University of Chicago 1L taking questions

[clairel]

soooo i'm bored and thought i'd answer any questions about the admissions process or my experience at U of C or chicago in general (keep in mind, it's only been two weeks in class...).

also, random fact, i swear i saw kevin from the 2nd season of the apprentice by the quad today...it's sad that i was starstruck!

[theprofessor]

1) What other schools were you considering, and why did you decide on Chicago?
2) Has it lived up to your expectations so far?
3) How would you describe the social environment?

[Resident CLS Troll]

Can you yell at Dorian for choosing your school over ours?  Thanks.

[clairel]

1) What other schools were you considering, and why did you decide on Chicago?
2) Has it lived up to your expectations so far?
3) How would you describe the social environment?

1) you can check my lsn profile, but basically i had decent numbers; still i was surprised to get into chicago (my gpa was fine, but my lsat was a tad low). after i got waitlisted at stanford and boalt, i gave up on staying in california and focused on going to a school with a good reputation, academic experience, and ranking...while it wasn't my top criteria and i think pretty much anywhere in the t-14 has a basically national reach, chicago just had such a good reputation with everyone i talked to in california (not to mention the fact that 99% of their grads are employed at graduation). i really enjoyed admitted students weekend too; despite the stereotype, i found all the students to be well-rounded, not antisocial, and a lot of them had extra activities besides school.

2) i'm really enjoying it so far...my professors this quarter are all interesting and (believe it or not), i'm actually enjoying the socratic method; i was called on in two of my first classes, but the professors generally are really nice. the ones who really punish you in questioning do it to everyone else, so it's not too embarassing. the reading isn't as bad as i had anticipated; maybe 20-30 pages a night (but you need to brief all the cases so it can get tiring in classes like torts where you have 10 pages and a case on every page).

3) the social life so far is actually kind of insane; maybe because people are still making friends, groups have been going out virtually every night. a bunch of class of 2009 kids made a group on facebook, so we've all been able to meet both before school started and nights during the week. every thursday, a bunch of uchicago people go to a different bar in chicago; last week, there were probably 100 law students at the bar in question. then there's the wine mess every friday; as you may see during admitted students weekend, there are plenty of opportunities to go out to bars or just get plied with alcohol at the school.

i'm off to the bar night but i can answer more questions later. hope this helps!

[clairel]

Can you yell at Dorian for choosing your school over ours?  Thanks.

i love dorian...a bunch of us went to a blues club and i got to dance with him. clearly, him choosing chicago is a point in our favor.

[MindTheGap76]

Have I met you yet?

Also, which blues club?

[Richard B. Riddick]

What do you wish you knew about UChicago before starting classes there?

[clairel]

Have I met you yet?

Also, which blues club?

checkerboard lounge...the cover there sucks but the bands are awesome!

i don't know if we've met; i've been to the two bar reviews and wine messes but regardless, it appears we will be the resident uchicago experts for the near future. KICK ASS!

[MindTheGap76]

Have I met you yet?

Also, which blues club?

checkerboard lounge...the cover there sucks but the bands are awesome!

i don't know if we've met; i've been to the two bar reviews and wine messes but regardless, it appears we will be the resident uchicago experts for the near future. KICK ASS!

Oh really, they opened that last year, but I haven't been by yet. I really like checking out the live music around here, so I'll have to go sometime.

I've been to both bar reviews and wine messes, though I was only at the first bar review for like 45 minutes because I had to go pick my GF up from the airport. I should be at the next bar review, though I may show up late (my flight gets in from DC at 8:00 on Thursday).

[clairel]

What do you wish you knew about UChicago before starting classes there?

everyone uses that "where fun goes to die" business and i was pretty sure that i was going to lose all semblance of a social life here....but on the contrary, i think i'm actually more social now than i was in undergrad. from what i've heard (and mindthegap can correct me here), spring quarter 1L year is horrible because of a massive legal brief you have to write, but the rest of the time is, while not incredibly easy, more laidback than you'd expect. i know it has been for me...i expected to be cracking the books for hours each day, and while that may be true during exams, so far i've probably only been doing work for an hour or two each night (probably more on the weekends) both with reading and briefing all my cases. also, the socratic method isn't nearly as scary as everyone thinks it will be; i got called on in the first torts and elements of the law classes (and later, i was called on AGAIN in torts and property) and it wasn't nearly as scary as i had assumed it would be. one professor was incredibly nice; he questioned me for a good 10 minutes but was always commending my good points (while politely tearing my argument apart). even the tougher professors aren't bad; my torts prof was pretty hard on me, but he is to everyone, so it's not embarassing if you get stuck or confused.

these points are probably true at a lot of other schools besides chicago, but the transition to law school was much smoother and more fun than i expected. and any stereotypes about cutthroat students and antisocial nerds (well, we're probably all nerds but at least we seem to go out a lot!) here have, in my experience, been completely false.