NYU 1L taking questions

[zpops]

I'm a 1L at NYU, and I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone might have about the school, or law school in general.  I'm guessing most people are already decided, but in case you haven't, maybe I can help you figure out why NYU is or isn't right for you.

P.S.  If you came to admitted students day, PLEASE don't judge the school based on the class they make you sit in on.  I have no idea why they decided to do all the admit days when we have Admin Law, since most people find the class HORRIBLY boring.  Other classes are better, I promise. 

[akattorney]

How did you prepare for class and tests?  What advice do you have for 0Ls concerning that?

[Glannon]

?

[zpops]

Aka - If you mean prepping before getting to school, it's really not that useful.  I did the 6 month planet law school plan, and felt like it was a waste.  If you read a study aid before getting here, then you just end up covering stuff you'll never actually get to in class.  You'll also have to "unlearn" anything that the study aid explains in a different way than your prof.
 
I also feel that LEEWS is utterly worthless, and can even hurt you.  All my friends that took it agree that it is 100% wrong about everything that isn't just common sense.  In the real world, exams can be heavily case focused (my torts exam was literally nothing but strings of cases w/ slightly modified facts).  Also, you can have to cite cases on the exam, and following LEEWS will make you ignore the cases in your exam prep which is a big mistake.

If you want to know about preparing for class on a day to day basis, I just read the cases, and write out brief summaries.  If I'm in a class with cold calling and serious fact recitals, then I'll write more detailed briefs, but for the most part my briefs are under half a page.  I know some people that write out briefs as long as the cases, and I also know people who don't brief at all.  One thing that I didn't realize until basically the end of my Fall semester was that the note cases (little blurbs after the main cases) are really important to some professors, so you can't just skip or skim them.  My torts prof used them heavily on the exam.

If you do class prep the right way, then it should also be exam prep.  You should definitely write your own outline, based on your class notes/briefs, old student outlines, and commercial outlines (I'm using the commercial outlines much less this semester than in the fall).  And summarizing every case from the whole semester in your outline is a good idea (I didn't do this at all last semester, and it was a mistake on the exams).

Booyakasha

Definitely Mercer for a 2 bedroom.  I have a 1 bedroom in Dag (it's actually the same as the 2 bedroom apartments, but the second bedroom is a furnished living room) and I can't imagine living in half my apartment.  The alternate layouts for 2 bedrooms that I've seen are also small, and while my friends get by in them, all Dag apartments but 1 bedrooms and studios are really cramped.  But the convenience of Dag is really phenomenal.  You can't beat waking up 5 minutes before class and being on time.  Also, the elevators in both buildings suck, but the Mercer ones suck more.

[spanishpolice]

Is the job you take the summer before attending law school important with regards to getting a job 1L?  Thanks.

[zpops]

I'm inclined to say it doesn't matter at all, unless you're going for one of th eultra rare public interest jobs that pays its workers.  But I'm working as a research assistant for a couple of profs this summer, so I didn't go through the real 1L summer job search.

[4DClaw]

Does it annoy you when people confuse your great school with NYLS? (To be fair, it's just a one-word difference).

[ishiki]

Does it annoy you when people confuse your great school with NYLS? (To be fair, it's just a one-word difference).

I can't imagine people do that very often... most people haven't even heard of NYLS, and everyone's heard of NYU.

[zpops]

I've never had someone confuse us with NYLS.  The only people I know that have even heard of NYLS know enough to never make that mistake.  And I'm from north jersey. . .  One thing that did annoy me was having to tell people that know nothing about law school that I turned down money at CLS and a full scholarship + stipend at GTown to go to NYU (w/ the same money as CLS) to make them appreciate how good NYU is.

The health services are very good, but don't drop your parent's insurance if it's free coverage.  The NYU health center is nothing like a typical college health center.  It's staffed by real doctors and plenty of specialists.  It also looks like a real doctor's office. 

[Slow Blues]

Do you have a 1L job lined up?