Illinois Class of 2014 (With Dean Pless) Forum

[KingRajesh]

Dean Pless,

Thank you for being so willing to answer questions here. I was accepted on Friday and wanted to know if there is a way for us new acceptances to acquire the employment data that other accepted students received last week?

It's posted in it's entirety here.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=975

[Perplexed Penguin]

Dean Pless,

Thank you for being so willing to answer questions here. I was accepted on Friday and wanted to know if there is a way for us new acceptances to acquire the employment data that other accepted students received last week?

It's posted in it's entirety here.

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... &start=975

Thank you.

[Pless]

Dean Pless,
Per the off-campus minority job fairs, can you state which ones UIUC's students have the ability to attend and interview?
In addition, are there any "general" interview programs that the school hosts in other states? Thanks for your response and I'll see you in April!

2010-2011 Job Fairs
BLG 2010 Job Fairs for Law Students of Color
BLG Washington, D.C. Job Fair for Law Students of Color
Boston – New England Interview Program (NEIP)
Cook County Bar Association’s 27th Annual Minority Law Student Job Fair
Damali Booker Minority Job Fair
Delaware Minority Job Fair
DuPont Legal Minority Job Fairs
Equal Justice Works Career Fair
Government Agency Career Expo
Heartland Diversity Legal Job Fair (HDLJF)
Hispanic National Bar Association Annual Career Fair
IMPACT Career Fair for Law Students and Attorneys with Disabilities
Indianapolis Bar Association Diversity Job Fair
Lavender Law Career Fair
Los Angeles – Southern California Interview Program (SCIP)
Loyola Patent Law Interview Program
Mid-Atlantic Legal Recruiting Conference (MALRC) –
Midwest Public Interest Career Conference
Minnesota Minority Recruitment Conference
National Black Prosecutors Association Annual Job Fair
National LGBT Bar Association Annual Career Fair and Conference
National Latino/a Law Student Association Conference 2010
NLSC Philadelphia Program
NLSC New York Program
NLSC Los Angeles Program
NLSC Washington Program
Rocky Mountain Diversity Legal Career Fair
St. Louis Diversity Job Fair
San Francisco Bay Area’s Diversity Career Fair
Vault 4th Annual Legal Diversity Career Forum

[columbia86]

Dear Dean Pless,

From your experience in past years, what attributes of a wait list-ed applicant are particularly attractive to you when filling out your class?

Thanks,
86

[Pless]

Dear Dean Pless,

From your experience in past years, what attributes of a wait list-ed applicant are particularly attractive to you when filling out your class?

Thanks,
86

It really depends on the year and how the class is rounding out. But some common things are people that expressed a continued interest in Illinois and people with strong academic backgrounds.

[super6]

Which of the study abroad programs are taught in English?

[Pless]

Which of the study abroad programs are taught in English?

All of them.

[Pless]

We are putting new files into review today for a decision this Friday, March 18. All files that were complete on or before March 1 will be going into review. Good luck!

[Hannibal]

Dean Pless, what employment info did USNWR use? That number seems off, and it's odd that the number varied so much between schools.

[Pless]

Dean Pless, what employment info did USNWR use? That number seems off, and it's odd that the number varied so much between schools.

Hannibal,
Glad you asked. USNWR decided that this year any student who was listed as "continuing education" by a school in their NALP and ABA reporting would be considered "unemployed" for the rankings. For the Class of 2009, which is the data that is used for the "2012" rankings, Illinois had a number of students pursuing advanced degrees such as, completing the medical school portion of their JD/MD degree, completing their PhD in Philosophy, pursuing a Masters in Library Science from the University Of Illinois (the top program of its kind) and entering Tax LLM programs at schools such as NYU. Why USNWR values working part-time in a non-law field more highly than pursuing an advanced degree is a question for them I suppose. At Illinois we feel that these advanced degrees are incredibly valuable to our graduates and will continue to encourage students to pursue them when it fits with their long term career goals.

Happy to answer any other questions anyone has.

[BrightLine]

Did anyone else get something interesting from Illinois today?

[wdk3618]

Did anyone else get something interesting from Illinois today?

no what did you get?

[Pless]

Decisions will be coming out in a few minutes. I am travelling the rest of the day and in meetings all day tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure to get decisions out this week. There are 8 admits, 22 WL Offers and 162 denials. Brutal week, I know. Sorry.

We will be putting new files into review today for a decision next Friday, March 25th. All files completed by March 4 will be going into review.

Good luck to everyone. I have noticed that the pace of questions has slowed considerably. Hopefully this is because I have already answered every possible question But I am happy to answer any questions you may have, even tough ones.

Next week we will be having our receptions in DC, NYC and Houston. I hope to see some of you there.

Paul

[whymeohgodno]

Did your applications go up or down?

[Pless]

Did your applications go up or down?

Applications are down slightly from last year's all time high. About 5 percent currently.

[giantswin]

I have noticed that the pace of questions has slowed considerably. Hopefully this is because I have already answered every possible question But I am happy to answer any questions you may have, even tough ones.

Paul

Thanks for offering to answer some questions. I have a financial aid question for you - if a merit scholarship covers the cost of tuition, is the student then responsible for taking out loans to cover living expenses? Or how does that piece work? Thanks!

[Pless]

I have noticed that the pace of questions has slowed considerably. Hopefully this is because I have already answered every possible question But I am happy to answer any questions you may have, even tough ones.

Paul

Thanks for offering to answer some questions. I have a financial aid question for you - if a merit scholarship covers the cost of tuition, is the student then responsible for taking out loans to cover living expenses? Or how does that piece work? Thanks!

That is correct. You are able to borrow for the cost of fees, books and room and board. We will be sending cost of attendance information out next week.

[Paraflam]

Dean Pless,

How much weight do you give to applicants who have chosen an Honors track? Does it depend what kind of Honors it is? (My university offers "University Honors" and "Departmental Honors", the latter being much more demanding)

[CanadianWolf]

Reading the TLS interview with Dean Pless should answer this question.

[Paraflam]

Reading the TLS interview with Dean Pless should answer this question.

Thanks, Canadian.

[Perplexed Penguin]

Dean Pless,

I was watching the Illinois v. Kansas game yesterday and it got me excited about going to a school with descent sports. I went to a D-1 school for undergrad, but our teams were awful and games were free for all students. Could you (or someone on here that may know) comment how tickets are distributed at Illinois for football and basketball and on pricing for students?

Thank you.

[Pless]

Dean Pless,

I was watching the Illinois v. Kansas game yesterday and it got me excited about going to a school with descent sports. I went to a D-1 school for undergrad, but our teams were awful and games were free for all students. Could you (or someone on here that may know) comment how tickets are distributed at Illinois for football and basketball and on pricing for students?

Thank you.

Tickets are pretty easy to get for students and cheap. Football is probably easier than basketball, but both are pretty easy to get. Season tickets for football for students is $99 next year. That is for all 8 home games,

[kk19131]

When can we expect to hear about financial aid?

[Pless]

When can we expect to hear about financial aid?

Next week we will send out the Cost of Attendance information. Tried to do it from the road this week but it didn't work.

[CrimLaw300]

Dean Pless,

Could you please comment on the difficulty of UIUC grads gaining employment in Texas? Houston in particular?

I am fairly set on attending in the Fall, but the potential difficulty of making my way back to Houston post-graduation is the main concern I have.

Thanks.