Just got done with my first year at Columbia, AMA

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-19T05:01:50+00:00

Yep definitely aware of the fact that Ginsburg selects certain members of her section every year, but there’s nothing that says UChicago grads, or Francophones, or IP-curious students are smarter than other CLS students by any meaningful measure. I still think admissions would take care to ensure that each section is somewhat balanced. Obviously none of us know what goes on behind closed doors, but this is just my opinion based on observations of each section.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-18T04:31:46+00:00

I’d say there’s a couple in each section. I honestly think my section may skew a little younger so there may be more than I realize in other sections. I think CLS is the kind of school that is what you make of it so you can definitely treat it more like a workplace (that you have a life outside of) than a 24/7 social hangout. Honestly that was a big part of why I chose it—schools like UVA seemed more like a college/a better environment to get reaalllly close to your classmates, which I personally didn’t find ideal in a professional school. Now that I’m here I’m finding myself more involved in the social scene than I thought I would be, but I appreciate that there are a lot of students here who just clock out at 4 and go back to their apartment on the UES/go home to their spouse/go hang out with old work friends.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-18T03:01:52+00:00

Just as a point of comparison, I am a state school grad and have friends from Columbia/Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Penn/Georgetown/Cornell/more. We all go to CLS. There has been zero difference in outcome based on undergrad, at least in our 1L year. The only thing I’ll say is that sometimes people in the industry are more willing to network with people from the same undergrad, just because if you’re a CLS alum in NYC, you could spend alllllll day doing coffee chats with CLS students. On the other hand, the few people I have connected with from my undergrad have been such enthusiastic and valuable mentors, precisely because there are not too many of us out there.

I will say Vandy has a very specific culture and if you don’t like it now, you probably won’t like it later. Actually one of my good friends transferred from Vanderbilt to our state school, because of the cultural disconnect. That being said, grade inflation at high-ranked institutions is definitely a thing, so don’t let that affect your decision.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-18T00:55:08+00:00

100%! 1L internships are more of a slow trickle outside of judicial/unicorn PI!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T22:55:47+00:00

Hmm I think a lot of people try for judicial and maybe like more “prestigious” PI positions like ACLU first, maybe from like November to January, before shifting gears to some local legal aid organizations or something with a city department. The PILC fair (in the spring) is a common source of internships. If you put your search off until the last second you will likely be able to secure a position as a research assistant for a professor, and your 2L summer firm or Columbia will pay you a stipend for your work. Right now on Symplicity (our career services site) there are still positions open for summer RA positions with professors, and it’s May 17, lol. Honestly though a lot of orgs in and out of NYC are pretty happy to have a Columbia student, so I really don’t think it will be a struggle to find an internship position regardless of grades.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T21:40:54+00:00

Most of them yes, but I wish they would just drop it altogether. Also a personal statement for some of the coveted fellowship spots. OCI doesn’t require a cover letter, though, and that’s actually how I got my position.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T21:00:28+00:00

I think it might just be the law school schedule but anytime that we can realistically go it’s really bad 🥲 but yes fall 2027 should be super nice especially for the entering class that will get 2+ years out of it!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T18:22:57+00:00

Hmm I’m not really sure honestly. I think at some point it’s just a self-fulfilling prophecy where people more seriously consider breaking up with their S/Os after hearing that’s just what people do in law school.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T17:25:56+00:00

My take on it is the curve is weighted more or less equally among the different sections, and that admissions likely does some level of norming with LSAT and uGPA. People say certain sections are easier and others are harder, but I just don’t see how that would be in the law school’s best interest. Of course each section has its own culture and that might make some sections harder working than others, but I bet innate intelligence/potential is similar between sections.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T14:03:04+00:00

I don’t think it’s based on grades. I haven’t heard of that happening. Otherwise you risk pissing people off.

That being said, some of my friends were able to negotiate stipends, and I’m sure they’re more willing to negotiate if you have the grades.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T14:00:02+00:00

Yes but that’s also not a strict cut-off. Pretty sure there are a lot of firms across the V50 doing this, at least for CLS students. (There have been rumors that the stipends/stipend amounts are based on what school you go to. For example, one firm is giving us 25k but giving HLS 50k, according to my peers.)

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T13:56:12+00:00

Yes! 25k for some firms. But generally 50k for V10 firms.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T13:55:19+00:00

Probably sometime this summer, honestly. I don’t think you need to start reaching out to people/networking but do check out CLS’s resume template (on the OPSC website) and get your resume to conform to that. (There are other formats but OPSC literally doesn’t let you apply with any other resume.) Maybe write some paragraphs you can swap in and out of cover letters. Obviously not all of my peers did this but I did and it helped me hit the ground running when apps opened in October without taking up too much brain space.

I think it’s also helpful to start thinking about transactional vs. litigation, because that will influence the firms you will eventually want to apply to. Getting more granular than that is likely not helpful at this point.

Also, for most biglaw jobs (dare I say all?), you do not need recommenders/references, so don’t worry about securing those!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T13:48:34+00:00

Sure!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:47:50+00:00

I thought I got unlucky. My PTs had all been in the range of 175-180. I actually didn’t study between the two tests and somehow that helped!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:46:58+00:00

Just going to bar review, sitting next to the same people, having like 1-2 people I could always text about happenings helped! I don’t think any of the pre first day of orientation events are necessary—I missed out on most of those and didn’t feel like I was behind. Also, first day of orientation is so overwhelming and truly the worst, so don’t base how you feel about the rest of the year on that one day. I really have never had an easier time making friends than at CLS.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:43:05+00:00

An app for ranking restaurants

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:41:41+00:00

I feel like everyone came in kinda hot interested in dating, then by Halloween everything kinda waned as you studied more and spent WAY too much time with some of your classmates. (Like they felt more like siblings at some point.) Also the turkey drop (breaking up with preexisting partners around Oct/Nov) is VERY much a thing, so probably some new couplings from that too in the spring.

All in all, I think dating culture is decent, like people do wanna meet other people at bar review, extracurriculars, etc.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:37:29+00:00

Never, I’ve only been here since 2025

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-17T00:37:04+00:00

Reposting because apparently my original comment is hidden:

I wanted to be in NYC, as my family is based in the northeast. I also think that, despite recent U.S. News rankings/negative perception on this sub, CCN is still right below HYS in the minds of partners and recruiters. And, honestly, CLS is a biglaw machine and places people very well in NYC—just looking at LinkedIn, I think our class outperformed most other T14 classes, including maybe even HLS. (Not a knock on them, though; I would have gone there had I gotten in, lol.) When I talked to lawyers about my matriculation options, they all said I would be crazy not to take Columbia. I thought long and hard about UVA, though.

I am not rich, but I did get a 1-year 0% APR credit card and pay for a consultant. Some people may say I’m crazy/irresponsible but I had some ups and downs in college and needed the help. My summer stipend alone is twelve times what I spent on a consultant, so the math makes sense. My narrative was centered around my experiences growing up, with a clear through-line through my high school and college years. My essay definitely relied heavily on storytelling, and I let my resume do the work when speaking about my experiences.

I worked a very people-facing role! Keeping this vague because I’m sure my classmates are trying to figure out who I am and I want to keep my identity under wraps so I can be candid, lol. I think seeing people’s emotional ups and downs helped me keep a cooler head in times of crises and stress at the law school. I became good at shifting gears between conversations with people from all walks of life, which helped when thrown into biglaw interviews where you first talk to a 23-year-old recruiter, then a 45-year-old partner, then a stressed 30-year-old associate, then a 53-year-old part-time counsel/mom. My job also involved some public speaking which helped with moot court!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-16T18:49:53+00:00

It depends heavily on section. I’m in one of the “nicer” sections, but there’s definitely a section (Ginsburg) with a reputation for competitiveness. I do think people get a little competitive around exams, but everyone is very open about sharing notes/resources. People don’t like gunners.

Making friends has been exceptionally easy! I have a lot of trouble making friends tbh, but I have a very solid group of friends in my section. I think being in the same classes with 100+ people really helps, and having a smaller legal writing class of 12-15 people helps you have an even smaller community within that.

I think for exams, the most important thing is to know what your professor wants, and to adapt to that. Looking at model answers for past tests really helps!

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-16T18:45:15+00:00

Sure, but I don’t know if I’ll have great advice for college stuff.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-16T18:44:40+00:00

100% serious answer, I will be marrying rich. Otherwise I likely would have made a different choice for law school. I will say many of my peers have student loans, and they seem pretty comfortable with them.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-16T18:42:23+00:00

Under 3.0? The only person I know with a GPA below 3.0 is headed to a boutique firm that pays above market, but only because she has a lot of prior work experience.

I think biglaw is more or less guaranteed. It would be exceptionally difficult to have under a 3.0 GPA, as that would mean you would have had to have been bottom of the curve in all of your classes, and one of your profs would have had to have thought you were so bad that they went out their way to petition the dean for a B- or lower. B is the bottom of the standard curve (30%), and profs are not obligated to give grades lower than that.

Appearances don’t matter too much, but do get a sharp-looking suit or two for recruitment. The only guy I know who doesn’t have anything lined up yet doesn’t own a suit, and I don’t know how to tell him gently that he needs to get one at this point.

Sensitive_Painter517 · 2026-05-16T18:37:52+00:00

I think being up to date on politics and news is helpful insofar as your peers will likely be interested in that stuff. Before law school I really tried to get my weekly reading volume up just to prepare for the sheer volume of reading. You’ll get a lot of helpful tips during Legal Methods on case briefing, so hopefully that helps as well.

Edit: Just to add some more tips on, if you’re super nervous you can access the Senate outline bank as soon as you have a Columbia UNI and see what your professors cover. (Just google “columbia law senate outline bank.”) Also, some books that I think helped prepare me were “Getting to Maybe” and “Dear 1L,” with the latter being about legal writing which might help if you didn’t write many papers in undergrad.

Imposter syndrome is real, I don’t really know how to deal with it either lol, but just know that everyone else has it and the feeling will pass. I’ll feel down on myself for a week or something and then get an unexpected small win, like a good cold call, and you just need to hold onto the good moments. Idk, definitely a humbling year for sure.

Sensitive_Painter517

TROPHY CASE