NYU School of Law

Bidding Sessions through ABRA

Step #1: Prioritize Your Selections

Step #2: Complete a Bidding Worksheet

Step #3: Designate Courses for Satisfaction of Writing Requirements (J.D. students only).
For LL.M. students in Trade Regulation, please review your program requirements, for information on the writing requirements review: http://www.law.nyu.edu/llmjsd/llmnewyork/traderegulation/index.htm

Note: LL.M. students cannot make a substantial writing designation in ABRA.

Step #4: Enter Bidding Selections

Because there is more demand for some courses than places available in them, course assignments are made by a computerized bidding algorithm. The bidding algorithm assigns courses in accordance with student preferences, as requested through the bidding selections.  There is no limit to the number of courses you select on which to bid. You also have the option of selecting, as alternatives to your primary choices, two courses or sections that you would like to take only if you do not get your first choice of a course or section. (For example, you want seminar "A" only if you do not get seminar "B.") If you exercise your substantial writing priority for the primary choice, you must exercise the option on the alternative choices. Similarly, if you do not exercise your substantial writing priority for the primary choice, you may not exercise the priority on the alternative choices.

Step #1: Prioritize Your Selections
The most difficult courses to get into are those offering a writing credit, other seminars, courses offered by Stern for preferential cross registration, and required or very popular courses such as Constitutional Law, Professional Responsibility, Corporations, and Evidence. Keep in mind that bidding all your points on one course does not guarantee enrollment, since many other students may have bid for the course in the same way. These courses, however, have multiple sections in each academic year.  If you attempt to register for a spring section but do not get in because it is closed, do register for a fall section.  If you take the risk that you ‘might’ get into a closed spring course section during December/January add/drop and are not able to, no special accommodation will be made.

Students are assigned the following amount of bidding points:

Step #2: Complete a Bidding Selections Worksheet

http://www.law.nyu.edu/academicservices/forms/index.htm

Spaces for your course choices are provided with a column to indicate the amount of your bid. You may want to group primary and alternate selections together and list your courses from the highest bid amount to the lowest.

If you get into your primary selection for a bid amount, you will not be considered for the alternate selections of the same bid amount. If you do not get into your primary selection for a bid amount, you will be considered for your first alternate selection of the same bid amount. If you get into your first alternate, you will not be considered for the second alternate.

Although you have an unlimited number of  bids, you are not required to enter a course selection in every space on the Bidding Selections Worksheet. You have an unlimited number of bids because once you run out of points you may still bid zero points on an unlimited number of courses.

You may repeat the same course or section request at different priority levels. For instance, your highest bid first alternate selection also may be listed as your second highest bid primary selection. You can then ensure consideration for a course at the highest possible priority level, whether or not you get your highest bid primary selection.

Step #3: Designate Courses for Satisfaction of Substantial Writing Requirements (for J.D. students only) For LL.M. students in Trade Regulation, please review your program requirements for information on the writing requirement at: http://www.nyuglobal.org/graduateaffairs/tradereg.htm
During the bidding period, you may choose to indicate whether you intend to fulfill your Substantial Writing Requirement with any of the courses you requested. A Substantial Writing Requirement is typically fulfilled with a seminar's Writing Credit, or with a two credit Directed Research.

If this is your intention, please select the "Substantial Writing" option. If "Substantial Writing" in chosen, your selection will be given a higher priority than for a student who has not so designated the seminar/course or for a student who has already fulfilled the Substantial Writing requirement. If you select Substantial Writing, all primary and alternate selections for the bid amount must all exercise the Substantial Writing option. Similarly if you do not select the Substantial Writing option amount, no courses in the bid amount may exercise the Substantial Writing option.

Step #4: Enter Bidding Selections
You may log onto ABRA to enter your course selections by going to https://abra.law.nyu.edu and entering your NetID and password. See ABRA tutorial videos and training documents available on Blackboard for instructions on how to enter your bidding selections.

The worksheet form contains space for you to list course selections. List courses, in order of preference, with the most preferred in the first line and so on.  There may be some courses that restrict registration by degree program; see course descriptions.

ABRA will not permit you to submit a bid for courses under the following conditions.

• The prerequisite or permission/waiver form was not timely submitted
• The course was not available due to a degree or class level restriction
• The same course was taken in a previous semester

ABRA will not schedule courses under the following conditions:

• A time conflict exists with a course already scheduled.
• The co-requisite was not scheduled because of a time conflict or because the course was not requested.
• The course was cancelled (refer to the online curriculum update)
• The maximum number of credits of 15 has already been scheduled
• The class was full

top of page