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

[Attrition]

Has anyone here ever taken Crisis Litigation and the Court of Public Opinion and can send me a syllabus?

It is fantastic, take it. There is no syl. he plays it by ear

[btruj777]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone got the law preview scholarship from Latham & Watkins (or another law firm) and went through the law preview? From what I understand, law preview isn't the most amazing life changing experience, but what involvement, if any, do you have with the firm? Why do they offer this scholarship? Is it just a marketing technique? I find it interesting that after you get the scholarship, the emails that follow are all from the firm's domain and the scholarship award announcement came from their recruiting email.

[yyyuppp]

grades are up

[KunAgnis]

Does anyone know what NR stands for? I thought it could stand for not received but it's not listed on the Grading Policy web page as an authorized grade entry.

[JoanOfArc2012]

Ugh why will it take two weeks to get honors calculated? Any bets on what the cutoff for coif will be this year?

I think NR means "Not Ready" or "Not Reported." Sometimes profs miss the grade deadline for some reason and then this happens.

[daisrt]

I had to search for this so I'll post it up here if anyone is curious:

GPA/class-rank breakdown after 1L:

4.00+ - top 3-5 people
3.85+ - top 10%
3.75+ - top 15%
3.65+ - top 25%
3.50+ - top 35%
3.30 - 3.40 - median
3.20 - 3.30 - slightly below median
3.00 - 3.20 - quite below median

Is this still valid-ish?

[JoanOfArc2012]

I don't think so -- magna cum laude and order of the coif largely overlapped last year, and magna cuts off around 3.97. So odds are more than 5 people snagged 4.0's.

[MT Cicero]

I don't think so -- magna cum laude and order of the coif largely overlapped last year, and magna cuts off around 3.97. So odds are more than 5 people snagged 4.0's.

That info is for the end of 1L though, not law school. Most people go up a decent bit after 1L. By the end, 1L 3.4's become post-3L 3.7's, 3.6's become 3.9's, etc.

So, a 3.85 being top 10%, which becomes a ~3.95 at top 10% by the end seems about right to me. And there could be more than 3-5 people at 4.0, but my guess is not many more.

That said, I have no idea as to the accuracy of this. Doesn't seem far-fetched I'd say.

Edit: Not everyone goes up nice and linearly obviously, and I imagine some could fall. But the general grade rise does occur.

[personofinterest]

I don't think so -- magna cum laude and order of the coif largely overlapped last year, and magna cuts off around 3.97. So odds are more than 5 people snagged 4.0's.

I disagree. I think that uncurved classes boost gpas in 2L/3L, so magna at 3.97 and having 3-5 1Ls w/ 4.0+ are not mutually exclusive.

[Kenga]

Could anyone here refresh me on how the new curve policy is going to work starting next year? I can't find it on NU's website anywhere. Specifically, are clinics or ITA going to be curved next year?

[sneks]

Could anyone here refresh me on how the new curve policy is going to work starting next year? I can't find it on NU's website anywhere. Specifically, are clinics or ITA going to be curved next year?

IIRC, we were told that clinics and classes like ITA would not be curved. It's basically just exam-based courses with (I think) 13 or more people.

[FloridaCoastalorbust]

Could anyone here refresh me on how the new curve policy is going to work starting next year? I can't find it on NU's website anywhere. Specifically, are clinics or ITA going to be curved next year?

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

[RedPurpleBlue]

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

As an incoming student, that doesn't sound too bad. Am I potentially missing some important detail?

[Calvin Murphy]

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

As an incoming student, that doesn't sound too bad. Am I potentially missing some important detail?

It used to be more lenient.

[RedPurpleBlue]

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

As an incoming student, that doesn't sound too bad. Am I potentially missing some important detail?

It used to be more lenient.

Gotcha. Is that necessarily problematic? It looks like everyone gets punished equally. Shouldn't the result just be that GPAs will decrease in absolute terms but everyone's position in the class will remain virtually the same?

[IExistedOnceBefore]

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

As an incoming student, that doesn't sound too bad. Am I potentially missing some important detail?

It used to be more lenient.

Gotcha. Is that necessarily problematic? It looks like everyone gets punished equally. Shouldn't the result just be that GPAs will decrease in absolute terms but everyone's position in the class will remain virtually the same?

NU doesn't release rank or percentages at all, so you never actually know your percentage or rank in the class. They also don't release the medians of classes, so employers go based off of the past experiences and past GPAs. I think the biggest concern is probably that employers are going to be expecting the classic NU grade inflation and then not see it, they'll adjust pretty quickly though. Plus the new curve it fairly generous and to my knowledge the doctrinal curve isn't changing.

You used to be able to pad your 2nd semester with "easy A" classes that weren't curved during 1L to help your GPA so that'll be the biggest change, but a lot of times that would backfire anyway because the prof would give a rogue B.

[Calvin Murphy]

Only classes with a final, and with more than thirteen students, will be curved. The curve for such classes will be set at 3.55, with professorial discretion to adjust the curve up or down .05.

So seminars, ITA, clinic, etc., will not be curved.

As an incoming student, that doesn't sound too bad. Am I potentially missing some important detail?

It used to be more lenient.

Gotcha. Is that necessarily problematic? It looks like everyone gets punished equally. Shouldn't the result just be that GPAs will decrease in absolute terms but everyone's position in the class will remain virtually the same?

NU doesn't release rank or percentages at all, so you never actually know your percentage or rank in the class. They also don't release the medians of classes, so employers go based off of the past experiences and past GPAs. I think the biggest concern is probably that employers are going to be expecting the classic NU grade inflation and then not see it, they'll adjust pretty quickly though. Plus the new curve it fairly generous and to my knowledge the doctrinal curve isn't changing.

You used to be able to pad your 2nd semester with "easy A" classes that weren't curved during 1L to help your GPA so that'll be the biggest change, but a lot of times that would backfire anyway because the prof would give a rogue B.

This pretty much sums it up. In addition to the rogue B, some professors would curve their classes harsher than others, even where there was no mandatory curve.

Also wanted to add that latin honors cutoffs are based solely on GPA. A harsher curve = fewer latin honors. At the end of the day, not a big deal.

[NUGunner]

Gunner here. Does anybody know when K&E scholar notifications will go out?

[Mullens]

Latin Honors/Coif are on our unofficial transcripts on Caesar. I'm assuming the email will go out later today.

[GoCubsGo41]

Class of 2017 honors posted:

https://www.law.northwestern.edu/regist ... s_list.pdf

[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?

Any info on Tiller for Contracts II?

[carsondalywashere]

What are some general rules of thumb to go by for rent prices? I'm seeing studios in the 1200-1600 range on the Gold Coast which I expected, but lakeview is surprisingly not much cheaper...I have yet to find a studio below 1200. Am I just not looking hard enough?

[ILoveYou]

What are some general rules of thumb to go by for rent prices? I'm seeing studios in the 1200-1600 range on the Gold Coast which I expected, but lakeview is surprisingly not much cheaper...I have yet to find a studio below 1200. Am I just not looking hard enough?

Gold Coast and Streeterville are both generally going to be a bit expensive for what you get, but I suppose that depends on how much you value being that close to school. 1200 isn't crazy, but does sound sort of on the high end for a Lakeview studio. There are plenty of studios to be had in the only slightly more reasonable 900-1100 range. A company called Reside has several of buildings around that area that I remember being around 1000 for a studio last time I looked maybe a year ago; might be worth looking into. You may also try looking a bit farther north than where you have been--anywhere between Belmont and Irving Park (northern border of the neighborhood) should be within a 5-10 minute difference for your commute. Just north of Lakeview in Buena Park (Uptown) can be pretty affordable, and the commute isn't too much worse, but I would caution against going north of there.

[guynourmin]

I have yet to find a studio below 1200. Am I just not looking hard enough?

where are you looking? these are 0-1 bedrooms under $1,050 on craigslist right now. presumably a lot of double/triple/10x posts, but still has to be upwards of 50 units here.

[carsondalywashere]

I have yet to find a studio below 1200. Am I just not looking hard enough?

where are you looking? these are 0-1 bedrooms under $1,050 on craigslist right now. presumably a lot of double/triple/10x posts, but still has to be upwards of 50 units here.

I've been looking at zillow and trulia mostly. I've been trying to figure out where to live to catch the bus. I know there is a lake shore drive bus that takes 20 mins. to get to school, but I'm seeing other routes pop up.....if I could live further away from lake shore drive I would imagine prices would go down quite a bit.