Back to School

It’s one of my favorite times of year- the time when kids start going back to school. Schools send home supplies lists telling parents that they need to buy certain notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, and that ever mandatory box of Kleenex tissues. Parents want to buy the bare minimum generic products, but kids want to buy the bright, new shiny things covered with Hello Kitty or Scooby Doo (when I was a kid, I was madly in love with Lisa Frank stationery like that above- I was even a member of the fan club lol).

And the kids going off to college are just as excited, especially if they’ll be freshmen. They, too are scouring the stores for school supplies, those Godawful extra-long twin bedspreads, and don’t even get me started on those ridiculously expensive textbooks. Had I known then what I know now I would have NEVER bought a textbook. I would have rented them. I didn’t buy any textbooks in grad school, I simply rented them on chegg.com.

And then there are the “kids” like me that are going to law school this fall. The 1Ls are all bright-eyed and bushy tailed, uber excited about the journey that lies ahead. Then there are 2Ls like me who know better. My 1L year was HARD and borderline traumatizing! I NEVER want to go through that again! And still, I have to admit- I’m just as excited as the 1Ls. I actually can’t wait until school starts tomorrow. I’ll be the president of a student organization, and I’ll be participating in one of my school’s clinics where I’ll get hands-on experience helping clients with their legal issues, as opposed to simply reading about them. I’m even slightly excited about Constitutional Law- even though the class really is as boring as it sounds, and the textbook weighs 7 pounds (and unfortunately, I can’t went my textbooks for law school- they’re hard to come by, and I need to be able to highlight & write in my textbooks, something you can’t do if you rent).

I’m mostly excited about the new school year because it’s a fresh start, and I bet that’s why most students get so excited about the new school year. If you did bad last year, you can put that behind you and do better this year. Or maybe you’re switching from a school where nobody liked you or you had a certain reputation. The new school year at a new school allows you to be a brand new you.

Whatever keeps you excited about the new school year, try to hold on to it. I once read somewhere that students tend to do better at the beginning of the school year or semester than they do later in the year or semester. So try to hold on to that “i’m excited about starting school” feeling so as to excel all year round. Bribe yourself with a shiny new pen or something, if it helps.

My Law School Survival Tips (results may vary)

For most of us, law school starts in about five weeks. And for those of us that decided to torture ourselves by taking summer courses, we get about a week off before the true madness begins. And for those of you who will be entering into your first year of law school, you should be cherishing what freedom you have now because free time will be hard to come by once the marathon that is law school begins. A year ago today, I was one of those “poor unfortunate souls” working at a financial company counting the weeks, days, hours, and minutes of when I could quit my Godawful job and begin law school, finally pursuing what I really want to do in life. I didn’t really know what to expect of law school, and so I soaked in any and everything I was told. My first year was definitely one of those “had I known then what I know now” situations, so here’s a list of things I wish I’d been told last August:

1. Don’t be freaked out by the “look to your left, look to your right” hoopla

I don’t remember any of my professors saying this to us, but many students’ professors will go through the whole “look to your left, look to your right- one of you won’t be here next year” scenario. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything, it’s just professors’ way of trying to freak you out and ensure you’re serious about this journey on which you’re about to embark. But as you go through law school, you’ll find that some people will drop out. Maybe you’ll drop out. Law school really isn’t for everyone. If not for the fact that I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I was 12 and that I truly believe it’s my calling, the hell I went through during my first semester alone was enough to make me want to drop out. There will be days when you wonder what you’re doing in law school. There will be days when you feel like the dumbest person alive. There will be days where you are going to cry in law school. And that is okay. If this is something you truly want, then keep reminding yourself about why you decided to go to law school, and you won’t be freaked out by the “look to left” stuff. If you’re in law school to be rich, just STOP. Do not pass go. Do not collect the $100,000+ in debt you will incur. No amount of money is worth the torture you will endure in law school. Trust me. If you’re doing this for the wrong reasons, you will be one of those people on the left or right that don’t return, and you will have wasted at least $50k in doing so.

2. Understand That There Are NO Shortcuts in Law School

Accept this as true, and your life as a law student will be a breeze. But, for those of you who think you’re so smart that you can sleep through law school, consider yourself warned, and remember that I told you so. I’ve always been one of those students that people hate- the ones that get A’s on papers written an hour before they’re due, the ones who never study yet ace all their exams. So to some extent, I figured I could do the same thing in law school. The D+ I got on my first midterm was the reality check I needed. Fortunately for me, my professor said he wasn’t going to count our midterm grade, so I was able to turn things around in time to eventually get a much higher final grade. But you must understand that law school is a LOT of work! I’m talking hours of reading cases, which, in addition to sometimes being boring, are seemingly in another language, as you’ll be introduced to a whole bunch of new words you didn’t even know existed in the English language. In addition to reading these cases (which you may have to read twice or thrice to fully understand them), you’ll need to summarize them so that when you’re randomly called in class to discuss a case, you’re prepared. And let’s not forget the studying involved. If you think you can get away with skimming a case, or worse, using the summarized case briefs available on some websites you’ll be doing more harm than good. And God help you if you get caught using a “canned brief” in a class in which the professor hates them. You’re better off just doing the work in the first place. That’s how you’ll learn.

3. Get a Black’s Law Dictionary

Whether you download the app on the iPhone or iPad, or carry around the unabridged paperback version, it’ll cost you about $55, but it’s definitely worth it. As I previously mentioned, you will encounter words that you have never before seen. Do not just gloss over them- look them up as you read a case. Sure, it may take you 2 hours to read a case, but you’ll be expanding your vocabulary. And if you have any professors like mine, you may even be given a vocabulary test on some “standard” legal terms.

4. Do NOT go on Facebook and Twitter in Class

This should be a no-brainer, but you’ll be surprised how many people actually Tweet from class. In fact, I’m guilty of not following my own advice, and I find it no coincidence that my two lowest grades are in classes in which I’d sometimes go on Facebook and Twitter in class, so this warning comes from experience. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to miss something important because you were tweeting or updating your status. You’re paying all this money to get the education, make sure you get the most out of it.

5. Do What Works For You and Worry About Yourself

When I started law school, I listened to all of the upper classmen telling me to study using an outline, or use a computer to take notes. So I did, until I realized that what works for me is what always worked for me- taking hand written notes and using flashcards- the old fashioned way. Outlines help you organize the stuff you’ll learn, but if you know that note cards work for you, do that. Don’t waste your time trying to reinvent the wheel and trying to shove a round peg into a square whole. So what if your classmates take notes on a mac and you jot em down in a spiral notebook. Do what works for you. And don’t be fooled by the maniac who spends 23hrs a day in the library. I once thought this girl who lived in the library was the smartest girl in class, until I found out I got higher grades than her. Quality over quantity still rules. I can study while getting my Elle Woods on on the stairmaster at the gym just as well as someone who camps out in the library reading a case. Everyone’s study styles are different, and that is okay.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Extra Help

Most students will buy study guides and hornbooks (supplements) to help them better understand a subject. And some will even seek the help of a tutor. There’s nothing wrong with having a tutor or seeking extra help from your professor. They’re there to help you succeed. Remember I said that when you encounter the dreaded fee simple subject to a springing use executory interest, and its annoying cousins, or the parol evidence rule.

7. Have Fun!

Seriously. Too much of anything is bad for you. Law school is serious work. But you will reach a point where you will want to jump off a building if you have to read one more case; or, in the case of the girl who spends 23hrs in the library, you will have a nervous breakdown the day before finals start. It’s important to have balance, to step away from the casebooks once in a while. Maybe it’s hitting the gym for an hour of me time a day, or shooting some pool with your friends on Friday nights. Whatever it is you like to do, make time for it. Your sanity will depend on it.

I Need a Vacation!

2011 has been the WORST and busiest year of my twenty something life! I completed my first year of law school in May, however, my life has essentially been one big blur since March, so when I go away on vacation tomorrow it’s very much needed.

Us overachiever types dislike taking time off. We feel we’ll miss out on something, or even worse, we’ll fall behind on all the work we have to do. The past few weeks have been CRAZY for me- I had a take home midterm (which, in law school is NOT necessarily a good thing, as mine was about 80 HANDWRITTEN pages), a presentation for class, and a 10 page paper due tomorrow that I just submitted. Not to mention research for a 20 page paper due in about a month, as well as studying for the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) that I have to take on August 5th. I’ve found that I’m busier taking 2 summer courses than I am taking 5!

I love to be busy, but it does tend to cause stress, which causes me to drink 1-2 cans of soda every other day. Not good. But now that I have NO immediate assignments to complete, I plan to enjoy myself for the next few days. This year, I’ve learned a lot about balance. It’s not good to procrastinate all the time, but it’s not good to be all work and no play either, and that’s how it’s been for me since March. Today is the last day of the first half of the year, and these past six months I’ve worked waaaay too hard with not much to show for it. During the next few months, I obviously still plan to work hard, but I plan to work smarter by being more balanced. I’m going to try really hard not to feel guilty if I take an hour a day to hit the gym, or if I veg out on the couch on a Friday to catch up on the one million shows that are saved on my DVR (especially since I won’t have any classes on Fridays in the Fall, a rare occurrence for law students apparently).

For the rest of the year, I’m going to focus on achieving a perfect balance, and I challenge you to do the same. A perfect balance for me might mean school work Sunday through Thursday and allowing Friday and Saturday for some fun stuff with my boyfriend. Or it might mean being able to watch Jeopardy every night. And it’ll be different for you, too. The point is that we all need to relax and take some time off once in a while. Your brain and your body will thank you for it.

Next Time Around

It seems like only yesterday I started my first day of law school. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I admit, after I saw Legally Blonde, a teeny tiny part of me hoped that law school would be somewhat similar to Elle Woods’s experience at Harvard. After all, we both liked pink, and we both liked manicures. But once I got my first reading assignment for Criminal Procedure I realized law school would be so much harder and less interesting than the murder trial in the movie.

I entered law school with all kinds of delusions, such as getting straight A’s like I always did, and maintaining the same work- life balance I had while working full time and attending graduate school. But all the upperclassmen and professors kept telling us how hard law school would be and to get used to not seeing our friends and family for three years. Being the overachieving straight A student I always was, I thought “nope, I’ll be able to balance everything and still have time to watch Jeopardy every night.”

But I let their advice get to me and I took it to the extreme. I cut everything out cold turkey. I went from working out everyday to forgetting where my gym was. I went from watching Jeopardy every night to barely having time to catch the weather report in the morning. Slowly but surely, I started to distance myself from everything because I started to believe that the only way I could succeed was if I took on their advice. And I ate it up like candy. I even changed my study habits to what they suggested because I figured they knew best.

Turns out they didn’t. Giving everything up cold turkey didn’t make me smarter or more efficient, and it certainly didn’t get me straight As. Instead, it left me fatter, more stressed, and single, as neglecting my boyfriend led to our breakup.

As I’m finishing up my first year of law school I can’t help but think about the girl I was last August, and the girl I am now. And I’m kind of disappointed in myself. I let other people’s stresses and issues affect me and as a result I doubted myself. I convinced myself that my way of doing things- which had yielded me straight A’s for so long- was not good enough for law school. I wasted so much time adopting new study habits, experimenting with outlines, studying supplements, only to come back to my reliable (albeit old-school) method of making flashcards to study.

I know the upperclassmen and professors meant well, but their advice did not work for me. And I suppose that’s part of life- trying to figure out what works for us. People are always going to have opinions and suggestions. But it’s up to you to figure out what’s right for you and what’s not.

My boyfriend and I did that in the few short months we spent apart. And I’ve had months to figure out what does and doesn’t help me when it comes to law school. Once I master the diet and exercise arena I’ll be good to go. But at least now I have an idea of what to do the next time around. And who knows, maybe the rest of my law school experience will be a little like Elle Woods’s. And if not, it’ll still be mine.