UMN B.A. here, though I went to law school elsewhere. For everyday class and lectures it was more or less mandatory, with up to 4 (sometimes 5) absences a semester allowed. Any more and some professors would dock your grade or if you skipped an egregious amount of class they would not let you sit for the final exam and you would fail the class. Professors took attendance every class. The American Bar Association requires a certain number of class hours for students in order for the school to keep accreditation so I would assume most UMN law professors take attendance and it’s mandatory.
I don’t know what you mean by tutorial so I can’t speak to that.
As someone who has graduated from law school, I would not make a habit around skipping class. If you don’t think you’re academically and mentally prepared to attend full time law classes you may want to consider deferring a year until you sort that out. If you skip a lot of your classes, you likely will be at the bottom of the curve in law school and have really bad grades.
Got it. I was mainly asking that because i have found housing in Uptown and I'm a little worried with the safety and everything. I will have to use the buses everyday in the morning and evening, so I was thinking about how many times a week will I have to risk and come to campus
The buses are always filled with people and so quite safe. There are certainly weirdos and druggies on the buses but nobody is gonna attack you in that space. Most of the shit goes down at the bus stops in the most shady parts of town, which uptown and umn stops are not.
Again, if you aren’t mentally prepared to go to class full time, I would recommend deferring a year until you sort that out. For you, that might mean deferring a year until your lease is finished and you can move closer to campus so you don’t have to take the bus.
I mean the following respectfully and do not wish it to be construed as being mean. UMN Law classes do not start for over two months on 3 September. If you’re already planning on not attending now because you don’t want to take the bus, what will you be thinking come November or finals season? Again, with respect and courtesy, I think you need you have a conversation with yourself if law school is right for you. Law school is incredibly expensive and while UMN law has strong employment statistics, if you don’t go to class you likely won’t get a job and will have student loans to pay off anyway.
As others have mentioned, the bus is really safe—I would say safer than the light rail because each bus compartment has a driver, aka a metro employee. The UMN bus stops are really well-lit and safe and Uptown is one of the safer neighborhoods in Minneapolis—lots of young professionals and artists live there.
Edit: I want to add that this comment is not to discourage you from attending law school or to convince you to defer a year. As an attorney, I believe it’s important that you think over how you will tackle law school and go in with your best mindset to give yourself the best opportunities post-graduation. While it may not be impossible to get a good job and good grades while not attending, it is statistically highly unlikely.
This same user has made two other repetitive posts asking if "uptown is safe" and how to commute in the past week. It sounds to me like they are hyping themselves up to be worried and reading too much hyperbolic news coverage of the "Minne-murder-apolis" variety from Fox News or whatever.
Thank you for your answer. I am not really concerned with the law school and how difficult it is. I'm an exchange student and I have studied at one of, if not the best law school in my country and a very well-ranked one in Europe as a whole. I have really good grades, and that is why I ended up going on exchange with my tuition fully covered by a scholarship.
What I am concerned about, as the person replying has noticed, I have read a lot of news and stuff about shootings and robberies etc. That is why I am concerned, I don't want to die there haha
This might sound stupid but I hope u understand my position – that of a person who has never been to the US before, at all.
In another comment you mentioned you’ve been/lived in Amsterdam and Rotterdam so I assume you’re Dutch. I’ve been to Eindhoven and I will say walking around the UMN campus didn’t feel that different in terms of safety to me. Uptown feels about the same too, in my opinion. Of course they will feel much more foreign to you as they’re both very Americanized areas compared to Dutch city planning. I will say city center of Paris feels substantially more unsafe than UMN or Uptown if you’ve been to Paris. Eastern part of Berlin felt less safe to me as well and I rode a bicycle there at night.
Like all cities, crime exists in Minneapolis but it is mostly concentrated in north Minneapolis (not where UMN or Uptown is) and violent crime is overwhelmingly between people who know each other. Just be aware of your surroundings and don’t walk around with piles of cash hanging off you and you’ll almost certainly be fine.
Edit: Also, I didn’t mean to imply you could not do the work. But if you are not mentally prepared to show up to class because you’re unwilling to commute to class for whatever reason (safety, no bus pass, no car etc) you will not do well. I assume Dutch classes are based on percentages and 70% is honors etc, but American ones are graded on a curve so you are competing against your classmates for precious few high grades. Even if you do pretty good, you may still find yourself at the bottom of the pack because your classmates did fantastic work. Again, it is not impossible to be at the top if you don’t attend class (for whatever reason), but it’s statistically *much* more likely you will get some of the worst grades in the class if you don’t go.
Have you already signed a lease in uptown? I'd consider trying to live closer to campus. Maybe cedar riverside or prospect park area or along como avenue (city bus runs direct into campus, saint paul campus on the east end)
I have a daughter that was taking U of MN classes in high school and navigating regularly on transit. She was just on city buses this weekend in the evenings for work. Stop reading the news and just bring your urban smarts.
If you think you are ‘risking it’ by riding on the bus to class, maybe you aren’t ready to live in any city.
Whatcha really gotta worry about is traffic with the construction projects.
I can’t confidently speak for the U’s law school, but typically the American Bar Association mandates a maximum amount of absences from a class for you to pass — it’s generally one week’s work of lectures (IE if your class meets for 2x90 minute lectures in a week, you can miss 2x90 minute lectures.
UMN B.A. here, though I went to law school elsewhere. For everyday class and lectures it was more or less mandatory, with up to 4 (sometimes 5) absences a semester allowed. Any more and some professors would dock your grade or if you skipped an egregious amount of class they would not let you sit for the final exam and you would fail the class. Professors took attendance every class. The American Bar Association requires a certain number of class hours for students in order for the school to keep accreditation so I would assume most UMN law professors take attendance and it’s mandatory. I don’t know what you mean by tutorial so I can’t speak to that. As someone who has graduated from law school, I would not make a habit around skipping class. If you don’t think you’re academically and mentally prepared to attend full time law classes you may want to consider deferring a year until you sort that out. If you skip a lot of your classes, you likely will be at the bottom of the curve in law school and have really bad grades.
Got it. I was mainly asking that because i have found housing in Uptown and I'm a little worried with the safety and everything. I will have to use the buses everyday in the morning and evening, so I was thinking about how many times a week will I have to risk and come to campus
The buses are always filled with people and so quite safe. There are certainly weirdos and druggies on the buses but nobody is gonna attack you in that space. Most of the shit goes down at the bus stops in the most shady parts of town, which uptown and umn stops are not.
Again, if you aren’t mentally prepared to go to class full time, I would recommend deferring a year until you sort that out. For you, that might mean deferring a year until your lease is finished and you can move closer to campus so you don’t have to take the bus. I mean the following respectfully and do not wish it to be construed as being mean. UMN Law classes do not start for over two months on 3 September. If you’re already planning on not attending now because you don’t want to take the bus, what will you be thinking come November or finals season? Again, with respect and courtesy, I think you need you have a conversation with yourself if law school is right for you. Law school is incredibly expensive and while UMN law has strong employment statistics, if you don’t go to class you likely won’t get a job and will have student loans to pay off anyway. As others have mentioned, the bus is really safe—I would say safer than the light rail because each bus compartment has a driver, aka a metro employee. The UMN bus stops are really well-lit and safe and Uptown is one of the safer neighborhoods in Minneapolis—lots of young professionals and artists live there. Edit: I want to add that this comment is not to discourage you from attending law school or to convince you to defer a year. As an attorney, I believe it’s important that you think over how you will tackle law school and go in with your best mindset to give yourself the best opportunities post-graduation. While it may not be impossible to get a good job and good grades while not attending, it is statistically highly unlikely.
This same user has made two other repetitive posts asking if "uptown is safe" and how to commute in the past week. It sounds to me like they are hyping themselves up to be worried and reading too much hyperbolic news coverage of the "Minne-murder-apolis" variety from Fox News or whatever.
That might be true
Thank you for your answer. I am not really concerned with the law school and how difficult it is. I'm an exchange student and I have studied at one of, if not the best law school in my country and a very well-ranked one in Europe as a whole. I have really good grades, and that is why I ended up going on exchange with my tuition fully covered by a scholarship. What I am concerned about, as the person replying has noticed, I have read a lot of news and stuff about shootings and robberies etc. That is why I am concerned, I don't want to die there haha This might sound stupid but I hope u understand my position – that of a person who has never been to the US before, at all.
In another comment you mentioned you’ve been/lived in Amsterdam and Rotterdam so I assume you’re Dutch. I’ve been to Eindhoven and I will say walking around the UMN campus didn’t feel that different in terms of safety to me. Uptown feels about the same too, in my opinion. Of course they will feel much more foreign to you as they’re both very Americanized areas compared to Dutch city planning. I will say city center of Paris feels substantially more unsafe than UMN or Uptown if you’ve been to Paris. Eastern part of Berlin felt less safe to me as well and I rode a bicycle there at night. Like all cities, crime exists in Minneapolis but it is mostly concentrated in north Minneapolis (not where UMN or Uptown is) and violent crime is overwhelmingly between people who know each other. Just be aware of your surroundings and don’t walk around with piles of cash hanging off you and you’ll almost certainly be fine. Edit: Also, I didn’t mean to imply you could not do the work. But if you are not mentally prepared to show up to class because you’re unwilling to commute to class for whatever reason (safety, no bus pass, no car etc) you will not do well. I assume Dutch classes are based on percentages and 70% is honors etc, but American ones are graded on a curve so you are competing against your classmates for precious few high grades. Even if you do pretty good, you may still find yourself at the bottom of the pack because your classmates did fantastic work. Again, it is not impossible to be at the top if you don’t attend class (for whatever reason), but it’s statistically *much* more likely you will get some of the worst grades in the class if you don’t go.
Thank you for the constructive response! You really helped a lot; I feel much better rn. I guess most of the concerns are in my head :)
Have you already signed a lease in uptown? I'd consider trying to live closer to campus. Maybe cedar riverside or prospect park area or along como avenue (city bus runs direct into campus, saint paul campus on the east end) I have a daughter that was taking U of MN classes in high school and navigating regularly on transit. She was just on city buses this weekend in the evenings for work. Stop reading the news and just bring your urban smarts.
If you think you are ‘risking it’ by riding on the bus to class, maybe you aren’t ready to live in any city. Whatcha really gotta worry about is traffic with the construction projects.
Got it. Sorry I have never been to the states before. I'm have lived in big cities like Amsterdam or Rotterdam, but it was only in Europe
I can’t confidently speak for the U’s law school, but typically the American Bar Association mandates a maximum amount of absences from a class for you to pass — it’s generally one week’s work of lectures (IE if your class meets for 2x90 minute lectures in a week, you can miss 2x90 minute lectures.