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Two days ago, I got accepted to Cornell.  I'm submitting the application for financial aid now, but likely it's going to come back "Sorry, grants are gone, enjoy borrowing sticker price!" I just sent in my seat deposit. God help me. I hope the gamble of paying sticker for an Ivy League T14 pays off. Two-three threads of "Don't go no jobs die alone" have me nervous. My friends think I'm insane for being nervous, but they haven't read about law school. If I win the grade lottery, is there a way to get grants for 2L and 3L? Or is the situation "If it's not awarded at admission, it's never awarded"? Someone lie and tell me it will all be ok.
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May 29, 2010 16:45
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Adar posted:At lower schools, if you make top 10% you can play the "I'm leaving if you don't give me a scholarship" card, but I doubt it works at a T14. prussian advisor posted:Not only this, but I'm pretty sure that Cornell's law students are the most studyingest (?!) law students in the entire nation. Enjoy your new classmates Goddamnit neither of these qualify as lying to me and telling me it will be ok 
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May 29, 2010 18:10
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TheMadMilkman posted:WHY did I shy away from a hard science major? Yeah, all this talk about government jobs for patent lawyers, I'm kicking myself for not having a hard science major.
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May 31, 2010 04:43
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terrorist ambulance posted:Hey would a 3.8GPA and 90 percentile LSAT have a shot at a T13 school? I know literally nothing about US law schools other than that there's way too many of them to know or care about so https://www.lawschoolnumbers.com look at various schools and look at their graphs from the 09-10 admission cycle. At Cornell and Georgetown (Ranked 13 and 14, respectively), unless you're URM, you're not getting in with a 163(which is the 90th percentile, if I recall). Edit: Made this easier: Here is a search for pseudo-you (or your friend, as I see after replying) http://search.lawschoolnumbers.com/users/jd/?a=su&lsat2=164&lsatR=true&lsat1=162&lgpa1=3.74&lgpa2=3.87&urm=Excluded&workingCycle=0910 This is a search for people with an LSAT between 162 and 164 whose GPA was somewhere between 3.74 and 3.87 (it was a slider, so it's imprecise) , who are not some underrepresented minority. Click on these people, see that the odds of a T14 admission are 0, and then tell your friend not to go to law school. Lilosh fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Sep 8, 2010 |
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Sep 8, 2010 05:41
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Draile posted:Do the torts textbooks finally have a case to replace Byrne v. Boadle? Tangentially related, After reading this, I just accidentally turned a few pages too far in my Torts book, and we're reading Byrne v. Boadle for class on Friday. I wonder what else this thread can predict about my 1L classes! (Their lack of usefulness to becoming a lawyer? Arbitrary grading? Professors who worship at the altar of Socratic instruction?)
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Sep 8, 2010 22:03
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I have a question for Mookie, or anyone who actually has a lawyer job (So probably only him) My 1L research professor is making a big thing about THE BOOOOOOKS and how bosses will want us to use THE BOOOOOOOKS for research instead of wasting time and money by using electronic sources, specifically Westlaw/Lexis. (granted, He's mentioned how ungodly expensive westlaw can be) Do big firms care? Or is it mostly solos and small firms that would rather you pore over the digests and indexes and USCA and poo poo? Upon your answer depends how much I pay attention to his emphatic jumping up and down about THE BOOOOOOOKS
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Sep 29, 2010 02:38
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Solomon Grundy posted:And for you weenies bitching about attendance requirements, back when I went to law school my TTT had a three-absence-then-fail policy. So quit whining and get out of bed and go to class. My contracts professor (who is apparently a "legend in the field" and can do whatever the gently caress he wants) has a "I take attendance at the beginning and if you miss two or more classes you fail the final and the class" policy. And it's our 9am class
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Sep 29, 2010 02:58
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Red Bean Juice posted:Justice Breyer swung by today, and I got him to sign a comic To add to the ego stroking: You also have fans at Cornell.
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Oct 22, 2010 02:02
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aarontxwl posted:It's called Citegenie. http://www.citegenie.com/ This is awesome. We're just starting our open legal research memos here (our first "closed" memo had the relevant research given to us by the professor, complete with pre-done citations). I shared this link with other 1Ls on facebook, and you've saved us each probably dozens of hours on this project and future memos. Thanks!
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Oct 23, 2010 06:06
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Direwolf posted:Is it unhealthy to develop an immediate allegiance to Westlaw over Lexis, or should I be more open minded? Everyone in my 1L class seems to prefer westlaw. I realize this statement doesn't really help determine mental health.
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Oct 27, 2010 03:47
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The Warszawa posted:Yes. God how I love Westlaw Next. There's no way he can reasonably expect enough people to still be awake at midnight for that assignment to be read by enough people for class discussion.
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Oct 27, 2010 13:44
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builds character posted:Your expectations will change dramatically when you begin work. Unfortunately they will also depend more on which partner you work for than on which firm you work for so you will have no control over whether you are expected to sleep with your blackberry or whether you can stop checking at ten when the partner goes to sleep. The Warszawa posted:She did. It was a central focus of the first third of class. builds character: I fully realize that work-life is different and that associates are at the beck and call of partners. I meant that in law school there's less of a "WE OWN YOU, DO THIS OR DIE" mentality. Warszawa: Our law school constantly tells us to make sure we get 7-8 hours of sleep, and not to pull all nighters, and try to stay healthy. (We all ignore it, but it would make a great reason not to have read that poo poo)
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Oct 27, 2010 20:08
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Lemonus posted:Just in case any of you guys Reddit this demand an upvote: I, and several others, reposted this on facebook book with "THIS IS WHAT WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU" comments.
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Oct 28, 2010 04:20
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JohnnyTreachery posted:aren't you a 1l Gadamer posted:And so you went because...? Or do you think that being a 1L at Cornell makes you superior? Defleshed posted:He's the special snowflake that will get the one job available upon graduation. I had a long reply typed out, explaining myself and trying to justify why I'm here. Then I realized that those types of replies never really end well in these threads. Instead I deleted it and I'll just quip that I'm just not bright enough to cut my losses and quit. I'm entering into a lovely situation with eyes wide open. Maybe guam or the northern part of alaska will hire me or I can share a trash can with atlas of bugs.
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Oct 29, 2010 03:33
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MFsteve posted:What's your guys' take on workers' comp. defense? I'm a Loyola grad from 2009 and I finished in the top third of my class. Even getting an interview has been pretty tough. I just interviewed with a mid-sized worker's comp. firm and they seemed really interested in me. I've never took a workers' comp. class before or know anybody that's in the field. From what I understand it's a lot of paperwork and not a lot of court experience, which doesn't sound that great since I really want to pursue litigation. Any insights or opinions? Can you eat, and obtain current shelter by, your eventual goals of being a litigator? If the answer is no, I don't see a dilemma here.
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Nov 6, 2010 21:51
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JohnnyTreachery posted:sovereign citizen law is the best kind of law An otherwise reasonable friend of mine pulled the "You're a law student have you heard of ______?" card the other day and asked me about (i) sovereign citizenship and (ii) if there was any truth to the "capital letter version of your name is a corporate entity and not you" thing. I had a hard time explaining how stupid it was without using the word "horseshit" every other word. Instead, I just copied and pasted a few helpful links that explain how batshit crazy this crap is.
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Nov 11, 2010 02:07
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Elotana posted:Did you try outlinedepot? BK is a pretty common class, if there aren't old outlines there for your professor specifically there's almost certainly commercial flowcharts keyed to your textbook. I've seen a bunch of stuff on Outline Depot that looked relevant (Outlines keyed to my casebook, etc), but Outline Depot seemed a bit sketchy, and "Outline depot scam" came up when I went to google them. Are they legit? Did you buy the outlines, or upload your own?
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Dec 1, 2010 03:42
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Redacted, by request
Lilosh fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 05:27
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Defleshed posted:VVVV - Yeah I guess I should mention that it took me 1.5 years of trying in order to get selected, and people in my entering course are West Point Grads and polyglots and former Foreign Service People and all kinds of interesting and they are coming from law schools like Harvard, UCLA, Michigan, Columbia, et. al... just under 6% of applicants were selected last time around. So it is not a "well I guess I'll fall back on this" type of thing like it used to be. That said, as a 2009 grad from a mid 70's ranked law school I had a much higher chance of becoming an Army JAG than I ever did of working for a big firm. As a 1L at a T14, is it very beneficial to look into JAG 1L summer programs? If I do 1L and 2L summers with JAG, am I putting too many eggs in one basket by forsaking other opportunities, or is it a significant enough boost to my chances that it's worth it? (Assuming JAG is my first choice of careers, that is)
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Dec 16, 2010 01:34
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Just finished my first semester of 1L an hour ago. I feel like that contracts exam touched me in a bad way. I need an adult. When I get home tonight, I'm going to drown my sorrows and try to forget everything I know about contracts (which apparently wasn't very much)  (Preemptive Edit: In before prediction of "B+" )
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Dec 17, 2010 18:32
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Sophia posted:they don't distinguish between fresh out of college applicants and those longer in the tooth Because SO MUCH of their ranking comes from the LSAT/GPA medians of the incoming class, this is the case. Now, if you're competitive for the school you're applying to (and that means both LSAT and GPA), and it comes down to you and some guy with the exact same numbers who is 22, has his thumb up his rear end, and has never done anything, they'll like you. But realistically, admissions for good schools are so competitive that "was an accountant for 10 years" might come up against "Started a business distributing nanotechnology while curing AIDS and feeding the homeless, also went to Yale" Soft factors are something EVERYONE has. So find your GPA, and if it's not competitive and you can't get a knockout score on a real LSAT, DO. NOT. GO. TO. LAW. SCHOOL. Lilosh fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Dec 17, 2010 |
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Dec 17, 2010 19:03
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I'll give this a shot: Cornell Law is surprisingly non-cutthroat. People in my 1L class are more inclined to share notes and help one another than all the stories and horror stories lead me to believe. The workload is a bit intense (with 4 graded/curved classes plus a graded/curved LRW class), and it's easy to realize you've spent long hours in the library. The people are a bit high-schoolish at times, but that's probably standard for law school. Ithaca is a small town, like everyone says, but it's still civilization. People describe it like it's a podunk one-horse town, but there are actually chain retailers, a mall, and several chain restaurants. As well as lots of local, non-chain, homegrown shops/restaurants, a farmer's market, and a total of one (non-artsy) movie theater. Warnings: Ithaca is cold, windy, and wet. Politically, if you're conservative, get used to being massively outnumbered. Ithaca is 100% a hippie-liberal town, and Cornell in general is pretty much a hippie-liberal school. Cornell Law is a bit less lopsided, but the student body is still noticeably left-leaning. Also being in the "Lower T14" as, I'm often reminded, the usual "Don't go. No Jobs. Die alone" applies.
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Dec 24, 2010 19:45
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Cornell grades posted today! Two A, two A-, and the requisite B+ in our LRW class (which pretty much everyone gets a B+ in). Looking at the cutoffs from the previous years, this should be enough to hit the top 10%. I'm noting this moment, because I imagine this might be the highlight of law school.
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Jan 8, 2011 02:03
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So what's the general outlook on transferring from the Lower T14 up to the top? As I mentioned on the last page, I'm in the top 10% after my first semester at Cornell. Assuming that this act of god continues and I do the same next semester, is it generally a good idea to apply to transfer up? It seems the tradeoff is going to a better school vs being on law review and in the top 10% where I am. The devil you know, and all that. How far down the chain is it worth it? I mean, I'll throw transfer apps at HYS, and maybe Columbia. But should I also apply to CCN? It seems like it wouldn't be worth it to go up a few rankings (Duke, Northwestern, I'm talking to you), but I've even heard people talk about it wouldn't be worth jumping ship for anything short of HYS. Also, I'd heard that, in addition to 1L GPA, HYS also look at the undergrad poo poo that you applied to law school with and they expect that good transfer candidates will have been at least competitive for admission in the first place, and with a 171/3.3, I wasn't even close. Is that going to hurt me? (Edit: Non-URM) Thoughts? Also, for those who have transferred (I think Prussian Advisor went UF->Columbia, right?), I've looked at the transfer info for HYS and all that, and seen the application deadlines, but what's the process and timeline I'd be looking at if I want to start working on transfer apps? Lilosh fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Jan 10, 2011 |
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Jan 10, 2011 01:25
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Linguica posted:Not to mention maybe Cornell will offer you scholarship money to stay. I'd heard about this, and asked some of the law review 2Ls and such, and was told that Cornell doesn't really do this.
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Jan 10, 2011 02:05
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Well I'll be damned. The registrar just released the cutoff for the top 10%. Due to a slight optional increase in the allowable curve, a 3.81 ended up the top 10% of Cornell's 1L class. My 3.77 would have been in the top 10% any semester except this one. Well gently caress. Somehow the "top 15%" or whatever it might be doesn't sound quite as awesome. Lilosh fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Jan 13, 2011 |
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Jan 13, 2011 09:35
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commish posted:God I hate when I get resumes on my desk with poo poo like "top 10%" written on it. I can see your transcript - I don't need to see it on your resume as well. I remember last year I interviewed a girl who had a line on her resume that said something like "top 5% in my legal writing class". No idea why. Oh, I didn't actually plan on writing it on my resume (Although I did put "Dean's List" under the "Academic Honors" section that our beloved career services suggests)
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Jan 13, 2011 18:47
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nm posted:UMN let each prof pick their curve. nm posted:Yes. loving retarded. Yeah, the "new optional bump in the allowable curve" I mentioned earlier was that Cornell adopted this. Last year: 3.35 curve per class As of this semester: Classes can be curved anywhere between 3.2 - 3.5 "Faculty grading policy calls upon each faculty member to grade a course, including problem courses and seminars, so that the mean grade for JD students in the course approximates 3.35 (the acceptable variation can range between 3.2 and 3.5)." It seems as though the 10% cutoff rose about .1 and the 30% (dean's list) cutoff rose about 0.15, so teachers seem to be grading up from the old curve. Lilosh fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jan 14, 2011 |
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Jan 14, 2011 04:13
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billion dollar bitch posted:You know what else we probably don't need in law school? Pants. I agree 100%. I'm going to make it my goal in life to declare law school a pants-free zone.
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Jan 15, 2011 06:34
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Starpluck posted:I came into this thread expecting some useful advice and encouragement to pursue my dream of becoming a lawyer. I do want to become one despite this thread pretty much being a “Why you shouldn’t be lawyer” thread and it’s stressing me out. Get used to expecting something, and ending up with something much more disappointing. Edit: Unless you get into Yale.
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Jan 23, 2011 19:37
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So, on a lighter note, new editions of textbooks and suggested hornbooks: Big scam, or biggest scam?
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Jan 24, 2011 00:51
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Petey posted:The best part is that 25 years after the fact he came back with a second version that basically added five more pages of hating to the first. It's not specifically about legal writing, but, just the other day, I saw this and loved it: http://www.wimp.com/speaktypography/ It's a condemnation of the hesitant, wishy-washy, and unsure way we speak in recent years.
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Jan 24, 2011 02:01
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Vander posted:So I was attending a football game this season, watching the Idaho Vandals win or lose against some WAC team not worth remembering, when a fellow law student bounces an idea off of me: Should I sue the school? He tells me his story and I think he has a chance, so I say, "gently caress it, go for it." I don't have the opinion near me, but didn't SCOTUS say, in either Heller or MacDonald, something like "this doesn't mean there can't be reasonable restrictions that keep guns out of sensitive places like federal buildings and universities?"
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Jan 25, 2011 23:18
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Our school does Civ Pro as a two-semester course with two different professors. The first semester, I had a good grasp and did pretty well. Two days into the second semester, I'm pretty sure I have no idea what's going on. 
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Jan 26, 2011 23:07
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HiddenReplaced posted:I got my final grades for law school. If I can post this in 2-2.5 years, I will celebrate. Alone, probably, and unemployed, but celebrate nonetheless.
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Jan 31, 2011 23:22
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Holland Oats posted:CLS people: How bad is an A- and two Bs for fall semester of 1L? Based on the the fact that you're mentioning three grades and not four, I assume CLS is Columbia and not Cornell?
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Feb 3, 2011 22:04
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HiddenReplaced posted:CLS = Columbia Fair enough, I'm just used to being inundated with CLS = Cornell Law School, so I forget that others use that too.
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Feb 3, 2011 22:29
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Ainsley McTree posted:there is only one answer I'll see yours, and raise you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9JAt6gFqM
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Feb 4, 2011 06:05
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The Warszawa posted:From what I understand, all the Public Interest Law Fairs are loving scams. I'm actually working with a group that I found through the NYU PILC Fair and just applied to separately from that while bidding on it for an interview. It is one of two interviews I got, and I got hired outside the PILC fair process. In the interview, he was open about how he had started wanting to keep 5 spots open for the fair, but by the time I was interviewing (3 weeks before the fair) he was down to 1. gently caress. gently caress. I have an interview and an alternate slot for the NYU PILF next week and this makes me think that they're just dicking around the 1Ls and not really hiring. Maybe our Career Services/Public Interest office is right and you're wrong... but I doubt it
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Feb 5, 2011 19:52
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CaptainScraps posted:was going to the University of New Mexico law school for environmental law. Wait, what kind of guaranteed environmental law job does she have going into law school?
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Feb 6, 2011 18:34
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