7 Things To Do to Prepare for Law School

This time last year, I was a mess. I had finally realized that I couldn't just wait around all summer to see if I got pulled from the waitlist and accepted that I would basically have to call the one school that did outright accept me and basically beg them to let me have my spot back. After that, I was in full-on panic mode as I rushed to get everything situated for the fall with only a little over two months until orientation began. If you're like me and tend to put things off until the last moment, here are some things that you'll need to start doing.

Housing

Now is the time that you need to find a place to live. You'll need to consider if you want to live in on-campus housing like a dorm, or if you want to get an apartment, or even if you want to rent a house. You'll also need to think about location, like would save gas living closer to campus or maybe consider nicer apartments further away from your school that aren't cheaply made for students. Do you want roommates? Because if so you'll need to find them. If you think you might end up wanting a pet, you'll also need to be considering that. The neighborhood you live in might also be important because if you're planning on studying at your place, then you might not want to live by a bunch of loud college kids. You'll also probably need to set up mail forwarding from your last house to your new one to make sure that you're still receiving all of your mail.

Related: Apartment hunting tips

Loans

This was absolutely the #1 thing my mom was always on my ass about. Unfortunately, there's not really a lot of scholarships available for law students except what your school can offer, and there's also no law school grants available either.Most likely you're going to have to figure out how to get a loan. The nice thing about a loan is that whoever you get your loan from isn't going to be running out of money anytime soon so I was able to put this off until August and still get my money in time.

Check Law School Website

Your professors might have posted the syllabus for the class already or at least the first few reading assignments. Don't assume that this will be like college and they'll send you nice little emails letting you know what to do because most assume you already know how to check for assignments already. This will also be how you'll know what books you'll need for class and how to buy a parking pass, etc. 

Buy Books

In college I always waited until after the first week of class to buy any books because I wanted to find out which classes I could get by without even having the book. Not the case here. In law school you'll use your books in every class, every day. If you're ordering your books online through Chegg or through Amazon, you'll need to order them early enough to make sure that they arrive before the first day of class (or maybe even orientation, if your school gives assignments for that). 

I'd personally recommend NOT renting your books, because if you highlight for your IRAC, then chances are that you'll end up paying fines for writing in them too much. However, there's nothing wrong with buying used books—just as long as you make sure that whoever had it before didn't practically turn it into a coloring book.

Related: What law books to buy new, buy used, rent, and get for free 

Visit the Campus 

You might've already toured the campus when deciding which school to go to, but you need to go back for another visit. Figure out the fastest way to get from your apartment to class and remember how long it took you so that once school starts you know how early to leave. Even though law schools are tiny compared to a college (mine only has like 10 classrooms), you should still figure out where your classrooms, mailbox, and locker will be.

This is also a great time to stop by financial aid and see if there's any way you can negotiate your scholarship. One girl from my section didn't receive a loan initially but after finding out that the rest of us did with similar GPA/LSAT scores, she marched herself into financial aid and got a little scholarship out of it. Or if you did get a scholarship, you might see if there's any way they could bump it up just a little. 

Related: How to find law school scholarships

Talk with Current/New Students

Whether it's someone you ran into while on campus or someone you've met through your school's admitted students' Facebook group, it's great to start meeting people from your school. Even though incoming 1Ls likely don't have any advice to give like the upperclassmen, they still can answer questions like Where do we meet for orientation? or Who knows our professors emails? The more people who can answer your questions, the more at ease you'll be on the first day of class. 

Book Flights

If you're going to law school far enough away from your family that you'll be flying home, now is a time to consider getting flights for holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any major family events like your parents' birthdays or a wedding. I've heard that the best time to book domestic flights is 6 weeks before because of pricing, but I completely forgot to do this last fall and ended up having to pay a lot more for a last minute ticket home for Thanksgiving because I was so busy with finals just around the corner. Another reason you might consider booking flights in advance is that if you have proof that you've already had something booked for a while, you're more likely to get an extension for a deadline or days off work if you need it.

Final Thoughts

These are a lot of little details, so make sure you don't get overwhelmed trying to figure everything out all at once! Think of what needs to happen ASAP and what can wait until later on in the summer, and work on getting everything in order a little at a time. Of course, if there's ever anything else that you're unsure of as you get ready this summer, ask away and I'll try my hardest to help you!

Related: 5 ways to spend the summer before law school

Click here to download your law school back to school checklist

20 Things I Learned About Law School as a 1L

After my 1L in Review post, I received lots of wonderful comments and emails from both excited 0L's and experienced 1L's, which naturally keep me thinking about all of the ups and downs of this past year. To share a little more about this past year, I thought I'd jot down just a few things that I've picked up along the way that might be helpful to you.

1. You will have to re-learn how to be a great student again
2. You actually have to go to class
3. Your times of going out on a school night are over
4. You can't get away with not buying the book anymore
5. Any school supplies you used in college will pretty much be exactly what you use again 
6. Law school is a graduate school, so people dress like it  
7. It takes effort to stay connected with your friends after you graduate 
8. There's a lot more people than you'd think don't go straight from college to law school so you might be amongst the youngest 
9. "I'm in law school" is a great excuse when you don't want to go out
10. You will forever think of things as a lawyer 
11. 2L's and 3L's are a great resource 
12. Law professors love to talk about themselves, so go to them for legal-field advice
13. Going to office hours doesn't make you a suck-up
14. Staying organized is the key to your sanity
15. The quicker you confront your stress, the better
16. Feel of failure is a great motivator
17. You're going to think you'll flunk out a lot more frequently than you did in college
18. You can still make good grades without overworking yourself
19. Being ahead of the curve isn't as daunting as it seems
20. Everything gets better after you finish your first final and you know what to expect

Feel free to comment below if you have anything else that you learned about law school. Oh and good luck to everyone in the Fall :)