Illinois Law 1L Taking Questions Forum

[Barbie]

On my way to Champaign at 8am tomorrow!!! Again, if anyone would be willing to meet with me during my trip I'll take as much insight as I can get!! (and insight can be of anything: the classes, professors, town, bars ) haha

[jd-mba]

1. No, grades are never, ever posted publicly. You log into a secure U of I system (the same place you register for classes, deal with financial aid, etc.) to get your grades.

2. GPA is calculated by the online system where you get your grades, so only you have access to this. Class ranks and honors (e.g. Dean's list) are sent to students individually via email. Individual rankings and GPA are never made public, however, the GPA cutoffs for cumulative and individual semester rankings are made public (e.g. top 33% = 3.44 my 1L year)

3. Our OCI is primarily pre-select, meaning you submit your resume through the online Symplicity system to the employers coming to campus, and they are able to review all the resumes and choose the students they wish to interview. There are also a few lottery slots for each employer and those are assigned randomly (not GPA or rank dependent) based on where you place your bids during OCI.

4. In two and a half years I have never actually had to use a common book for an assignment. Any book you will need for your classes you will purchase (normally casebooks). If there is additional suggested reading, the profs will put it on reserve. You can check these books out for a few hours at a time and are charged hefty fees if you return them even a few minutes late. But anything that you really need to rely on for an assignment is likely to be something you are encouraged to purchase.

That being said, if what you're really asking is "how big of assholes will my future classmates be?" you really don't have anything to worry about. I've yet to hear any Paper Chase-esque horror stories about books disappearing, mostly because Westlaw and Lexis make many of the books in the library redundant (edit: and, as HMK says below, things aren't insanely competitive. Everyone really looks out for everyone else for the most part)

5. Yes, people share outlines all the time and study groups are common. Many of the student organizations collect outlines for their 1L members and distribute them each semester.

6. There is a large indoor pavilion area where we just got new couches and chairs - that's probably where you'll find most people socializing. Otherwise they are in the cafeteria or in the library reading for class.

Thanks for all the detailed responses from everyone! That's really helpful.

[jd-mba]

Can anyone speak to the dress code and classroom environment? Is it more formal/business casual wear or more jeans and t-shirt kind of place?

Also, any recommendations for housing? I have a car but want a place close to campus so I don't get too lazy with getting onto campus Do people often have roommates? Good or bad experiences? Any insights would be helpful, thanks!

[ChattelCat]

Can anyone speak to the dress code and classroom environment? Is it more formal/business casual wear or more jeans and t-shirt kind of place?

Very casual. No dress code. You won't stick out in business casual, but most people go the jeans and tshirt route, and there is usually a dramatic uptick in sweatpants and hoodies closer to finals. Generally, the only time you see students in suits is when they have an interview or have to wear business dress for something like moot court or mock trial.

[egilb]

Hey guys! Thanks a lot for answering questions! I need apartment help. Can anyone comment on Garden Courts (Francis Drive) or Prairie Green (Washington @ Scottswood)?

I think I've looked at all of the suggestions from earlier in this thread, and I've been all over the internet looking, but I haven't found much. Any other recommendations for 1br/1bath that allows dogs? I'm hoping to keep rent around $500-600/month.

[magicman554]

Tag.

It just clicked in my head that 180 is a REALLY SMALL class size. Sorry if this was addressed in the rest of the topic but how do you guys think it affects everything?

Not sure where you got that number? Current 1L class has 225.

Basically though, law school anywhere is worse than high school bc you have most classes with the same section of people. Everyone gossips about everything. I think the lockers are to blame.

Well, they obviously admit more than 180 people. This must be a soft limit, because more than 180 people could end up deciding to attend, maybe even more than last year. I wouldn't put too much into thinking that the class will actually be this small.

[ChattelCat]

Hey guys! Thanks a lot for answering questions! I need apartment help. Can anyone comment on Garden Courts (Francis Drive) or Prairie Green (Washington @ Scottswood)?

I think I've looked at all of the suggestions from earlier in this thread, and I've been all over the internet looking, but I haven't found much. Any other recommendations for 1br/1bath that allows dogs? I'm hoping to keep rent around $500-600/month.

a few of the people I know with dogs live at the Village at Colbert Park - a complex that also has a convenient shuttle that goes to the law school and a lot of law students living there - otherwise I don't have a whole lot of insight on dog-friendly apts (I have cats).

[jd-mba]

Would love to hear more about Village at Colbert Park Does anyone have personal experiences with the place? Is it infested with undergraduates by any chance? The website had a link to a parents specific page with numbers to sway parents to choose it over dormitory living.

For the single folks, do you guys recommend living by yourself or with a roommate? I'm a young female, and I've always lived with a roommate. Not sure what you guys think about law school stress + roommate living.

[Hannibal]

This has probably already been covered, but a housing survey has been posted on the Housing Board for admitted students. This is the first time I'd heard of Savoy o.o

Is it easy to get from The Village to nightlife/shopping? I suppose I could always make friends with everyone and bum rides or just take cabs.

Are there any other comparable furnished apartments?

[mez06]

Can any students speak to the relativity of the degree getting back to NC and whether or not those Charlotte or Atlanta firms snatch up anyone from the school?

[Barbie]

Can any students speak to the relativity of the degree getting back to NC and whether or not those Charlotte or Atlanta firms snatch up anyone from the school?

+1 to this!

Also, how is your career services? Are they helpful?

[Hannibal]

Can any students speak to the relativity of the degree getting back to NC and whether or not those Charlotte or Atlanta firms snatch up anyone from the school?

+1 to this!

Also, how is your career services? Are they helpful?

I'm not a student obviously, but everything I've heard suggests career services is extremely aggressive in getting their students jobs.

[anthropologieaddict]

Would love to hear more about Village at Colbert Park Does anyone have personal experiences with the place? Is it infested with undergraduates by any chance? The website had a link to a parents specific page with numbers to sway parents to choose it over dormitory living.

For the single folks, do you guys recommend living by yourself or with a roommate? I'm a young female, and I've always lived with a roommate. Not sure what you guys think about law school stress + roommate living.

I've been enlisting the help of the tenant union because I was interested in Colbert Park and they emailed me and told me they are currently working with a tenant at Colbert who is unable to get the heat in his apartment above the low 60's during the day and mid 40's at night. They also informed me that there is a clause in the lease that if you want to sublet your apartment in the summer (as most law students do when they go on to externships, jobs etc) that there is a $450 sublet fee. If you don't go through the complex to sublet then you are found in breach of the lease and the subletter can be arrested as a trespasser. All of this is adding up to make me uninterested. My best advice would be to email the tenant unto (tenant@illinois.edu) and tell them how many beds/baths you want, whether you want something furnished or not, if you'd like to live with mostly law students, how much of a priority it is to you to be close to the school and how much you are willing to pay. I have done this and they have been very helpful to me so far.

[MBZags]

Would love to hear more about Village at Colbert Park Does anyone have personal experiences with the place? Is it infested with undergraduates by any chance? The website had a link to a parents specific page with numbers to sway parents to choose it over dormitory living.

For the single folks, do you guys recommend living by yourself or with a roommate? I'm a young female, and I've always lived with a roommate. Not sure what you guys think about law school stress + roommate living.

I've been enlisting the help of the tenant union because I was interested in Colbert Park and they emailed me and told me they are currently working with a tenant at Colbert who is unable to get the heat in his apartment above the low 60's during the day and mid 40's at night.

That would be me. It's more like 55-60 during the day, but semantics. It doesn't seem like I'm alone, as other people who live in four-bedroom apartments here complain of it being too cold downstairs, too. The Village has attempted to address the problem, though I don't think they realize that directing more heat downstairs won't do any good when the insulation and building quality is so poor. Also, despite the lack of heat, our heating bill was up over $220 when we were here and $250 when we weren't here (?). The people in the apartment next to us are paying $80-$100 for heat/electricity. Instead of trying to figure out the issue, The Village basically said they couldn't do anything about it. The manager I spoke with tried to sympathize with me by saying that his bill was also too high instead of doing something to help.

Essentially, if you have a problem don't expect management to help. It took them a week to get me a desk after I moved in (and would have been much longer if I didn't harass them about it). And part of our deck is unsafe because the railings are coming apart. We notified them on move-in day, and they never fixed it.

I don't think The Village is all that bad...in terms of substandard housing. It's really cheap, especially with the 18% discount, so you almost get the feel and cost of a third-world country. The loud train 50 feet away from the building is another nice touch, especially since it comes by at almost all hours. They do have a free shuttle that takes you to the law school, and on weekends, the shuttle runs until 3 a.m. up to Green Street, where a lot of the bars and stuff are. It's also very close to Wal-Mart, and a lot of law students live here, so that's nice. It's relatively quiet, apart from the train and domestic disputes that occur in the building next to us.

[Hannibal]

Wow, that sucks. Do you think it's an issue exclusive to 4 bedrooms?

Also, wtf train. That would annoy the crap out of me.

[MBZags]

Yeah, I think it is because the four-bedrooms are split into three floors, unlike any of the others, so the heat just doesn't travel well and isn't retained. When maintenance first came to our apartment, the guy essentially told me that the downstairs is always about 10 degrees colder and that I should just crank up the heat if I was uncomfortable. Brilliant. Regardless, that doesn't really matter since my room doesn't retain heat at all.

And yeah, the train sucks. I'm somewhat insulated from it since I don't live in the outermost buildings, but it's still obnoxiously loud.

[anthropologieaddict]

Yeah, I think it is because the four-bedrooms are split into three floors, unlike any of the others, so the heat just doesn't travel well and isn't retained. When maintenance first came to our apartment, the guy essentially told me that the downstairs is always about 10 degrees colder and that I should just crank up the heat if I was uncomfortable. Brilliant. Regardless, that doesn't really matter since my room doesn't retain heat at all.

And yeah, the train sucks. I'm somewhat insulated from it since I don't live in the outermost buildings, but it's still obnoxiously loud.

Wow small world, lol. Thanks for the info! Hope they resolve it for you!

[Hannibal]

How is C-U holding up in this stuff?

[NancyBotwin]

How is C-U holding up in this stuff?

Doesn't seem like we got hit quite as bad as other places. Classes were cancelled today but resume again tomorrow.

[wdk3618]

thanks for all the insight guys!

1) prolly a dumb question but is the law library in the same building as classes and everything (the college of law)? and you dont walk outside anywhere from classes to get there?
2) what % of the students do u think use the main u of I library? any? does every grad school prgram basically have its own library or is it pretty much just the college of law and the main undergrad library?
3) I understand that 1L is bascially a 9-5 on campus if you dont live close but could you please give me an example sched (not so interested in classes or titles but really just what the times would be like so i can understand how much library time can be spent between classes or going to the gym or things like that). Or is it basically straight thourgh with just a lunhc break. do people use the gym between classes a lot since its so close?

thanks so much.

[Kilpatrick]

thanks for all the insight guys!

1) prolly a dumb question but is the law library in the same building as classes and everything (the college of law)? and you dont walk outside anywhere from classes to get there?
2) what % of the students do u think use the main u of I library? any? does every grad school prgram basically have its own library or is it pretty much just the college of law and the main undergrad library?
3) I understand that 1L is bascially a 9-5 on campus if you dont live close but could you please give me an example sched (not so interested in classes or titles but really just what the times would be like so i can understand how much library time can be spent between classes or going to the gym or things like that). Or is it basically straight thourgh with just a lunhc break. do people use the gym between classes a lot since its so close?

thanks so much.

1. yes, the library is in the same building. Everything is in one building.
2. I've heard of a couple people studying at the different libraries around campus. Especially people who went here for undergrad seem to have favorite places to go. I don't know if every program has their own library but a lot do. I've been in the main undergrad library, it's beautiful. I don't study in libraries though.
3. Every section is different, last semester my schedule wasn't bad, this semester it sucks. It does seem like they space it out so that you are on campus all day. It depends on how you like to study I think. Some people like to stay in the library all day and are cooking meals in there. I go as far away from other law students as possible so having to keep coming back to campus is annoying.

Edit: Here's an example schedule:
8:30am - 9:45am MTW
10:30am - 11:45am MTW
3:00pm - 3:50pm T
11:00am - 11:50am F
1:30pm - 2:45pm WThF

And yeah, it seems like a lot of people use the gym all the time. It's pretty awesome.

[Luis Gomez]

thanks for all the insight guys!

1) prolly a dumb question but is the law library in the same building as classes and everything (the college of law)? and you dont walk outside anywhere from classes to get there?
2) what % of the students do u think use the main u of I library? any? does every grad school prgram basically have its own library or is it pretty much just the college of law and the main undergrad library?
3) I understand that 1L is bascially a 9-5 on campus if you dont live close but could you please give me an example sched (not so interested in classes or titles but really just what the times would be like so i can understand how much library time can be spent between classes or going to the gym or things like that). Or is it basically straight thourgh with just a lunhc break. do people use the gym between classes a lot since its so close?

thanks so much.

1. yes, the library is in the same building. Everything is in one building.
2. I've heard of a couple people studying at the different libraries around campus. Especially people who went here for undergrad seem to have favorite places to go. I don't know if every program has their own library but a lot do. I've been in the main undergrad library, it's beautiful. I don't study in libraries though.
3. Every section is different, last semester my schedule wasn't bad, this semester it sucks. It does seem like they space it out so that you are on campus all day. It depends on how you like to study I think. Some people like to stay in the library all day and are cooking meals in there. I go as far away from other law students as possible so having to keep coming back to campus is annoying.

Edit: Here's an example schedule:
8:30am - 9:45am MTW
10:30am - 11:45am MTW
3:00pm - 3:50pm T
11:00am - 11:50am F
1:30pm - 2:45pm WThF

And yeah, it seems like a lot of people use the gym all the time. It's pretty awesome.

I recommend cheeking the Champaign Public Library, it is quiet and only 30% are law students.
The ARC is awesome and just a block away (going to law school is not an excuses to forgo the workouts at UIUC).

[KingRajesh]

Does anybody know anything about on campus graduate housing?

I commuted from home all through my years of college, but I still wanted to get that dorm experience if possible.

Can anyone speak to the quality of the grad dorms?

[Eruannon]

Rajesh, I can't speak to the quality of the dorms but I have a living situation that is similar in some aspects. I live in a graduate housing cooperative that is a about a 10 minute walk from campus and right near a great bus stop for getting to the law school. There are 14 other graduate students living in the house (medical, neuroscience, linguistics, etc.), we all have our own bedrooms but share a kitchen, living room, bathrooms. We also have house dinners 5 nights a week with shared cooking responsibilities. It has been great so far and makes living super affordable. My food, utilities and rent for the month are ~500. That said you do need to be prepared to be around other people a lot. We are required to cook for the house once every 1.5 weeks so being comfortable with that is a must as well. The website for the organization is http://www.couch.coop. Anyone interested should check out that website. There are multiple houses in the organization but the primarily graduate student house, and the one I live in, is called Brooks. The website specific to the Brooks house can be found here, --LinkRemoved--.

[Eruannon]

thanks for all the insight guys!

1) prolly a dumb question but is the law library in the same building as classes and everything (the college of law)? and you dont walk outside anywhere from classes to get there?
2) what % of the students do u think use the main u of I library? any? does every grad school prgram basically have its own library or is it pretty much just the college of law and the main undergrad library?
3) I understand that 1L is bascially a 9-5 on campus if you dont live close but could you please give me an example sched (not so interested in classes or titles but really just what the times would be like so i can understand how much library time can be spent between classes or going to the gym or things like that). Or is it basically straight thourgh with just a lunhc break. do people use the gym between classes a lot since its so close?

thanks so much.

1) The law library is really nice. It has plenty of seating, quiet, and group study rooms. The whole law school is really easy to navigate and is all in one building so everything can be accessed really quickly.
2)I'm not sure how many people use the main library, my study group would use the Champaign Library around finals. It is beautiful and has tons of natural light and private study rooms. I actually think it one some kind of award form the American Library Association.
3)I stay on campus all day. You an definitely make a point of going to the gym before, after, or in between classes. The ARC (the gym) is about half a mile from the school and is really nice. There is also a cafe in the law school where many people choose to eat lunch. There is also a restaurant right across the street (in the art museum) that has healthier options but is a little bit pricier. If you want to bring your own lunch the law school has a fridge and microwaves. Champaign-Urbana has a great bus system so definitely consider where your housing is in relation to a bus stop, google maps works really well for this, typing in - law building at pennsylvania, IL should accurately show the location of the law school.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.