Pre-Law school Prep Classes Forum

[Stl987]

Is anyone planning on taking one of the prep classes over the summer before starting law school?

What is everyone's opinion on these courses?

And if you plan on taking one, which course do you plan to take and with which company?

[sbjohnsn]

Every admissions person I have talked to and every law student I have talked to has said not to take these classes. They are a waste of money and time. They may even hurt you if they teach you something incorrect.

[jonas]

I echo sbjohnsn.

[Stl987]

I've spoken to 4 lawyers. 2 said it was a waste, and 2 said it might be worthwhile. 1 of the 2 who said it was a waste took one of these courses, and he said it did nothing for him.


If anyone is thinking to take one of these courses, what is your reasoning?

[NYU 1L]

I recommend the LEEWS law school exam taking seminar course. At $100, it is less than 1/10th of a percent on what you will be spending on your law school education and it can do so much for you.

FACT: Usually 100% of your law school grades are based on one single exam in each class.

FACT: You will be judged by law firms and other lawyers based on which law school you graduated from [you can't change this now] and where you placed in your class / law school GPA (go knock on Cravath's door with a 3.2 out of Columbia, NYU, or Chicago and they won't give you the time of day). This is the same judgment we are all familiar with in the law school admissions process, where your GPA / LSAT brand you to a range of schools.

CONCLUSION: Study your ass off for that one test and spend your first semester, not doing what they tell you to do [if you are in the middle of your peers in IQ, following the pack and doing what they do will land you in the middle, which is a B in law school], but rather preparing to do well on that test. I bet not a single incoming 1L knows what a law school test is like, and yet that is the sole criteria you will be judged on. There is no single larger advantage you could obtain over your peers than knowing what the exam looks like, and practicing and preparing for that exam on a day to day basis before and throughout the first semester. Once you get the big "testing picture" about how they will eventually test you can be sure that every single hour you spend studying / case reading in your 1L first semester is aimed so as to maximize the point total you will receive on that exam.

Far too many students don't even look at a law school exam until two weeks before finals. I consider this to be so ludicrously unwise, that in my mind, no matter what your LSAT score is, I have branded you as a fool. Only ten days before the exam do these students realize that they have wasted hundreds of hours studying in an incorrect / inefficient / detrimental manner. It is akin to studying for the LSAT for 3 months and then only looking at and taking your first LSAT ten days before the test. However, a lot of students make this mistake because they assume that what you are being taught at school is optimal preparation for the exam. This is simply not true, and you will immediately realize once you discover what the exam is like. Students who look at exams just a week or two before [which is at least 50% at NYU] are less prepared than me, who studied less than half of what they did but who respected the exam, found out what it looked like early in the semester, and learned how to take it months in advance. I was able to adjust all of my study habits to maximize what I was supposed to be taking out of the reading [as measured by its utitlity in scoring points on the exam].

My sole advice is to clear your head of everything you think about law school and focus on law school as a series of aggregate 4 hour exams worth 100% of your grade. Find out as quickly as possible what these exams look like, how to take them, and how to study / case read so as to do well on them. It is that simple. Nothing, including class participation, the socratic method, legal writing class, or any other experience should distract you from that exam, which should be your sole objective the first semester. Once you have established a solid class rank, you can think about Law Review, clerkships, 1L firms jobs, or whatever it is that you want. Those first and second semester grades are so critical that you cannot afford to botch these, e.g. someone on the academic teaching track can forget about this as making law review [nearly indispensable for academia] after getting triple Bs the first semester is out of the question [with the URM exception].

[doctorgonzo]

Waste. Of. Money. Period.

[AllisLaw]

NYU 1L,
That LEEWS course sounds interesting. You are already in law school, right? Did you take it?

[nosorio2007]

my dean of admission also said that it was a waste of money and time. I was thinking about taking a law preview course, but now i'm not. I may look into the LEEWS though. Its 1/10 the price, and may be helpful.

[NYU 1L]

Yes, I went to LEEWS and it is worth the $100, which is a small amount. My law school advisor told me to go and I was happy that I did.

The system is great because it gets you in the mindset of using what you are reading for the exam, rather than reading and assuming that you are automatically preparing yourself for the exam. I think that is the largest mistake an entering 1L can make: just doing what you are told to do and not taking active measures toward the exam which is the only thing that really is important. That is the path toward mediocrity.

[anne_o_nymous]

Your time would be better spent if you took the summer off to clear your head before entering the three-year academic purgatory known as law school.
You're better off taking a cross-country road trip than one of those prep courses. And it would probably cost approximately the same amount of money.

[TheTruth]

I am taking a summer law program... http://www.nycourts.gov/attorneys/leo/ I don't think i have anything to lose. Wouldn'tyou agree?

A friend (Cornell Law graduate) told me she wasted her money taking a pre-law prep course, but admits that the program i'll be taking sounds worthwhile.

[AirForceJAG]

The Juris Jumpstart course at http://www.lawpreponline.com

[JClark-NYU]

Go to law preview! I am also an NYU 1L and I did law preview which was very helpful. I also did the LEEWS program which was ridiculously fast paced and short an added nothing to what I learned at law preview over a several day period. I would be happy to answer questions about either of these programs, please be patient as I will be prepping for finals.


Below is a cross post. Again, I am sorry for the cross post, but need to get to work for finals.


Hi -

I am currently a 1L at NYU and I took this course the summer before I entered law school. It was extremely helpful for me. I would be happy to talk to anyone about this who is interested. I entered law school straight from undergrad and so it was a nice introduction to the rigors of legal reading, as well as helped ease my fears of "cold calling".

I found the skills law preview teaches to be very relevant and useful, and I am still using them during my second semester. These classes aren't for everybody. They are especially useful if you are anxious are worried about your first semester. In addition, I really feel that these classes gave me a head start into the semester. I had already read and briefed cases while my classmates learned about case briefing at orientation.

I learned about outlining months before my classmates did. Most people don't learn about the skills or strategies for outlining until the end of the 1st semester.

Do I think this class is necessary to be successful? No. However it is certainly a worthwhile investment.

Best,
J

[BarTutor]

I agree a course is not necessary to succeed in law school, but for some it can be a huge help since law school is so different than undergrad. There are fine course options posted so far, but if you are interested in a different kind of course (that is 100% online and self-paced) check out our course here:

http://www.excellenceinlawschool.com/la ... ep-course/

I teach it. I graduated as the #1 student out of over 200 students in my class and in the course, I teach you the secrets to graduating as the #1 law student as well as the skills you need to succeed in law school.

Whether you take one or not, good luck in your 1L year!!

[BigZuck]

I think shill threads have their own subforum now

Not that it really matters and I'm guessing it was correlation and not causation but the only person I know who took one of these courses finished 1L near the very bottom of the class. I assume they are totally useless just given the general consensus on TLS but maybe someone might find them useful.

[banjo]

I think if the course makes you take a law school exam and gives you SUBSTANTIVE, personalized feedback on it, that could be helpful. I personally did no 0L prep and agree that it's mostly worthless.

[objctnyrhnr]

I did 0L prep in the form of law preview and LEEWs and reading getting to maybe and I did poorly my first semester.

However, then I reread getting to maybe and it finally "clicked" and I crushed it for the remainder of law school.

Conclusions: Don't do any of this stuff, but it might be worth your time to take practice exams in conjunction with reading getting to maybe during the semester, despite the time crunch.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Every person here advocating for these courses is a paid rep regurgitating boilerplate language. FYI.