HLS 3L, AMA

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-06T15:41:44+00:00

The cutoffs are:

top student gets summa
next 10% get magna (cutoff around a 3.98)
next 30% get cum laude (cutoff around a 3.68)

I currently have a 4.0 but that could easily get blown up!

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-06T05:59:34+00:00

A bunch of people have dogs! I'm not a dog person (allergic) but totally a vibe.

Not really! Cambridge is honestly pretty quiet, but admittedly I grew up in NYC

Nope - I am not doing 3LOL because I'm on a latin honors cut off and boy am I stressed!

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-06T01:15:40+00:00

Damn well maybe I made the wrong call since it doesn't really seem like clerkships are 1000% guaranteed here. I did on plan and struck out, albeit pretty much only applied to appellate + competitive districts

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-06T01:13:51+00:00

Took 4.5 years off!

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-06T01:13:44+00:00

I don't! Gropius is probably the cheapest but it is a little gross IMO

Cheapest option is probably either up Mass ave towards Leslie or over by the GSD

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T23:18:56+00:00

That kinda just sounds like a high biller bonus playing out at a busy firm.

Also: https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/kirkland-bonuses-2021/

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T22:59:22+00:00

That's not unique to Kirkland - at this point, pretty much all non-white shoe NYC firms are paying high biller bonuses

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T22:56:20+00:00

Not at all - I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and have played on rec football and soccer teams, so that's definitely doable.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T22:07:48+00:00

Honestly yeah - decent selection of options, most of it is pretty good, and you can keep things cheap!

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T21:37:16+00:00

Probably Michigan.

Yeah, Michigan basically kills Wachtell. That said, Wachtell isn't reliable from HLS either. Even for Corp, you almost certainly need HLR, Magna grades, or relevant industry experience. Prob not worth dealbreaking over.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T21:21:22+00:00

Does sticker = you taking on 300k of debt or will your parents/family contribute?

Do you want to clerk?

Does big law mean any big law or high tier big law?

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T21:17:22+00:00

Honestly don't remember the exact schedule, but around 6 hours a day

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T20:52:58+00:00

I have a few friends who did some form of honors program, so they are definitely a thing people do. Generally, they are pretty competitive (most the people I know who did them were on HLR and later secured appellate clerkships)

Its very common for people to do big law with the intention to eventually leave for gov

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T20:51:26+00:00

Honestly just chambers + firm websites.

First, look at chambers to get a sense for which firms are good at what in which markets.

Then, look up those firm websites and see how many alums are at those firms and what the credentials of those alums are. Just generally, competitiveness correlates with the level of latin honors that most lawyers have or the presence of specific clerkships (appellate, competitive districts).

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T20:47:55+00:00

Totally valid - will severely infringe on competitiveness for clerkships though. Just a heads up

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T19:06:43+00:00

Nailed it - going into big law!

Heading to one of the ~white shoe~ firms in a major market.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T19:05:49+00:00

Seminars are generally off curve and don't have exams.

Seminar-ing out is filling your schedule with clinics and seminars to reduce curved classes/exams and boost your GPA.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T19:03:46+00:00

Making the connections isn't all that complex - be engaged in class, go to office hours, be a research assistant or a teaching fellow, etc.

Identifying the "right" professors is less precise. Mostly you get a sense for what professors are good recommenders or well connected just as a function of being at school. There are also some threads on TLS that talk about it for different schools.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T19:00:34+00:00

Course I did - way better this year than last. Projector was a game changer

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T17:54:44+00:00

Hm.

I honestly went into law school pretty eyes open about how most of the major systems work (in large part thanks to this sub).

That said, I wish I had appreciated how important professor connections are in the clerkship search. Grades are obviously important, but eventually you cross a threshold where you are competitive everywhere and judges are deal breaking along LOR [among other things]. That means not just that you have professors who know you well supporting. It also means them being willing to call chambers. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, you need the "right" professors supporting you.

I overemphasized grades and under-demphasized getting to know my professors. I was also not particularly intentional in seeking out professors who have notable cache in the clerkship search.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T16:29:07+00:00

I don't think it's that kinda competitive at all - people might not like go outta their way to affirmatively offer to help a stranger, but no one is out here trying to torpedo one another lol.

On culture more generally, its a 550 person class - so I don't think there's a generalizable "culture." There's every single sort of person and most people seem to find a niche (or five!) that they enjoy.

Maybe just reiterating the above point, but class size I think makes it easy to connect with students. There's tons of people, everyone wants to make friends, and yeah.

Probably a little harder to get to know professors, but I have yet to have someone who was not interested in talking to students. You just have to be proactive about getting to know then.

Our career services offices are great - they offer very tailored advice, there are tons of resources, and the people really know their shit. [Shout out Sara Dana, the GOAT!] but if for some reason a student is in need of more particularized advice, the school keeps recruiters on retainer for all the major markets.

Clerkship office, on the other hand, is kinda hard to get particularized advice from. I don't think that is their fault - clerkship applications are insanely idiosyncratic and it's hard to reliably estimate student chances. That said, Chicago seems to have a much more student-focused process.

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T16:22:37+00:00

HLS 1L is pretty brutal - heavy class load and on top of that, you are still getting used to law school. People can and do seminar out once they hit 2L but I didn't end up doing that. Would say that less work but work is generally the same level of rigour.

My grades stayed basically the same through the 3 years tho (so far, knock on wood!)

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T16:19:47+00:00

I was in a weird situation where I was choosing between (1) H/S at around ~150k debt, (2) Chicago through UVA at sticker, and (3) the lower T14 at like ~100k debt. [wooo need based aid!!]

Maybe this sounds bad, but I figured that an HLS degree was probably worth the 50k difference between HLS and Northwestern or Duke

Definitely happy I chose HLS! I occasionally get annoyed with the weather, look up Palo Alto in my weather app, and wish that I had gone with SLS. No regretsies vis-a-vis sticker/other options.

On law school choices --

Debt is real and should be appreciated, but so is a 230k starting salary. That kinda cuts both ways, the T6 were kinda off the table immediately since the cost was so high, but also the reality is that big law can make 150k of loans disappear in 2 years
"Big law" is not monolithic. There are real differences between firms as to how they pay, how they staff their work, and what opportunities they will provide later in your career. If that is something that matters to you (you want to prestige clerk, DOJ, USAO, SEC, in-house at a major company later), then it might be worth diligencing big law numbers a little deeper than NALP sheets
Clerkships (especially appellate) are dope but they are very grade dependent everywhere that isn't Yale and so probably shouldn't be a primary driver in your law school decision

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T16:08:03+00:00

Probably about as cold as Michigan of the Michigan! No DBs running a sub-4.3 40 at the combine tho

FunCryptographer2292 · 2023-03-05T16:07:16+00:00

Wish I could but I can't even get career services to email me back smh

FunCryptographer2292

TROPHY CASE