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August 31st, 2009
My most recent post over at The Shark addresses the need for 1Ls to take all the advice that is freely offered (online or in school) with a grain of salt. Read the post here. I’m an orientation leader for my law school, so our 1Ls are definitely going to get a swig of the Morton’s. The point is: don’t panic and figure out what’s right for you. May 20th, 2009
I think this is what they call closure. So much happened spring semester. I started the semester in this weird place between college and “adulthood” – buses, cafes, living in a frat house in the UMN student village –shuffling to school through snow and ice… And then things changed, very quickly. I moved into my first apartment, got my first car loan, a dog, my first legal-field job…and, and, and… Where I am right now is closer to how imagined law school during my senior year of college actually. My career counselor at the law school asked me if I thought No634 will ruin my chances of getting hired at a prestigious law firm. I’m really not worried about it. If ATL can recognize that most of my posts are mundane, then so will most employers. They’ll probably appreciate the full disclosure and trust I won’t share the dog stories with the clients, or the client’s stories with my readers. This summer I’m working, petitioning, taking classes, and training the MTC marathon. We’ll see how this goes… And as promised, an outline of my 1L spring semester is after the jump. I’ll parrot what I wrote for the fall outline:
Continue reading “Best Year Ever: Outline of 1L Spring Semester” » 6 comments |
Tags: 1L, law school, outline, roundup | Category: 1L, Summaries 1L Fall, Summaries 1L Spring May 17th, 2009
A lot of you 0Ls have graduated and want to get a head start on law school.1 Not buying the “relax read a novel” advice? Fine. Here are the top 5 things you can do this summer to prepare for law school: 1. Figure out your purpose
The answer to these questions is extremely important. Law students who have a clearly defined purpose for being in law school are infinitely less anxiety-prone than those who are simply wandering through the halls ala legally blonde. The guy who doesn’t know why he’s in law school is the same guy who overcompensates in class and alienates his peers – or worse, cries and drinks in his study carrel at night. And yes, there are people who do that… Law school grades are curved, but the measure of success in law school is how well are you progressing towards your goals – not your neighbor’s goals. And if you’re going to law school simply for money or prestige then you should probably take the GMAT because we really don’t want to read about you on ATL. Having trouble articulating your purpose? A helpful exercise is to visualize where want to be in 10 years. Where are you working? How do you look? Who is around you? Do you want to work with a lot paper or a lot of people? Court room drama or board room drama? How much free time do you need to be happy? Then make three lists:
Keep these lists somewhere conspicuous and look them over every day. 2. Upgrade yourself.
Find one or two people in your life that you look up to and ask them what personality traits you can improve. Yes, this will be completely awkward, but find someone you trust to give you constructive feedback (professor, boss). The benefit to this is worth more than the 10 minutes of awkward. Also spend some time thinking how other people view you, and your personality.3 Three quick tips:
3. Find your joy, and figure out your non-negotiables. Look back to the lists from tip #1, and also think about the behaviors that do/don’t work for you right now. Do you get enough sleep? Do you exercise enough? Is religion important to you? How about family? Shopping? Then make a list of non-negotiables. These are the really important things that you will schedule law school around. Do you need 8 hours of sleep? Do you need 45 minutes of stairclimber time to fend off that second chin? Try to put this list into practice this summer. Hint: if you can’t keep up your non-negotiables schedule during the summer, then it’s not going to work for the school year – revise as needed. The purpose of this is keep you centered, not drive you crazy… 4. Start your file. The tag function on delicious makes it easier to find links later…like in the fall, when you actually need them… 5. Make some money Hint, if you’re moving for law school then a summer job at Target or Ikea is a good way to get discounts for stuff that you have to buy in a few months anyway… 1 I’ve somehow become a 0L favorite… 2 Law school is a wonderful experience, but not the time to “figure yourself out.” What’s what undergrad was for. 3 And I’m not talking about what they think about your shoes, bag, or car. This isn’t high school… 4 In fact, you will be shocked by how plain law students are. The hotties are getting MBAs. The law school frump is more likely to be prejudiced against attractive people… April 7th, 2009
As a senior in college, I relied on law student blogs to find out what to expect for my first year of law school. Part of the law school experience that was ignored by a lot of blawgs is the late law school application process (ie, deciding where to go, and then getting there.) This sucked. So, for all the 0L’s out there, here are four things that happened to me:1 1) Applying to more law schools? Waiting for more money? When it’s time to quit:
I applied to over 50 law schools. I realized that applying to every school that sent me a fee voucher was a waste of time, especially when the schools started harassing me for deposits. The only school I paid to apply to was UMN (my first choice school). And that’s where I’m at. The lesson? It’s good to have options, but there is a such thing as overkill. 2) Financial Aid. Patience is a virtue.
I go to a public law school, so financial aid is based on the FAFSA. Students who take out the full amount of loans get around $7,000 a semester for living expenses. Check with your school and don’t be afraid to ask the financial aid office, “How much do students have to live on after tuition and fees?” if that’s what you really want to know. And yes, loans came in about a week before class started. 3) Minority Followup: I am not Tyrone.
This included aggressive calls from deans and questionable tactics from minority organizations within law schools. The Lesson? Being an minority made me more desirable to law schools, but the best school for me was one that didn’t want me for my skin tone. 4) Housing: House me please! The apartment search was sort of a crapshoot. I spent a lot of time on rent.com, but I couldn’t really make any decisions without a financial aid award. The lesson? Ask your financial aid department about your monthly budget (assuming you get all of the loans) and save up enough money for your first month’s rent and security deposit because you won’t get a reimbursement check until the eve of classes. Also, check out the law school discussion forums. There are school-specific threads where upperclassmen from your school will answer your questions. This was very helpful to me because a lot of the UMN students I spoke to at campus preview weekend were local, or had rich parents…so they couldn’t help me find affordable housing.2 I hope this helps. 1 This is my experience, it may not be true for you. Please communicate with your law school and current students at your school. 2 If you are applying to UMinnesota (and don’t have children or pets) you can apply to the Gamma Eta Gamma house. Gamma is a co-ed legal fraternity that is close to the school and rents rooms at $400/month. 4 comments |
Tags: 1L, gamma eta gamma, law school advice, prelaw, prelaw advice, UMN Law | Category: 0L, unsolicited advice January 30th, 2009
I’ve seen this happen way too much: an (over)eager local college student visits the law school and sits in on a 1L class. Within twenty minutes, without fail, the college student is misery personified. I’m in Corporations right now with one such undergrad sitting to my right. Today’s topic is the basics of incorporation. The reading was dense. It consisted of definitions in paragraph form: Public v. Closely held corporations, articles of incorporation, director liability, etc, etc, etc. So today’s class is straight-lecture. No cases, no jokes…it’s horribly boring if you haven’t read the material and don’t know what’s going on. And judging by the amount of Gmail chat screens… today’s class isn’t that interesting even if you HAVE read the material. I’ve seen some college students quit on their sit-ins halfway through. I think today’s victim is going to tough it out though. This is partially the admissions office’s fault – if you’re going to let a prospective student sit in on a class you can’t arbitrarily shove them in Civil Procedure or Corps. A safer choice is a debate and case heavy course like Criminal Law, Torts, or Constitutional Law. (and even then, this is professor specific) And undergrads: (all you 0L’s out there) Do not sit in on law school classes before you start law school. Save the confusion and boredom for orientation. There are no magical law school insights that come from sitting in on a single, random 1L class. Torts with Professor A is different than torts with Professor B. Professor A is a sadist, Professor B is a dull lecturer. Professors C-E are amazing, but you’ll never know, because you sat in on Prof A or B’s class and didn’t apply. My advice? Read blawgs, attend accepted students weekend (and talk to 1Ls), and if you are interested in your undergrad’s law school then drop by the law school during lunch and talk to some students. If you’re nice and don’t linger, you probably won’t get bit. July 1st, 2008
My schedule has been (fairly) lawless this summer. The goal for July is to reign in my sleep schedule and step up my workouts. Freshman year I was 160lbs and worked out religiously. I graduated at just over 200lbs and yeah, that’s not a good look. I can’t make up for three years of neglect in one month, but I can start in the right direction. The plan is to move from treadmilling to outdoor running. I want to improve my endurance without the guilt-inducing dreadmill dictating the pace for me. I hope the newly earned endurance will correlate with better grades. Some professors say that marathoners are among their best students. I’ve also seen students (like Jessie, from Boy in Suit) express regret that they didn’t work out more. I’m toying with the idea of a marathon…but I’ll be happy with just maintaining the running schedule during the Minnesota Winter. Yikes. Other things:
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