Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges Forum

[beep]

Can we talk about income inequality at NU?

It seems like the wealthy are always going to be disproportionately represented at top schools for many reasons, and that's not going to change. A sizable chunk of wealthy students are always going to think they're not really wealthy, and that's not going to change. These traditions and the general lack of discussion on this stuff lead to the occasional tone-deafness, but who cares? The great thing about being in Chicago is that you can easily find friends from regular backgrounds outside the school to find some perspective.

I think the real problem is that the cutthroat rankings system and the rising cost of attendance are doing a better job than ever of forcing many non-wealthy students to take the money at lower-ranked schools - while the more well-off students are still going to the best schools they can get into. FWIW someone mentioned that the school is going to start implementing need-based aid in upcoming years, so thanks JB.

[carsondalywashere]

I would love some input from current NU students and graduates. I am choosing between here and WashU - http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=276232

[symphonyy]

Hi everyone! I would like to know how many major NY firms(or at least what percentage..?) visit NU during the recruitment fair. I want to work in NY and am concerned whether itd be better for me to attend a school that feeds most of its students to NY.

Thanks in advance!

[star fox]

Hi everyone! I would like to know how many major NY firms(or at least what percentage..?) visit NU during the recruitment fair. I want to work in NY and am concerned whether itd be better for me to attend a school that feeds most of its students to NY.

Thanks in advance!

They'll pretty much all be there.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Need info on how Tiller grades his Contracts II summer course (online). Is this an expect-an-A class? Or are B+s real?

[symphonyy]

Why do you think NU has relatively lower bar passage rate compared to its peer schools?

[star fox]

Why do you think NU has relatively lower bar passage rate compared to its peer schools?

NU is the slackers' T14.

[LikelyThrowaway]

0L here coming down to decision-making crunch time.

Are you guys glad you're at Northwestern? Was it definitely the right choice for you? Any regrets? Anything you wish you'd known?

Harvard vs UChicago (75k) vs Northwestern (120k) -- any advice?

[Calvin Murphy]

0L here coming down to decision-making crunch time.

Are you guys glad you're at Northwestern? Was it definitely the right choice for you? Any regrets? Anything you wish you'd known?

Harvard vs UChicago (75k) vs Northwestern (120k) -- any advice?

I think debt vs prestige is a highly personal thing. Cut out UofC here--it's not worth 50k more than NU. Then ask yourself how tied down you want to be fore the next 5-10 years of your life.

Also, if you think that maybe UofC is worth 50k more than NU, then you should think long and hard about why H isn't the obvious choice. 50k (or 45) is easily one year of loan payments--would you pick U Chicago over NU all other things equal if you knew you had to go for four years instead of three? Now imagine that the fourth year is spent doing something you don't really enjoy all that much.

And finally, I think it's fair to say that some people really enjoy biglaw. It may even be fair to say that there are other high paying jobs out there that people enjoy. But saying these things is only as fair as saying that someone who goes to a T1 with hopes of transferring might be in the top 10-20% of his or her class.

[lawish2020]

I'm currently choosing between Michigan(141k), Northwestern(149k), and Cornell(135k), with those COA's. I am patent eligible, at least according to the USPTO requirements that I've read. Made a post http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ?p=9948190. I'm not sure which to choose. Will being from Northwestern give me good enough Chicago ties? Will being Canadian affect that? I've heard that Chicago has a pretty good patent market for its size. I'm just not sure how much I should take that into account when I'm making my decision.

[Calvin Murphy]

I'm currently choosing between Michigan(141k), Northwestern(149k), and Cornell(135k), with those COA's. I am patent eligible, at least according to the USPTO requirements that I've read. Made a post http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ?p=9948190. I'm not sure which to choose. Will being from Northwestern give me good enough Chicago ties? Will being Canadian affect that? I've heard that Chicago has a pretty good patent market for its size. I'm just not sure how much I should take that into account when I'm making my decision.

Good enough for ties? Probably yes

Will Canada make any difference? Probably no.

Chicago good patent law market? What makes you think you want to do patent law? Have you considered taking the patent bar and doing the patent agent thing for awhile? More importantly, what is your degree? If it's something like ee/cs, have you considered working in your field? If it's something where your options in that field aren't much better salary-wise than non-stem grads (i.e. biology), then you might not get much of a bump from being patent law eligible in the first place. I would say that yes, Chicago has a good market for patent law; however, patent law might not be the career path that you think it is.

[lawish2020]

I'm currently choosing between Michigan(141k), Northwestern(149k), and Cornell(135k), with those COA's. I am patent eligible, at least according to the USPTO requirements that I've read. Made a post http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ?p=9948190. I'm not sure which to choose. Will being from Northwestern give me good enough Chicago ties? Will being Canadian affect that? I've heard that Chicago has a pretty good patent market for its size. I'm just not sure how much I should take that into account when I'm making my decision.

Good enough for ties? Probably yes

Will Canada make any difference? Probably no.

Chicago good patent law market? What makes you think you want to do patent law? Have you considered taking the patent bar and doing the patent agent thing for awhile? More importantly, what is your degree? If it's something like ee/cs, have you considered working in your field? If it's something where your options in that field aren't much better salary-wise than non-stem grads (i.e. biology), then you might not get much of a bump from being patent law eligible in the first place. I would say that yes, Chicago has a good market for patent law; however, patent law might not be the career path that you think it is.

I've been working for two years in a telecom company doing mainly software related dev and support. My degree is in an ee related field. I'm thinking of taking the patent bar though haven't started studying for it yet, am thinking of maybe doing it sometime before law school. I think I want to do patent law because I was interested in IP in undergrad, work will probably be different than I expect and difficult. I haven't worked as a patent agent. I am leaving my field because I don't particularly like it very much. There are probably better jobs out there but I just wasn't into it.

[Calvin Murphy]

I'm currently choosing between Michigan(141k), Northwestern(149k), and Cornell(135k), with those COA's. I am patent eligible, at least according to the USPTO requirements that I've read. Made a post http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... ?p=9948190. I'm not sure which to choose. Will being from Northwestern give me good enough Chicago ties? Will being Canadian affect that? I've heard that Chicago has a pretty good patent market for its size. I'm just not sure how much I should take that into account when I'm making my decision.

Good enough for ties? Probably yes

Will Canada make any difference? Probably no.

Chicago good patent law market? What makes you think you want to do patent law? Have you considered taking the patent bar and doing the patent agent thing for awhile? More importantly, what is your degree? If it's something like ee/cs, have you considered working in your field? If it's something where your options in that field aren't much better salary-wise than non-stem grads (i.e. biology), then you might not get much of a bump from being patent law eligible in the first place. I would say that yes, Chicago has a good market for patent law; however, patent law might not be the career path that you think it is.

I've been working for two years in a telecom company doing mainly software related dev and support. My degree is in an ee related field. I'm thinking of taking the patent bar though haven't started studying for it yet, am thinking of maybe doing it sometime before law school. I think I want to do patent law because I was interested in IP in undergrad, work will probably be different than I expect and difficult. I haven't worked as a patent agent. I am leaving my field because I don't particularly like it very much. There are probably better jobs out there but I just wasn't into it.

I think it's good that you've thought about some of these things. The only thing I would note is that much of the IP hiring can be quite picky about the particular degree. EE is typically in demand. At the same time, "something like ee" makes things less clear. Also...don't get me wrong...if you have a great 1L year, it doesn't matter as much--especially at GP firms with IP groups. I just don't subscribe to the idea that one should enter law school under the assumption that they'll be better than average.

If I were in your shoes, I would try to find someone to speak with who knows more about what the hiring market looks like for people with your specific degree. Unfortunately, I don't think I can help much more than to say that it's good that you're thinking about these things.

[Kenga]

Does anyone know how the write-on/grade-on process works for NULR? Like how low does your GPA have to be to make you only eligible for the pure-write-on spots? And how many of those spots are there most years?

[Micdiddy]

Does anyone know how the write-on/grade-on process works for NULR? Like how low does your GPA have to be to make you only eligible for the pure-write-on spots? And how many of those spots are there most years?

Yes.
Probably below 3.5 (maybe a tad higher, obviously depends on a lot of factors).
10.

[MT Cicero]

Does anyone know how the write-on/grade-on process works for NULR? Like how low does your GPA have to be to make you only eligible for the pure-write-on spots? And how many of those spots are there most years?

Yes.
Probably below 3.5 (maybe a tad higher, obviously depends on a lot of factors).
10.

Also yes.

You can actually have a pretty low GPA and still make the "combined" spots (think sub-3.0 low, though that would require an outstanding write-on portion). There were some slight tweaks in the grading from c/o 2016 to c/o 2017, and there may be a couple more with the new board (c/o 2018). The biggest change was just a larger NULR group, since it went from publishing 4 to 5 issues this past year, and will now aim to publish 6 issues for Volume 112 and beyond.

Yes, generally 10 write-on slots, but realize those 10 are selected after the initial "combined" group. Since many in that initial group have great write-on scores, you don't have to be in the top 10 write-on scores to grab those slots. Probably more like the top 30-40 (could vary greatly from year to year).

Also, the new board could make slight adjustments to these numbers/criteria.

[carsondalywashere]

Would mid July be too late to sign a lease for an apartment?

[Kinky John]

Would mid July be too late to sign a lease for an apartment?

nah

[KunAgnis]

Would mid July be too late to sign a lease for an apartment?

Not at all, that's when I signed mine.

[sneks]

Does anyone know how the write-on/grade-on process works for NULR? Like how low does your GPA have to be to make you only eligible for the pure-write-on spots? And how many of those spots are there most years?

Yes.
Probably below 3.5 (maybe a tad higher, obviously depends on a lot of factors).
10.

Also yes.

You can actually have a pretty low GPA and still make the "combined" spots (think sub-3.0 low, though that would require an outstanding write-on portion). There were some slight tweaks in the grading from c/o 2016 to c/o 2017, and there may be a couple more with the new board (c/o 2018). The biggest change was just a larger NULR group, since it went from publishing 4 to 5 issues this past year, and will now aim to publish 6 issues for Volume 112 and beyond.

Yes, generally 10 write-on slots, but realize those 10 are selected after the initial "combined" group. Since many in that initial group have great write-on scores, you don't have to be in the top 10 write-on scores to grab those slots. Probably more like the top 30-40 (could vary greatly from year to year).

Also, the new board could make slight adjustments to these numbers/criteria.

For the # of spots, it used to be 10, but they announced that it'll be 15 this year.

[Chi-Town-911]

.

[guynourmin]

the peer pressure to do BigLaw is huge. So if it's important for you to end up somewhere else, NU will make your job tougher.

Can you or anyone else expand on this? I understand a lot of people do biglaw and the path to biglaw is easier to follow, but what kind of peer pressure?

[onionz]

the peer pressure to do BigLaw is huge. So if it's important for you to end up somewhere else, NU will make your job tougher.

Can you or anyone else expand on this? I understand a lot of people do biglaw and the path to biglaw is easier to follow, but what kind of peer pressure?

I don't disagree with the sentiment but friends of mine at other schools seem to mostly describe the same phenomenon. People come in wanting to do pi and leave doing biglaw.

[guynourmin]

the peer pressure to do BigLaw is huge. So if it's important for you to end up somewhere else, NU will make your job tougher.

Can you or anyone else expand on this? I understand a lot of people do biglaw and the path to biglaw is easier to follow, but what kind of peer pressure?

I don't disagree with the sentiment but friends of mine at other schools seem to mostly describe the same phenomenon. People come in wanting to do pi and leave doing biglaw.

I'm asking specifically about peer pressure (which is what chitown911 said). I understand there are systemic pressures and people change, etc. Do you agree there is peer pressure at NU against going into work other than biglaw? How does that manifest itself at NU?

[star fox]

the peer pressure to do BigLaw is huge. So if it's important for you to end up somewhere else, NU will make your job tougher.

Can you or anyone else expand on this? I understand a lot of people do biglaw and the path to biglaw is easier to follow, but what kind of peer pressure?

I don't disagree with the sentiment but friends of mine at other schools seem to mostly describe the same phenomenon. People come in wanting to do pi and leave doing biglaw.

I'm asking specifically about peer pressure (which is what chitown911 said). I understand there are systemic pressures and people change, etc. Do you agree there is peer pressure at NU against going into work other than biglaw? How does that manifest itself at NU?

OCS is going to assume you do OCI, all your classmates are going to assume you do OCI, all your professors are going to assume you do OCI. Not doing OCI is way against the grain.