Tag: 1L Advice

Categories
Advice Law School

Joining Clubs in Law School

Friendship Together Bonding Unity Youth Culture Concept

 

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Law school is three years of your life. Time will both speed by you and also draaaaaag on (especially when you’re in that 2pm CivPro class, and the tryptophan from your turkey sandwich hits you). The funny thing about time in law school is that you never seem to have enough. Your class reading assignments take time, the assignments take time, your family or significant other takes time – it’s almost currency, and no one ever has enough.

I say this because your time is important. It is crucial to spend it wisely. Understand where your time needs to go before dividing the time accordingly. You may need to study for class, but studying for 5 hours straight, after a long day of classes, may not be the best use of your allotted time. [Obviously you know yourself better than I do, so if you can sit for 5 hours straight studying – then you do you, hun!] However, if you proscribe to my study method of 1.5 hours on, 30 minutes off – then you may enjoy my advice.

The way I see it – your brain needs to take BREAKS! They’re essential. That said, one way in which I take breaks, is by attending Student Organization (law school clubs, essentially) events and meetings. Most groups on campus meet once a month, and then usually have a large event once per semester. I recommend participating in at least one group, and highly suggest that you avoid joining too many.

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Everything in moderation, folks.
Although law school takes focus, on top of boundless energy to complete case-briefs and assignments, you need to find healthy ways to diversify your time. The time you spend away from your books and research trails is crucial to helping you learn the material. It sounds weird, but it works!

If you have the opportunity – attend a student organization fair! Or reach out to student services, and they will be happy to put you in contact with an organization’s executive members (if you already have an idea of the group you’d like to join), to help answer your questions regarding the organization. I fully comprehend that you want to dive head-first into your books, but you can’t forget what the social aspect of law school provides: a network.

Carve out time in your monthly schedule to meet with your peers, work with them on a common goal. Everyone attends law school for different reasons – figure out what yours is, and then find others who are driven by similar passions. You need to start building your network now, especially if you are attending law school straight out of your undergraduate years. Spend some of your precious time forming friendships and making your mark.

 

Happy Networking!

 

Categories
Advice Law School

Prepping for Your 1L Year

6 THINGS YOU MUST DO BEFORE LAW SCHOOL (2)

 

Right now it doesn’t feel real. It hasn’t sunk in that in just about a month, you will begin your first year as a law student. By now you’ve received your information on orientation or Fundamentals week, and you likely attended a new student event (or two). Before classes begin, take some time to set your priorities.

I honestly only completed these six tasks before enjoying the rest of my summer. It was hugely important to me to make sure I was ready for law school. But I didn’t go nuts trying to read everything on the suggested reading list, or dive straight into city ordinances. I mean, come on! You have time to dive into research later, for now – cover the essentials.

  1. Apply for Financial Aid + Scholarships
    • Many of you may not know this, but you may qualify for a Direct PLUS loan. It’s government Financial Aid, and comes in handy! If you need extra aid to help pay for tuition or books – check to see if you are eligible!
    • Scholarships are fewer at this level of education, but they certainly exist. Check your institution’s financial aid page for updated scholarship applications and opportunities. Looking around online isn’t a bad option either. Free money is out there, and many times scholarships go un-used. Take advantage of these opportunities!FSA-Eligibility-11.16.12
  2. Buy/Organize a Desk or Study Space
    • You need a designated place to study or get work done. This is a fact. You may not always feel like trudging up to the library to study, and your kitchen table doesn’t usually allow you the flexibility of leaving your books flayed about. This means you need a DESK! There are many affordable options, and I strongly recommend you get yourself one – quick!
    • I purchased a desk, chair, and plastic chair mat for less than $400 at Nebraska Furniture Mart. The products came mostly assembled, and were not difficult to set-up. My desk area is bright, quiet, and perfect for holding many of my study materials at a time. That said, I had to purchase an additional book shelf and wall shelf to accommodate my 1L books and supplies.
    • I also recommend you get a desk lamp. My boyfriend surprised me with a wonderful one, which I mentioned  HERE.IMG_9686IMG_9763
  3. Set a Schedule
    • If you already know your class schedule (and, you should) – then take a few minutes to organize your planner. If you don’t have a planner, use your computer/phone/google to get your digital calendar prepared.
    • Block off time for class, then block off study time. Next, block off time for meals, family, and grocery runs.
    • I suggest you add your family members to your calendar, this way they are aware of what you’re tasks are and know when it’s ok to try and call or steal you away for a movie night.
  4. Rent Textbooks
    • Why buy books when you can rent them? I considered purchasing them for my first semester, but opted to rent (when the rental was cheaper). My favorite site for comparing book prices is BIGWORDS.
      • Type in the ISBN of the book you need, and then select the best option for your wallet. Read the reviews from the seller before choosing an option. I’ve had great luck with timely and affordable rental options, always delivered to my door. 🙂
  5. Buy School Supplies
    • oh.my.GOSH.bestday
    • Buying new school supplies is one of my all-time fave things!
    • Pens, pencils, highliters, post-its….you’ll use them ALL! Everything’s on sale, and you (most definitely) will run through multiple packs of each item. Stock up now, while you have time!
  6. Relax + Meet Incoming Students (Your New Friends!)
    • You will gain nothing from reading ahead. I repeat, NOTHING.
    • Even though you think you know how to read and write well – the fact is, you have no clue how to brief a case or wade through legal concepts. Which means there’s no point in using up your precious down time, before the mayhem begins, trying to get ahead of your classmates.
      • By all means, read cases your professors ASSIGN. But, do not go beyond that scope. This year is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself, young padawan – “burnout” is real.
    • Meet up with some newbies for coffee, or dinner! I felt much more confident walking into orientation week knowing I had a few friends in the mix. We met for sushi a few weeks before class, and asked each other all kinds of “baby questions” like – where’d you find the class schedule? Or, what are you thinking of wearing for day 1? Are you actually going to brief any cases?
      • You’ll love having this built-in support system, so reach out and meet people! It’ll make orientation week much more memorable. <3

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Trust me when I say that you need to enjoy this time. Your 1L is coming up fast, and it will be stressful. Get yourself in the proper mindset for classes, with this list. You’ll thank me for it later.

 

Categories
Law School

Law School Madness

Learning to find your balance is a struggle, made only more difficult by attempting to reach your happy place, while putting your mind through grueling law school courses. You may find yourself asking “how does everyone make it look so easy?” The best answer I can give you is this – they’re great actors. Let’s be clear – law school is a drama-filled think tank with the best and brightest in their respective classes. Everyone is wound tighter than Shirley Temple curls, and nobody has time to deal with your shit. So trust me when I say that your peers are putting on a façade, to make you feel inferior. It’s an intimidation tactic. What these students are great at is striking a comfortable balance between varying shades of frenzied mayhem, and some are better at it than others.

LawandOrder

Some students excel at being selfish, which is fantastic, because law school is where being all about “Team YOU” comes in handy. Put yourself first. This step in reaching a happy medium is crucial. Your family wants time with you, your boss needs you to focus on the task at hand, your significant other begins to feel neglected, and the people in your life start to get upset because they feel you are tossing them aside. But, what they may not realize is the number of balls you juggle is more than they could handle, more than most anyone could. You made it, gained admission to law school, and now have to bust your derrière to stay here. You will likely work harder than ever before, or you’re truly gifted and don’t have to study at all because you’re brilliant. [On that last bit – I call bullshit. You need to study.]

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Finding your balance means you will likely lose a friendship (or more) while working through your legal career. The unrelenting assignments, extra-curricular activities, and study group sessions will consume you – if you let it. I found that the most successful law students are well-rounded, and skilled at balancing their tasks. Taking the time out of your day to work out, read a book, or watch a movie allows your brain to re-set and re-focus on its goals. It is critical to understand when your brain needs to rest, because it is in those moments where you strike the perfect balance between your studies and passions. Otherwise, you’re going to burn out. I experienced true burn-out after my 3rd final during our first semester of 1L year. I walked out of the exam, took a few minutes to grab a coffee, and sat back down at my computer to read through notes. I must have read the same sentence 3o times before realizing I’d shut down. There was simply no energy left to process anything. So I packed up my crap, trekked to the parking garage, and drove myself to a movie theater. You have to know when to throw in the towel, because breaks are part of that school-life balance.

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During my 1L year, I felt flustered because there were so many panicked voices in the halls – all trying to figure out how to study, when to study, how to brief, should they brief, is the assignment actually graded, is it ok to take a lunch break? The tension was palpable, and I simply could not be around it. Realizing my own stress-level rising reminded me that I needed to step away from it all for just an hour a day.

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When I need for the questions or worries of my day to fade away, I turn to running. I run at least two miles to clear my head, three times a week. On top of running, I choose to rock-climb. It is essential to have my brain focus on my feet hitting the pavement, or finding the next hand-hold on a wall. My balance involves shutting the world out to let in my inner-peace.

I strongly recommend you find your balance, whatever makes you happy and re-centers you, before the semester begins. Make sure to make time for yourself, every single day. If you are in a positive place, then studying will be easier and you’ll grasp the concepts quickly. However, an angry or frustrated mindset will likely land you in a crap-tastic mood and that’s a recipe for failure. Always re-focus.

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Categories
HealthyFit Law School

Such a Pretty Fat: 1L Version

mess

I’m channeling Jen Lancaster here. Because I’m such a fan…and I think she gets me.
Fo’ real.
Weighing in at 174ish and trying to be healthier is tough. The things I like to eat are actually pretty healthy, like broccoli and pasta and chicken…but then I add butter and make a white wine sauce and the entire meal is delicious now like 1000 calories per serving. Which, I’m told, is not entirely good for me either. Life can’t be perfect, right?

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Well, what if getting into shape didn’t have to be so damn hard? Or, at least, could be fun?
As a law student, you should just assume I’m competitive. You’d sure as hell be right, too! So you can only imagine how giddy I got when my Aunt bet money that she could lose more weight than I could in the next month. Challenge. Accepted. 

I decided to kick off Spring with a DIET BET! It’s a weight loss challenge where the winner gets some monies. Losers are hopefully not as fluffy as before.
This is going to be a great painful way to engage my muscles because, let me be clear, if studying made me ripped – I’d have rock hard abs by now. Alas, briefing cases only makes me smarter. Annnnd, since I haven’t gone to the gym more than 5 times this year, I’m basically a lumpy meat package.

lemon

My hope is that the $20,000+ pot (seriously, it’s a huge sum of money) will be part mine by the end of 28 days. I just have to lose 4% (or roughly 7 lbs) of my body weight in 28 days. Don’t you dare doubt me just yet. I can totally do this. It will be interesting to see how following an actual diet (consuming roughly 1300 calories per day), limiting my sugar and coffee intake, and working out will affect my performance in law school. This may be the worst funniest idea I have all year…

 

Categories
Daily Dose Law School

7 Tips: Prepping for Finals in Law School

woman-hand-desk-office

Law School finals are beastly. The preparation that goes into studying goes far beyond the scope any student experiences during undergraduate years.

Side note: I walked into senior year finals at Baylor in pajamas. [No, really – I did. You try studying for Anatomy & Physiology while working on a Medical Genetics Term Paper and a Biomedical Engineering Presentation.]

Law school is different. The stress levels are palpable. I’ve told you it was different, but this is where the pack starts to separate. Finals prep begins to show rifts in friendships as well as study groups, mostly because your friends are your study buddies. By this time in the semester, you should know who to study with, and who to walk away from. I don’t mean for this to sound rude, but some friends are too distracting to be around while you study. Take a step back and analyze how helpful certain friends are to have in your group sessions, who is better to maybe work one-on-one with; in other words, assess your study effort and align it with your educational needs.

At first, it feels like you’re being rude; rest assured, you are not. Preparing for finals is practically an art form, and here are 7 tips for acing those exams!

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  1. Create and fill out your course outline!
    • It simply is not enough to write up an outline. During those formative undergraduate years (and maybe for some of you lucky ones who learned to study in high school) you learn that an outline is a quick overview of topics; items to peruse and memorize. In law school, it is crucial to understand that a damn good outline is one that has not just the cases and posturing, but how the cases link to examples covered in class or questions asked (and answered) by the professor.
    • Start by making each topic a heading
      • Each Case, A Sub-heading
        • Each sub-heading should have key notes for law concepts
          • Then, include hypos from class
            • Especially highlight the sections that introduce new applications that build upon previous concepts
    • This is how you need to study. You must break down each concept into its component parts and then use those parts to build an analysis for any hypo
    • It is not enough to study the material – you need to work with it! Apply it. Change the facts in a scenario, and answer the updated question. Mess with everything so that you know your material, cold!
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  2. Reserve Study Rooms (a.k.a. – Find your STUDY Space!)
    • I prefer to study in the Gryffindor Common Room, but your preference may be completely different. I am happy to study virtually anywhere, so long as the ambient noise is conducive. You need to figure out if you prefer the chatter of a coffee shop to the hustle and bustle of group studying in a single library room. I recommend finding your own groove before letting people into the mix. Whether it’s a Starbucks (free wifi) or your bedroom and childhood desk, make it work for you. Study hard, my genius friend. 
  3. Schedule block study time-frames.
    • How many times have I mentioned that you need a calendar? Answer: Soooooo many times!
    • If you haven’t listened to me yet, then please hear me now – plan your life! The next three weeks of my life are dedicated to a myriad of activities and tasks, but they are planned! Do not study for 6 hours straight. That simply is not an effective means of retaining information.
    • Block off your study time in (at most) 2-hour chunks. Your brain will thank you for not over-loading it with the material that you (be honest) have slacked on reading these last two weeks.
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  4. Meal Prep
    • Yeah, I know this sounds weird. Who has time to cook? Well, I do. Most days, because it’s cheaper to feed myself versus eating out and ending up with a greasy pizza or a box of donut holes.
    • Take the time to prep several meals in advance. TRUST ME. You will likely be much more productive if you have sustenance for the hellacious study binges you are about to endure.
    • If you prefer, buy a pack of Uncrustables (my go-to fave for a lazy day sandwich) or a bunch of frozen meals. The point is, make sure you are eating. If your brain is weak, you will be too, and the studying you are putting in is wasted effort.
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  5. Designate study group hours on particular days.
    • I am adding in this suggestion because I believe that individual study time is critical to success in your legal education (or any other educational venture). The problem is that this is your 1L year and so many peers are terrified of alienating other students. Here is what I say to you – “Get over it.”
    • Yes, you need to make friends in law school. You need to make sure that someone’s got your back (and you have theirs) when you need to miss class. By all means, make friends. But do not hinder your own success by trying to bolster those around you. You will sink.
    • Study groups are great for sharing outlines or bouncing off hypos. If you enjoy studying with others, then this is a powerful tool to review material. A word of caution, however – do not use this as a social hour. Finals are upon us, and we have ZERO time for wild tangents or shenanigans (barring, of course, during break time!)
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  6. Schedule break times.
    • Speaking of break time…learning the law is a brain-buster. You’ve got to give that organ a rest. I have learned that doing so is easier said than done. Take my experience last week –
      • I was working on a case brief and ended up having to search for it on Quimbee. Then, after reading through the case and cross-referencing example cases…well, it was 3 hours later and I had no idea how I’d gotten there. I fell down a rabbit hole attempting to learn a concept that another friend managed to explain in less than 5 minutes. My point is…distraction comes easy. It is even easier to get pummelled with cases where you find yourself doing more research and then realizing it is dark outside. Was the sun up when I got to the library? How much time has passed?
    • So avoid the mess of forgetting to schedule a break. Your brain truly cannot process more than two hours’ worth of new information. There’s no need to stretch it too far in one day. Remember, it’s a marathon!
    • I prefer 1-minute dance parties, coffee runs, mini-shopping experiences (like picking up a bottle of Peach Moscato from World Market!), or reading a chapter of a favorite book.
      • The key here is to re-read. Otherwise, you will get sucked into the pages. It’s a dangerous game trying to pick up new and entertaining reading material before finals. But if you do, well hey – enjoy.
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  7. Rest up!
    • I will never, ever, recommend studying the day before an exam. You should certainly read through your outline and maybe quiz yourself on a few hypos. Aside from that – do something fun. Watch a movie. Go for a run. Learn to make paella. Whatever works for you to get your mind off of the exam.
    • Make sure that you rest enough and push the stress away. A clear mind is better than a stressed one. The anxiety of an exam can weigh you down, therefore it is imperative you lighten the mood.

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Preparation is key to success in pretty much anything.
In our fundamentals class, a 2L student shared this piece of wisdom:

Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

No truer words have been spoken. You made it this far. You got into law school. Now, you need to fight for your right to stay. So focus that drive and ambition; give it everything you’ve got, because if you don’t – you’ll only be left with regret.

Happy Studying!