NYU 1L Taking Questions Forum

[dbt]

It looks like these threads are popping up...if you got any questions, shoot.

[badfish]

I'll also help if I'm around.

[Drew2010]

So happy!

1.) How would you imagine living in the Upper West Side would impact the law school experience? Have two dogs, and if admitted (applied ED) would love to get a place near central park. I know that there are plenty of other parks in NYC, but I'd love to get the experience of central park for a few years.

2.) Do you have any insight into what it would be like looking for work ITE up in NYC? Since I applied ED I'd love to get up there as soon as possible if admitted, but obviously finding a job would be a big part of that.

3.) Could you tell us your class schedule and about how many hours you read for each class?

4.) Are you involved in flag football, and if so do you have any comments on it? From what I've read on here it's organized by the small legal writing groups, and is pretty big.

5.) What's your general impression of the school and your classmates so far?

Thanks very much for answering questions!

[azlawlady]

These aren't exactly questions about the school per se, but have you ever lived in NYC before? If not, how are you liking/adjusting to living in the city and the area that NYU is in? Also, the money that you show you received from NYU on your LSN profile...was that merit based or need based, or is it the kind where you don't really know what they based it off of? Feel free to PM if you don't want to answer that here

[Drew2010]

Also, was your 174 a retake, or was that your first LSAT? If it was a retake how do you think that affected your chances at admission?

Edit: Directed to dbt

[badfish]

So happy!

1.) How would you imagine living in the Upper West Side would impact the law school experience? Have two dogs, and if admitted (applied ED) would love to get a place near central park. I know that there are plenty of other parks in NYC, but I'd love to get the experience of central park for a few years.

2.) Do you have any insight into what it would be like looking for work ITE up in NYC? Since I applied ED I'd love to get up there as soon as possible if admitted, but obviously finding a job would be a big part of that.

3.) Could you tell us your class schedule and about how many hours you read for each class?

4.) Are you involved in flag football, and if so do you have any comments on it? From what I've read on here it's organized by the small legal writing groups, and is pretty big.

5.) What's your general impression of the school and your classmates so far?

Thanks very much for answering questions!

1) You can live on the upper west side without much issue. I have class every morning at 9, and getting to the W 4th street stop isn't too difficult.
2) You're better off asking a 2 or 3L.
3) Like I said, I have class every morning from 9-1 (of course that varies but on a typical day that's what I'm looking at). I never have more than 3 classes in a day though and usually one of them is our "lawyering" class which is pass fail and is generally much more relaxed. I typically read about 3-4 hours a night for all of my classes all things considered.
4) My first flag football game is tonight, so I'm very excited.
5) I love the school and my classmates. The school is huge (for a law school) and b/c you're in NYC it's not like the law students hang out with only e/ other, like they might some other, more rural schools. If you're looking for that kind of super close knit community, NYU might not be the place for you, but if you have contacts in the city already, it's great. (Plus being in the village is pretty sweet).

(Please ignore the numerous grammatical errors).

[badfish]

These aren't exactly questions about the school per se, but have you ever lived in NYC before? If not, how are you liking/adjusting to living in the city and the area that NYU is in? Also, the money that you show you received from NYU on your LSN profile...was that merit based or need based, or is it the kind where you don't really know what they based it off of? Feel free to PM if you don't want to answer that here

I've never lived in NYC before, but I found the adjustment wasn't massive. I live in the East Village, and absolutely love it.

I didn't get any $ from NYU and they are generally pretty stingy, but generally is merit based. NYU has an awesome LRAP program though, so there's a pretty good safeguard against crushing loans, if you're willing to go into public interest.

[dbt]

@Drew:

1) I live in the D'Ag residences so I can't speak directly to the traveling experience, but I know quite a few people that live off campus and have no problem at all making friends and becoming a part of the community. Most people that do live off campus to that extent just make their day like a job, and stick around in the library and at mixers, etc. until the evening. The primary benefit of living in the dorms has been the ease of stopping into the apartment to eat instead of eating out, getting to class really quickly, and not having to lug around books.

2) I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about a job in NYC as an NYU law student (i.e. with a degree) or do you plan on getting a job while going to school? If you mean the former, things are definitely tougher given the state of the economy, but I know a lot of 2L/3L who have secured internships/positions with the best of the best. If you mean the latter, I wouldn't really recommend a job during 1L at all, and also I can't speak to the ease of securing a job.

3) Sure. Mondays 9-12, 2-4; Tuesdays 9-11, 12-2; Wednesdays 9-11; Thursdays 10-12, 2-4; Fridays 930-12
And at least for me, I take some pretty extensive notes and feel like I can be good on reading 3-4 hours a day.

4) I am not, but today is the first big game for our lawyering section. The flag football teams are organized around the lawyering sections, which are around 25 students each. I didn't join because the fields are far and I don't want to pay for cabs.

5) The school is great...I come from a really liberal undergrad though so I haven't gotten the vibe that I thought I would (i.e. NYU law is some really different, quarky law school in terms of students body). I haven't been to CLS as a student obviously, but for instance I don't think the ideas about a difference in their student body and ours (or any of the top law schools, for that matter) are realistic.

As for the retake, yeah I think it helped since my previous score (170) was kinda borderline. But I've also seen LSN after the fact, and I'm guessing that the retake wasn't entirely necessary, though I would do it again since it was reassuring.

[dbt]

@azlawlady:

I hadn't lived in the city before. So far, it's really nice, but after living here for a few weeks I can definitely see the merits in maybe living in Morningside Heights. Location played a pretty big role in my decision to go to NYU, but having lived here I wouldn't give it as much credit if I had the decision to make again. Primarily that's because it can get expensive to go out (especially if you're straight out of undergrad and in the habit of going out Thursday-Saturday) and it's basically just a bunch of bars, which they obviously have in MH too.

The money I received was merit based. I was in the running for one of the named scholarships, and that was basically their consolation prize.

[azlawlady]

Awesome! Thanks for taking the time answer questions dbt and badfish!

[Drew2010]

Thank you both very much for the replies! I too had a 170 and 174 retake, so I'm hoping they focus on the retake. As for question #2, it was a little vague, but I was just talking about getting a job prior to the start of law school, like in January, just until law school started in August. Just asked in case either of you were familiar enough with the city to have any insight.

Could either of you explain how they go about orientation, and whether it helped you get connected with the other students/get familiar with the school?

[badfish]

I'm sure you can get a job before school starts, but I would recommend doing something pretty low stress.

Orientation was ... meh. Super long (like a week) and kind of annoying, but you do meet people, so I suppose it wasn't a total waste.

[dbt]

Orientation was ok...they make a lot of lectures "mandatory" and then I think by the end people realize that nobody's keeping track and you may want to spend your time elsewhere. We had a city-wide scavenger hunt though with our lawyering groups which was great for bonding and the best part of orientation I think. But apart from that, orientation was mainly an introduction to what law school would be like and I'd say you're better off making friends by going to the many, many mixers that happen during the first few weeks (and are actually still going on).

[Drew2010]

Do either of you have anything to say about NYU's gym? Is it nice? Overly crowded?

Could you describe your favorite mixer so far?

Are the students more or less intelligent than you expected?

Also, have you heard anything about the Dean's cup yet, and how does it work? Are freshman allowed to try out?

Again, thanks very much for answering questions. I think the wait till December is making me a little crazy.

[teaadntoast]

As for question #2, it was a little vague, but I was just talking about getting a job prior to the start of law school, like in January, just until law school started in August. Just asked in case either of you were familiar enough with the city to have any insight.

FWIW, my fiance moved here in January after choosing a New York school and spent the next nine excruciating months looking for work. The same may not be true for you, obviously, but keep in mind that there's not a lot of incentive for an employer to hire someone who will only be around for nine months right now. Not when there are dozens of applicants for every entry level position.

[gahthelaw]

DBT, how was the application process for the named scholarship? Did they keep you hung up about it for a while?

[gahthelaw]

also, was Columbia ever a question for you (anybody)? Why did you choose NYU over Columbia?

[dbt]

@Drew:

I haven't been to the gym yet, but my roommates have. They said it's pretty nice. I'm actually going to go for the first time tomorrow, and am planning on making use of the pool. I'll let you know what I think.

The mixers have all pretty much been the same. Drinks, maybe some food, and people. So I don't really have a favorite.

The students are as intelligent as I expected, which is to say practically everyone I know does the work and pays a lot of attention in class.

I haven't heard a lot about the Dean's Cup, other than that it's awesome. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Good luck with the applications!

[Capercaillie]

Are you behind in any class? Have you completed every single reading assignment? How many hours of sleep do you average nightly? How Socratic are professors generally? Do you feel as if you've got a good handle on things?

[dbt]

@gahthelaw:

They informed me about the scholarship pretty quickly...so no hang up. And if you're a finalist, you find out within like a week of the interview, so it's not too bad.

And yeah, the Columbia vs. NYU question was the big one for me...and I ended up going with NYU primarily because of location and what I expected of the student body. I'd say NYU is still better on location but can't really speak to the comparison of the student bodies since I don't attend both schools. Like I said earlier, I do feel like NYU's student body is far more "normal" than prospective students might be expecting.

@Caper:

CivPro is definitely the toughest class...and yeah, I find myself falling behind a bit, though more in the sense that I need to dedicate some time to consolidating my case/class notes as opposed to falling behind in the reading itself. Most cases that we've done are 3-7 pages, which was surprising since I was expecting 20+ pages for whatever reason. And yeah, 3-4 hours of studying a day (if that) and I've completed every assignment, sleep 8 hours a night, and have time to watch TV, play video games, and have fun. Professors aren't bad at all when it comes to the Socratic method and nobody so far is ever put on the spot to the extent that I've felt bad for them. As long as you do the reading and have decent notes the professor will lead you along.

And yeah, I feel like I've got a great handle on things. Really, it's not as bad as I expected.

[Renzo]

I'll chime in if anyone wants a nontraditional student's 1L perspective.

[teaadntoast]

I'll chime in if anyone wants a nontraditional student's 1L perspective.

Have you found it easy to adjust to the pace of law school after (I assume) working for a number of years?

Anything you've noticed that makes the "non-trad" experience more challenging?

[Renzo]

Have you found it easy to adjust to the pace of law school after (I assume) working for a number of years?

Anything you've noticed that makes the "non-trad" experience more challenging?

For me the pace of law school has (so far) been much slower than I was expecting from the horror stories. The workload is more than in undergrad, but it's nothing like actually working.

So far the challenges of adapting as a nontraditional student are pretty minimal. The hardest adjustment so far (and it really hasn't been that hard) has been trying to build connections with my classmates when I don't feel like there's much common experience. I do feel like I miss out on some social opportunities because of family obligations, but I don't feel like an outsider.

[teaadntoast]

So far the challenges of adapting as a nontraditional student are pretty minimal. The hardest adjustment so far (and it really hasn't been that hard) has been trying to build connections with my classmates when I don't feel like there's much common experience. I do feel like I miss out on some social opportunities because of family obligations, but I don't feel like an outsider.

Thanks!

[badfish]

Are you behind in any class? Have you completed every single reading assignment? How many hours of sleep do you average nightly? How Socratic are professors generally? Do you feel as if you've got a good handle on things?

I'm ahead in most of my classes. I sleep about 6-7 hours per night and I have been able to keep up with my workouts.

Also both the gyms are way too small for a school the size of NYU. Plus NYU undergrads aren't exactly "gym rats", so most of them just stand around and get in your way. It's actually pretty frustrating.