Wisconsin 2L Taking Questions Forum

[ciceroJD]

Do law students have access to a gym on campus included in their tuition and fees? if so, where is it? how are the facilities? is there a lap pool? how are the hours? is it usually crowded?

[Hippononymous]

Per the admitted students group on Facebook:

There are 3 gyms on campus (SERF, NAT & SHELL) that you have free access to with weights, basketball, racquetball, pools, ice rink, running tracks, badminton, volleyball, etc....there are also tennis courts and outdoor fields, intramural sports, etc...Law students have the same access to everything as all the other students.

I found more info on this topic here:

http://www.recsports.wisc.edu/

[Panther7]

yeah, we get a student id, the SERF is the place.

[Panther7]

university apartments have few undergrads, it's mostly foriegn exchange families. personally, i passed after touring. i'm kinda glad i did.

[minnbills]

Panther- thanks for answering questions.

1. Have you heard anything about Walker pulling back MN reciprocity? I hear a lot of talk about the reciprocity agreements ending.

2. Given madtown's reputation, is it difficult to study sometimes?

3. I've heard the school doesn't give out much in scholarships relative to most others, is this a fair assumption?

4. Do most students who get biglaw go to work in Chicago?

5. Do you (and/or your classmates) hate the gophers?

Thanks!

[Panther7]

Panther- thanks for answering questions.

1. Have you heard anything about Walker pulling back MN reciprocity? I hear a lot of talk about the reciprocity agreements ending.

2. Given madtown's reputation, is it difficult to study sometimes?

3. I've heard the school doesn't give out much in scholarships relative to most others, is this a fair assumption?

4. Do most students who get biglaw go to work in Chicago?

5. Do you (and/or your classmates) hate the gophers?

Thanks!

1. haven't heard anything, but who knows
2. not if you want to.
3. true.
4. not sure, i know people with biglaw internships (or paid big firm summer jobs) in madison, minneapolis, chicago, milwaukee. there's likely more, but that's all from what i'm privy to. i know a lot of people are interning with judges this summer.
5. I'm from wisconsin, so yes. although there seems to be a lot of wolverines in our school, so that rivalry gets a little more attention.

[tikiman6]

Also an UG here, I think I could chip in some thoughts. First, we dropped to 11 in the rankings because we lost a handful of our best offensive linemen that were the driving force behind our running game. Second, the KK blows. Really bad. It is for coasties and frat boys, it's at the asshole of state street. Older students probably go to the nicer bars by the capital. University apartments: I'm not sure about the others, but Eagle heights is a long haul away from campus, you won't have to worry about undergrads stumbling around, none live there. It is lived in mostly by grad students and new faculty, and a great deal by the Chinese community here, I'm not sure why, but true story. I'd live elsewhere if I were you, it's pretty bleak up there. Walker hasn't said anything about pulling reciprocity yet, but our chancellor would put up a pretty big fight to keep that from happening. It can be difficult to study some of the time, but it won't be a big issue in my experience. We usually have to nut up and study sometimes. I'm not sure about the financial aid situation here, or employment after law school (I am just a UG after all). We don't really hate the gophers. We hate OSU and Michigan far more. It's hard to hate the gophers, I'd say the general feeling is more like pity for having such a sad football team. Most likely you will end up living south to southeast of the campus, where most people live, and you'll use the SERF to workout. It's okay, needs some redecorating (which I hear may happen soon), but the facilities are good enough. Madison is a pretty nice place to live on the whole, there's great food, amazing atmosphere in the summer if you stay, and the city has been fairly recession proof thus far (2% unemployment). Only thing that sucks is the weather. It gets cold. Really, really cold.

[LilyGirl]

Do you know of any law students who work part-time? I am thinking about working maybe 1-2 days a week just so I am not living off of student loans. I did get scholarship money, but I want to be in the least amount of debt possible. But then again if it is a bad idea to work, then I would rather not, because my grades are most important.

[Panther7]

Do you know of any law students who work part-time? I am thinking about working maybe 1-2 days a week just so I am not living off of student loans. I did get scholarship money, but I want to be in the least amount of debt possible. But then again if it is a bad idea to work, then I would rather not, because my grades are most important.

You aren't going to want to work. You might have a few weeks where you're only putting in 30 hours, but they are far outweighed by your 80 hour weeks. It's really just not worth any extra stress. I think I know one 1L that does any sort of work outside of school related work, and from what I know, it's a rather limited holdover job from before law school.

Then again, I have terrible time management skills, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Technically, it's doable to work maybe Sundays or something. I would not recommend it to anyone though, even if it means taking out more loans. It's not so much about keeping the grades up as much as it is about keeping your sanity.

[minnbills]

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated. FWIW, Madison is my tentative #1 choice.

I have one other question. From looking at job placement stats, it seems that Madison actually outplaces Minnesota and some other peer schools. While I don't expect any of you guys to have intimate knowledge of hiring at Minnesota, would you say there's a sentiment that Madison outplaces its ranking?

In general, how would you describe 3Ls' feelings on the job hunt? Are things going better? Are they flat out bad, good etc... Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.

[dood]

Second, the KK blows. Really bad. It is for coasties and frat boys, it's at the asshole of state street.

the KK is always cool if u a bro. lots of hot sorority girls if u'r into that kinda thing. not asshole of state street. mondays is the asshole of state street and it smells like it too. note: i lived at the KK and mondays for several years.

[Panther7]

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated. FWIW, Madison is my tentative #1 choice.

I have one other question. From looking at job placement stats, it seems that Madison actually outplaces Minnesota and some other peer schools. While I don't expect any of you guys to have intimate knowledge of hiring at Minnesota, would you say there's a sentiment that Madison outplaces its ranking?

In general, how would you describe 3Ls' feelings on the job hunt? Are things going better? Are they flat out bad, good etc... Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.

I just don't think many of us directly compete with students from "better" schools. A lot of our jobs we usually look at are either local (where school name carries it's weight) or jobs that are not something someone from Yale is going to apply to. For example, a graduate of Harvard is usually not going to be gunning for an ADA spot in Wausau or Appleton. Remember that rankings are just generalizations, not fact.

[columbia86]

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[columbia86]

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[tww909]

if anybody has any UW questions i'm a rising 2L having a slooowwww day at work.