UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions Forum

A forum for applicants and admitted students to ask law students and graduates about law school and the practice of law.
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elterrible78

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by elterrible78 » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:16 am

LSRAT wrote:Hey y'all! Any opinions about 53rd/cottage grove area? Would you advise/advise against living in that area?
TL;DR answer: Depends on how skittish you are and your risk tolerance.

If you've read through this thread, you've probably seen that the rough delimiters of the "ok" area are 47th to the north, Cottage Grove to the west, and 61st to the south. The closer you are to any of those boundaries, the rougher the feel of the place is going to be, with the exception of 61st. Close to the corners, especially. Go beyond them (including south of 61st), and things get palpably more sketchy pretty quickly. That's not hyperbole.

That said, I lived a couple blocks outside the traditional "green zone" and was completely fine. A couple blocks further and even I'd have been a bit nervous, and I don't spook easily at all. Your mileage may vary, though, and I'm sure 90% of my classmates would have been pretty uncomfortable living where I did. I reckon that's a combination of legitimate concern and a generalized fear, whether acknowledged or not, of minorities from lower socioeconomic classes.

I think 53d and Cottage Grove is ok, provided you're at or to the east of Cottage Grove. Without knowing you, I wouldn't advise going west of CG though. Feel free to PM if you want to discuss further.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by beepboopbeep » Tue Jul 18, 2017 3:54 am

elterrible78 wrote:
LSRAT wrote:Hey y'all! Any opinions about 53rd/cottage grove area? Would you advise/advise against living in that area?
TL;DR answer: Depends on how skittish you are and your risk tolerance.

If you've read through this thread, you've probably seen that the rough delimiters of the "ok" area are 47th to the north, Cottage Grove to the west, and 61st to the south. The closer you are to any of those boundaries, the rougher the feel of the place is going to be, with the exception of 61st. Close to the corners, especially. Go beyond them (including south of 61st), and things get palpably more sketchy pretty quickly. That's not hyperbole.

That said, I lived a couple blocks outside the traditional "green zone" and was completely fine. A couple blocks further and even I'd have been a bit nervous, and I don't spook easily at all. Your mileage may vary, though, and I'm sure 90% of my classmates would have been pretty uncomfortable living where I did. I reckon that's a combination of legitimate concern and a generalized fear, whether acknowledged or not, of minorities from lower socioeconomic classes.

I think 53d and Cottage Grove is ok, provided you're at or to the east of Cottage Grove. Without knowing you, I wouldn't advise going west of CG though. Feel free to PM if you want to discuss further.
Yea agreed with all the above as a 10-year Hyde Park (former) resident

I likely would not live at 53rd/Cottage but moreso because it's not super convenient for any of the intra-Hyde-Park buses (unless they've changed any of the routes since I left) and the 4 pretty much sucks for getting downtown compared to the 6, IMO, since it's not an express bus (well, there used to be an express version, but I think they got rid of it in like... 2009 maybe?). Also the east side of hyde park is just a nicer place to live with lake proximity, the 6, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Also pretty likely most of your friends will live over there at least for 1L year.

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HillandHollow

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by HillandHollow » Tue Jul 18, 2017 11:30 am

elterrible78 wrote:
LSRAT wrote:Hey y'all! Any opinions about 53rd/cottage grove area? Would you advise/advise against living in that area?
TL;DR answer: Depends on how skittish you are and your risk tolerance.

If you've read through this thread, you've probably seen that the rough delimiters of the "ok" area are 47th to the north, Cottage Grove to the west, and 61st to the south. The closer you are to any of those boundaries, the rougher the feel of the place is going to be, with the exception of 61st. Close to the corners, especially. Go beyond them (including south of 61st), and things get palpably more sketchy pretty quickly. That's not hyperbole.

That said, I lived a couple blocks outside the traditional "green zone" and was completely fine. A couple blocks further and even I'd have been a bit nervous, and I don't spook easily at all. Your mileage may vary, though, and I'm sure 90% of my classmates would have been pretty uncomfortable living where I did. I reckon that's a combination of legitimate concern and a generalized fear, whether acknowledged or not, of minorities from lower socioeconomic classes.

I think 53d and Cottage Grove is ok, provided you're at or to the east of Cottage Grove. Without knowing you, I wouldn't advise going west of CG though. Feel free to PM if you want to discuss further.

+1

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walks

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by walks » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:29 pm

Thoughts on living out of HP as a 1L?

I went to the College and, since graduating, I've lived in Pilsen. I like it much better up here and I'd prefer not to move back closer to campus if I don't have to. It's only like a ~20 minute car ride, and during the fall and spring I could ride my bike (~35 minutes) and not worry about parking. It doesn't seem daunting to me but there probably are factors I'm not considering. Am I vastly underestimating the amount of time I need to spend in the library? Will I be an outcast if I don't live in an EHP high rise with everyone else? All thoughts appreciated!
Last edited by walks on Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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landshoes

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by landshoes » Wed Jul 19, 2017 10:19 pm

walks wrote:Thoughts on living out of HP as a 1L?

I went to the College and, since graduating, I've lived in Pilsen. I like it much better up here and I'd prefer not to move back closer to campus if I don't have to. It's only like a ~20 minute car ride, and during the fall and spring I could ride my bike (~35 minutes) and not worry about parking. It doesn't seem daunting to me but there probably are factors I'm not considering. Am I vastly underestimating the amount of time I need to spend in the library? Will I be an outcast if I don't live in an EHP high rise with everyone else? All thoughts appreciated!
If you're already used to it and don't mind the commute, it should be fine---but parking might be an issue.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by beepboopbeep » Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:18 pm

walks wrote:Thoughts on living out of HP as a 1L?

I went to the College and, since graduating, I've lived in Pilsen. I like it much better up here and I'd prefer not to move back closer to campus if I don't have to. It's only like a ~20 minute car ride, and during the fall and spring I could ride my bike (~35 minutes) and not worry about parking. It doesn't seem daunting to me but there probably are factors I'm not considering. Am I vastly underestimating the amount of time I need to spend in the library? Will I be an outcast if I don't live in an EHP high rise with everyone else? All thoughts appreciated!
I basically never went to the library except on an absolute as-needed basis throughout the whole three years. You'll be fine on that front.

Social aspect is harder. Your call depending on how much you care about like making a bunch of new law school friends. I feel like most UofC undergrad folks I knew mostly didn't do the whole like cool kid social scene thing b/c combo of slight extra degree introversion where like bar review was not their scene + already having friends in the city.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Necho2 » Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:30 pm

walks wrote:Thoughts on living out of HP as a 1L?

I went to the College and, since graduating, I've lived in Pilsen. I like it much better up here and I'd prefer not to move back closer to campus if I don't have to. It's only like a ~20 minute car ride, and during the fall and spring I could ride my bike (~35 minutes) and not worry about parking. It doesn't seem daunting to me but there probably are factors I'm not considering. Am I vastly underestimating the amount of time I need to spend in the library? Will I be an outcast if I don't live in an EHP high rise with everyone else? All thoughts appreciated!
Don't worry about it. Pilsen as a 1L (especially with transportation as you described) will be no problem- slightly more inconvenient than in HP, but you'll certainly be able to be as social as you want to be. And FWIW, having a chance to physically "leave" law school land can be pretty damn good for your mental health in my opinion. Also stuff like Bar Review is generally outside HP, so sometimes it's actually easier to do while living somewhere else.

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lebongenre

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by lebongenre » Tue Aug 29, 2017 8:55 pm

I'm a 2L on a secondary journal, so I'd like to keep my fall quarter on the lighter side units-wise. Would it be stupid to take only one doctrinal/foundational course plus a clinic and clinic-related seminar (so 10-11 units total w/a Greenberg)? Should I be focused on knocking out foundational courses at this point?

ETA: I'm not gunning for a clerkship or anything fancy, in case that matters.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by charmonster » Tue Aug 29, 2017 10:13 pm

lebongenre wrote:I'm a 2L on a secondary journal, so I'd like to keep my fall quarter on the lighter side units-wise. Would it be stupid to take only one doctrinal/foundational course plus a clinic and clinic-related seminar (so 10-11 units total w/a Greenberg)? Should I be focused on knocking out foundational courses at this point?

ETA: I'm not gunning for a clerkship or anything fancy, in case that matters.
I've never met anyone on a journal who thinks they took too light a load fall quarter 2L. Take it easy on yourself. (Clinics are more useful anyway.)

FYI, it's not easy to get into a Greenberg as a 2L.

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landshoes

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by landshoes » Tue Aug 29, 2017 11:24 pm

lebongenre wrote:I'm a 2L on a secondary journal, so I'd like to keep my fall quarter on the lighter side units-wise. Would it be stupid to take only one doctrinal/foundational course plus a clinic and clinic-related seminar (so 10-11 units total w/a Greenberg)? Should I be focused on knocking out foundational courses at this point?

ETA: I'm not gunning for a clerkship or anything fancy, in case that matters.
Some clinics are way harder than classes. I personally would prefer to just take finals over having clinic deadlines. But that's just me and whatever is easier is fine.

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archipm

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by archipm » Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:19 am

I'm out of the loop and didn't know Greenbergs were even a thing until looking them up just now. Are all the seminars greenbergs or are some of them just like normal seminar style classes?
Last edited by archipm on Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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landshoes

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by landshoes » Wed Aug 30, 2017 11:34 pm

Most of the seminars are normal. Greenbergs are weird and you can identify them because they're one credit and they're pass/fail. 3Ls get preference in bidding for them.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by archipm » Thu Aug 31, 2017 12:10 am

landshoes wrote:Most of the seminars are normal. Greenbergs are weird and you can identify them because they're one credit and they're pass/fail. 3Ls get preference in bidding for them.
Thanks! This is helpful to know.
Last edited by archipm on Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Bridgeport » Sat Sep 02, 2017 8:18 am

Sort of in a weird situation, but I'm a rising 3L and I need my Winter 2018 grades to be out as early as possible (before April 1) due to work visa applications. I'm thinking of taking paper-based classes and submitting the papers really early. Is this the best way of getting all my grades as early as possible? What would be the alternatives?

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landshoes

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by landshoes » Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:22 am

I would talk to the registrar. You will need their cooperation. My fastest grade was a seminar where we had short papers all throughout the class. You might also see if it makes sense to take a class pass/fail across the midway.

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Robb

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Robb » Fri Sep 15, 2017 11:11 pm

landshoes wrote:I would talk to the registrar. You will need their cooperation. My fastest grade was a seminar where we had short papers all throughout the class. You might also see if it makes sense to take a class pass/fail across the midway.
+1 definitely raise with the registrar. Getting the paper early might not affect the grading timeline, at least one of my seminars my grade on a paper didn't come out until more than a year after I turned it in (I think this is rare, but just emphasizing that there are no guarantees and you need to talk to the registrar).

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Bridgeport » Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:28 am

Robb wrote:
landshoes wrote:I would talk to the registrar. You will need their cooperation. My fastest grade was a seminar where we had short papers all throughout the class. You might also see if it makes sense to take a class pass/fail across the midway.
+1 definitely raise with the registrar. Getting the paper early might not affect the grading timeline, at least one of my seminars my grade on a paper didn't come out until more than a year after I turned it in (I think this is rare, but just emphasizing that there are no guarantees and you need to talk to the registrar).
Thank you both!

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CheddarArachnid

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by CheddarArachnid » Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:29 pm

For an SRP that's due the 25th what is the protocol on getting an extension? Rising 3l here. My professor is fine giving an extension the professor does not know the official rules about extensions... and neither do I. This is from a Spring seminar.

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Robb

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Robb » Tue Sep 19, 2017 3:58 pm

CheddarArachnid wrote:For an SRP that's due the 25th what is the protocol on getting an extension? Rising 3l here. My professor is fine giving an extension the professor does not know the official rules about extensions... and neither do I. This is from a Spring seminar.
You don't have to do anything, besides get permission from your prof, of course.

Careful with extensions, before you know it you'll have five papers due the week before graduation . . .

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by HillandHollow » Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:54 am

CheddarArachnid wrote:For an SRP that's due the 25th what is the protocol on getting an extension? Rising 3l here. My professor is fine giving an extension the professor does not know the official rules about extensions... and neither do I. This is from a Spring seminar.

From what I recall you need to get permission from the prof, but you might also need the prof to inform the school? I seem to recall a friend getting into some issues because the prof said yes, but never told whoever they were supposed to tell at the school. Also, read the handbook.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by CheddarArachnid » Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:01 pm

HillandHollow wrote:
CheddarArachnid wrote:For an SRP that's due the 25th what is the protocol on getting an extension? Rising 3l here. My professor is fine giving an extension the professor does not know the official rules about extensions... and neither do I. This is from a Spring seminar.

From what I recall you need to get permission from the prof, but you might also need the prof to inform the school? I seem to recall a friend getting into some issues because the prof said yes, but never told whoever they were supposed to tell at the school. Also, read the handbook.
Sorted, talked to the registrar. No issues with an extension.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by HillandHollow » Tue Oct 03, 2017 11:47 am

CheddarArachnid wrote:
HillandHollow wrote:
CheddarArachnid wrote:For an SRP that's due the 25th what is the protocol on getting an extension? Rising 3l here. My professor is fine giving an extension the professor does not know the official rules about extensions... and neither do I. This is from a Spring seminar.

From what I recall you need to get permission from the prof, but you might also need the prof to inform the school? I seem to recall a friend getting into some issues because the prof said yes, but never told whoever they were supposed to tell at the school. Also, read the handbook.
Sorted, talked to the registrar. No issues with an extension.

Also, as a general piece of advice: any time you are dealing with the registrar or with anyone in admin about an issue like this, you should do it on email. Written proof saved my life in a similar situation once.

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by call-me-bubbles » Wed Nov 08, 2017 7:57 pm

Hi everyone; 1L here. I've joined a couple of low-key student orgs, but I haven't been active so far due to family commitments and simply trying to keep up with readings and survive cold-calls. I've already accessed some materials from the UChicago outline bank, but they're pretty limited for my courses, and my own outlines up to now look pathetic in comparison, so -- pardon the stupid question -- how do I go about asking the older students if they'd mind sharing their outlines? We just had a whole outlining session with the academic counselors, and they mentioned it repeatedly, so it seems like that's common practice, but I just don't know any 2Ls or 3Ls I feel I could ask . . . but yet it seems like that's what each successive generation of 1Ls is supposed/expected to do?

Signed,

Fucking clueless and worried about winding up at the bottom of my class

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Robb

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by Robb » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:49 pm

call-me-bubbles wrote:Hi everyone; 1L here. I've joined a couple of low-key student orgs, but I haven't been active so far due to family commitments and simply trying to keep up with readings and survive cold-calls. I've already accessed some materials from the UChicago outline bank, but they're pretty limited for my courses, and my own outlines up to now look pathetic in comparison, so -- pardon the stupid question -- how do I go about asking the older students if they'd mind sharing their outlines? We just had a whole outlining session with the academic counselors, and they mentioned it repeatedly, so it seems like that's common practice, but I just don't know any 2Ls or 3Ls I feel I could ask . . . but yet it seems like that's what each successive generation of 1Ls is supposed/expected to do?

Signed,

Fucking clueless and worried about winding up at the bottom of my class
Not directly answering the question because I'm the last person to be giving advice on that kind of thing, but if you PM me the classes you're in I can get in touch with some people and see if any of them have those outlines (or if I have any of them, though most of mine are already on the outline bank, and would be pretty outdated anyway). Might not hurt to post them here, because maybe a few kind 2Ls or 3Ls on the forum will help out.

Just a bit of unsolicited advice on how to go about using those outlines (and other people may disagree with this strategy, it's really what works for you that's important, and this worked for me). I think the best way to go about using another person's outline is to make your own outline, but use the other person's outline as a supplement for areas that you're feeling less clear on or could use some bolstering up. So go through and make your own outline, but if you run into a case that you missed the class on or didn't really understand, see if they have any key insights in their outline to help you build yours. This worked best for me. But it's really whatever works for you.

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LSRAT

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Re: UChi Students & Alumni Taking Questions

Post by LSRAT » Wed Nov 08, 2017 11:52 pm

call-me-bubbles wrote:Hi everyone; 1L here. I've joined a couple of low-key student orgs, but I haven't been active so far due to family commitments and simply trying to keep up with readings and survive cold-calls. I've already accessed some materials from the UChicago outline bank, but they're pretty limited for my courses, and my own outlines up to now look pathetic in comparison, so -- pardon the stupid question -- how do I go about asking the older students if they'd mind sharing their outlines? We just had a whole outlining session with the academic counselors, and they mentioned it repeatedly, so it seems like that's common practice, but I just don't know any 2Ls or 3Ls I feel I could ask . . . but yet it seems like that's what each successive generation of 1Ls is supposed/expected to do?

Signed,

Fucking clueless and worried about winding up at the bottom of my class
1L here, so take this with a grain of salt.

Honestly, just reach out to the leaders of various student org you're interested in. Every 2 or 3L I've talked to about jobs or outlines has been great. Don't fret! Just be grateful and humble!

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