My Cady year
If you're new here, then let me catch you up to speed real quick. I transferred schools for my 2L year so this past year has really felt like I was a 1.5L because I was still getting used to a new school. For me, transferring was one of the best decisions I've made in law school so far.
Related: 6 steps to transferring law schools
Nothing against my old school, but it just wasn't for me. I made a total of one friend from my section and just didn't really felt like I belonged. But within a few weeks at my new school, I was already making new friends in each of my classes and getting more involved with the school. Once I found where I belonged, I felt a lot more comfortable and everything just felt a little easier. One of my friends always jokes that I'm like Cady from Mean Girls since I'm new and I ended up being friends with different friend groups form each section (hence the name of this paragraph).
Not that I'm bitter about not getting in to this school on the first try at all. In fact, if I would have, then this blog wouldn't have even been started and I wouldn't have had this opportunity to share my experiences with y'all!
First Semester
Idk if I've said this on here before, but I've kinda figured out that your first semester of your 1L year is like being a freshman all over again, your second semester of 1L is like being a sophomore (yeah it's that big of a jump after one semester), your 2L year is like being a junior, and I'm assuming your 3L year is like being a senior.
The first thing I noticed that's nice about being an upperclassman is you handle cold calls a lot better (yes some professors still do this after 1L). When I got called on the first time of the semester, I wasn't stressed out or nervous so I was able to actually hear the question that my professor had asked me. And since I'd been doing this for a year, I understood what he meant by his question and could answer based off my own knowledge instead of fumbling around through my notes trying to look for the answer in the case. Of course this doesn't always happen and sometimes I would still get stumped and have an onshit moment, but it was a lot less often.
Another great thing about being more experienced is that you've made it through the hazing of 1L so professors know that you've earned your keep if you're sitting in their class. I felt like my professors were a lot more laid back in general and I wasn't stressing out near as much making sure I memorized every detail of a case for if my professor was going to grill me.
Maybe that's also partly because by the time you're a 2L, you get really good about skimming through the case for just what's important so you can get through your readings a whole lot faster. Yes, I still read all of my cases as a 2L and plan to as a 3L because it really does make studying for finals a lot easier. It can be really tempting to want to get lazy, but I think reading cases is a good goal to have.
Related: 2L goals
But being a 2L doesn't mean that law school is suddenly a piece of cake. It just gets easier. There's still a lot of stress. I was in a group project in one of my classes and would literally scream every time I got a text in the group text because my grades were dependent on these people. And since I transferred, my first semester I was seeing all these people coming to school in suits for Fall on campus interviews and it really stressed me out missing out on that. I'll say this– law school is definitely all about balance. I had to learn how to take a me day as soon as I started feeling really stressed because I knew that I would have a mental breakdown if I pretended like everything was fine (for real though... don't do this!).
Second Semester
I'm really proud of how I somehow got my shit together my Spring semester. There was literally no trick to it, I just got in a productive mood one day and stuck with it pretty well all semester. But I will say that I think it was just the result of trial and error for the past two years. Humble brag: I actually started studying from 9-4, I worked out 4 days a week, I got in to a clinic, I got in to an externship. Adulting has actually been a lot better than I thought it'd be.
But again, this wasn't all roses. Your 1L year you feel busy all the time because reading the cases just takes so damn long. As a 2L a lot of times it feels like you're just as busy because even though you can do your readings a lot faster, there's just so much other stuff that you have going on and I definitely felt that this Spring. Even though I received my best grade ever my first semester, I also received my worst grade my second semester ☹️ so the highs and lows are definitely still there (PS fuck you evidence).
And unfortunately I still had a voice inside my head every couple of months questioning if I'm really cut out to be a lawyer. I basically just shut this voice up by reminding myself that I'm almost done anyways. And I've officially made it further through law school than Nick Miller did haha.
For real though, I still love law school and I'm still obsessed with it. I love how it hasn't gotten boring yet and I'm still interested in everything that I'm learning. I also am still incredibly grateful to be living out my Legally Blonde fantasy because I haven't forgotten how that dream almost didn't happen two years ago. This year was definitely a challenge but it reassured me that I'm where I'm supposed to be.
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