Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions Forum

[hkm6315]

I would definitely just google champaign banks and look at the banks that are nearby. There are Chase Banks, National City Banks, Busey Banks, but no Bank of America.. I have Bank of America so that is a little frustrating. But honestly, it has never been a problem because I never have to deposit money. There are ATMs all over. Even Bank of America ATMs. I know there is not actually an ATM in the law school, but there is one within walking distance...

As for living situations, I know a lot of people found roommates on the admitted students forum. I think people also made connections and found roommates at the admitted students days. People live at the Village at Colbert Park in Savoy, Prospect Pointe in Savoy, One Illinois apartments, Baytowne Apartments, and Hessel on the Park Apartments. Savoy is a pretty hot spot for law students to live and a lot of law students live at the Village at Colbert Park, but I have heard mixed reviews. There are A TON of places on campus, but then you have to ask if you want to deal with undergrad and fraternity/sorority noise. Hessel on the Park is within walking distance and there are actually apartment complexes across the street around the actual park. Don't know the names. Those are nice because they are walking distance or a short bus ride (bus stop is right there), and they are not on actual campus so you will likely avoid all of the noise.

I am incredibly partial to WATERSEDGE APARTMENTS because I live there and will stay here all three years, and think they are pretty much the best apartments on earth. It is really quiet because there are all professionals and families who live here, 5 miles from campus (which is considered far here), right next to all of the shopping I would ever need, there is a back road Baytowne Road where I miss any traffic coming to school, and my balcony overlooks amazing views of corn and soybean fields even though the Meijer and movie theater are a block away. http://www.watersedgeapartments.net/ PLUS, they allow pets. They have the feel of a condo and my front door opens up to my staircase so there is no common stairwell. They do have a month or two long waiting list. Baytowne is another really nice apartment complex that I could basically hit with a stone from where I am. --LinkRemoved-- The only downside about these two is that they live "far" off of campus comparably to a lot of other apartment complexes. But like I said, 5 miles from the law school is considered far here because really anything more than 5 miles or 15 minutes and you are in a field of corn. lol.

[hkm6315]

Yes, legal writing, legal research, and advocacy are all pass/fail. But you can get high honors (top 10%) and honors (next 30%). If you get either of these designations you can participate in the externship program where you get up to 4 hours of class credit for working for a judge, public interest firm, prosecutor's office, etc. all summer. You just have to do legal work somewhere unpaid and write two pretty short painless papers about what you did there all summer. Plus, you can put those honors/high honors designations on your resume. : )

[Luis Gomez]

Yes, legal writing, legal research, and advocacy are all pass/fail. But you can get high honors (top 10%) and honors (next 30%). If you get either of these designations you can participate in the externship program where you get up to 4 hours of class credit for working for a judge, public interest firm, prosecutor's office, etc. all summer. You just have to do legal work somewhere unpaid and write two pretty short painless papers about what you did there all summer. Plus, you can put those honors/high honors designations on your resume. : )

hkm6315, Thanks for the response.

Getting bad grades in Legal Writing, Legal Research and Advocacy was my biggest fear since I speak English as second language.

[Redelicious]

Hi hkm6315

How many days before orientation should I arrive to UC? In a worst case scenario, can one rent an app apartment online? Is Champaign gay friendly? I really appreciate you dedicating time to answer our 0L questions.

[illinilaw]

Hi hkm6315

How many days before orientation should I arrive to UC? In a worst case scenario, can one rent an app apartment online? Is Champaign gay friendly? I really appreciate you dedicating time to answer our 0L questions.

I'd get here a couple days early. You have to get books, find a bank, get utilities set up, cable, shop, etc... And people are usually hanging out around here, we had a bar crawl a couple days before orientation. You also will have reading for the first day of class and should probably start outlining and reading E&E's for your classes.

You can find an apartment online probably without a problem.

I wouldn't say it's gay friendly. The town seems pretty apathetic when it comes to gays, I've never heard anyone say anything derogatory toward the gays and I hang out with locals as well as undergrads and law students. Gay friendly would be San Francisco, Champaign doesn't have any opinion one way or another.

There are gay professors which I think is cool, but they don't broadcast it. I heard through some friends in the LGBT group.

[lolerskates]

1) How are you so upbeat all the time in this thread, do you just love UIUC law this much?
2) are you being compensated for this thread or is this a labor of love
3) Does it burn you up at all to see minorities get lucrative summer jobs with far worse grades then your own
4) Do you resent Bruce Smith for doing away with Peer's Pub/ throwing Heidi Hurd under the bus
5) Do you think UIUC has a top notch Con law program
6) If you had to rate the COL body in terms of individuality between 1-100 what number would you assign it?, (assume 100 is highly individual and 1 is somewhat cookie cutter

UIUC Law Grad

[icecream]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

[Luis Gomez]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

+1

Another international student with the same question.

[climber]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

+1

Another international student with the same question.

I'm an alum, so I don't have any current information. But when I went to UIUC, the international students that fit in well were those that spoke English well and were outgoing. You hardly could tell they were international students. Those that didn't speak English well tended to be shy and hung out with their cliques and other graduate students from their region. If you make an effort, I'm pretty sure you'll fit in.

[hkm6315]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

+1

Another international student with the same question.

I'm an alum, so I don't have any current information. But when I went to UIUC, the international students that fit in well were those that spoke English well and were outgoing. You hardly could tell they were international students. Those that didn't speak English well tended to be shy and hung out with their cliques and other graduate students from their region. If you make an effort, I'm pretty sure you'll fit in.

^ Agreed. I do know international students here and they fit in fine. You can't really tell them apart from everyone else. If you make an effort to get out and attend any of the many law school events every week (ie: peers pub, beer league darts, law school softball, etc.), you will be fine. (Even if you don't and just talk to the people in your section, you will be fine.) There are some international students who stay in cliques, but there are many who just blend in with the friend groups in their classes.

[Luis Gomez]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

^ Agreed. I do know international students here and they fit in fine. You can't really tell them apart from everyone else. If you make an effort to get out and attend any of the many law school events every week (ie: peers pub, beer league darts, law school softball, etc.), you will be fine. (Even if you don't and just talk to the people in your section, you will be fine.) There are some international students who stay in cliques, but there are many who just blend in with the friend groups in their classes.

Great! I guess I will just have to practice my softball skills, Illini law students seem very serious about the law league. My beer league darts skills are finely tuned.

Oh, 1 more question, Am I screwed if I don't have a cosigner? I don't want Ashton woods to be my only option but as a foreigner I don't have anyone to cosign for me.

Thanks

[hkm6315]

[hkm6315]

^ Hardly anybody is actually any good at these sports so don't worry if you are not Babe Ruth lol. There are a few stand out teams, but most of us just play for fun. I am much better at throwing sharp objects at a wall than making contact occur with my bat and a softball. lol. Not sure how to answer that question, but if you call the admissions office they can answer that for you.

[lolerskates]

If you think Professor Gagddja is not a moron then your opinion is highly suspect

as for #3 I wonder if you at all resent career services only listing jobs for diversity fairs, when that excludes 75% of the student body
it also appears that you did not answer #4

[Lane Meyer]

as for #3 I wonder if you at all resent career services only listing jobs for diversity fairs, when that excludes 75% of the student body

Do I resent the school for listing opportunities that are available to fellow students but not me? No.

The school didn't create those openings, firms did. Your anger is misdirected.

[lolerskates]

as for #3 I wonder if you at all resent career services only listing jobs for diversity fairs, when that excludes 75% of the student body

Do I resent the school for listing opportunities that are available to fellow students but not me? No.

The school didn't create those openings, firms did. Your anger is misdirected.

I have no anger... I have a good job for next year, I am just curious how others perceive the situation, if you are a UIUC student how do you feel about Bruce Smith?

[hkm6315]

Obviously Dean Pless knows a lot more about Illinois Law than I do, but if you have any general questions about 1L life I will try and answer them.

^This is from my post a little over a year ago when I started this thread. Hence, the only purpose of this thread is to answer questions from prospective students. Myself and a few other 1Ls and 2Ls have been answering questions from prospective students for over a year on here. If you want to discuss politics, feelings, or other sentiments about the University of Illinois College of Law with current students, then I would really appreciate it if you started your own thread and did that somewhere else like Rob Johnson did. No offense, but those discussions are really just not relevant to the purposes of this thread.

[lolerskates]

Obviously Dean Pless knows a lot more about Illinois Law than I do, but if you have any general questions about 1L life I will try and answer them.

^This is from my post a little over a year ago when I started this thread. Hence, the only purpose of this thread is to answer questions from prospective students. Myself and a few other 1Ls and 2Ls have been answering questions from prospective students for over a year on here. If you want to discuss politics, feelings, or other sentiments about the University of Illinois College of Law with current students, then I would really appreciate it if you started your own thread and did that somewhere else like Rob Johnson did. No offense, but those discussions are really just not relevant to the purposes of this thread.

fair enough... Thanks for the thread

[domeafavor]

I'm really excited that I was accepted, but the law specialties that I'm interested in (environmental law, civil rights law, environmental justice) don't seem to be a particular focus there. Is that something I should consider?

[icecream]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,

Do you know any international students in your classes? Do they fit in well?

Thank you so much!

+1

Another international student with the same question.

I'm an alum, so I don't have any current information. But when I went to UIUC, the international students that fit in well were those that spoke English well and were outgoing. You hardly could tell they were international students. Those that didn't speak English well tended to be shy and hung out with their cliques and other graduate students from their region. If you make an effort, I'm pretty sure you'll fit in.

^ Agreed. I do know international students here and they fit in fine. You can't really tell them apart from everyone else. If you make an effort to get out and attend any of the many law school events every week (ie: peers pub, beer league darts, law school softball, etc.), you will be fine. (Even if you don't and just talk to the people in your section, you will be fine.) There are some international students who stay in cliques, but there are many who just blend in with the friend groups in their classes.

Thanks a lot for your response, hkm:D

Another problem is that I probably cannot go to either of the open house since im still finishing my last semester here. So, does it affect a lot if i miss the open house? Thanks in advance!

[ChattelCat]

Hi hkm6315 just two questions,



I'm an alum, so I don't have any current information. But when I went to UIUC, the international students that fit in well were those that spoke English well and were outgoing. You hardly could tell they were international students. Those that didn't speak English well tended to be shy and hung out with their cliques and other graduate students from their region. If you make an effort, I'm pretty sure you'll fit in.

^ Agreed. I do know international students here and they fit in fine. You can't really tell them apart from everyone else. If you make an effort to get out and attend any of the many law school events every week (ie: peers pub, beer league darts, law school softball, etc.), you will be fine. (Even if you don't and just talk to the people in your section, you will be fine.) There are some international students who stay in cliques, but there are many who just blend in with the friend groups in their classes.

Thanks a lot for your response, hkm:D

Another problem is that I probably cannot go to either of the open house since im still finishing my last semester here. So, does it affect a lot if i miss the open house? Thanks in advance!

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm from the east coast and wasn't able to make it to any of the admitted student days either. I don't think it puts you at a disadvantage at all. It's a great chance to see the school and talk to some current students but you can definitely do that through other channels.

[ChattelCat]

I'm really excited that I was accepted, but the law specialties that I'm interested in (environmental law, civil rights law, environmental justice) don't seem to be a particular focus there. Is that something I should consider?

The thing to remember is that a lot of schools stress "specialties" but often it's more of a selling point than a reality. If you're really interested in a particular area you'll probably end up taking more classes in that area than others, but you don't declare a major or anything like that in law school and from the advice I've gotten it's generally a better idea to take a well-rounded selection of classes than to only focus in one area. Your first year courses are predetermined - then second and third year most people take, on average, about five classes a semester, with many of those being the big intro type classes into certain areas of law or topics that are on the bar (evidence, business associations, criminal procedure, income tax, professional responsibility, bankruptcy etc.) so chances are you'll probably only want to take two, maybe three courses a semester in environmental or civil rights law - and you can definitely do that here - those types of courses are always offered.

[hkm6315]

Chattel Cat is right. You are already accepted so it is not going to effect your admissions status or anything. It is a great opportunity to meet people who you will be attending school with and learn more about the school, but they understand if you can't make it.

As for being worried about focuses, I would say that U of Illinois is probably one of the best schools to attend if you have a handful of subjects that you are interested in because they provide SO MANY course offerings. I think there are over a hundred different courses, and although they are not all offered every semester, you can always find something you are interested in. This semester they offered classes titled Law of Renewable energy, Our Environmental Plight, Constitutional Interpretation and Construction, and Critical Race Feminism. Of course they have all of the business law oriented classes that they have every semester, but they also have more specialized classes like International Business Organizations: Cayman Islands (where you go to the Cayman Islands over spring break!), the Evolution of Corporate Law and Finance, and numerous advanced patent law classes. That is really just scratching the surface of the large variety of classes you could take.

Like Chattel Cat said, many people take classes that might help them for the bar. But you also are going to take a bar review class and learn all of that stuff, so you can get away with not taking a lot of it. The only required class for your third year is professional responsibilty. Evidence is an important class to take too and some states even require you take that before you take the bar. Some people think that Business Associations is a class that you should take to have a basic knowlege of that. But really, beyond that they sky is your limit. I have spoken with lawyers who have basically told me to take classes that I enjoy. So that is what I am doing. If you know you are going to do a job in a particular area of law, it can always help to take classes that relate to that. Last semester I took American Legal History, Advanced Legal Research, EU-US Relations, and International Law. I also only had classes two days a week and had 0 sitdown finals. It was fantastic. This semester I am taking a few more of the fundamental classes, but really the only two classes you should really take no matter what you are doing are Evidence and Professional Responsibility (and maybe BA).

[domeafavor]

Thanks, ChattleCat and hkm6315. It's good to hear that Illinois has such a wide range of courses.

How's the parking situation on campus? Do most students drive or take the bus/bike?

[ChattelCat]

Thanks, ChattleCat and hkm6315. It's good to hear that Illinois has such a wide range of courses.

How's the parking situation on campus? Do most students drive or take the bus/bike?

A lot of people do take the bus (if you live on a bus line it can be really convenient) but I think more people drive. Parking is never an issue - there are tons of meters all around the law school and in the lot directly across from the law school as well. The meters are 75 cents an hour ... only problem is that can get kind of expensive if you have to be at school all day. You can also buy a pass for lot E-14 which is out by Assembly Hall. There are buses that go directly from the lot to the law school in the morning and evening and there is another bus that goes from the back corner of E-14 to the law school twice an hour (if you look up the bus lines http://www.cumtd.com the Navy is the one that runs in the morning/evening and the Brown runs all day long twice an hour) or you can walk - it's about a 10-15 minute walk depending on how many books you're carrying. The MTD has a really useful program called StopWatch where you text the code for a bus stop to the MTD number and it texts you back immediately with the ETA of the buses (they all have GPS so it's really accurate). I like it cause I don't have to stand out in the cold wondering when the heck the bus is going to show up. Third option is biking - there are a bunch of bike racks in the back of the building and definitely are a handful of people who bike every day.