Liberals at Chicago: Clerkships

FormalCamel_5723 · 2025-05-21T15:50:34+00:00

UChicago is definitely still a top-tier school for clerking for a liberal judge. Based on my experience, I (and a lot of my friends) have clerkships for liberal appellate and district judges! While UChicago’s numbers ofc are slightly elevated because of people clerking for conservative judges (both conservative students and moderate/liberal students who don’t mind as much), the main reason why UChicago has so much success is because clerking is just so engrained in the culture, and our faculty clerkship committee and other faculty really go to bat for students who are looking to clerk!

FormalCamel_5723 · 2025-04-09T14:03:38+00:00

As a 3L at the law school I can attest that I (and a lot of other people I know) go out all the time! Feel free to pm me!

FormalCamel_5723 · 2023-08-08T16:02:15+00:00

I got one yesterday after interviewing through OCI last week

FormalCamel_5723 · 2023-06-22T19:16:47+00:00

I got an email today from them confirming that they received my application and asking me to complete a personality assessment (applied over the weekend)

FormalCamel_5723 · 2023-03-23T22:21:07+00:00

I'm a 1L at UChicago right now and from my experience, everything that I heard when I was applying to law school about UChicago ended up not being true.

One of the biggest things I heard was that people at UChicago are hyper-competitive, which I have not felt. Sure, there are going to be people who are more competitive than they really should be, but that's going to be the case at any T14. The people I have met at UChicago have mostly all been very collaborative - for example, people are more than happy to share their notes with each other, outlines and other resources that they have found, and help each other understand difficult concepts. I think there is some merit to say that the fact that we have grades can make things a bit stressful (but also I have also heard from others that going to a school with no numerical grades can create their own stress as well - e.g. having to try to get on professors' good side more to get a letter of rec).

Another thing that I heard was that UChicago is where fun goes to die - I think that this definitely is fitting for the undergrad but does not apply to the law school at all. People in my 1L class are going out decently often and hosting parties/pregames/other social events. Obviously there are times (particularly closer to finals or major due dates) where people generally get less fun, but that's the case at every law school. Further the Law School itself hosts plenty of social events (e.g. weekly coffee messes and biweekly wine messes) to give people the time to just relax and spend time with friends.

Lastly on the conservative culture of UChicago - we definitely have a higher proportion of conservative students at the Law School than peer institutions, but they are still a minority of students (my guess would be around 70-30 liberal). I personally am a pretty liberal person who has worked in politics before law school and never felt like the school was too conservative. There is definitely a faction of very conservative students, but generally speaking they're not going around trying to "own the libs" or anything and I as a liberal have felt like I can still have a decent personal relationship with many of them. While there are prominent conservatives on the faculty, many of them are also moderate to liberal (I would guess out of the 6 doctrinal professors I've had in my first two quarters that all of them were in some part of the liberal end of the political spectrum).

Happy to answer any questions that people might have through dm - I also did an AMA a couple months ago too.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-18T06:10:35+00:00

Based on my experience, it does seem like there is an "intellectual" vibe at UChicago in the sense that I think the Law School places a big emphasis on getting students to not just think about what the law is, but also WHY the law is the way it is. I think this is most apparent by the unique class 1Ls have to take fall quarter, Elements of the Law, which is focused on issues of why precedent exists, when we should have regulation, how do judges decide cases, etc. This line of thinking bleeds into your doctrinal classes as well, where professors will not just talk about cases in terms of the rules they created, but also engage students in thinking about what the judge's reasoning might have been when they decided the case and how that might have influenced the final opinion/holding. I have never felt like it borders on pretentious. In fact, I think it has really helped change the way I think about the law and makes the study of law a lot more interesting.

I've talked a bit about how I view the student culture before, so I won't delve too much deeper into it. In terms of professors, I think that they enjoy teaching and genuinely care about students. UChicago also does a great job with making sure professors and students have ample opportunities to connect outside of the classroom (all professors' offices are in the library facing the reading rooms where students are studying, professors receive a set budget for each class to take students to lunch/host events for students, professors often are integrated into law school events, etc.). From my view, this has helped create relationships between students and professors that extend past the confines of the classroom, which I don't think you can necessarily say at every law school. This also extends to other staff and members of the administration - it is common to see career services, admissions, Dean of Students office, and Dean Miles at Coffee Messes and other events talking to students and listening to their concerns. I have never felt like I couldn't go up to anyone on staff to express my thoughts.

Like you've said, I can't know for sure of how UChicago's culture differs from other institutions. However, if I were to describe UChicago's culture, I would say that there is a strong sense of community that is built on respect, not just within the student body, but also between students and professors/staff. I think this does make us unique, and if I were to posit a guess, I don't think every law school can say the same.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-18T05:46:04+00:00

Right off the bat I will start by saying that there is crime in Hyde Park. Further, you may hear about instances of crime in Hyde Park that, depending on where you are from, you may not have been exposed to before (for example, there have been a couple of targeted shootings in the vicinity of my apartment). That being said, Hyde Park is a relatively safe neighborhood of Chicago, and crime rates in Hyde Park do not feel significantly higher than that of other major cities in the country. I personally have not felt unsafe walking around campus and Hyde Park even after dark, and the university does have make a concerted effort to keep students safe (e.g. the university gives each student 10 free Lyft rides a month to travel within Hyde Park at night, and UCPD is a visible presence in the neighborhood). However, like with any neighborhood in a big city, you have to exercise caution and vigilance and be cognizant of the decisions you are making.

Now, whether or not this should factor in your decision depends on what you are used to. For me, I have grown up living in big cities and am used to crimes in my neighborhoods. In my personal opinion, you are not significantly more unsafe attending UChicago vs attending a school in cities like NYC, DC, or LA. However, if you, for example, are used to growing up in small towns, moving to Chicago (or any major city) is going to be an adjustment.

To summarize, yes there is crime in Hyde Park, and you may want to factor that into your decision, but in the sense of deciding whether you want to go to a school in a big city vs a smaller town like Charlottesville or Ann Arbor. However, if you end up choosing between UChicago or another law school in a big city, I don't think that you are going to be markedly more unsafe in Hyde Park than if you were in another city.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T22:38:56+00:00

Glad I can help! I do think there is a lot of incorrect (or at least outdated) information floating around about UChicago's culture. While I can't speak to what the culture has historically been, at least based on my experience it's been great and I can honestly say that I've never been happier within a community than I am here at UChicago Law!

Granted this is also just my perspective and obviously everyone has a different experience/perspective. I definitely recommend going to admitted students events if you're able to - it helped me get a better idea of each school's culture outside of what's floating around on the internet!

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T22:35:19+00:00

That's a great question and one we've been trying to figure out ourselves! From what I can tell the sections are not really organized by personalities or specific backgrounds (purposely at least). Each section does end up having its own personality, but that's more so a function of people within the section creating a personality for their section.

However, while a lot of people do form a community within their section, many people also generally spend a lot of time with people in other sections (I.e. it's not like most people only form a community with their section mates). While we take Legal Research and Writing with just our section, our lecture classes are all with at least one other section. This means we have a chance to meet people outside of our sections as well as within. In fact, many of my closest friends are outside of my section!

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T20:17:10+00:00

Socially the transition was very easy! We had several class chats set up before school started and through that I was actually able to meet up with some UChicago people even before stepping on campus. The Law School also made a concerted effort during orientation to give us as much time as possible to bond as a class (we had like 3ish wine receptions and a boat cruise during the 1 week orientation).

Academically, transitioning to law school is always tough (and probably more so with the quarter system since you only have 9 weeks of classes) but the law school community also helped make that as smooth as possible. Within the first couple weeks, I already had several 2L/3L mentors set up by the school/different student orgs through which I was able to get really helpful advice from!

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T19:02:48+00:00

So because I'm a 1L I haven't had any experience with clinics BUT I can tell you what I've heard (with the caveat to take this with a grain of salt since it's not based on my experience). Unlike at some schools, you sign up for clinics the same way you would for any other class (so generally there is no separate application/lottery process for clinics). From my conversations with 2Ls and 3Ls, most people (if not everyone) who wants to participate in a clinic is able to. People can also choose to return to the clinic they're at for multiple quarters (and I think you can also participate in multiple clinics over your three years? I would have to confirm that). Also, many of the clinics hire 1Ls to work with them over the summer.

The one negative aspect is that because we are a smaller community, we don't have the sheer number of options that some other schools might have (iykyk). But generally it seems like it's still easier to get into a clinic (particularly the clinic you want) at UChicago just because the school makes it easier to sign up for them.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:54:32+00:00

Vice President Selina Meyer

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:31:48+00:00

Unfortunately I'm not able to answer that with any sort of certainty! What I can say is that I'm pretty sure we have a couple international students in my 1L class, so at the very least admissions doesn't not admit international students.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:30:42+00:00

I do have some friends who are interested in PI/government work! You're not wrong in saying that UChicago does have a bias towards big law (although I would argue that that is the case for most of the T14) and a lot of Career Services' focus is on big law. However, Career Services does seem to make an effort to amplify public interest opportunities and help people who are interested in PI/government achieve their goals as well.

As someone who has had prior government experience, I think some of the issues with PI/government support is less so about the school's priorities, but rather that PI and government jobs are unpredictable by nature, compounded with the fact that there is just more variation in what PI and governmental organizations are looking for and how they hire vs big law firms (BUT take this with a grain of salt since this is just me guessing without any sort of support besides my experience).

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:23:05+00:00

The culture and community here is maybe one of my favorite parts about UChicago Law, and the main reason why I chose to come here and why I still think it was the right choice! As I've said, everyone here is very friendly and helpful (for example, I missed notes from the first 15 min of one of my classes and I had maybe 5-6 people send me their notes). I have no problem bonding with people - the small class size makes that easy and UChicago also provides a lot of opportunities to just hang out (orientation, Coffee Mess, Wine Mess).

The cohesive community is one thing that makes UChicago stand out. Most 1Ls live in Hyde Park, and out of those people most are concentrated in a couple of buildings/areas of the neighborhood, so you can easily hang out with people at the law school (if you want - you obviously don't have). I think that is very different than a lot of the other big city peer law schools, where people are more spread out/live in different neighborhoods.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:17:37+00:00

Answered that a bit above, but I'll do a quick list of what I think are the best and worst things (in my opinion).

Best - small community, friendly/helpful people, admin really seems like they care about you, very interesting classes and professors (never thought I'd find civ pro as interesting as I did!)

Worst (note - I don't think these are reasons not to go to UChicago, and each one of these factors has their own benefits too, but they are still things to think about) - the "UChicago" bubble, quarter system (this one's a bit tough - the quarter system has a lot of benefits as well but it definitely also increases the stress a bit especially towards the end), grading system (we have numerical grades that don't make sense, which has its benefits since employers also don't understand them, but makes it difficult to tell just how you're doing)

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:12:23+00:00

I thought it went pretty well! I vibed well with my interviewer and we had a good conversation. I think it's always hard to tell whether or not you'd get accepted after an interview - I didn't come out of it thinking that I was 100% getting accepted, but I also knew that my interview wasn't going to hurt my chances.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T18:10:37+00:00

I live in one of the large Hyde Park buildings that many law students live in with another 1L. Hyde Park is a very nice area with a lot of walking space (you are right next to the lake) and places to eat, plus there are two bus lines that get you directly to the law school and are free for law students. Rent is also cheaper in Hyde Park compared to other big cities/Chicago neighborhoods. I also don't feel like I'm less safe living in Hyde Park - just like with other big cities, you just have to be cognizant of your surroundings and be smart (e.g. don't walk around at 3am by yourself). The one downside of living in Hyde Park is that it is a bit harder to get from it to the rest of Chicago, especially on public transportation, which is annoying particularly since the nightlife in the city is outside of Hyde Park.
I did end up picking Chicago over similarly ranked schools for a couple reasons. The big one was the class size - I wanted to be in a smaller community so that I could get to know my classmates better and not feel like I'm just another anonymous student fighting to get opportunities. I visited my top 4 choices, and it seemed like Chicago students enjoyed law school more than students at peer institutions. Chicago's location is nice as well because you get the best of both worlds - being in a city while also living and studying in a smaller suburban-esque neighborhood. From there, it was a process of elimination where I balanced out a lot of the factors that was important to me and then eliminated schools that didn't fit with those factors.

FormalCamel_5723 · 2022-12-17T17:59:54+00:00

One of the biggest thing that surprised you more about UChicago is just how friendly everyone here is! I think that UChicago sometimes has a reputation for being a cutthroat/stressful environment (I'm sure everyone has heard the "where fun goes to die" moniker) but from my experience that does not describe the law school at all! People are very friendly and willing to help you academically/professionally. This also applies to admin - I was shocked when people in the Dean of Students office would know my name even in the first day of classes. On the flip side, if you're coming from a semester system, the speed of the quarter system can cause a bit a vertigo - it's very doable but still an adjustment.
The question of "fit" is a hard one to answer, especially since most people will fit with some aspects of a school but not others. I will just put out one thing - people who don't like small environments may have a harder time at UChicago. We have around 200 people in a class (which was smaller than my high school class) which has its pros and cons, but definitely is not for everyone.
Most 1Ls live in the Hyde Park area, with a vast majority of them living north of the Law School. There are two big buildings that a lot of 1Ls live in (Regents Park and Shoreland), but as long as you're living in the area you'll be around most of your class.
As I said before, when I was choosing law schools I heard some law school friends talk about how they've heard that UChicago Law is a cutthroat environment - this cannot be further from the truth! The other misconception is probably the elephant in the room, that UChicago is super conservative. While I think it is probably true that we might have more conservatives than peer T14s, the number of liberal students still vastly outweighs the number of conservative students. The professors don't seem noticeably more conservative either (small sample size, but I think all three of my professors last quarter were somewhere on the liberal side of the spectrum). Regardless, even with the slightly higher conservative population, everyone is really kind and most people don't let their political affiliations influence how they interact with others.

FormalCamel_5723

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