Nebraska 2012 Forum

[ineptimusprime]

I haven't seen a Nebraska 2012 thread yet. Any other applicants?

I've been complete since early October -- still no movement.

[Pen961]

Same here. I submitted mid September.

[northerniowan]

I've applied as well.

[LAFish]

Applied on 11/2/11.

[DocHawkeye]

I'm a 1L at Nebraska and would be happy to answer questions that you have about the school.

[jable500]

I'm a 1L at Nebraska and would be happy to answer questions that you have about the school.

Hey Doc,

I'm also from Iowa (Simpson Grad). How do you feel about Nebraska compared to Drake?

How long did it take you to get a decision? I'm applying this week.

[DocHawkeye]

I'm a 1L at Nebraska and would be happy to answer questions that you have about the school.

Hey Doc,

I'm also from Iowa (Simpson Grad). How do you feel about Nebraska compared to Drake?

How long did it take you to get a decision? I'm applying this week.

This is a good question. I am from Cedar Rapids - undergrad at Coe College - and put Nebraska head to head with Drake as my final two choices. I think Nebraska is a superior school in a lot of ways, not the least of which is a superior ranking by USNWR (and an upward trend in those rankings). Nebraska has great facilities, including a recently renovated building (lobby renovations are wrapping up now). Drake has a great library, but, like a lot of mid-sized private schools, the other facilities are a bit lack-luster. They seem old and a bit tired. The building layout is very illogical and congested.

The faculty is superb. One of my professors wrote the casebook we're using. Another is testing out his casebook on us prior to sending it for publication. They are all very approachable. I have dropped by office hours with questions on at least one occasion with half of them. One has volunteered to review my legal writing, even though she's not actually a legal writing prof. The classroom teaching is very good. I visited Drake twice and had two opportunities to sit in on class. I do not doubt that Drake faculty is knowledgeable but they don't seem like very inspired teachers. In one class, they spent the entire time drilling out of a textbook.

Drake sells itself on its close relationship with the Iowa Supreme Court. While this is important, I think students at Nebraska take this somewhat for granted. The Nebraska Supreme Court sits in session here every spring. Some of the justices actually teach classes here. My legal writing teacher is also a clerk for a justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court. We even had the Chief Justice here on campus for orientation. In addition we have a number of guest speakers. I had been a law student for only about a month when I got to meet (not just hear lecture) a sitting Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

I also think that Nebraska has wider national name recognition than does Drake. Employment prospects look pretty good too, with Omaha and Lincoln together being more than twice the size of the Des Moines metro area. All told, I'm pretty happy with my decision to come to Nebraska. My admission decision was a bit slow at Nebraska but I don't fit the typical profile of students here. Most have B.A.'s and between 1 and 5 years of work experience. I have two additional advanced degrees which clouded things a bit. I don't think I had a final decision until about February, but I get the impression most people hear much more quickly than that.

I hope this hasn't been too long, and if you have other questions, please let me know.

[jable500]

This is a good question. I am from Cedar Rapids - undergrad at Coe College - and put Nebraska head to head with Drake as my final two choices. I think Nebraska is a superior school in a lot of ways, not the least of which is a superior ranking by USNWR (and an upward trend in those rankings). Nebraska has great facilities, including a recently renovated building (lobby renovations are wrapping up now). Drake has a great library, but, like a lot of mid-sized private schools, the other facilities are a bit lack-luster. They seem old and a bit tired. The building layout is very illogical and congested. . .

Not too long at all. I'm also concerned about the Drake facilities. Although, I'm more interested in the faculty.

Now that you're a student, do the facilities even matter?

[DocHawkeye]

I think the facilities matter quite a lot, actually. As a 1L, you will probably spend about 8-10 hours a day in the Law building (less as an upperclassman). I spent three years earning another graduate degree in a building that felt like a prison. I was miserable. Today, I spent about three hours working in a paper in the library soaking in the beautiful sunshine by a celling to floor window. As you visit schools, I encourage you to take a moment while you're inside the buildings to ask yourself "do I feel comfortable here?" or "can I imagine staring at these walls for eight hours a day for the next year?" I won't say that it should be the only thing you consider but you should consider it, I think.

If you have questions about the faculty, I'd be happy to answer them here or via a private message if you're more comfortable.

[Pen961]

Doc,

When do they start rendering admissions decisions during the early cycle? I've my app in since early Sept. and haven't heard anything.

[ineptimusprime]

I'm not DocHawkeye (and he could probably give a better answer than me), but according to LSN, decisions started going out around the end of November/early December (though most of them were for people with numbers above the 75th percentile for both GPA and LSAT).

Who knows though..

DocHawkeye, I'll paypal you $5 if you go convince the adcomms to place my app on top of the pile.

On second thought, screw it... I'll probably just get deferred then WL like I was last year no matter when my app gets reviewed.

[Pen961]

And I heard Nebraska is by phone call rather than snail mail. Is this true?

An ineptimus, are you out of state? (I'm an NE resident) I've heard its significantly more difficult to get in as they often give deference to NE residents. Not sure its true, just heard it.

[ineptimusprime]

Yes, I'm out of state. Median GPA and closer to 25% Lsat than median. I was probably lucky to even get WL last cycle.

[DocHawkeye]

I'm afraid that I don't really have any intel as to where admissions is in their cycle. I can tell you that it took a long time to get my decision last year as I was deferred initially as well. I know that some law schools give preference to instate students but I don't know for certain that Nebraska follows this practice. I believe I was admitted in mid to late February, but I con't recall for certain. I know that it was before the admitted students' weekend in March.

I was informed of the decision by a telephone call but additional information, including scholarship information came by smail mail several days later.

[Pen961]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Hopefully I'll be hearing back sooner rather than later.

[DocHawkeye]

I took a bunch of pictures of the law school today but I don't know how to post them. Any advice?

[LAFish]

Ah I was just about to ask if anyone had pictures of the law school since I can't seem to find any, especially of the library.

Doc, if you can post some pictures I would really appreciate it!

[DocHawkeye]

I can't figure out how to post picture here, but I have posted them on my blog here: http://dochawkeye.blogspot.com/2011/11/ ... -main.html

[ineptimusprime]

Thanks for the pics!

Is there a cafe at the law building? Most schools seem to have them.

[DocHawkeye]

Thanks for the pics!

Is there a cafe at the law building? Most schools seem to have them.

There is not. There are four options for meals, really. The school provides facilites to bring your lunch (fridge and microwave), there are sevral vending machines that sell everything from coffee to Lunchables and frozen pizzas, the East Campus has its own union which is a short walk away with a cafeteria, coffee shop, and deli (where you can charge meals to your university account), or there are number of restaurants a short drive away from the East Campus.

[Pen961]

Any idea if Nebraska actually changes their status checker? I've some schools really don't and some schools are quite detailed/frequent in their updates.

[DocHawkeye]

Any idea if Nebraska actually changes their status checker? I've some schools really don't and some schools are quite detailed/frequent in their updates.

I seem to recall that they were kind of middle-of-the-road in terms of the number of updates. They were a little slow in their updatin, though.

[LAFish]

In review today.

[DocHawkeye]

In review today.

Good luck!

[typ3]

Glad to see they are updating the building. Are they updating the hallways down to the court rooms too? I do wish the law school had a little more space in the library for studying closed carrels / study rooms etc instead of just tables etc. But it is what it is. Lincoln is a nice place to live.

regarding Drake v. Nebraska,

If you have any desire to move out of Iowa, go to Nebraska. You can get back to Iowa without much of a problem graduating from Nebraska. You can't get too far outside of Iowa's borders graduating from Drake. Thus, the big difference in the degree is the portability. Nebraska will open up a few more markets for you KC/Denver/Minneapolis, yet even these markets are not a given. If you graduate from Nebraska, expect you'll likely find employment in Lincoln / Omaha (Bellevue) / Or Grand Island.