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

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Sourire

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Sourire » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:38 pm

brinicolec wrote:
Are you referring to litigation boutiques or just litigation within BL? :shock:
Chicago litigation is competitive in general. The lit boutiques can be more selective but for big law it's still quite hard if you're litigation-or-bust.

GoCats56

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by GoCats56 » Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:42 am

Sourire wrote:
brinicolec wrote:
Are you referring to litigation boutiques or just litigation within BL? :shock:
Chicago litigation is competitive in general. The lit boutiques can be more selective but for big law it's still quite hard if you're litigation-or-bust.
Yeah -- If you want to be litigation-or-bust in Chicago, you should have very good grades to be confident you'll get a spot. If you're litigation-or-bust and don't have those grades, you should bid NYC. Chicago market is just really tight.

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Mullens

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Mullens » Wed Mar 15, 2017 12:20 pm

GoCats56 wrote:
Sourire wrote:
brinicolec wrote:
Are you referring to litigation boutiques or just litigation within BL? :shock:
Chicago litigation is competitive in general. The lit boutiques can be more selective but for big law it's still quite hard if you're litigation-or-bust.
Yeah -- If you want to be litigation-or-bust in Chicago, you should have very good grades to be confident you'll get a spot. If you're litigation-or-bust and don't have those grades, you should bid NYC. Chicago market is just really tight.
to be clear, this applies for Chicago litigation regardless of where you go to school and for some reason it seems like more people with high grades want to do litigation over corporate.

Chi-Town-911

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Chi-Town-911 » Wed Mar 15, 2017 4:48 pm

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Last edited by Chi-Town-911 on Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sourire

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Sourire » Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:42 pm

Chi-Town-911 wrote:I need to get a professional photo done for my firm to put on their site. How much is this going to cost, and does anyone have recommendations for a photographer?
You might want to shoot an email over the listserv, some students have advertised in the past that they will take professional-looking headshots for classmates. Would likely be cheaper than going to a professional photographer.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:19 pm

Mullens wrote:
GoCats56 wrote:
Sourire wrote:
brinicolec wrote:
Are you referring to litigation boutiques or just litigation within BL? :shock:
Chicago litigation is competitive in general. The lit boutiques can be more selective but for big law it's still quite hard if you're litigation-or-bust.
Yeah -- If you want to be litigation-or-bust in Chicago, you should have very good grades to be confident you'll get a spot. If you're litigation-or-bust and don't have those grades, you should bid NYC. Chicago market is just really tight.
to be clear, this applies for Chicago litigation regardless of where you go to school and for some reason it seems like more people with high grades want to do litigation over corporate.
Is the implication here then that Chicago transactional is a relatively easy gig to land from Northwestern (assuming grades aren't dumpster fire)? I went to NU for undergrad and have lived in the Midwest my entire life, so I should be good to go on the ties end.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by GoLandcrabs » Sat Mar 18, 2017 12:29 am

Has anyone here gone through the ED process and gotten the 150k scholarship?

I have Chicago ties and want to practice in Chicago, and I'm aiming to ace the LSAT enough I would, according to myLSN (although that's like 5 people), probably be admitted.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:23 am

I was wondering if it's possible as a 1L to avoid 8:00 AM classes? Would it be possible to start my day at 9:00 AM or later?

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brinicolec

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by brinicolec » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:34 am

Any current students willing to share anything at the school you feel could be improved upon?

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Sourire

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Sourire » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:44 pm

GoLandcrabs wrote:Has anyone here gone through the ED process and gotten the 150k scholarship?

I have Chicago ties and want to practice in Chicago, and I'm aiming to ace the LSAT enough I would, according to myLSN (although that's like 5 people), probably be admitted.
I did ED and am really glad I did. I knew I wanted to stay in Chicago and had pretty good numbers, but not the kind of numbers that would have netted more money at higher-ranked schools. No regrets!

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yyyuppp

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by yyyuppp » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:49 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:I was wondering if it's possible as a 1L to avoid 8:00 AM classes? Would it be possible to start my day at 9:00 AM or later?
Probably not. Each semester we had class at 845 or 850 am. Each was a required doctrinal course

Edit: I guess that's not 8am but each is before 9

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Sun Mar 19, 2017 1:00 pm

yyyuppp wrote:
RedPurpleBlue wrote:I was wondering if it's possible as a 1L to avoid 8:00 AM classes? Would it be possible to start my day at 9:00 AM or later?
Probably not. Each semester we had class at 845 or 850 am. Each was a required doctrinal course

Edit: I guess that's not 8am but each is before 9
Thanks!

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dietcoke1

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by dietcoke1 » Tue Mar 21, 2017 8:57 pm

how does being away from the main campus affect life at NU? What are the positives and negatives to it? Can you take graduate courses in other programs? Do law students attend athletic games?

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Kenga

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Kenga » Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:46 am

dietcoke1 wrote:how does being away from the main campus affect life at NU? What are the positives and negatives to it? Can you take graduate courses in other programs? Do law students attend athletic games?
As a JD at NU, you really have nothing to do with the rest of the school. They sold discounted tickets to one of the football games once and a fair amount of students went to it, but that was basically the extent of any interaction between the undergrad campus and law school that I witnessed this year. I personally prefer it this way-- there's plenty of stuff already going on in the law school and I think having the main campus around would just be an annoying distraction.

As for taking grad courses in other programs, I don't think you can as a JD because the main campus is on trimesters, but I'm not positive.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Chrstgtr » Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:00 pm

Kenga wrote:
dietcoke1 wrote:how does being away from the main campus affect life at NU? What are the positives and negatives to it? Can you take graduate courses in other programs? Do law students attend athletic games?
As a JD at NU, you really have nothing to do with the rest of the school. They sold discounted tickets to one of the football games once and a fair amount of students went to it, but that was basically the extent of any interaction between the undergrad campus and law school that I witnessed this year. I personally prefer it this way-- there's plenty of stuff already going on in the law school and I think having the main campus around would just be an annoying distraction.

As for taking grad courses in other programs, I don't think you can as a JD because the main campus is on trimesters, but I'm not positive.
You can take classes on the quarter system. It isn't done often, however. Most of the classes taken are done at Kellogg

GoLandcrabs

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by GoLandcrabs » Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:51 pm

Assume I have a 3.75 GPA. What kind of LSAT would I need to be competitive for the ED scholarship.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by glockov » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:07 pm

GoLandcrabs wrote:Assume I have a 3.75 GPA. What kind of LSAT would I need to be competitive for the ED scholarship.
Still a 0L but got it this year with a similar gpa and 170 LSAT

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GoLandcrabs

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by GoLandcrabs » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:10 pm

glockov wrote:
GoLandcrabs wrote:Assume I have a 3.75 GPA. What kind of LSAT would I need to be competitive for the ED scholarship.
Still a 0L but got it this year with a similar gpa and 170 LSAT
Absolutely fantastic. That is what I (and mylsn) thought too. Thank you for the answer. 170 shouldn't be too hard to achieve/

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Mullens

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Mullens » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:34 pm

Kenga wrote:
dietcoke1 wrote:how does being away from the main campus affect life at NU? What are the positives and negatives to it? Can you take graduate courses in other programs? Do law students attend athletic games?
As a JD at NU, you really have nothing to do with the rest of the school. They sold discounted tickets to one of the football games once and a fair amount of students went to it, but that was basically the extent of any interaction between the undergrad campus and law school that I witnessed this year. I personally prefer it this way-- there's plenty of stuff already going on in the law school and I think having the main campus around would just be an annoying distraction.

As for taking grad courses in other programs, I don't think you can as a JD because the main campus is on trimesters, but I'm not positive.
You can actually get discounted season tickets to all sporting events, but idk anyone who has done it that wasn't an NU undergrad alumni. I'm a 3L and I have friends that have never been to the Evanston campus.

I think the best way to look at NU Law is as a completely separate school from the undergrad. That comes with some benefits and some disadvantages. NU probably isn't the school for you if you're looking to re-live undergrad or get some experience you missed out on by tailgating and going to athletic events. If that's what you're looking for, then you should attend Michigan or Virginia (everything else being equal). On the other hand, the school is in the middle of Chicago and you have access to everything that Chicago has to offer. For many people who worked after undergrad, like cities, or have serious SOs that are coming with them, the location of the law school is a positive.

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Mullens

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Mullens » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:38 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:
Mullens wrote:
GoCats56 wrote:
Sourire wrote:
brinicolec wrote:
Are you referring to litigation boutiques or just litigation within BL? :shock:
Chicago litigation is competitive in general. The lit boutiques can be more selective but for big law it's still quite hard if you're litigation-or-bust.
Yeah -- If you want to be litigation-or-bust in Chicago, you should have very good grades to be confident you'll get a spot. If you're litigation-or-bust and don't have those grades, you should bid NYC. Chicago market is just really tight.
to be clear, this applies for Chicago litigation regardless of where you go to school and for some reason it seems like more people with high grades want to do litigation over corporate.
Is the implication here then that Chicago transactional is a relatively easy gig to land from Northwestern (assuming grades aren't dumpster fire)? I went to NU for undergrad and have lived in the Midwest my entire life, so I should be good to go on the ties end.
Relative to litigation it is easier, yes. Relative to getting a job in New York? No, Chicago is still a tougher market to crack. You need to be slightly above median to have a good shot at a firm job for transactional but having NU undergrad is a good tie and a good network to be part of and will help. My experience and feeling is that Chicago firms generally care more about fit and your ability to interview than firms in New York because they are hiring fewer people.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by Chi-Town-911 » Thu Mar 23, 2017 3:01 pm

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Last edited by Chi-Town-911 on Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by GoLandcrabs » Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:57 pm

Chi-Town-911 wrote:
GoLandcrabs wrote:Has anyone here gone through the ED process and gotten the 150k scholarship?

I have Chicago ties and want to practice in Chicago, and I'm aiming to ace the LSAT enough I would, according to myLSN (although that's like 5 people), probably be admitted.

Yes. It's not much of a process. You submit your law school application as you normally would and check the box that says "early decision." I got an acceptance letter with the $150k offer in early December; withdrew all of my other apps right away. Definitely recommend.
Sweet. It sounds better and better, the 2016-2017 results were quite encouraging.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by somedeadman » Mon Mar 27, 2017 1:06 pm

How many students have cars with them? The only thing I could see myself using one for is groceries, so I'm inclined not to bring one.

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by FloridaCoastalorbust » Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:22 pm

somedeadman wrote:How many students have cars with them? The only thing I could see myself using one for is groceries, so I'm inclined not to bring one.
Not many. You also won't need a car for groceries. There are grocery stores (Trader Joes, Jewell, Whole Foods) within walking distance of virtually any place you might live in Chicago. When I need a car - about twice a month - I rent one through Enterprise Carshare, which costs something around $5/hour.

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ILoveYou

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Re: Northwestern 1L/2L/3L/Grads Taking Questions and Challenges

Post by ILoveYou » Mon Mar 27, 2017 4:27 pm

somedeadman wrote:How many students have cars with them? The only thing I could see myself using one for is groceries, so I'm inclined not to bring one.
I agree with the above poster, but would add that even for the students I know with cars, it mostly comes up in the context of how inconvenient/needlessly expensive it is to have a car.

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