This week in law school
Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:55 pm
I emailed this to my family. They seemed to enjoy it, so I thought I'd post it. It's nothing brilliant by any means... just something to eat up the time before my next class.
For all intents and purposes, law school week one is over (though I still have legal research methodologies to attend to tomorrow at 1pm-- it's a rough Friday schedule, I know).
My observations about law school thus far are:
1) Law school is in fact a misnomer.
It should be called "high school part II for 'type A' personality people who just can't get enough of being anal retentive." I can see why the name law school was chosen instead, as the above is quite a mouthful. There are, however, lockers, passing periods, classes that start at bizarre times (every class begins 8 minutes after the hour and ends on the hour), a lunch hour complete with tables of the "cool kids" who try to appear as if they enjoy life much more than everyone else, he said/she said/they kissed by the swingset rumors, and massive amounts of "type A "personalities trying to out "type A" their neighbors by finding a question about an even more minute subject than the person before them (we call them gunners, as some of you are likely aware).
2) Choosing your seat the first day of class is an extremely important task.
It, in fact, determines where you will sit for the rest of the course. While some have suggested I might not be the most tolerant person in the world (something I would like to argue about as I believe I am pretty tolerant), I believe anyone could be annoyed by the girl next to me in contracts who constantly talks while the professor is talking, often interrupting him and attempting to finish his sentences for him. The last time I checked they were not in any sort of intimate relationship with each other, and that makes it odd that she finishes sentences that were not, in fact, left open or questions. When sitting in front (as I must or else I don't pay attention), you run a high risk of being seated by gunners which can be quite unfortunate. This leads me to my next point.
3) If you are going to be a gunner, for the love of god brush your teeth and carry gum/breathmints/a dentist around with you.
Oh yes. I sit by a gunner who makes torts even more unpleasant than it already is (it has been established that while nice my torts professor, who is much like a crazy english teacher, is not so good with the socratic method and wastes a lot of time because of it) because he has the worst breath I have ever smelled in my entire life. And he's engaged. I don't know what his fiancee could be thinking. The smell is so offensive that I am currently trying to come up with clever, non-obvious ways to plug my nose when he speaks. Suggestions are welcome.
4) Law school should be recommended as a treatment to obesity.
As if walking up 4 stories (each story having 2 flights of stairs, no less) is not exercise enough when done twice daily, adding 20 lbs of laptop, book, notebook, and lunch weight to the trip makes it quite the work out. Also, fear of being called on leads to an uneasy stomach that does not promote overeating. If I do not have thighs and buns of steel by December it will be truly miraculous, and I will have to talk to a doctor to find out what is wrong with me. Also, were it not for short bike rides in the morning I'm not sure if I would ever stop thinking about all of the stuff I need to do.
5) Law school is not as bad as everyone says -- as long as you get the good teachers.
Rumors are already swirling (see #1 about high school mentality) about people being thrown out of class and made to cry after brutal run-ins with the socratic method. Our section, however, seems to have hit the jackpot for good professors. Everyone is easy-going and even attempts humor on a daily basis. Granted my torts prof. sucks at the socratic method, but she's still nice and perfectly pleasant to be in the same room as. Everyone encourages us to stop by and just say hi because they really like one l's. The reading is very manageable ( 1-1.5 hours per class per night-- generally 3 classes per night). My schedule is easy 9:08-11 then a break until 1 which allows for reading or errand running (or long email typing). By October I won't even have classes on Fridays but until then I don't have to be here until 1pm on Fridays. 1:08 to be exact. I've found that separating myself from everyone else to study (studying at home..) has proven to be a particularly effective way to deal with avoiding crazed students. Yes, there are already crazed students who after 4 days have 15 page outlines (now multiple this by 13 and that's how long their outlines will be come exam time-- not particularly useful unless you like reviewing hundreds of pages of erroneous material). Oh! And I just got an email from my 2L mentor, so old outlines from students should be on their way!!
For all intents and purposes, law school week one is over (though I still have legal research methodologies to attend to tomorrow at 1pm-- it's a rough Friday schedule, I know).
My observations about law school thus far are:
1) Law school is in fact a misnomer.
It should be called "high school part II for 'type A' personality people who just can't get enough of being anal retentive." I can see why the name law school was chosen instead, as the above is quite a mouthful. There are, however, lockers, passing periods, classes that start at bizarre times (every class begins 8 minutes after the hour and ends on the hour), a lunch hour complete with tables of the "cool kids" who try to appear as if they enjoy life much more than everyone else, he said/she said/they kissed by the swingset rumors, and massive amounts of "type A "personalities trying to out "type A" their neighbors by finding a question about an even more minute subject than the person before them (we call them gunners, as some of you are likely aware).
2) Choosing your seat the first day of class is an extremely important task.
It, in fact, determines where you will sit for the rest of the course. While some have suggested I might not be the most tolerant person in the world (something I would like to argue about as I believe I am pretty tolerant), I believe anyone could be annoyed by the girl next to me in contracts who constantly talks while the professor is talking, often interrupting him and attempting to finish his sentences for him. The last time I checked they were not in any sort of intimate relationship with each other, and that makes it odd that she finishes sentences that were not, in fact, left open or questions. When sitting in front (as I must or else I don't pay attention), you run a high risk of being seated by gunners which can be quite unfortunate. This leads me to my next point.
3) If you are going to be a gunner, for the love of god brush your teeth and carry gum/breathmints/a dentist around with you.
Oh yes. I sit by a gunner who makes torts even more unpleasant than it already is (it has been established that while nice my torts professor, who is much like a crazy english teacher, is not so good with the socratic method and wastes a lot of time because of it) because he has the worst breath I have ever smelled in my entire life. And he's engaged. I don't know what his fiancee could be thinking. The smell is so offensive that I am currently trying to come up with clever, non-obvious ways to plug my nose when he speaks. Suggestions are welcome.
4) Law school should be recommended as a treatment to obesity.
As if walking up 4 stories (each story having 2 flights of stairs, no less) is not exercise enough when done twice daily, adding 20 lbs of laptop, book, notebook, and lunch weight to the trip makes it quite the work out. Also, fear of being called on leads to an uneasy stomach that does not promote overeating. If I do not have thighs and buns of steel by December it will be truly miraculous, and I will have to talk to a doctor to find out what is wrong with me. Also, were it not for short bike rides in the morning I'm not sure if I would ever stop thinking about all of the stuff I need to do.
5) Law school is not as bad as everyone says -- as long as you get the good teachers.
Rumors are already swirling (see #1 about high school mentality) about people being thrown out of class and made to cry after brutal run-ins with the socratic method. Our section, however, seems to have hit the jackpot for good professors. Everyone is easy-going and even attempts humor on a daily basis. Granted my torts prof. sucks at the socratic method, but she's still nice and perfectly pleasant to be in the same room as. Everyone encourages us to stop by and just say hi because they really like one l's. The reading is very manageable ( 1-1.5 hours per class per night-- generally 3 classes per night). My schedule is easy 9:08-11 then a break until 1 which allows for reading or errand running (or long email typing). By October I won't even have classes on Fridays but until then I don't have to be here until 1pm on Fridays. 1:08 to be exact. I've found that separating myself from everyone else to study (studying at home..) has proven to be a particularly effective way to deal with avoiding crazed students. Yes, there are already crazed students who after 4 days have 15 page outlines (now multiple this by 13 and that's how long their outlines will be come exam time-- not particularly useful unless you like reviewing hundreds of pages of erroneous material). Oh! And I just got an email from my 2L mentor, so old outlines from students should be on their way!!