Rutgers Newark Forum

[beast510]

Track III here...

Can we actually buy those casebooks somewhere near campus? I know the memo said we can, but just curious if that's what everyone's going to do...

[ejhl2007]

where is everyone getting their booklist from? is that online somewhere or was it emailed to you?

thanks.

[champ33]

where is everyone getting their booklist from? is that online somewhere or was it emailed to you?

thanks.

I think the booklist is available on blackboard.. only problem is I haven't been able to log in yet, as a poster above said maybe we'll have to wait until they register us.

Am I the only one who has looked up these professors on ratemyprofessor.com? Most of the reviews are kind of a cause for concern.

[audrey hepburn]

The book list was emailed to us along with our tracks. You do not need to access blackboard for it.

[audrey hepburn]

Am I the only one on here in Track 1?

Also, any current RU students have insight on these professors?

Property - Deutch
LRW - Crnoevich
Torts - Troutt
Criminal Law - Bergelson

Thanks all!

I'm in Track 1 too. I'm confused about what Torts professor we have though. The tracking assignments sheet she sent out had track 1 down for Troutt but the schedule has track 1 down as Gold.

You have Trout as your Torts professor. The number in the parenthesis in the email does not refer to track numbers.

[audrey hepburn]

Did you try ordering your books? I ordered the one for Property (Deutsch) and Crim. Law (Thomas) but I can't find the one that Hyde posted for Contracts- it's not at the Rutgers online bookstore either. And I'm assuming Perry hasn't posted any books yet?

I've been looking for the best prices, but I think I'm going to hold off a couple of days so that the charge goes into next month's credit card cycle, so the bill won't be due until after student loans have been disbursed.

I haven't been able to find the Hyde book either - at least not that edition. And, no, I haven't seen anything from Perry yet.

I haven't been able to access the bookstore yet, because I can't get into Blackboard. I guess we have to wait until we've been pre-registered.

you can look for books at the online store here:http://newark-rutgers.bncollege.com/web ... ogId=10001

you do not need a blackboard account to search for books.

[phooey182]

I'm in track 4 too. Seems like a lot of people are in this track! Do any of the rising 2L's know anything about the following professors:

Deutsch, Hyde, Perry and/or Thomas?

I had Perry for Torts. Basically you will hate her for about 2 months. Then around the 3rd month, you'll either start to like her, or continue to hate her. Most people end up liking her. The reason why people hate her at the start is because, when you answer a question, she has follow up questions. Basically, she forces you to justify your answers using legal reasoning. She even forces you to use legal terminology. It is a painful process. About halfway through the semester, people just stopped raising their hands in her class because they didn't want to spend 20 minutes being peppered with questions.

But, to be honest, if you can bear looking stupid, its worthwhile to try to answer her questions. After all, a judge will be even harder on you. And outside of class she is very nice.

[audrey hepburn]

I'm in track 4 too. Seems like a lot of people are in this track! Do any of the rising 2L's know anything about the following professors:

Deutsch, Hyde, Perry and/or Thomas?

I had Perry for Torts. Basically you will hate her for about 2 months. Then around the 3rd month, you'll either start to like her, or continue to hate her. Most people end up liking her. The reason why people hate her at the start is because, when you answer a question, she has follow up questions. Basically, she forces you to justify your answers using legal reasoning. She even forces you to use legal terminology. It is a painful process. About halfway through the semester, people just stopped raising their hands in her class because they didn't want to spend 20 minutes being peppered with questions.

But, to be honest, if you can bear looking stupid, its worthwhile to try to answer her questions. After all, a judge will be even harder on you. And outside of class she is very nice.

Thanks for your response! Did you think her exam was very hard or if she is a hard grader? Is she one of those professors that never gives out A's?

[phooey182]

I'm in track 4 too. Seems like a lot of people are in this track! Do any of the rising 2L's know anything about the following professors:

Deutsch, Hyde, Perry and/or Thomas?

I had Perry for Torts. Basically you will hate her for about 2 months. Then around the 3rd month, you'll either start to like her, or continue to hate her. Most people end up liking her. The reason why people hate her at the start is because, when you answer a question, she has follow up questions. Basically, she forces you to justify your answers using legal reasoning. She even forces you to use legal terminology. It is a painful process. About halfway through the semester, people just stopped raising their hands in her class because they didn't want to spend 20 minutes being peppered with questions.

But, to be honest, if you can bear looking stupid, its worthwhile to try to answer her questions. After all, a judge will be even harder on you. And outside of class she is very nice.

Thanks for your response! Did you think her exam was very hard or if she is a hard grader? Is she one of those professors that never gives out A's?

Your first semester classes are on a B curve, so professors dont give out A's, they just curve. With that said, her exam was fucking hard. She gave us 3 essay questions. One was a scenario she wrote. The other two were newpapers articles where you had to describe the cause of action, etc. Fucking hard. I got an A- in her class.

[Bigbub75]

For the part time evening program, I know we have Legal Research & Writing in the Spring semester. Anybody know what days/times it is usually?

any PT students out there that have gotten their class schedule and professors yet?

Yup. I got mine and my book list today via email.

We all have Latin for Torts and I have Kettle for contracts.

[Bigbub75]

Anyone doing the RU Book advance? I am thinking about it, but it looks like we won't be able to get our book till Sept 1st. I'm just wondering if that's too late to wait for books.

Also for upperclassmen, anyone have Prof Latin or Kettle? Any words of wisdom?

[phooey182]

Anyone doing the RU Book advance? I am thinking about it, but it looks like we won't be able to get our book till Sept 1st. I'm just wondering if that's too late to wait for books.


Also for upperclassmen, anyone have Prof Latin or Kettle? Any words of wisdom?

Kettle is AWESOME.

[jbl7979]

Any super secret place people buy books? The usual suspects (amazon, half.com) seem to have the books I need for pretty cheap.. just wondering if there is something else out there.

[audrey hepburn]

I'm in track 4 too. Seems like a lot of people are in this track! Do any of the rising 2L's know anything about the following professors:

Deutsch, Hyde, Perry and/or Thomas?

I had Perry for Torts. Basically you will hate her for about 2 months. Then around the 3rd month, you'll either start to like her, or continue to hate her. Most people end up liking her. The reason why people hate her at the start is because, when you answer a question, she has follow up questions. Basically, she forces you to justify your answers using legal reasoning. She even forces you to use legal terminology. It is a painful process. About halfway through the semester, people just stopped raising their hands in her class because they didn't want to spend 20 minutes being peppered with questions.

But, to be honest, if you can bear looking stupid, its worthwhile to try to answer her questions. After all, a judge will be even harder on you. And outside of class she is very nice.

Thanks for your response! Did you think her exam was very hard or if she is a hard grader? Is she one of those professors that never gives out A's?

Your first semester classes are on a B curve, so professors dont give out A's, they just curve. With that said, her exam was fucking hard. She gave us 3 essay questions. One was a scenario she wrote. The other two were newpapers articles where you had to describe the cause of action, etc. Fucking hard. I got an A- in her class.

Now I'm scared. Very scared.

So how exactly do curves work? I've never took a class where they curved.

[TUhustler]

Am I the only one on here in Track 1?

Also, any current RU students have insight on these professors?

Property - Deutch
LRW - Crnoevich
Torts - Troutt
Criminal Law - Bergelson

Thanks all!

I'm in Track 1 too. I'm confused about what Torts professor we have though. The tracking assignments sheet she sent out had track 1 down for Troutt but the schedule has track 1 down as Gold.

You have Trout as your Torts professor. The number in the parenthesis in the email does not refer to track numbers.

Thanks...I'm an idiot.

[king3780]

I had torts last fall with Latin. He is definitely one of those love him or hate him professors. He is extremely brilliant but very very sarcastic and hard on students who try to sound intelligent but are missing the point. He doesn't use Socratic b/c he doesn't want to hear what stupid 1Ls think. Most of the time when he asks questions it's a show of hands kind of thing. I personally liked him though. His final was fairly complex; two essays, but very long fact patterns with many issues to discuss.

[beast510]

Is there anyone who knows when we can actually move into our graduate housing on university square. I'm planning to go there a little bit early.

THX!

[king3780]

For the part time evening program, I know we have Legal Research & Writing in the Spring semester. Anybody know what days/times it is usually?

I didn't see a response to this yet, so forgive me if there was. In the fall, you'll have classes Mon-Thurs, 6:30-8:30 (one per day for two hours, I think this semester IIRC it's Contracts MW, Torts TR). In the spring, you'll have Crim, Civ Pro and LRW. This past spring Crim was MW 6-7:30 and Civ Pro was TR 6-8. One section had LRW on MR, the other on TW, both 8:10-9:40. Also note this is only the first half of LRW and you'll have to take the second half in the summer which suuuuuuuccccccckkkkksssss. Nothing like working on an appellate brief when it's beautiful weather and all your friends are outside having fun.

[king3780]

Am I the only one on here in Track 1?

Also, any current RU students have insight on these professors?

Property - Deutch
LRW - Crnoevich
Torts - Troutt
Criminal Law - Bergelson

Thanks all!

Deutsch is coming back from a yearlong sabbatical I believe. Prior to that he was THE Dean for the law school for several years. I am switching from PT to FT (I'm a rising 2L) so I'll be along for the ride with you in that class this semester. I had Bergelson for Crim Law. I personally really liked her. She's a tiny, spunky little Russian woman. It takes a while to get used to her accent. Do not sit in the back row in her class. I sat back row, center and me and the friends on each side of me just got hammered by her Socratic all semester. Also, if you show up unprepared and she catches you, you're done for the semester. She called on one kid relentlessly, like every other class b/c he never could even muster up a bs answer, just tried to pass. Bergelson really likes Crim and it shows in her teaching. I also like her b/c if she senses the class isn't getting something she'll go back over it. She recommends the supplement by Dressler and it's very helpful. Her exam was IIRC 25 MC questions and one essay. I think the curve ended up being fairly tight b/c the exam didn't seem unreasonably difficult but I didn't do that great.

[king3780]

[/quote]

Now I'm scared. Very scared.

So how exactly do curves work? I've never took a class where they curved.[/quote]

I think you might be misunderstanding the "professors don't give out A's" statement. That isn't to say you can't get A's. In fact, you can get A+'s. The way the curve works is the professor will grade the exam and give it a numerical score. Then he has to assign a letter grade to it. Those letter grades have to average to roughly a B (between 2.975 and 3.025 or something like that). In other words, a prof could give half the class A's, but then would have to give half the class C's to balance. Or, a prof could give the whole class B's and would meet the curve. There is no required grade distribution, so profs can adjust grades however they need to in order to keep the curve. So in a class of 70, you might see 4 A's, 6 A-'s, 12 B+'s, 24 B's, 16 B-'s and 8 C+'s.

[audrey hepburn]

Now I'm scared. Very scared.

So how exactly do curves work? I've never took a class where they curved.[/quote]

I think you might be misunderstanding the "professors don't give out A's" statement. That isn't to say you can't get A's. In fact, you can get A+'s. The way the curve works is the professor will grade the exam and give it a numerical score. Then he has to assign a letter grade to it. Those letter grades have to average to roughly a B (between 2.975 and 3.025 or something like that). In other words, a prof could give half the class A's, but then would have to give half the class C's to balance. Or, a prof could give the whole class B's and would meet the curve. There is no required grade distribution, so profs can adjust grades however they need to in order to keep the curve. So in a class of 70, you might see 4 A's, 6 A-'s, 12 B+'s, 24 B's, 16 B-'s and 8 C+'s.[/quote]

Thanks a lot for that explanation! Makes a lot of sense.

I have another question though. On a 4.0 scale, what does a B-, B, B+, A- and A+ equal? Thanks.

[NJcollegestudent]

Any super secret place people buy books? The usual suspects (amazon, half.com) seem to have the books I need for pretty cheap.. just wondering if there is something else out there.

Use allbookstores.com and type in the isbn or title and you will see a comparison of about 30 bookstores.

[wizoz]

Am I the only one on here in Track 1?

Also, any current RU students have insight on these professors?

Property - Deutch
LRW - Crnoevich
Torts - Troutt
Criminal Law - Bergelson

Thanks all!

Deutsch is coming back from a yearlong sabbatical I believe. Prior to that he was THE Dean for the law school for several years. I am switching from PT to FT (I'm a rising 2L) so I'll be along for the ride with you in that class this semester. I had Bergelson for Crim Law. I personally really liked her. She's a tiny, spunky little Russian woman. It takes a while to get used to her accent. Do not sit in the back row in her class. I sat back row, center and me and the friends on each side of me just got hammered by her Socratic all semester. Also, if you show up unprepared and she catches you, you're done for the semester. She called on one kid relentlessly, like every other class b/c he never could even muster up a bs answer, just tried to pass. Bergelson really likes Crim and it shows in her teaching. I also like her b/c if she senses the class isn't getting something she'll go back over it. She recommends the supplement by Dressler and it's very helpful. Her exam was IIRC 25 MC questions and one essay. I think the curve ended up being fairly tight b/c the exam didn't seem unreasonably difficult but I didn't do that great.

Thanks for the tips on Bergelson. I can't stand the Socratic method...hopefully, I won't choke. Do you know if exams are available in the library?

[king3780]

Am I the only one on here in Track 1?

Also, any current RU students have insight on these professors?

Property - Deutch
LRW - Crnoevich
Torts - Troutt
Criminal Law - Bergelson

Thanks all!

Deutsch is coming back from a yearlong sabbatical I believe. Prior to that he was THE Dean for the law school for several years. I am switching from PT to FT (I'm a rising 2L) so I'll be along for the ride with you in that class this semester. I had Bergelson for Crim Law. I personally really liked her. She's a tiny, spunky little Russian woman. It takes a while to get used to her accent. Do not sit in the back row in her class. I sat back row, center and me and the friends on each side of me just got hammered by her Socratic all semester. Also, if you show up unprepared and she catches you, you're done for the semester. She called on one kid relentlessly, like every other class b/c he never could even muster up a bs answer, just tried to pass. Bergelson really likes Crim and it shows in her teaching. I also like her b/c if she senses the class isn't getting something she'll go back over it. She recommends the supplement by Dressler and it's very helpful. Her exam was IIRC 25 MC questions and one essay. I think the curve ended up being fairly tight b/c the exam didn't seem unreasonably difficult but I didn't do that great.

Thanks for the tips on Bergelson. I can't stand the Socratic method...hopefully, I won't choke. Do you know if exams are available in the library?

The library web site has several old exams for each prof. You probably can't log in til after school starts, but there's no need to now anyway.

[king3780]

Any super secret place people buy books? The usual suspects (amazon, half.com) seem to have the books I need for pretty cheap.. just wondering if there is something else out there.

Barrister books and law books for less. Google them. I haven't used the latter, but I've Barrister is fast and reasonably priced if you're buying new... rarely are there used books available from Barrister. That said, I use amazon and half for the most part.