University of Illinois C/O 2021 Applicants (2017-2018) Forum

[BL2017]

Didn't see a thread for this cycle so I started one! UR1 as of today. Submitted early December.

[DrSnapple]

Submitted/Complete 12/7, UR1 1/2 as well.

Glad to finally see a thread for UIUC. Last year's thread sounded like they took forever on everyone's apps. Fingers crossed we get better movement this year.

[BruisersMom912]

Submitted 10/30, UR1 11/7...I've given up on a quick response.

[kippercd]

Submitted/Complete 12/7, UR1 1/2 as well.

Glad to finally see a thread for UIUC. Last year's thread sounded like they took forever on everyone's apps. Fingers crossed we get better movement this year.

Not to burst your faster bubble, but ive been UR since 11/7, no movement

[Pinkpanda24]

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

[darthrevan92]

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

[Pinkpanda24]

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

[Watababe]

Another 1L here also willing to answer any questions!

[mmart207]

Under review as of 1/4 and then again 1/5

[darthrevan92]

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

[Pinkpanda24]

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[darthrevan92]

.

[darthrevan92]

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[Pinkpanda24]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... GPA_curves

Thanks! I think I did well this semester when I learned to stay out of drama/people trying to one-up each other on how much time they spent in the library and just focus on what worked for ME. I found a group of people who didn’t just want to talk about what was in their outlines or subtly try to gauge how competitive you are. I struck a work-life balance and focused on keeping myself happy while at the same time always going to class, reading and being prepared, and taking a bit of time to review each day. I never burned myself out and made sure I kept plenty of time for wine and Netflix. But that’s just what worked for me, it really just depends on who you are.

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[darthrevan92]

Would you say that the student body is collegial for the most part? And that those who subtly try to gauge how competitive you are and those who didn't want to talk about their outlines are in the minority?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... GPA_curves

Thanks! I think I did well this semester when I learned to stay out of drama/people trying to one-up each other on how much time they spent in the library and just focus on what worked for ME. I found a group of people who didn’t just want to talk about what was in their outlines or subtly try to gauge how competitive you are. I struck a work-life balance and focused on keeping myself happy while at the same time always going to class, reading and being prepared, and taking a bit of time to review each day. I never burned myself out and made sure I kept plenty of time for wine and Netflix. But that’s just what worked for me, it really just depends on who you are.

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

I’m a current 1L at UIUC and happy to answer any questions you guys might have. Good luck!

Hey Pinkpanda, is the LRW course graded for 1L? Thanks

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[Watababe]

Panda and I are in different sections, so our responses may be different. My section is super collegial/friendly...there are still a few that are more competitive/try to stir that up, but for the most part we're all at a level of "this is hard, it'll be easier if we're just friendly"...there was more light-hearted complaining about trying to get outlines done/studying than talking all about what was in our outlines/bragging about already being done or how much time we spend studying.

Would you say that the student body is collegial for the most part? And that those who subtly try to gauge how competitive you are and those who didn't want to talk about their outlines are in the minority?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... GPA_curves

Thanks! I think I did well this semester when I learned to stay out of drama/people trying to one-up each other on how much time they spent in the library and just focus on what worked for ME. I found a group of people who didn’t just want to talk about what was in their outlines or subtly try to gauge how competitive you are. I struck a work-life balance and focused on keeping myself happy while at the same time always going to class, reading and being prepared, and taking a bit of time to review each day. I never burned myself out and made sure I kept plenty of time for wine and Netflix. But that’s just what worked for me, it really just depends on who you are.

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[darthrevan92]

Thanks Watababe! Did you also find case briefing to be particularly useful in your first year?

Panda and I are in different sections, so our responses may be different. My section is super collegial/friendly...there are still a few that are more competitive/try to stir that up, but for the most part we're all at a level of "this is hard, it'll be easier if we're just friendly"...there was more light-hearted complaining about trying to get outlines done/studying than talking all about what was in our outlines/bragging about already being done or how much time we spend studying.

Would you say that the student body is collegial for the most part? And that those who subtly try to gauge how competitive you are and those who didn't want to talk about their outlines are in the minority?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... GPA_curves

Thanks! I think I did well this semester when I learned to stay out of drama/people trying to one-up each other on how much time they spent in the library and just focus on what worked for ME. I found a group of people who didn’t just want to talk about what was in their outlines or subtly try to gauge how competitive you are. I struck a work-life balance and focused on keeping myself happy while at the same time always going to class, reading and being prepared, and taking a bit of time to review each day. I never burned myself out and made sure I kept plenty of time for wine and Netflix. But that’s just what worked for me, it really just depends on who you are.

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.

Thanks Pinkpanda!. Do you find that the Legal writing and legal research courses to be too time consuming? I heard that LRWs tend to be huge time sink, which may take away precious time from studying for the doctrinal courses.

There’s a 1 credit legal research and 2 credit legal writing 1st semester of 1L (3 doctrinal courses are 4 credits each). They’re graded on the same curve as the doctrinal classes with letter grades.

No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[hobbes1989]

Why is UIUC Law relatively unpopular (in terms of discussion) on the internet? Chicago is obviously a large legal market and UIUC has relatively good employment outcomes. If you're in the 3.4-3.7/163-165 range and want a shot at Chicago Big Law, UIUC seems like a pretty good choice.

[FN-2187]

Why is UIUC Law relatively unpopular (in terms of discussion) on the internet? Chicago is obviously a large legal market and UIUC has relatively good employment outcomes. If you're in the 3.4-3.7/163-165 range and want a shot at Chicago Big Law, UIUC seems like a pretty good choice.

Do you mean unpopular as people on TLS don’t talk about it a lot?

[hobbes1989]

Why is UIUC Law relatively unpopular (in terms of discussion) on the internet? Chicago is obviously a large legal market and UIUC has relatively good employment outcomes. If you're in the 3.4-3.7/163-165 range and want a shot at Chicago Big Law, UIUC seems like a pretty good choice.

Do you mean unpopular as people on TLS don’t talk about it a lot?

Yeah! I don't think UIUC a significantly worse school (based on employment outcomes only) than, say, Boston College. But the latter is substantially more discussed.

[KPUSN07]

Another 1L here also willing to answer any questions!

How does Illinois place in big law? It seems actually better than thought, true?

[FN-2187]

Why is UIUC Law relatively unpopular (in terms of discussion) on the internet? Chicago is obviously a large legal market and UIUC has relatively good employment outcomes. If you're in the 3.4-3.7/163-165 range and want a shot at Chicago Big Law, UIUC seems like a pretty good choice.

Do you mean unpopular as people on TLS don’t talk about it a lot?

Yeah! I don't think UIUC a significantly worse school (based on employment outcomes only) than, say, Boston College. But the latter is substantially more discussed.

Just speculation here, but it may have to do with Illinois falsifying their data a few years ago which looks really bad. Furthermore, people are pretty loyal to rankings and UIUC isn’t ranked as well. Also, their employment numbers may be similar but they’re still not very good with clerkships. Finally, a lot of people may be more attracted to Boston than U-C for spending three years.

[KPUSN07]

44 out of 101 graduates that went to a private firm went to big law.... that is not bad and the median salary is 160K.... Again, not bad at all.

[Watababe]

Not really because I stopped doing formal case briefs after like week 2. I do a lot more book briefing and just typing out general notes (which are more for me to have an instant review/need to take fewer notes in class). I have friends that fully briefed every case and others that hardly did the reading. Regardless of where you end up, it's really about figuring out what works for you, and that may vary by class, depending on what the prof expects you to know about the case.

Thanks Watababe! Did you also find case briefing to be particularly useful in your first year?

Panda and I are in different sections, so our responses may be different. My section is super collegial/friendly...there are still a few that are more competitive/try to stir that up, but for the most part we're all at a level of "this is hard, it'll be easier if we're just friendly"...there was more light-hearted complaining about trying to get outlines done/studying than talking all about what was in our outlines/bragging about already being done or how much time we spend studying.

Would you say that the student body is collegial for the most part? And that those who subtly try to gauge how competitive you are and those who didn't want to talk about their outlines are in the minority?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... GPA_curves

Thanks! I think I did well this semester when I learned to stay out of drama/people trying to one-up each other on how much time they spent in the library and just focus on what worked for ME. I found a group of people who didn’t just want to talk about what was in their outlines or subtly try to gauge how competitive you are. I struck a work-life balance and focused on keeping myself happy while at the same time always going to class, reading and being prepared, and taking a bit of time to review each day. I never burned myself out and made sure I kept plenty of time for wine and Netflix. But that’s just what worked for me, it really just depends on who you are.

Wow! Congratulations on those stellar grades. Do you have specific tips on how you were able to do well with the curve? When I did some research online, I noticed that the median curve in the University of Illinois for 3.2. How strict or lenient is this curve compared to other law schools? Thanks once again.






No problem!

LRW classes are less credits but they give you a lot of good practical skills using the databases and conducting research on your own to solve a problem. But to answer your question, I didn’t think legal research took much time at all. I only did a couple hours of prep work before the final and scored an A+. As for legal writing, it was time consuming but not horrible. I did not find that I was unable to read for or study for my other classes close to the memo due date since I did my work gradually leading up to the due date. I took maybe 5 hours the day before the due date and never lost sleep or anything, and I scored an A on the final open memo. Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I liked legal writing because my professor focused on practical skills and what we’d be doing as attorneys. I never felt like legal writing was taking away from other classes.

[Watababe]

Another 1L here also willing to answer any questions!

How does Illinois place in big law? It seems actually better than thought, true?

True! I was actually talking with a few fellow 1Ls at the end of the semester about how, if you don't really check for yourself, you get the impression UIUC places like 10% into big law, when in reality we were most recently about 34%, and I think we're on track for that to stay pretty steady/go up. Having now experienced a semester there, I can tell you the school really works hard to get the placements. They have good relationships with several big firms, between school and org sponsored events there are tons of opportunities to visit offices, and they've got a few great summer programs geared towards helping you land a big law spot. And finally, always keep in mind that the 34% is not the top 34% of the class...people choose other paths/have other interests, so realistically it's probably more the top 40% or even reaching to anyone above median.