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I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

The vast majority of people will work in some government type job 1l summer. 1l SA are exceedingly rare and usually reserved for URMs exclusively. Some will work for a judge, others DA offices, or general federal agency X.

proteinshake wrote:I've heard people (not sure if they were reliable) recommend to write exams in accordance with the views of the professor. have you found it necessary to do this to get the best grade possible? do people just write what the professor wants to hear even if they disagree on an issue? or is it a non-issue?

If by "views" you mean political views, not my experience at all.

If by "views" you mean "views of what the law is," then yes. Similarly, if they have a certain way they want the test taken, or strategy, you'll need to do that.

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

HenryHankPalmer wrote:How well do Duke grads do in Texas? Is Texas well represented in the student body?

My career goals are to land a Federal clerkship followed by Dallas BigLaw. I've never lived outside of Texas, and while I love UT and SMU, I would appreciate a change of scenery for few years. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Duke, and its reputation and placement numbers make it very attractive. I also found the Durham/Chapel Hill area very charming.

Duke does really well in Texas. I know of non-Urm non-IP folks who landed 1L SAs in Texas. Albeit I'm sure they had great grades. But the point is that Duke sends tons of people every year to Texa, and Texas biglaw is more than within reach for someone with ties like yourself.

Very important question - not sure why I was just thinking about this but it popped in my mind and it became very important all the sudden - but what's the coffee situation like in the law school building?

flashdril wrote:

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

devilblue wrote: Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

+1

I wouldnt budget around counting on having one. But definitely hustle and be ready to go with mass mailing on Dec 1. You never know how grades will turn out.

Also, the idea that most firms are done with 1L hiring by the time grades drop is not necessarily true. Our grades do come out somewhat late (third week of January). But 1Ls can't even start job hunting until Dec 1 anyways.

SplitMyPants wrote:

devilblue wrote: Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

+1

I wouldnt budget around counting on having one. But definitely hustle and be ready to go with mass mailing on Dec 1. You never know how grades will turn out.

Also, the idea that most firms are done with 1L hiring by the time grades drop is not necessarily true. Our grades do come out somewhat late (third week of January). But 1Ls can't even start job hunting until Dec 1 anyways.

Yeah, sorry, I definitely didn't mean to imply only one non-URM person got an SA position. That was part of a longer thing I deleted about how this person basically applied everywhere and that's how much it required (i.e. what you said about hustling), but I didn't want to go in to that much depth.

Re: the grades, it's definitely true. If your resume is good enough to catch a firm's eye prior to getting your grades, you've got a better shot. But I know of people who got good grades (like, 1L SA grades) and didn't get a firm job and the firms (plural, in multiple markets) explicitly told them it's because the grades came too late. The larger point is, as you said, don't count on a 1L SA job.

joeytribbiani wrote:Very important question - not sure why I was just thinking about this but it popped in my mind and it became very important all the sudden - but what's the coffee situation like in the law school building?

There's a cafe here, but most people go across the street to the Public Policy School when they want coffee; it's way better. There's like a weird mini-Starbucks in the Fuqua cafeteria, but it's not like a full-service Starbucks.

Do you need a car in Durham, and how hard would it be to find an apartment this late in the game?

carsondalywashere wrote:Do you need a car in Durham, and how hard would it be to find an apartment this late in the game?

I got my 1l apartment in the end of july a few years ago. You will find a place. Also, cars are generally needed. There are a handful of places you could get by living without a car, but its much easier if you have a car.

grades?? wrote:

carsondalywashere wrote:Do you need a car in Durham, and how hard would it be to find an apartment this late in the game?

I got my 1l apartment in the end of july a few years ago. You will find a place. Also, cars are generally needed. There are a handful of places you could get by living without a car, but its much easier if you have a car.

Cool, good to know

Any insight into what the exam/grading breakdown is for most first year classes? I've heard that there are actually a decent amount of classes where the grading is not totally one classic issue-spotter

JustWannaGraduate wrote:Any insight into what the exam/grading breakdown is for most first year classes? I've heard that there are actually a decent amount of classes where the grading is not totally one classic issue-spotter

Totally professor dependent, but in my classes this year I had:

2 classes with a combination of multiple choice/true false (maybe 25% of the exam) and issue spotter questions.

1 class with pure issue spotter questions

3 classes with issue spotters (75-85%) and one policy-type question (15-25%)

I would say that the issue spotter(s) combined with one policy question is probably the most common form not only at duke but at most other schools as well.

JustWannaGraduate wrote:Any insight into what the exam/grading breakdown is for most first year classes? I've heard that there are actually a decent amount of classes where the grading is not totally one classic issue-spotter

In my experience, most of them were issue spotter. Of the 6 core classes, 5 of mine were totally based on 3 questions on the final. The last class was a circus: our grades were based on cold calls, daily quizzes, assignments, midterm, and the final.

I'm not necessarily even interested in doing it, but just curious about the Duke-Geneva Summer Institute. For those that take part in the it, what do they do with the rest of their summer? It seems ill-timed being smack-dab in the middle of the summer instead of right at the beginning or closer to the end.

joeytribbiani wrote:I'm not necessarily even interested in doing it, but just curious about the Duke-Geneva Summer Institute. For those that take part in the it, what do they do with the rest of their summer? It seems ill-timed being smack-dab in the middle of the summer instead of right at the beginning or closer to the end.

Didn't do it, but a lot of people involved worked abroad before and after, or worked kind of local public interest stuff where they're just happy for the help before, did something more after.

dumb q: so to make our payment, do we just take the current account balance and subtract the anticipated financial aid (both listed in Bursar), then pay that amount in DukePay?

Call the financial aid office. That is going to be a case by case thing. Generally, yes that's the way to do it, but for most people the anticipated aid should net the balance to zero. So you should only be paying if you've previously told them you want to take out less loans than tuition and to pay out of pocket.

devilblue wrote:Call the financial aid office. That is going to be a case by case thing. Generally, yes that's the way to do it, but for most people the anticipated aid should net the balance to zero. So you should only be paying if you've previously told them you want to take out less loans than tuition and to pay out of pocket.

yeah I planned on paying part of it out of pocket, so the numbers seems to be correct. thanks!

edit: just called and they confirmed that's the way to do it

devilblue wrote:

flashdril wrote:

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

Also chiming in to say 1L SAs are not common but are not exactly rare, either.

It also varies a lot depending on what you are aiming for. A 1L SA in NY or DC, versus a 1L SA in a secondary (or smaller) market where you have strong ties, are two very different things.

gta wrote:

devilblue wrote:

flashdril wrote:

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

Also chiming in to say 1L SAs are not common but are not exactly rare, either.

It also varies a lot depending on what you are aiming for. A 1L SA in NY or DC, versus a 1L SA in a secondary (or smaller) market where you have strong ties, are two very different things.

which one is easier?

proteinshake wrote:

gta wrote:

devilblue wrote:

flashdril wrote:

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

Also chiming in to say 1L SAs are not common but are not exactly rare, either.

It also varies a lot depending on what you are aiming for. A 1L SA in NY or DC, versus a 1L SA in a secondary (or smaller) market where you have strong ties, are two very different things.

which one is easier?

smaller market where you have connections are more likely to be wowed by good grades at *duke* rather than some local school.

that said those are the people who explicitly said I got the grades too late or they would have hired me.

proteinshake wrote:

gta wrote:

devilblue wrote:

flashdril wrote:

proteinshake wrote:I talked to someone at ASD and they said no one has a problem get a 1L summer job from Duke. would you agree with this? is there a certain type of job that most people get?

also for the poster above, I have a copy from ASD of each firm/clerkship the class of 2016 went to and there were a ton of people working and clerking in Texas.

Nobody has problems getting jobs. As someone else mentioned, SA positions are extremely rare although a lot of people interview for them. Our grades come out super late so even competitive kids have trouble getting SA positions unless they're diversity fellowships, URM, etc. I know one person landed an SA gig who is not a URM. Most firms have finished hiring by the time we get our fall grades.

The vast majority are govt, public interest. A fairly big chunk stay in Durham to work in-house for Duke, as RAs for professors, or they're entrepreneurship LLMs.

Just to make sure that nobody actually relies on the above bolded sentence, I'm throwing my two cents in to prove sample size disparity. I know at least 10.

Also chiming in to say 1L SAs are not common but are not exactly rare, either.

It also varies a lot depending on what you are aiming for. A 1L SA in NY or DC, versus a 1L SA in a secondary (or smaller) market where you have strong ties, are two very different things.

which one is easier?

If you have ties to a market that isn't really in the biglaw mix, the Duke name is going to carry considerable weight if you're trying to pick up an SA as a 1L. I got an SA at one of the top firms in my (small) home state for 1L summer and that was only possible because I had a T-14 law school on my resume. They didn't hire 1Ls from the flagship law school in the state, but they did take me and it was because of Duke.

This really isn't something to be worried about as an incoming 1L, but when you hit December and start looking around, don't hesitate to look to smaller markets. An unpaid gov job in DC or Raleigh will probably not help you at OCI any more than getting paid at a firm that starts at $95k back home, at least in my experience.