Northwestern Pritzker - Class of 2020 Forum

[Dondraper88]

anyone else find the career services skit during follies slightly concerning? also, whoever suzie is, I hope she had plenty of drinks before the show

So I missed follies but heard a couple references to this after. Did they basically just imply that career services isn't the most helpful?

basically implied career services isn't helpful at all. but I followed up after and asked current students about it and they said basically some individual counselors are really great but that the big events they put on are useless

I also found the Dean Rodriguez part concerning lol

so did i. it definitely seems like he is hard to reach if your a student there

At a panel I attended, a professor flat-out said the previous dean was much more involved in student life.

His main concern seems to be raising money, which isn't a bad thing as the 100 million dollar donation he got shows.

[carsondalywashere]

Sounds like I should have attended follies....were they insinuating OCI isn't actually all that great, or was it simple fun about the career services office?

[MT Cicero]

Sounds like I should have attended follies....are they insinuating OCI isn't actually all that great?

No. The general impression isn't at all about OCI. OCI's solid here, and if that's all career services ever did, it would still be a boon to students attending NU. It's more about career services' perceived lack of flexibility and individual tailoring to people who aren't just biglaw. There's a cookie-cutter perception to career services that it's all about bodies in $180K jobs. And there's probably a valid reason for their emphasis on OCI and related events to maximize that number: lots of people want these jobs (probably 75%+ based on my anecdata).

I encourage people to take their careers into their own hands early and often (no matter where you attend). Career services can be great as a secondary resource, and I think that's what they should be. I think they should set up the institutional programs, get the firms here for events, provide benchmarks time-wise to motivate lazy people (who would otherwise never even create a resume until the last-second), and provide additional help to students who might be in different scenarios (PI, smaller secondary markets, etc.). It's the last item that people tend to ding them for at NU, though I've heard they're making strides all around. I didn't really use them that much, but my counselor was cool. And it was nice to shoot her my resume just for another set of eyes once or twice.

Edited: 3L here. Maybe some current 1L or 2L could chime in and offer more up-to-date info.

Bottom line: Nobody should care more about your career than you. Act accordingly throughout law school and beyond.

[carsondalywashere]

Sounds like I should have attended follies....are they insinuating OCI isn't actually all that great?

No. The general impression isn't at all about OCI. OCI's solid here, and if that's all career services ever did, it would still be a boon to students attending NU. It's more about career services' perceived lack of flexibility and individual tailoring to people who aren't just biglaw. There's an cookie-cutter perception to career services that it's all about bodies in $180K jobs. And there's probably a valid reason for their emphasis on OCI and related events to maximize that number: lots of people want these jobs (probably 75%+ based on my anecdata).

I encourage people to take their careers into their own hands early and often (no matter where you attend). Career services can be great as a secondary resource, and I think that's what they should be. I think they should set up the institutional programs, get the firms here for events, provide benchmarks time-wise to motivate lazy people (who would otherwise never even create a resume until the last-second), and provide additional help to students who might be in different scenarios (PI, smaller secondary markets, etc.). It's the last item that people tend to ding them for at NU, though I've heard they're making strides all around. I didn't really use them that much, but my counselor was cool. And it was nice to shoot her my resume just for another set of eyes once or twice.

Edited: 3L here. Maybe some current 1L or 2L could chime in and offer more up-to-date info.

Bottom line: Nobody should care more about your career than you. Act accordingly throughout law school and beyond.

Awesome post which dismisses all of my concerns. Thank you!

[mickey_mouse]

re: Career Services. They're just an easy comedic target. Like Mississippi. or our President.

Nothing to worry about. They have probably 0 impact on your law school experience, except that they do a fine job putting on OCI (which is the one time you need them to come through). The disconnect comes when people think career services is going to somehow magically get them a job or fwd their resume to the managing partner of Cravath. You gotta hustle yourself to get the job you want. That shouldn't be a surprise.

[RedPurpleBlue]

Anyone hear back from NU today on scholarship reconsideration?

[Kinky John]

re: Career Services. They're just an easy comedic target. Like Mississippi. or our President.

Nothing to worry about. They have probably 0 impact on your law school experience, except that they do a fine job putting on OCI (which is the one time you need them to come through). The disconnect comes when people think career services is going to somehow magically get them a job or fwd their resume to the managing partner of Cravath. You gotta hustle yourself to get the job you want. That shouldn't be a surprise.

In my experience, you don't have to expect magic/resume-forwarding to be disappointed by career services. The point is: Don't rely on them.

[guynourmin]

Anyone hear back from NU today on scholarship reconsideration?

I did not/did not expect to. Hoping tomorrow.

[yyyuppp]

i would just like to echo that people shouldn't be concerned about NU based on the follies' material.

[dclaw93]

Anyone hear back from NU today on scholarship reconsideration?

I did not/did not expect to. Hoping tomorrow.

When did both of you submit the form? I'm submitting tonight and wondering on turnaround time.

[2000andBeyond]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

[jjcorvino]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

I didn't, just my opinion but I think they are listing only those schools for a reason. Those are likely the only schools they consider for negotiation purposes. Anything else they will just discard and not look at.

[guynourmin]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

I didn't, just my opinion but I think they are listing only those schools for a reason. Those are likely the only schools they consider for negotiation purposes. Anything else they will just discard and not look at.

the instructions at the top of the page are pretty clear, as well. I would speak to someone before submitting the form if you aren't going to follow those instructions.

[2000andBeyond]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

I didn't, just my opinion but I think they are listing only those schools for a reason. Those are likely the only schools they consider for negotiation purposes. Anything else they will just discard and not look at.

Yeahhhh I guess you're right. I'm surprised they don't have Emory/BU on that list though. Maybe it's because I wanted them to be on the list lol

[jjcorvino]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

I didn't, just my opinion but I think they are listing only those schools for a reason. Those are likely the only schools they consider for negotiation purposes. Anything else they will just discard and not look at.

Yeahhhh I guess you're right. I'm surprised they don't have Emory/BU on that list though. Maybe it's because I wanted them to be on the list lol

I think the only reason WUSTL is on it (I don't remember if ND was either?) is because it is in the same market. I think they limit it to "peer" schools and also some outside that bubble who also can compete in Chicago.

[2000andBeyond]

Have any of you filled out the scholarship renegotiation form with a school not on their list? And if so, how?

I didn't, just my opinion but I think they are listing only those schools for a reason. Those are likely the only schools they consider for negotiation purposes. Anything else they will just discard and not look at.

Yeahhhh I guess you're right. I'm surprised they don't have Emory/BU on that list though. Maybe it's because I wanted them to be on the list lol

I think the only reason WUSTL is on it (I don't remember if ND was either?) is because it is in the same market. I think they limit it to "peer" schools and also some outside that bubble who also can compete in Chicago.

Ahh, that makes sense! I guess I should just shut up and be happy with the money I got now LOL

Thanks, all!

[carsondalywashere]

Does anyone know when we'll get scholarship reconsiderations back?

[2000andBeyond]

new poll

[RedPurpleBlue]

Just had my scholarship reconsideration denied.

[lula43]

Just had my scholarship reconsideration denied.

When did you submit it?

[RedPurpleBlue]

Just had my scholarship reconsideration denied.

When did you submit it?

Monday

[thatblondegirl]

Scholarship negotiation request denied. Whelp, I guess that means I'm going to Duke.

For the record, I submitted my request yesterday morning.

[RedPurpleBlue]

Scholarship negotiation request denied. Whelp, I guess that means I'm going to Duke.

For the record, I submitted my request yesterday morning.

They must be feeling good about their deposit numbers right now. I really thought my request was reasonable given my competing offers.

[thatblondegirl]

Scholarship negotiation request denied. Whelp, I guess that means I'm going to Duke.

For the record, I submitted my request yesterday morning.

They must be feeling good about their deposit numbers right now. I really thought my request was reasonable given my competing offers.

True and same. But I'm happy because I was already leaning towards Duke. NU's denial just solidified my decision.

[guynourmin]

Scholarship negotiation request denied. Whelp, I guess that means I'm going to Duke.

For the record, I submitted my request yesterday morning.

They must be feeling good about their deposit numbers right now. I really thought my request was reasonable given my competing offers.

I was also denied, but I'm not surprised. NU was my best t13 offer. Was hoping they would give me 5k more to make my decision easier. Now I have to decide!