NYU 1L - Taking ?'s Forum

[CanadianWolf]

My intention was to show that "campus" has a conventional meaning & a non-conventional usage. In my opinion, NYU has a non-convential campus. Online campus is an extreme example. The dictionary definition of campus is "the grounds of a university or college".

[BaiAilian2013]

I'm a little shocked at how quickly this got ugly.

Anastasia - could you talk a little bit about the social life? I know you've only been there a month, but I get the feeling that people probably just have their own lives outside LS since there's so much else to do besides fraternize with other students. Has that been your experience?

That definitely hasn't been my experience. Everyone in my section is very open to forming friendships and proactive about doing so. One of the many things that has surprised and delighted me about law school has been making friends so quickly.

[spondee]

My intention was to show that "campus" has a conventional meaning & a non-conventional usage. In my opinion, NYU has a non-convential campus. Online campus is an extreme example. The dictionary definition of campus is "the grounds of a university or college".

You're right. It is an unconventional campus. I agree with that completely.

I just don't want anyone to misunderstand and think that lack of a traditional campus = no campus at all. Because that's not how it is.

[BenJ]

Do you wish you were at Columbia?

rhetorical question?

everyone at NYU wishes they were at Columbia

given a choice between a world renowned Ivy and a state school (u know what i mean) just a few miles apart IN THE SAME CITY

I'm pretty sure everyone will go with the world renowned Ivy

NYU 1L who chose it over Columbia here. Totally happy with my choice.

I mostly agree with the answers already give. And there is a campus -- the larger law school dorm and all of the law school academic buildings are literally right next to one another -- unlike NYU undergrad, where everything is, to my understanding, splayed across the Village. Granted, it isn't some standard quad setup, but I was over that after undergrad.

[fugitivejammer]

Just curious - what kind of regional distribution of students have you come across at NYU? Wondering if a majority % of the students are from the NYC area, or if the distribution is more balanced than I imagine it would be.

Also, have u come across many veterans at the law school? I deferred my admissions to NYU from last cycle to next year, but I don't know ANYBODY in NYC at all, so just trying to learn a bit more about the ppl, and understand how quickly I can fit in.

Thanks in advance for answering my q's!

[spondee]

The most represented regions seem to be California and the Northeast, but there are students from all over.

[BenJ]

Regions are diverse, and although the Northeast is somewhat overrepresented, it's not by a big margin. (I was actually a little surprised by how few NYC natives there were, although there are plenty of people who have been living in NYC for a few years since undergrad.)

I have met one veteran, for what it's worth. He was no different from anyone else.

[gdane]

I think its funny that someone other than the original poster ended up answering questions. The OP must feel usurped because he/she never came back after Ani started answering questions.

[TheWire]

Hah,

Sorry, for not answering questions sooner...

I am from the west coast so I came to New York with a large "unknown" factor, so, hopefully this will give perspective to individuals that are not already familiar with NYC.

First off, with regard to the "campus" discussion:
NYU most definitely does not have a campus in any "traditional" sense. It's hard to imagine, but you need to realize that you will literally be IN THE MIDDLE OF NYC. In other words, buildings will be absolutely everywhere. Imagine that the bottom floor of everywhere you walk is either:
a) a bar
b) an eatery
c) a coffee shop
d) an apartment building lobby

Above the bottom floor is the rest of the building where people live/work. So, the only sense of "campus" you get is that <1% of these buildings I am talking about have an NYU flag sticking out of the side, which means that NYU owns it. In my opinion, this is my favorite part of NYU; your campus is the best campus in the world: the coolest part of lower Manhattan.


Work Load:
I mean, it sucks. I have class at 9am every morning and I definitely have a MINIMUM of 3-5 hours of reading that I should be doing everyday (including weekends). The students here are pretty serious, so you really don't want to fall behind.

Students:
Predominantly east coast-ers. The social scene varies tremendously; some people will click instantly, others have friends in the area, others don't want a social life. However, the last thing you should worry about with NYU is the social life. I can say pretty confidently that the social life at NYU is, as the TLS profile states, unmatched by any other law school. Simply, NYC has outlets for everyone and anyone that wants to do anything. If you can't find things to do here, its you...not the place you're living.

I live in one of the campus residence halls (Mercer). Trust me, please trust me, choose Mercer over D'ag. You cannot beat the size of the room/location anywhere else in NYC. I live on the border of three of the greatest parts of NYC:
If I walk one block south, I walk into the heart of SoHO (shopping capital of NYC)
If I walk one block east, I walk into the east village (grungy bar capital of NYC)
If I walk west, I continue into the heart of Greenwich/west village (NYU, washington square park, restaurants, bars)
My window looks at Broadway, so you can take that for what it's worth.

On the whole Columbia v. NYU discussion:
Disclaimer; this is in my opinion, not fact:

IMO, it depends on the type of person you are.

Nobody will try to convince you that Columbia's part of town is cooler than NYU's...because that would be ludicrous.

Nobody should try to convince you that the employment benefits, given that you fall in the same part of the curve, will be different.

Nobody will convince you that you will be happier at Columbia.

The real advantage that I see, in going to Columbia, is a significant population of individuals (mostly outside of the legal field) will be a little more impressed when you tell them that you go to Columbia. NYU is really well-respected, especially in NYC, but, for obvious reasons, people who don't know squat about law will not find NYU quite as prestigious as Columbia.

For someone like me, that doesn't matter, mainly because if you're going to Columbia or NYU law, you're probably used to being smarter than the majority of people you talk to, so their opinion shouldn't mean much.

But, for some people, they want that "wow" factor when they tell everyone what they're doing with their life. And, that's quite alright. If that matters to you, and you have the opportunity, it's your right to make that choice.
For what it's worth, there are probably (disclaimer, I can't possibly know because I don't go to Columbia) more people that it matters to at Columbia than NYU. Students at both schools are ver confident and they should be. I'm sure, at both schools, some just care about other people knowing it more than others.

Again, I'm so sorry for not getting back to these questions earlier. I promise to respond better, so feel free to keep questions coming.

--TheWire

[sgtgrumbles]

NYU 1L who chose it over Columbia here. Totally happy with my choice.

Would you mind explaining why? I intend to do PI, so I expect that I'd take NYU over Columbia, but I'd like to know why others made that decision.

Edit: I live in NYC, so if it's mostly neighborhood or immediate environs preference you can just say that without having to elaborate that there's more to do in the Village, etc.

[BenJ]

NYU 1L who chose it over Columbia here. Totally happy with my choice.

Would you mind explaining why? I intend to do PI, so I expect that I'd take NYU over Columbia, but I'd like to know why others made that decision.

Edit: I live in NYC, so if it's mostly neighborhood or immediate environs preference you can just say that without having to elaborate that there's more to do in the Village, etc.

Neighborhood definitely helped, but it was more of the attitude of the student body that made the difference for me. NYU is competitive, just like any other top school, but it's a little more laid back, in terms of the students it attracts, than any of the other schools I visited (not just a pot-shot at Columbia).

It also helped that NYU is particularly strong in environmental, development and urban policy and law, my special area of interest. Not that Columbia wouldn't get me the same jobs in those fields, it would have, but I wouldn't have quite the same opportunity to interact with some of the most prominent academics in the field or be around quite as many students with similar interests.

NYU also gave me a hair more scholarship money, but the difference was too small to mean much. Had I gotten no money from NYU but gotten the same small offer I got from Columbia, though, I would have gone to Columbia.

(All relevant admission information is in my profile, if you're curious.)

[sgtgrumbles]

NYU 1L who chose it over Columbia here. Totally happy with my choice.

Would you mind explaining why? I intend to do PI, so I expect that I'd take NYU over Columbia, but I'd like to know why others made that decision.

Edit: I live in NYC, so if it's mostly neighborhood or immediate environs preference you can just say that without having to elaborate that there's more to do in the Village, etc.

Neighborhood definitely helped, but it was more of the attitude of the student body that made the difference for me. NYU is competitive, just like any other top school, but it's a little more laid back, in terms of the students it attracts, than any of the other schools I visited (not just a pot-shot at Columbia).

It also helped that NYU is particularly strong in environmental, development and urban policy and law, my special area of interest. Not that Columbia wouldn't get me the same jobs in those fields, it would have, but I wouldn't have quite the same opportunity to interact with some of the most prominent academics in the field or be around quite as many students with similar interests.

NYU also gave me a hair more scholarship money, but the difference was too small to mean much. Had I gotten no money from NYU but gotten the same small offer I got from Columbia, though, I would have gone to Columbia.

(All relevant admission information is in my profile, if you're curious.)

Cool, thank you. Did you tailor your application to NYU or Columbia in any way that you think may have netted you that scholarship money? Perhaps writing affectionately about their strong environmental and urban law program? (There are some centers and programs at NYU that sound right up my alley and I'm considering writing a "Why NYU" statement to highlight that.)

Also, do you assume the WL at UVA and Penn was to yield protect?

[BenJ]

NYU 1L who chose it over Columbia here. Totally happy with my choice.

Would you mind explaining why? I intend to do PI, so I expect that I'd take NYU over Columbia, but I'd like to know why others made that decision.

Edit: I live in NYC, so if it's mostly neighborhood or immediate environs preference you can just say that without having to elaborate that there's more to do in the Village, etc.

Neighborhood definitely helped, but it was more of the attitude of the student body that made the difference for me. NYU is competitive, just like any other top school, but it's a little more laid back, in terms of the students it attracts, than any of the other schools I visited (not just a pot-shot at Columbia).

It also helped that NYU is particularly strong in environmental, development and urban policy and law, my special area of interest. Not that Columbia wouldn't get me the same jobs in those fields, it would have, but I wouldn't have quite the same opportunity to interact with some of the most prominent academics in the field or be around quite as many students with similar interests.

NYU also gave me a hair more scholarship money, but the difference was too small to mean much. Had I gotten no money from NYU but gotten the same small offer I got from Columbia, though, I would have gone to Columbia.

(All relevant admission information is in my profile, if you're curious.)

Cool, thank you. Did you tailor your application to NYU or Columbia in any way that you think may have netted you that scholarship money? Perhaps writing affectionately about their strong environmental and urban law program? (There are some centers and programs at NYU that sound right up my alley and I'm considering writing a "Why NYU" statement to highlight that.)

Also, you assume the WL at UVA and Penn was to yield protect, right?

They had to have been YP. Understandable, given that I didn't write a special essay for Penn (they really expect it) and that UVA just waitlists everyone with a 173+. I also applied late. I think I would have gotten into at least Chicago and Berkeley had I applied in September instead of January (but I took the December '09 LSAT after a crash-and-burn on the September '09 LSAT).

I didn't write anything strongly keyed towards NYU or Columbia, but I'm from the metro area and have done a lot (for someone straight from undergrad, anyway) of work in NYC politics. I think they liked seeing that.

NYU has a special scholarship application that they send out in February IIRC if you are admitted by then. I got money through that (it was mostly just personal info, no essay or anything; the essays with the application are for the special scholarships like RTK that offer great opportunities but are also much harder to get and pretty much require a lot of background in the subject area). I then showed the scholarship offer from NYU to Columbia, and they offered me some money, too.

Columbia only offers the full Hamilton and half Butler scholarships, but they will offer you "need-based" money if you show them a scholarship from NYU (and presumably also from Chicago, and maybe from MVPB).

[sgtgrumbles]

How, if at all, do the various law centers factor into the academic or extra-curricular experience? Do you hear about symposiums they hold? Are some classes tied into these centers? Are there opportunities to get involved with them in meaningful ways? I'm particularly interested in the Brennan Center for Justice, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and Center on Law and Security.

Do you have any familiarity with the Legal Philosophy or Law and Society programs? Are they very distinct from the standard law school curriculum, or are they more like focuses within the traditional curriculum?

I know NYU has a reputation for its strong PI program; what percentage of students do you think are focusing on public interest law? Do you think this would make competition for PI fellowships, internships, summer positions and so on more competitive than at other comparable schools?

How do you perceive the general intellectual environment of the school? Are many people interested in the abstract and theoretical aspects of law? The social and political dimensions? Or does it feel like most people think of school as a means to an end, job training and so on? Or is everyone so damn busy that these distinctions are meaningless?

Sorry to unload so many questions all at once. Thanks for your responses.

[TheWire]

Look Below

[lawschoollll]

Hah,

Sorry, for not answering questions sooner...

I am from the west coast so I came to New York with a large "unknown" factor, so, hopefully this will give perspective to individuals that are not already familiar with NYC.

First off, with regard to the "campus" discussion:
NYU most definitely does not have a campus in any "traditional" sense. It's hard to imagine, but you need to realize that you will literally be IN THE MIDDLE OF NYC. In other words, buildings will be absolutely everywhere. Imagine that the bottom floor of everywhere you walk is either:
a) a bar
b) an eatery
c) a coffee shop
d) an apartment building lobby

Above the bottom floor is the rest of the building where people live/work. So, the only sense of "campus" you get is that <1% of these buildings I am talking about have an NYU flag sticking out of the side, which means that NYU owns it. In my opinion, this is my favorite part of NYU; your campus is the best campus in the world: the coolest part of lower Manhattan.


Work Load:
I mean, it sucks. I have class at 9am every morning and I definitely have a MINIMUM of 3-5 hours of reading that I should be doing everyday (including weekends). The students here are pretty serious, so you really don't want to fall behind.

Students:
Predominantly east coast-ers. The social scene varies tremendously; some people will click instantly, others have friends in the area, others don't want a social life. However, the last thing you should worry about with NYU is the social life. I can say pretty confidently that the social life at NYU is, as the TLS profile states, unmatched by any other law school. Simply, NYC has outlets for everyone and anyone that wants to do anything. If you can't find things to do here, its you...not the place you're living.

I live in one of the campus residence halls (Mercer). Trust me, please trust me, choose Mercer over D'ag. You cannot beat the size of the room/location anywhere else in NYC. I live on the border of three of the greatest parts of NYC:
If I walk one block south, I walk into the heart of SoHO (shopping capital of NYC)
If I walk one block east, I walk into the east village (grungy bar capital of NYC)
If I walk west, I continue into the heart of Greenwich/west village (NYU, washington square park, restaurants, bars)
My window looks at Broadway, so you can take that for what it's worth.

On the whole Columbia v. NYU discussion:
Disclaimer; this is in my opinion, not fact:

IMO, it depends on the type of person you are.

Nobody will try to convince you that Columbia's part of town is cooler than NYU's...because that would be ludicrous.

Nobody should try to convince you that the employment benefits, given that you fall in the same part of the curve, will be different.

Nobody will convince you that you will be happier at Columbia.

The real advantage that I see, in going to Columbia, is a significant population of individuals (mostly outside of the legal field) will be a little more impressed when you tell them that you go to Columbia. NYU is really well-respected, especially in NYC, but, for obvious reasons, people who don't know squat about law will not find NYU quite as prestigious as Columbia.

For someone like me, that doesn't matter, mainly because if you're going to Columbia or NYU law, you're probably used to being smarter than the majority of people you talk to, so their opinion shouldn't mean much.

But, for some people, they want that "wow" factor when they tell everyone what they're doing with their life. And, that's quite alright. If that matters to you, and you have the opportunity, it's your right to make that choice.
For what it's worth, there are probably (disclaimer, I can't possibly know because I don't go to Columbia) more people that it matters to at Columbia than NYU. Students at both schools are ver confident and they should be. I'm sure, at both schools, some just care about other people knowing it more than others.

Again, I'm so sorry for not getting back to these questions earlier. I promise to respond better, so feel free to keep questions coming.

--TheWire

Nice, I think Mercer is adjacent to the NYSC that I work out at. How much is a single there? Also, do you know of anyone who commutes from Brooklyn/Jersey?

[AreJay711]

A month in you may not know this yet but do you get a sense that most of the people you know want to practice in NYC? I know there are oppurtunities in other markets but where do most people want to end up?

[TheWire]

Well, I definitely do get the sense that most people want to practice in NYC. It would make a lot more sense to you as a student here, but, the main reason I think this is so is because so many people who move here really really like it. The fact that:
1. NYC is such an amazing place to live
2. There is an extremely dense population of law firms in NYC
3. NYU students are extremely well-respected in the area

confers an advantage to those people that are open to working here. It is just obvious that the "best" employment opportunity you will have, given that you're not in the top 1% of students, will probably be in NYC. It makes sense when you realize that out of the very top firms, most of them are located here anyways; so, most opportunity exists here...in our backyard.

With that being said, I would prefer to work in California. But, realistically, I know that I have to be open to staying here if i can get a better job and then moving to CA after I build up my resume.

Don't take this to mean that you can't break into other markets; it's just that most of us will settle, by taking a slightly more prestigious job in NYC.

I don't know anyone that commutes from Jersey; however, MANY students commute from Brooklyn. The commute from Brooklyn is painless.
I think the single bedroom prices (assuming you mean a single room, because getting a "single" is not likely to happen for a 1L) is somewhere in the vicinity of 1350-1750 depending on how high up in the building you are and whether you are facing broadway (the louder street) or mercer. For example, I am on the 5th floor, which falls under the lowest category, and I face broadway (which is the nosier, cheaper option), I have one roommate and, with the one month rebate I should receive, it ends up being approx 1450 a month. I assure you, that for the area it is in, and considering that includes all utilities/cable,etc., it is a really really good deal.

I'm not really sure about the law centers; but, if you call NYU, I'm sure the'll answer those questions. There are a lot of student organizations that can provide you with meaningful extracurricular opportunities however. TBH, there are way too many extracurriculars available at this point. As a 1L, you're constantly focused on maintaining your studies; this will lead to a minimal amount of free-time. I promise that you'll find AMPLE extracurricular opportunities to fill up that free time.

A lot of people here are focused on PI. I wouldn't say you necessarily have more competition than being anywhere else because you definitely will have more opportunity here. NYC is an outlet for lots of experiences that will help build ur resume if you're looking to go the PI route. NYU offers summer funding to all 1Ls for $4500 for your first summer. That's pretty awesome and although other top schools do this, I believe the $4500 is > most schools.

As a separate note to you guys,
I cannot express enough how great of a quality of life/overall package NYU is. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't even consider going anywhere else except for maybe Stanford.

I don't know anybody that isn't LOVING their decision to be here. Being in the best part of NYC, for people that haven't had an opportunity to discover the city, is simply ridiculous. There's no way to convey all the advantages it provides to students. There's some statistics about how many students transfer in and out of different programs. Don't quote me on it, but I think, for the last few years, ZERO people have transferred out of NYU. That means something. People are simply happy here; they love the decision they made. Ultimately, that's something you guys should think about: the happiness you're going to get from your decision.

[TheWire]

deleted.

[sgtgrumbles]

Thanks for the response. I did undergrad at NYU and live in the city, so I can certainly appreciate the benefits of living in the most exciting, stimulating, cosmopolitan city in the country (world?).

Also, I saw the actor who plays Marlow Stanfield in a Lowe's in Brooklyn the other weekend. I had to do a double-take, but it was definitely him.

[spondee]

(I'm a 2L. So slightly different perspective than TheWire.)

I think about ~30% of NYU's class takes jobs elsewhere - so that opportunity is there. But, yeah, NY is definitely the target for most people. I remember last year many of my classmates wanted to return home to California, to Alabama, to DC, etc., as soon as school was done, but many of these same people now want to work in NY. People fall in love with the city.

Re: centers. Many of the clinics are associated with the centers. And many of them hire 1Ls for summer work. Additionally, any events they put on are announced through the general email listserv and via large posters in the building entrances. You won't really have any contact as a 1L, but there are increasing opportunities later.

[spondee]

Oh, and I think NYU's PI focus doesn't create additional competition. I think it builds critical mass.

We have an amazing PI career office. (Maybe all schools do; I don't have anything to compare it to; but I've been really impressed.) They're separate from the regular career services so they specialize in and know all about PI. They're constantly sending out emails, inviting practitioners onto campus for lectures and lunches, etc. There's an annual PI job fair at NYU that's the largest such fair in the nation - law students from all over the city as well as neighboring states come to NYU to participate (but NYU students get slight interviewing priorities).

And the people that head up the office really know their stuff. The woman in charge, for example, graduated from NYU, was LR/cum laude, clerked COA, worked at the ACLU and rose up to become Director of the New Jersey chapter, has argued before the Supreme Court, etc. They're very well connected, and as they continue to successfully place NYU students into prestigious positions, they become even better connected.

[TheWire]

Thanks Spondee,

I wasn't trying to make it seam like NYC is the only option; but I feel it is the vast majority's target. My emphasis was more along the lines of "my classmates wanted to return home to California, to Alabama, to DC, etc., as soon as school was done, but many of these same people now want to work in NY. People fall in love with the city."

It's incredible how a lot of people's perspective changes when they see what New York is about...

[NYU2011]

Any ideas on how easy/hard it is to find a pet-friendly apartment close to NYU?

Since I saw this question wasn't answered, I just wanted to jump in and say it's easy to find pet friendly housing in the Village. Most places have breed restrictions though.

[bmwhype2]

Why does NYU take the average LSAT

(http://www.law.nyu.edu/admissions/jdadm ... /index.htm)
"If I take the LSAT more than once, does the Committee see the higher score?
Yes, but they evaluate based on the average score in most cases. The Committee may take special circumstances into account. If a candidate can point out specific reasons why the Committee should consider an LSAT score aberrant, they should detail those reasons in an addendum to the personal statement."

...but other schools such as UChicago follow ABA policy and take the highest LSAT?
(http://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/1454)
"How does the Admissions Committee evaluate multiple LSAT scores?
We will review all LSAT scores that you have received. In accordance with the American Bar Association and LSAC policies, we will focus on the highest LSAT score and report the highest score. Any large differences between LSAT scores should be explained in an addendum attached to your application and be honest about the discrepancy in your scores. We simply want to know why one score is a better predictor of your ability than another."