A little about today's writer Chandler...
School: North Carolina Central University School of Law
Undergrad: University of Delaware
Major: Psychology
Minors: Women's Studies, Legal Studies
Hi All,
Firstly, I must say that Nikki
is one of my favorite bloggers and she has done an excellent job of sharing her
journey as a 1L. I started my 1L year at the end of June and Nikki has asked me
to share a little about why I decided to start law school early and some of the
benefits of doing so. Below I have listed few reasons why I decided to
participate in my school’s summer start program. All I ask is that you all remember
everyone’s law school experience will be
different.
What is the summer start
program for law school?
At the school I attend they
offered a summer start program where we could start our fall classes early.
This is the first year that my school has done this so this whole program was
very new to everyone involved. During the Summer Start Initiative (SSI), we
received instruction on the four major doctrinal first-year classes: Torts,
Contracts, Civil Procedure, and Property. We also had one Critical Thinking class
and several exam-taking, note-taking, outlining, and essay-writing workshops
hosted by our professors.
How much time did you have to
get ready between class and graduation?
I graduated in December of
2015 and started law school in June 2016, so I had six months to get ready for
law school. Every school is different when it comes to terms of what exactly
you have to do to get ready. When I was preparing I definitely found that
Nikki’s posts about what she did in the days leading up to orientation were
very helpful. I highly suggest any 0L go take a look at those posts.
Why did you decide to start early?
As I mentioned before, I took
six months off between graduation and law school. I used that time to…… do
nothing! I was a student-athlete in undergrad so personally, I’ll emphasize personally, I needed a break! I took those
6 months to travel, relax, spend time with friends and family, apply to law
schools, and network with some accomplished law students and lawyers who I knew
could give me some credible advice. This being said, by June I was like,
“Whoop! I’m ready, I’m recharged! Let’s do this law school thang!”
What are the benefits of starting early?
You won’t be as nervous about the infamous 1L fall
semester.
There tends to be a lot of
apprehension around starting your first year of law school. I know a lot this
fear comes from the horror stories that current law students tell us and I also
know a lot of it may come from what we see in the media about 1L year (example:
The
Paper Chase), but starting early,
starting a little slower, and starting with less people around can help dispel this
apprehension. You may even come to
realize that it really isn’t as bad as you were making it out to be in your
head.
You’ll get to know your professors.
I used the summer semester to
learn what makes my professors tick. What is their teaching style? What do they
want to see on the exams? What do they not
want to see on the exams? What questions about the cases do they always ask
in class? For instance, I have one professor who always asks questions from the notes after the cases and the
footnotes in the cases. She loves that stuff! I also took this time to ask
myself how I should be briefing to
prepare for class for that particular professor.
You’ll get to know yourself better…. earlier!
This was a biggie for
me. I believe Nikki has mentioned this
in at least one of her posts, but as a law student you should probably be aware
of your learning style. If you don’t know, figure it out. I know during this
summer semester I found out that I was a super visual learner. Knowing my
learning style has definitely helped me study in a way that will “stick.”
You’ll get to establish a routine before the crazy
kicks in.
During the summer, campus is
relatively calm and peaceful, at least at my school it is. Because there were
not a lot of people, it made it easier for me to figure out the quickest route
to school, the best place to park, where my classes were, and the place where I
like to study. Granted, this may change when everyone else returns to campus,
but at least with starting early, I have some idea of how I would like for my
fall routine to look.
Is the class load the same as
if you started later?
The class load is not the
same as if I started later. Because the section I’m in started earlier, we have
more time to cover the fall semester material. This being said, we have the
“luxury” of moving at a slower pace. This doesn’t make the it any easier, but
it does give us more time to process the complex material that we are covering
class.
For example, we have reading
assigned for every night, but because we aren’t covering as much each day as we
would in the fall. The professor can discuss a certain topic in class, I can go
home and study my notes from class or add that concept to my outline, and then
have a really thorough understanding of the concept. Whereas in the fall, I
would probably have to skimp on some reviewing due to the time crunch.
Lastly, I want to suggest a
really great book I read in preparation for law school. It’s called 1L of a Ride by AndrewJ. McClurg, a law professor. Go check it out because it is definitely worth a
read!
That’s all I’ve got, but I
want to leave you all with a quote I think every future lawyer should live by:
Stop wondering if you’re good enough
And start acting like it.
-Simon Black
I love this entire blog! When I came across it I was so apprehensive about starting my 1L year but it has definitely calmed some of those nerves. And this post specifically is near and dear to my heart because I too am doing the summer prep course at my school. The program is so beneficial and I would recommend it to anyone who is apprehensive.
ReplyDeleteHey! Can you email me at Josh27844@gmail.com. I am going to do the SSI and would like to learn more about it.
ReplyDelete