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

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RedPurpleBlue

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

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Thu Jul 13, 2017 12:15 pm

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
RedPurpleBlue wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:That's why being a closet gunner is usually the best approach.
I lost you here. What exactly do you mean by it being the best approach? Also, I'm not really interested in supplements. They just really don't sound like they would be conducive to how I study. It's still possible to do extremely well without them, correct?
I mean that you won't know what "works" during 1L until it's over, and by then you could have grades lower than you want. What if you don't use supplements and don't get good grades? What if you do and still don't? That's why I would recommend trying everything out, hence my reference to being a gunner. I suggest being a "closet" gunner so ppl don't hate you.
Well, in the closet we go then. Thanks!

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:45 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
RedPurpleBlue wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:That's why being a closet gunner is usually the best approach.
I lost you here. What exactly do you mean by it being the best approach? Also, I'm not really interested in supplements. They just really don't sound like they would be conducive to how I study. It's still possible to do extremely well without them, correct?
I mean that you won't know what "works" during 1L until it's over, and by then you could have grades lower than you want. What if you don't use supplements and don't get good grades? What if you do and still don't? That's why I would recommend trying everything out, hence my reference to being a gunner. I suggest being a "closet" gunner so ppl don't hate you.
Well, in the closet we go then. Thanks!
Great discussion!

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

Post by bball75 » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:47 pm

Any insight into JLSP's workload/time commitment?

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ILoveYou

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

Post by ILoveYou » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:58 pm

bball75 wrote:Any insight into JLSP's workload/time commitment?
Minimal. Probably lightest of all the journals.

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star fox

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

Post by star fox » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:07 pm

bball75 wrote:Any insight into JLSP's workload/time commitment?
All non-LR journals are pretty easy, except JCLC which is kind of the second pick for people who don't get LR but want to clerk and has a pretty good workload. My recommendation though is to write a note even if your journal doesn't require one and just don't submit it for publication. They're not really reading them carefully, so it's a nice way to fulfill half of the writing requirement without having to do it in a class.

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star fox

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

Post by star fox » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:08 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
RedPurpleBlue wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:That's why being a closet gunner is usually the best approach.
I lost you here. What exactly do you mean by it being the best approach? Also, I'm not really interested in supplements. They just really don't sound like they would be conducive to how I study. It's still possible to do extremely well without them, correct?
I mean that you won't know what "works" during 1L until it's over, and by then you could have grades lower than you want. What if you don't use supplements and don't get good grades? What if you do and still don't? That's why I would recommend trying everything out, hence my reference to being a gunner. I suggest being a "closet" gunner so ppl don't hate you.
Well, in the closet we go then. Thanks!
Yeah just study hard and don't be annoying in class. Remember that nothing you say is interesting. Ultimately, nobody is gonna hold it against you for being a person that spends multiple hours a day reading E&Es and stuff, just don't be annoying about it.

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ILoveYou

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

Post by ILoveYou » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:20 pm

star fox wrote: Yeah just study hard and don't be annoying in class. Remember that nothing you say is interesting.
This is the most important thing.

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

Post by yyyuppp » Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:45 pm

what have people's experiences been with ITA grading? Ive searched a bit and it seems like people have negative experiences with it.

Any thoughts on pre-trial advocacy? How burdensome is all the writing?

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Sun Jul 16, 2017 1:43 pm

Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?

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

Post by skatch » Sun Jul 16, 2017 10:39 pm

carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.

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KunAgnis

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

Post by KunAgnis » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:17 pm

yyyuppp wrote:what have people's experiences been with ITA grading? Ive searched a bit and it seems like people have negative experiences with it.

Any thoughts on pre-trial advocacy? How burdensome is all the writing?
I can comment on ITA. I think the biggest issue I had was that the grading was too "blackbox." Sure, the judges tell you comments and whatnot, but we never got the grades for each of our weekly assignments and why we got the grade we did; furthermore, the weekly assignments counted for quite a bit cumulatively.

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feralinfant

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

Post by feralinfant » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:29 pm

I posted this for posterity after my experience in ITA:
feralinfant wrote:So I feel like there was little info on TLS regarding Trial Ad (ITA) with Lubet and Co. and I figure I'll post my experience for collective widom since TLS has proven useful time and again over the years.

I had some anxiety about the adjuncts and the black box grading in the class, and in my opinion my fears turned out to be all too well grounded. This class required a fair amount of prep and work every week, and yet I feel I had very little control over my final grade in this class, which ended up lower than I'd like, and in my opinion, lower than I deserved. I know at least a few other close friends who feel similarly and at 4 credits a lower grade is a bummer. Contributing to the lack of control, at least as perceived by me, are (1) Not being given any indication of the rubrics used by adjuncts to evaluate you, in other words, not knowing "how" you are graded in the breakouts, (2) Not being given any indication of how these evaluations might be normalized (or not) within breakout groups and between them, (3) Not being given any indication of your progress or lack thereof throughout the semester. I felt my bench trial went very well, and I thought I did well at the jury trial based on my own self-evaluation and adjunct comments, and based on the classmates I was able to observe in the semester I would have thought I was competitive for a better grade, especially since Lubet's emphasis on the lack of a curve suggests that he's not stingy with A's. I have no idea what I could have done differently.

Ultimately though, just the experience of getting on your feet in a trial setting was valuable for me, though I'm not sure there's something inherently special about the program run at NU besides some cool adjuncts. I'm happy I got those experiences and the grade is not really that big of a deal looking at the big picture.

The class seems to me like a gamble at best, especially if you have certain goals (like a narrow path to latin honors) but i'm curious about the actual grade distribution, as well as the experiences of people who did better than me, so I'd be interested to hear from any posters with other perspectives.

tl;dr- ITA is good on your feet experience, but lacks transparency regarding any of the metrics used to evaluate your grade and you need to be comfortable with that randomness.

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Sun Jul 16, 2017 11:56 pm

skatch wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm tempted to get an xps since I've never had a "nice" laptop, but they're also crazy expensive.

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

Post by FloridaCoastalorbust » Mon Jul 17, 2017 7:45 am

carsondalywashere wrote:
skatch wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm tempted to get an xps since I've never had a "nice" laptop, but they're also crazy expensive.
I got the XPS a few years ago and love it -- this was before the school recommended it. Get a factory refurnished -- which is actually just a computer returned within 30 days, no damage -- for around $750 on eBay. It's incredibly lightweight, small but not too small, and very fast. I've owned six laptops, for better or worse, and the XPS is far and away the best of them. Considering you will use your laptop at least ten hours a day for three years, an extra few hundred bucks is nothing.

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:49 pm

FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:
skatch wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm tempted to get an xps since I've never had a "nice" laptop, but they're also crazy expensive.
I got the XPS a few years ago and love it -- this was before the school recommended it. Get a factory refurnished -- which is actually just a computer returned within 30 days, no damage -- for around $750 on eBay. It's incredibly lightweight, small but not too small, and very fast. I've owned six laptops, for better or worse, and the XPS is far and away the best of them. Considering you will use your laptop at least ten hours a day for three years, an extra few hundred bucks is nothing.
That's my reasoning as well. Do you think getting a solid state version is necessary?

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

Post by AVokes » Mon Jul 17, 2017 4:24 pm

carsondalywashere wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:
skatch wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm tempted to get an xps since I've never had a "nice" laptop, but they're also crazy expensive.
I got the XPS a few years ago and love it -- this was before the school recommended it. Get a factory refurnished -- which is actually just a computer returned within 30 days, no damage -- for around $750 on eBay. It's incredibly lightweight, small but not too small, and very fast. I've owned six laptops, for better or worse, and the XPS is far and away the best of them. Considering you will use your laptop at least ten hours a day for three years, an extra few hundred bucks is nothing.
That's my reasoning as well. Do you think getting a solid state version is necessary?
I wouldn't say solid state is necessary, but in 2017 I would say it is a worthwhile investment. The increased speed and reliability is worth the price.

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

Post by bk1 » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:14 am

crumb cake wrote:Grads: How long until our email addresses are closed?
I still have mine 3 years later. I still have my undergrad one too (not NU, but they are also on G Suite).

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:09 pm

AVokes wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:
FloridaCoastalorbust wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:
skatch wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Thinking about getting a Dell XPS since that's what the school recommends. Is that overkill?
Get that if you personally want it, but if you just want what's necessary for school then that's overkill. All you need for school is Microsoft Word and an internet browser.
Okay, that's good to know. I'm tempted to get an xps since I've never had a "nice" laptop, but they're also crazy expensive.
I got the XPS a few years ago and love it -- this was before the school recommended it. Get a factory refurnished -- which is actually just a computer returned within 30 days, no damage -- for around $750 on eBay. It's incredibly lightweight, small but not too small, and very fast. I've owned six laptops, for better or worse, and the XPS is far and away the best of them. Considering you will use your laptop at least ten hours a day for three years, an extra few hundred bucks is nothing.
That's my reasoning as well. Do you think getting a solid state version is necessary?
I wouldn't say solid state is necessary, but in 2017 I would say it is a worthwhile investment. The increased speed and reliability is worth the price.
Cool! I think I'm going to go that route

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:10 pm

Can someone speak about the differences between the Fitness Formula Gold Coast Club and the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center? I see that when we pay for the gym membership we get use of both facilities. Is the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center some rinky dink crap, or is it a legit gym?

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

Post by yyyuppp » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:50 pm

KunAgnis wrote:
feralinfant wrote:
[/quote]


thanks for this info. I am applying for clerkships likely after fall grades, so i really want to limit difficult/uncertain grading. Would you recommend trial team or something like that? I really want to get some trial advocacy experience, but not at the cost of my GPA or honors.

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

Post by MT Cicero » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:52 pm

carsondalywashere wrote:Can someone speak about the differences between the Fitness Formula Gold Coast Club and the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center? I see that when we pay for the gym membership we get use of both facilities. Is the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center some rinky dink crap, or is it a legit gym?
If it's the one I'm thinking of (directly north of the school in Lake Shore Park), it's rinky dink. A very small place that we mostly use for pickup basketball, though I think there is some equipment and free weight stuff there. The whole building is the length of a condensed basketball court, so probably 70 feet, with maybe an additional 1500 square feet that isn't the hallway/office/bathrooms. There are some other gyms that seem to have the name "Lake Shore" in them (Google search), so take this explanation with a grain of salt. But if it's the one with address that's around 310 E. Chicago, yeah, rinky dink.

The Gold Coast FFC is pretty damn nice, and is an actual gym with an indoor small track and tons of equipment, plus a full-sized basketball court that's probably only a third of the overall area inside, if that.

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

Post by xandra_v » Tue Jul 18, 2017 1:57 pm

MT Cicero wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Can someone speak about the differences between the Fitness Formula Gold Coast Club and the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center? I see that when we pay for the gym membership we get use of both facilities. Is the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center some rinky dink crap, or is it a legit gym?
If it's the one I'm thinking of (directly north of the school in Lake Shore Park), it's rinky dink. A very small place that we mostly use for pickup basketball, though I think there is some equipment and free weight stuff there. The whole building is the length of a condensed basketball court, so probably 70 feet, with maybe an additional 1500 square feet that isn't the hallway/office/bathrooms. There are some other gyms that seem to have the name "Lake Shore" in them (Google search), so take this explanation with a grain of salt. But if it's the one with address that's around 310 E. Chicago, yeah, rinky dink.

The Gold Coast FFC is pretty damn nice, and is an actual gym with an indoor small track and tons of equipment, plus a full-sized basketball court that's probably only a third of the overall area inside, if that.
Does the membership include access to group fitness classes? Is that limited in any way? Thanks!!

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:08 pm

MT Cicero wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Can someone speak about the differences between the Fitness Formula Gold Coast Club and the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center? I see that when we pay for the gym membership we get use of both facilities. Is the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center some rinky dink crap, or is it a legit gym?
If it's the one I'm thinking of (directly north of the school in Lake Shore Park), it's rinky dink. A very small place that we mostly use for pickup basketball, though I think there is some equipment and free weight stuff there. The whole building is the length of a condensed basketball court, so probably 70 feet, with maybe an additional 1500 square feet that isn't the hallway/office/bathrooms. There are some other gyms that seem to have the name "Lake Shore" in them (Google search), so take this explanation with a grain of salt. But if it's the one with address that's around 310 E. Chicago, yeah, rinky dink.

The Gold Coast FFC is pretty damn nice, and is an actual gym with an indoor small track and tons of equipment, plus a full-sized basketball court that's probably only a third of the overall area inside, if that.
The Lake Shore Park fitness center is part of the park right by school, so that address sounds right.

Now, to be clear, the gym NU students get discounted rates with is Gold Coast ffc, right? I've heard several people refer to LA fitness, so I'm starting to get confused lol

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

Post by glockov » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:19 pm

MT Cicero wrote:
carsondalywashere wrote:Can someone speak about the differences between the Fitness Formula Gold Coast Club and the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center? I see that when we pay for the gym membership we get use of both facilities. Is the Lake Shore Park Fitness Center some rinky dink crap, or is it a legit gym?
If it's the one I'm thinking of (directly north of the school in Lake Shore Park), it's rinky dink. A very small place that we mostly use for pickup basketball, though I think there is some equipment and free weight stuff there. The whole building is the length of a condensed basketball court, so probably 70 feet, with maybe an additional 1500 square feet that isn't the hallway/office/bathrooms. There are some other gyms that seem to have the name "Lake Shore" in them (Google search), so take this explanation with a grain of salt. But if it's the one with address that's around 310 E. Chicago, yeah, rinky dink.

The Gold Coast FFC is pretty damn nice, and is an actual gym with an indoor small track and tons of equipment, plus a full-sized basketball court that's probably only a third of the overall area inside, if that.
Can you comment on the bumper plate /lifting platform situation at ffc? Trying to avoid those crossfit prices.

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

Post by carsondalywashere » Tue Jul 18, 2017 2:52 pm

Gym update:

We can either use LA fitness (any location) through May 1st, 2018 or FFC.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


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