Should You Go to Law School?

Law school application season is upon us, so I wanted to take the time to give some perspective to anyone out there who is on the fence about law school. Law school is the hardest thing I've ever done, but that doesn't mean that I regret my decision one bit.

It's nothing like the LSAT

Or anything you've ever done before. So just because you got great grades your whole life doesn't mean it'll be easy. On the flip side, if you struggled with the LSAT or thought it wasn't real-world realistic, that's okay because law school is literally nothing like that at all. In one of my classes we're already doing practice Bar questions and thankfully there are no logic games involved. 

It is time consuming

Ok let me do a quick breakdown for you.

  24 hours in a day

- 8 hours sleeping

- 1.5 hours getting ready/getting to class

- 2 hours cooking/eating (breakfast, lunch, dinner)

- 4 hours of class

- 5 hours of studying
-1 hour working out
-1/2 hour doing chores around the house

2 hours of free time

Now I'm not saying that's how little free time you have every day, but it isn't uncommon for you to spend 5 hours reading or writing for a class. The one down side to law school is that during the busy parts you're really busy.

It isn't crazy competitive

And people aren't rude savages trying to get ahead of the curve. Everyone's suffering through this together so you kind of bond with your classmates because of this. That's why people study in groups because at least it's y'all together against everyone else. But after two schools, I've found that people are always friendly enough to offer old outlines or whatever to help you along. 

It's not like debate team or mock trial

Two things about this. 1. If debate or mock trial weren't your thing, or you didn't even like it, then you can still go to law school. Not every lawyer spends all day arguing in front of a jury. That's a litigation lawyer. There's also transactional lawyers who write wills or file companies for bankruptcy. 2. If you were super into debate or mock trial, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're ahead of the game.

Sure you have the opportunity to join a mock trial (or moot court) team and occasionally a professor will have you debate a side in class, but that's not what this is about. Mostly all you'll be doing that first year is sitting in class learning about how a contract is formed or what the term "delivery" means for property. Remember, it is law school.

It is expensive

Another breakdown, this time of my costs through my first semester as a 2L.

0L

1,200 Kaplan LSAT prep

175 CAS registration

180 1st LSAT attempt registration

180 2nd LSAT attempt registration

50 1st school application fee

45 2nd school application fee

45 3rd school application fee (I got waivers for the 2 other schools)

$1,875

1L

20,500 government loan (FASFA)

900 interest on government loan from Aug. 2015 - Aug. 2016

27,500 private student loan

1,300 interest on private loan from Aug. 2015 - Aug. 2016
200 Declaration of Intent fee

$50,500

(these two loans covered my tuition, housing, books, and living expenses)

2L

20,500 government loan

13,000 private student loan (because I transferred to a cheaper school)

$33,500 (so far without interest)

Total

$85,875 approximately because I've been rounding

The Law School Bubble has popped

You might hear stories from people about how law school isn't worth it. This is because from like 2005 - 2013, the law school market was flooded and the economy was bad. This means that a lot of lawyers were super in debt and were having a hard time finding jobs. Some people even argued it wasn't worth it unless you received a great scholarship to a Tier 1 school and graduated in the Top 10% (although I think this is a little extreme). 

But thanks to this bubble, right now there are not as many law graduates as there used to be and the economy is slowly getting better so our job prospects are more optimistic and it isn't as big of a financial risk to go into debt getting a law degree.

It isn't like what you see

As much as I love Legally Blonde and HTGAWM, those don't accurately portray what you'll be doing as a 1L. There are professors who still have a practice (called adjuncts) but I almost guarantee they're not going to pull people out of your class to help them with a case. Criminal Procedure and Evidence are 2L classes so you wouldn't even know how to help a professor. 

That's like teaching a 5th grader how to make a volcano out of baking soda and vinegar and then a scientist taking that kid along with him to Hawaii to collect lava samples from a volcano. If anyone is going to work with a professor it's going to be a 2L or a 3L and they'll probably be helping them research and publish a book.

You don't have to know what kind of law you want to practice

It's always weird to me when people ask me what kind of law I'm studying because truthfully, I'm studying all the types of law. What's weird about the bar exam is that it's not like a normal comprehensive test because you end up being tested over subjects that you haven't even taken classes for. So you have to take as many different subjects as possible to learn a little about a lot in only 3 years.

Because of this, you can end up figuring out what kind of law to practice. You might take a class and realize that you love it and want to do that for your career. Or by process of elimination you can find what you absolutely don't want to do. I'm a 2L and still don't know what kind of law I want to practice, so don't think you have to know either.

It is a challenge

That's about how your 1L year feels, especially during that first semester. There's really not much you can do to prepare for law school before you experience first hand. I mean, no book you read or class you take can prepare you for how helpless you feel when you aren't understanding a topic a few weeks before the final or stressed you feel reading for 4 classes every night. Eventually you learn to swim and then it starts to be more manageable. And after dedicating so much time and effort into law school, you have immense pride in yourself each time you pass a class.

There is a "law school game"

When you get here, you'll hear people refer to law school as a game. Think of this game as like Monopoly. As long as you don't break any rules, you can do whatever it takes to win. Just like Monopoly, a few people interpret this as sabotaging others to make so they can finish higher. But other people just are smart about it. You have to learn how to prioritize what's important, how to find and take advantage of help that's offered, how to strategize and plan to be successful.

Just one example is learning how to multitask really well. Sometimes the professors slide says one thing and he's talking about something else, but because I can multitask I can mindlessly copy what's on the slide into my notes while still listening to what the professor is going over and write down a summary of what he said when he pauses. Because I can do this, I don't miss out on as much information as someone else who either focuses purely on the slides or purely on the professor. 

Other ways to work the system is to visit office hours and get a sense of what the test is like, or to take advantage of a program that your school offers to help make you a more competitive applicant once it's time to fight for a job. The law school game is all about taking advantage of your strengths while either strengthening your weaknesses or at least not letting them slow you down. 

It is fun

Despite all of the "law school sucks" tweets and texts law students send to our friends, we actually love it here. To me, college was mostly just blow off classes or classes that I didn't really care about. Even the ones I liked, I still wasn't passionate about. But I am passionate about all of my law classes. Sure, I might've fought to stay awake through the Dormant Commerce Clause during Constitutional Law, but then I was wide awake when we began to talk about First Amendment rights. 

And even though you read a lot of cases, they're interesting! Torts is full of examples of people just being complete idiots and Criminal Law is like reading a real CSI case. Literally my favorite part about my Wills class is reading about people's dirty laundry, like the wife finding out her husband had a mistress when he left her half of his money. So, at least it's not completely terrible.

Stole this from my friend Jordan

6 Tips for When You Feel the Mid-Semester Burnout

October is the worst month of the semester. September is full of new year, new me! attitude. November is full of shit shit shit finals are coming! attitude. October is full of meh attitude. It's the middle of the semester and your motivation is gone. I'm talking about me too because this is why although I have lots of blog post ideas, the effort of writing them out just seems too much. This is the month when you start skimming or completely skipping the notes after a case. Where you go to class unprepared. Where you spend all day in bed watching YouTube videos of auditions for The Voice instead of studying. You just are over law school. 

Unfortunately, this lack of motivation is obviously detrimental for your law school success. It becomes easier and easier to fall behind in your readings or procrastinate studying your outlines. You can only put your responsibilities off for so long before they start to stress you out because all of a sudden now you have this massive to-do list just to catch up on top of what you already need to be doing. So here's some things to rekindle that motivational fire of yours so you don't keep slipping behind.

Take a day to get your life together

Do all of the chores that have been piling up. Do that workout hat you told yourself you'd do weeks ago. Change the oil in your car, hang those pictures, or do whatever else you've been putting off. Just make a to do list and get it done. 

Related: How working out helped my law school anxiety and depression and 6 ways to de-stress in law school

There's just something about having a clean house and your personal life put back together that helps you feel like you can take on the world. It's kind of a way to jump start your motivation because once you start getting tasks done, it'll make you want to keep going and tackle studying.

Related: Law school apartment cleaning schedule

Get in a routine

It's easy to start off the year saying I'll go to class from 10-3; I'll read from 3-7; I'll study from 7-9. But probably now your schedule is more like class for sure because it's mandatory, read whenever I get around to it, and study sometime eventually. But that routine is what helps keep you organized and make sure you get everything done that you're supposed to. 

Related: 5 lists for an organized semester

After you've run all the errands that I was just talking about, sit down and think of what you have to get done. Make two lists— one for things you need to do weekly (chores, reviewing) and one for things you need to do daily (read). Now designate a study time every day, a review time every week, and a chores time every week and get used to getting your shit done during those times. Eventually you'll get used to studying at 7 o'clock every night again and then you'll just go on autopilot and start studying when you're supposed to.

Related: How to study from 9-5 in law school

Get back to planning

Again, putting everything down in your planner is really easy at the beginning of the semester, but by now you might even forget to be using your planner. This goes along with the routine in that organization will help you get back on track. You have 24 hours in a day, so excluding sleeping and class think about how you're spending each hour. Once you become self-aware of those productivity black holes during the day, you can focus on not letting those hours waste by.

Related: The best law school planners

If you're struggling with this, you might start out with baby steps and plan out your day hour by hour. I'm talking write out the time you're asleep, the time you spend getting ready/going to class, and especially the time you know you need to be studying. Another thing you might try doing is making a to-do list of everything that you need to get done that day. This might feel overwhelming, but it keeps you on track and makes sure there's nothing you forget.

Get real about your studying

First of all, when it comes to studying if you wait until you're motivated to start studying then you'll be waiting for a very long time. The best way to start is to kinda just force yourself to do it. Also be realistic with yourself about what distracts you the most. For me, sometimes it'll be getting on Pinterest during a study break and then staying there longer than I need to. Two solutions I've found to this is to use the Podomoro app (more about that here) or to study somewhere where I don't have WiFi, like a park.

Related: 5 new locations to study

This brings me to my next suggestion of try something new to shake up your mundane studying. I love studying at the park because I get to enjoy a beautiful day but still study somewhere less depressing than the library. Another way to shake things up is to listen to something different. Obviously music with lyrics can be distracting, but sometimes even classical music can be distracting when you start paying attention to the rhythm. On the flip side, not listening to anything won't drown out the background noise of your neighbors and can be pretty boring. So I recently started listening to white noise while I study and it solves all of these problems.

One last thing. Remember to study and then relax. If you start off relaxing then it'll be really hard to convince yourself to get up and get studying. So save the Netflix for a reward.

Go to bed one hour earlier

This may not seem relevant, but hear me out. Because you're not super organized in your life right now, you're probably staying up later than you did at the beginning of the year. Which means that now you're waking up more tired and hitting snooze until you have to rush to get ready. So now your day has started off in a rushed yet sleepy haze. And that's how the rest of your day will probably be.

Making yourself get an extra hour of sleep is going to do wonders for your sanity! You'll be more energized to pay attention during class or tutor sessions. And when you feel well rested, it's a lot easier to sit down and read for hours instead of fighting off a nap. 

Related: 9 Steps to Sleeping Better

Give yourself a kick

I understand that right now you're feeling more stressed out than you ever thought was possible. I mean, your friends still in college whining about their little midterms? They don't even understand stress! So without adding more stress to yourself and pushing you closer to a mental breakdown, you do need to have a reality check with yourself. 

Yes you made it to law school, but you haven't reached your dreams of being a lawyer yet. Now is not the time to get lazy and sloppy just because you no longer have to worry about being good enough to get into law school. I know it sucks, but you need to sit down and think about what baby steps you can take to make sure that you're accomplishing your goals.

Related: My law school semester goals

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