, but at what point does it become an uphill battle? Are there people who go into OCI with 3.0s?

[GreenEggs]

You can literally not go to Legal Methods. It doesn't matter at all.

Read like one case so you know how to find the holding of an opinion, then go to Punta Cana.

+1. Everyone worries about legal methods but it ends up not mattering. Don't miss all the classes, but really don't get strung up on missing anything.

[White Dwarf]

I thought Legal Methods was helpful, but 2.5 weeks was overkill. Don't just skip the whole thing, but also don't feel like missing a couple days is going to hurt you.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

I realize this is completely putting the cart before the horse (and there aren't hard and fast cutoffs to these things anyway) BUT

For a Columbia student, what are some of the grade cutoffs to do interesting things?

For example:
COA Clerk (SCOTUS??)
AIII Clerkship
DOJ Honors
Bristow Fellowship
Get a job with Big Fed (AUSA eventually)
SSC Clerkship
DA Office of big city (Bronx, Manhattan, Philly, Boston, LA, DC, etc)
BigLaw

I realize that all these things require MUCH more than just grades (letters of recommendation, Law Review probably, a stellar writing sample, etc) BUT what kind of grades put you in the running (or the converse, take you out of the running?)

Lastly, at what GPA should one start panicking? I know there are open jobs in the Mountain West, so there are SOME jobs out there, but at what point does it become an uphill battle? Are there people who go into OCI with 3.0s?

There's limited data on anything besides Biglaw because that's what 75% of us go straight into. Only 20 students a year or so are clerking (which, by the way, is a shitty idea for 95% of people). Most of the AIII clerks are Stone.

You can go ahead and put SCOTUS out of your mind until you have two years of Kent under your belt. This will move your chances from zero to barely above zero. By the way, you're not gonna become a SCOTUS clerk.

Biglaw is attainable at any GPA. Yes, people go into OCIs with 3.0s. But well more than half of people with below median grades get Biglaw. Bad grades are not nearly as likely to cause a strikeout as bad interviewing/personality or bad bidding.

[pa1901]

Biglaw is attainable at any GPA. Yes, people go into OCIs with 3.0s. But well more than half of people with below median grades get Biglaw. Bad grades are not nearly as likely to cause a strikeout as bad interviewing/personality or bad bidding.

I don't think this can be said enough. There is no question that good grades make life much easier for getting BigLaw. But Columbia gets you the (expensive) luxury of not needing them to be able to grab a BigLaw job. Bidding smartly for your grades and being able to just talk to people somewhat naturally in interviews - which can 100% be learned even if it doesn't come natural to you - gives you great chances of landing BigLaw.

[jbagelboy]

I realize this is completely putting the cart before the horse (and there aren't hard and fast cutoffs to these things anyway) BUT

For a Columbia student, what are some of the grade cutoffs to do interesting things?

For example:
COA Clerk (SCOTUS??)
AIII Clerkship
DOJ Honors
Bristow Fellowship
Get a job with Big Fed (AUSA eventually)
SSC Clerkship
DA Office of big city (Bronx, Manhattan, Philly, Boston, LA, DC, etc)
BigLaw

I realize that all these things require MUCH more than just grades (letters of recommendation, Law Review probably, a stellar writing sample, etc) BUT what kind of grades put you in the running (or the converse, take you out of the running?)

Lastly, at what GPA should one start panicking? I know there are open jobs in the Mountain West, so there are SOME jobs out there, but at what point does it become an uphill battle? Are there people who go into OCI with 3.0s?

There's limited data on anything besides Biglaw because that's what 75% of us go straight into. Only 20 students a year or so are clerking (which, by the way, is a shitty idea for 95% of people). Most of the AIII clerks are Stone.

You can go ahead and put SCOTUS out of your mind until you have two years of Kent under your belt. This will move your chances from zero to barely above zero. By the way, you're not gonna become a SCOTUS clerk.

Biglaw is attainable at any GPA. Yes, people go into OCIs with 3.0s. But well more than half of people with below median grades get Biglaw. Bad grades are not nearly as likely to cause a strikeout as bad interviewing/personality or bad bidding.

To add to this:
Top 1/3 makes you competitive for a Federal district clerkship (assuming strong recs); lower has happened, but it will be luck. For a circuit court, I wouldn't bet on lower than top 10-15% ("high stone" or kent as a 1L and just as strong as a 2L).
For SCOTUS, the real consideration is who gets a feeder COA clerkship. There are about 10-15 students plus alumni each year who line up one of these gigs, and each of them has a "shot", although only 3-4 will actually make it to the Court.

DOJ honors is dependent on more than grades, but a clerkship helps (and you should be clerkship eligible to consider yoursef competitive).

Bristow is probably equivalent to feeder clerkships in grade selectivity (10-15 persons per year).

[packer_22]

I realize this is completely putting the cart before the horse (and there aren't hard and fast cutoffs to these things anyway) BUT

For a Columbia student, what are some of the grade cutoffs to do interesting things?

For example:
COA Clerk (SCOTUS??)
AIII Clerkship
DOJ Honors
Bristow Fellowship
Get a job with Big Fed (AUSA eventually)
SSC Clerkship
DA Office of big city (Bronx, Manhattan, Philly, Boston, LA, DC, etc)
BigLaw

I realize that all these things require MUCH more than just grades (letters of recommendation, Law Review probably, a stellar writing sample, etc) BUT what kind of grades put you in the running (or the converse, take you out of the running?)

Lastly, at what GPA should one start panicking? I know there are open jobs in the Mountain West, so there are SOME jobs out there, but at what point does it become an uphill battle? Are there people who go into OCI with 3.0s?

There's limited data on anything besides Biglaw because that's what 75% of us go straight into. Only 20 students a year or so are clerking (which, by the way, is a shitty idea for 95% of people). Most of the AIII clerks are Stone.

You can go ahead and put SCOTUS out of your mind until you have two years of Kent under your belt. This will move your chances from zero to barely above zero. By the way, you're not gonna become a SCOTUS clerk.

Biglaw is attainable at any GPA. Yes, people go into OCIs with 3.0s. But well more than half of people with below median grades get Biglaw. Bad grades are not nearly as likely to cause a strikeout as bad interviewing/personality or bad bidding.

To add to this:
Top 1/3 makes you competitive for a Federal district clerkship (assuming strong recs); lower has happened, but it will be luck. For a circuit court, I wouldn't bet on lower than top 10-15% ("high stone" or kent as a 1L and just as strong as a 2L).
For SCOTUS, the real consideration is who gets a feeder COA clerkship. There are about 10-15 students plus alumni each year who line up one of these gigs, and each of them has a "shot", although only 3-4 will actually make it to the Court.

DOJ honors is dependent on more than grades, but a clerkship helps (and you should be clerkship eligible to consider yoursef competitive).

Bristow is probably equivalent to feeder clerkships in grade selectivity (10-15 persons per year).

Thanks for the input guys! Just to be clear, I know I'm likely to end up around or below median (and am OK with those outcomes), I was just day-dreaming about what could be....

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Thanks for the input guys! Just to be clear, I know I'm likely to end up around or below median (and am OK with those outcomes), I was just day-dreaming about what could be....

When at all possible, I'd advise against using your mental energy thinking about law. There will be 40 years where you'll wish you could think about other things.

For good and for bad, there's not a lot of variability in our job outcomes. To paraphrase Henry Ford, you can have any job you want, so long as it's NYC Biglaw.

Almost all non-aspies who bid well will get essentially the same thing, unless (a) you have the grades for WLRK or BSF, (b) you want to work in another market, (c) you want to clerk (hint: you don't and it's a dumb idea), or (d) you're committed to doing one of the other hodgepodge things (if you have to ask, you aren't).

[TheoO]

Mono is straight brutal.