delusional wrote:Harvard14 wrote:delusional wrote:Anyone care to post a little about 1L winter term? What's the schedule like? Is it easier than a real semester or harder? How is it graded?
I'm under the impression that everyone gets the same grade, and that it's very laid back. I think you have 4 hours in the morning, and then a couple hours later to work on stuff with your group. All this is from current 2Ls and 3Ls.
I didn't even know that the morning had four hours in it. I hope you're right about the laid back part. I'm not sure how I feel about all getting the same grades. There's gotta be something to get me out of bed...
I can speak to the PSW experience...keep in mind, it is very new (2-3 yrs running) so they are/will change it a bit every year I imagine.
It is Pass/Fail so yes, everyone gets the same grade in that it is NOT GRADED lol. The schedule is like 9 to 12 every morning, M-F. Then you have an assignment; you break for lunch and then meet with your PSW group (it's like 6 ppl) and you guys work on whatever. The projects change every few days -- from contracting to interviewing (wow a lot of JD students are no good at this lol) to memo writing w/ research, etc. You have to sometimes present to the faculty, and one of the larger projects you present to actual attorneys in the city on one specific night (i.e. you ride the T to their offices at night -- sometimes biglaw attorneys, sometimes small law, etc.).
The projects themselves are not hard (it is like a group writing a memo together) and usually just take a few hours in the afternoon...so it is kinda like a 9 to 3 or 9 to 4 kinda setup (note: projects vary in length so sometimes you're done at 1, sometimes 4). So 'laid back' in those regards. There are textbooks but you NEVER HAVE TO READ -- at least not in my year. I never even bought the books (I don't recall anyone referring to them EVER...note: could change for your yr, I'd do the wait and see lol).
What they seem to want to teach you is some practical skills and teamwork. Yes, you work in a group every day so be prepared for personalities. Because it is P/F, I guess you don't have much incentive in going to class...except that you screw your group over. Usually in class, a portion is spent explaining the assignment and ways to go about it. Not being there means your group has to waste time (time that no one wants to waste as they'd rather be home) explaining to you how it works, re-assigning tasks, etc., if you end up showing up after the classroom session is over. This has happened to me and our group was...never happy about it. You evaluate each other near the end of the course -- if your group has a problem with you, the faculty will let you know and then make you do extra work. So show up in class imo (missing once or twice is totally fine...missing half+ is not).
Now I know showing up in class is hard...BELIEVE me I know...because the 9-12 portion is the most unbearable part of PSW. It is REALLY boring. Their hearts are in the right place; I believe in what PSW is trying to accomplish...they just haven't worked out the kinks yet. It is hella boring because you do pointless stuff. Example: you will LITERALLY spend 15 minutes where the faculty takes turns calling on students to give them buzzwords for what 'teamwork' means (which is then of course written on a whiteboard). Really? 15 minutes on what teamwork means? Before we move onto another 15 min brainstorm session of what communication means? My God...