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Once an offer of admission has been received, would you say it's appropriate to inquire about 1L schedules? Would it be inappropriate to inquire before an offer was received?

Specifically, the schools on my list all have the pretty standard 1L courses on block scheduling with multiple sections and I'm interested in finding out if this always results in 5 days a week on campus or if longer 2/3 day schedules are offerred for 1L. This will not necessarily be my deciding factor, but assuming I am offered admission into multiple programs it will play a part in my decision.

Thank you.

I wouldn't ask about this before you're accepted. Comes off as weird and presumptuous. No harm in asking once you've been admitted but maybe ask a student not admissions.

Most importantly, I wouldn't base your decision at all off of class schedules. Where you go to law school should be based on your career goal and financial situation. Attending class an extra day or two a week is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, especially because your 2L/3L schedule is largely within your control.

How would they even have it? You're a year away from being in class. I would just assume that you'll be in class mornings to early afternoons 4 days a week with either a Friday or night-time legal writing class.

I realize that schedules wouldn't be available yet. I was more trying to determine (what I was unable to find on the individual school sites) is if 1L have any say in choosing the sections/course times (understanding that the required courses are set) or if each student is simply assigned a section and the schedule is set without any preferences of the student. I'm making the assumption that this varies from school to school but I do not know this for a fact.

My reasoning for looking at this as part of decision making process is that 3 of my 4 applications went to institutions where I would be a commuter student and I have also applied to one of the Hybrid programs. For my situation I would like to take it all into consideration so that I can make the best decision (assuming I'm even accepted at all 4 of course).

Yeah, I absolutely agree that asking before you’re admitted would be weird, but also, they’re not going to have this info yet (they may have some of the scheduling in place but they won’t know which section you’ll be in until the summer, and they don’t let you pick a section).

Because I am coming in very new to all of this (and having been out of school for quite some time) - is it fairly common across most schools that you are just assigned your section/ course schedule and there is no "selection/registration" process your first year?
Thank you in advance for helping a newbie out.

I’ve never heard of a school that lets you pick class times as a 1L. Would be very surprised if that was the case anywhere. Every school I’m aware of assigns students to sections to achieve some sort of balance (think evenly distributed gender/racial diversity) or for the nefarious ones, section stacks and puts all the kids on conditional scholarships in the same section so some of them lose their scholarships (which is why you should never accept a conditional scholarship).

I doubt most schools have set their fall schedules yet or even know which professors will be teaching there in the fall. You may be able to inquire at ASW what a typical 1L schedule looks like but it could change from year to year.

jhall2yl wrote:Because I am coming in very new to all of this (and having been out of school for quite some time) - is it fairly common across most schools that you are just assigned your section/ course schedule and there is no "selection/registration" process your first year?
Thank you in advance for helping a newbie out.

Yes. First-year classes are assigned. Some schools allow you to take one or two electives during your first year, but even there your schedule will largely be determined by the registrar and not by you.

Thank you all for your feedback.
If the schedules are pretty set and you are just assigned a section then it's probably not worth questioning each school as I'd be able to look at past block schedules and at least get the gist.

Now here's to the fun game of "wait and see" until I start to hear back from the 4 applications!
Life opened up an opportunity to finally go for this so I quickly registered for the January LSAT did fairly well despite not much time to prepare, and I am only applying to local schools + one Hybrid (2nd career, old lady etc... )so I don't have quite the same requirements as the traditional 1L in search of certain rankings and employment statistics, but I'm excited to read through here and get to know some of you.

I think some schools let you list preferences for scheduling if there are extenuating circumstances (like you have childcare to arrange).

jhall2yl wrote:Once an offer of admission has been received, would you say it's appropriate to inquire about 1L schedules? Would it be inappropriate to inquire before an offer was received?

Specifically, the schools on my list all have the pretty standard 1L courses on block scheduling with multiple sections and I'm interested in finding out if this always results in 5 days a week on campus or if longer 2/3 day schedules are offerred for 1L. This will not necessarily be my deciding factor, but assuming I am offered admission into multiple programs it will play a part in my decision.

Thank you.

I would not ask