UChicago Day in the Life Program

[dactylion]

So I went to one of UChicago's day in the life programs for admitted students. Note: DO NOT STAY IN THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE. I thought it would be convenient, since it's right on campus, but it was awful. I went with my boyfriend and it was $80 for a tiny room with a double bed plus $7 for internet. There was only one girl's shower and one toilet for two floors, which meant you had to wait in line to use the single shower. When we first got there, they sent us to a dirty room and we had to wait a while before they found us another one. The front desk people seemed pretty incompetent.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't hold that against the law school. I found both the classes I went to pretty interesting and dynamic, but I wasn't really impressed by the student hosts or the panel discussions. My student host, instead of answering any questions about the law school, made us go to this talk after we'd just been to two lectures. She kept insisting that it would be a really great talk, but when we got there, she spent the entire time on her laptop and didn't pay attention to any of it. The other student she was leading around played around on her iphone the whole time. In fact, my boyfriend was the only one paying attention and he isn't even going to law school. Afterwards, she talked for about fifteen minutes about the law school, and then said she had to get to class. One of the things she emphasized was how her extracurriculars organized many speakers and how so many people at UChicago attend speakers, unlike at NYU, where students are out having fun. She said how some people came to the speakers just for the free food but they were generally looked down upon for not being fully engaged in the lecture, which was funny to me because she didn't pay any attention either.

Basically, it just seemed like a pretty boring place. I find myself wanting NYU so badly even though UChicago's better at academia. I love everything about NYU and I just wonder if I'm going to regret my choice.

Anyone going through similar decision anxiety? Anyone have a good experience during their UChicago visit? 

[violaboy]

I'm going to be going to the U Chicago ASW, so we'll see how it goes. I really liked Penn during their ASW and am pretty set on them.

[nerfco]

Sounds like your host sucks. A few notes:

- I-House does suck. Don't stay there. It isn't a place you'd ever go as a student anyhow, aside from the musical being there. (But that's in the theater, not the tiny little rooms, obviously.)
- Your host is full of ****: Most of the people who go to lunches go for the free lunch. A few might care about some of the speakers, but they are a minority. Nobody looks down on you for just going for the lunch. also, mostly only 1Ls attend the talks because, well, they're boring.
- Which classes did you go to? Just curious.
- Chicago might do marginally better than NYU for academia, but if you loved NYU and didn't like Chicago, go to NYU. They're pretty comparable schools. (I visited NYU, UChicago, Penn, and ended up choosing UChicago. But they're all pretty comparable, and I have friends at NYU who like it there too.)

[nerfco]

I'm going to be going to the U Chicago ASW, so we'll see how it goes. I really liked Penn during their ASW and am pretty set on them.

Chicago's ASW is really fun. I have been to three, and enjoyed them all.

Although, Penn's ASW is really fun too. I've only been to one of those, but it was a lot of fun.

They're both awesome schools, and you can't really make a wrong choice. Just come here, meet some students and admits, and enjoy yourself.

[CJScalia]

Basically, it just seemed like a pretty boring place. I find myself wanting NYU so badly even though UChicago's better at academia. I love everything about NYU and I just wonder if I'm going to regret my choice.

The idea that academia is different at schools like NYU and Chicago is rather ridiculous. I'm a transfer student myself, and made a rather significant leap in rankings and I can assure you the difference in academic quality between law schools is nowhere near what people would like you to believe.

If you liked NYU better than Chicago, NYU is where you should go. Although I don't attend NYU, I live very near the law school and know tons of students there, appears to me they are all very happy about the choice they made. If you have any questions on being a law student in NYC in general, feel free to drop me a PM.

[Tofu]

I find myself wanting NYU so badly even though UChicago's better at academia. I love everything about NYU and I just wonder if I'm going to regret my choice.

Go to NYU haha

[dactylion]

By academia, I meant I wanted to do law teaching.

I mean I probably will go to NYU, but there's just so much out there insisting that if you want to do law teaching, you should go to HYS or Chicago.

[dactylion]

Oh and I went to Property with Lior Stra-something and Torts with Richard Epstein.

[nerfco]

Oh and I went to Property with Lior Stra-something and Torts with Richard Epstein.

Both good classes. Everyone loves Strahi, and Epstein is.. well, he's something.

Another reason for NYU: Epstein spends half his year there. (He spends fall semester at NYU, and then spring quarter at Chicago. He's officially an NYU prof now, although it seems like the move from Chicago to NYU was in name only, as he'd been spending fall semester at NYU for a few years now, I believe.)

For (good) academia, you will basically need to get law review, and a solid clerkship. To do this at either NYU or Chicago, you'll really have to bust your hump to do well. Go to where you will be happiest, as it'll be more conducive to working hard.

[CJScalia]

By academia, I meant I wanted to do law teaching.

Short answer; forget about it.
Long answer; get a 4.0 GPA at whatever law school you attend, start sucking up to faculty from first day of 1L.

I mean I probably will go to NYU, but there's just so much out there insisting that if you want to do law teaching, you should go to HYS or Chicago.

There is some truth to it, but in essence, the key to getting into the academic side of law is to just be absolutely stellar during your years at law school, which school you go to is secondary to that.