How hard is law school, anyway? Forum

[OldTymeyFaceSmasher]

There's a lot of BS out there about law school, how hard it is, how it eats up your life, etc. On the one hand you read about people having nervous breakdowns from the workload, on the other hand you hear an anecdote about how some broseph never did the reading, drank every night and networked his way into the Treasury or whatever. Does it depend on the school? If you're a fast reader, good extemporaneous thinker, etc, does that help?

So what's the straight dope?

[FiveSermon]

There's a lot of BS out there about law school, how hard it is, how it eats up your life, etc. On the one hand you read about people having nervous breakdowns from the workload, on the other hand you hear an anecdote about how some broseph never did the reading, drank every night and networked his way into the Treasury or whatever.

So what's the straight dope?

Both cases can be true. If your father is an important partner at a firm, you don't even need to go to a good school or have good grades.

[Tanicius]

There's a lot of BS out there about law school, how hard it is, how it eats up your life, etc. On the one hand you read about people having nervous breakdowns from the workload, on the other hand you hear an anecdote about how some broseph never did the reading, drank every night and networked his way into the Treasury or whatever.

So what's the straight dope?

Consensus seems to be it's a lot of work 1L and it will both test and build your responsibility and time management skills. It can be frustrating, though, because the work you do is not always sufficient to get good grades. But it seems to be necessary.

[bk1]

As a 0L, my impressions from students:

1. For the first few months it isn't bad. There's a lot of reading but it is probably comparable to a full time job.

2. The last few weeks with finals is hell and you probably won't be getting much sleep.

That it is hard and nervewracking the entire time is a myth.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Hard? Not necessarily. Time-consuming? Yes, to varying degrees. For me it's insanely time-consuming b/c I want to read everything, understand everything, and go off on tangents (it doesn't help that I'm very time inefficient and constantly take small breaks). Thus, my life this semester has mostly been law school while awake, with occasional breaks during the day (and times where I'm just too tired/braindead to do anything) with a few weekends where ive given myself time-off. It will depend a lot on the type of person you are and the professors that you have. I haveon professor where you have to do about 4-5x the work/reading of another professor to keep up in class. So basically the answer is it depends.

[bport hopeful]

Im hoping for the best, but assuming the worst.

[Rooney]

Hard? Not necessarily. Time-consuming? Yes, to varying degrees. For me it's insanely time-consuming b/c I want to read everything, understand everything, and go off on tangents (it doesn't help that I'm very time inefficient and constantly take small breaks). Thus, my life this semester has mostly been law school while awake, with occasional breaks during the day (and times where I'm just too tired/braindead to do anything) with a few weekends where ive given myself time-off. It will depend a lot on the type of person you are and the professors that you have. I haveon professor where you have to do about 4-5x the work/reading of another professor to keep up in class. So basically the answer is it depends.

^ one of the best avatars in the game

[CMDantes]

I absolutely LOVE OP's picture. Baldurs Gate is one of the top three gaming series of all time, IMO.

[Veyron]

There's a lot of BS out there about law school, how hard it is, how it eats up your life, etc.

This is known as 1L

on the other hand you hear an anecdote about how some broseph never did the reading, drank every night and networked his way into the Treasury or whatever.

This is known as 2L and 3L

Does it depend on the school?

Yes, Yale is chill all three years. Other than that, no.

If you're a fast reader, good extemporaneous thinker, etc, does that help?

LOL

[OldTymeyFaceSmasher]

I absolutely LOVE OP's picture. Baldurs Gate is one of the top three gaming series of all time, IMO.

BGII is one of the best games ever made. Fallout 2 and maybe Morrowind can compare.

[OldTymeyFaceSmasher]

If you're a fast reader, good extemporaneous thinker, etc, does that help?

LOL

What's funny about that question?

[Veyron]

If you're a fast reader, good extemporaneous thinker, etc, does that help?

LOL

What's funny about that question?

Being a fast reader is going to shoot you in the foot untill you know how to read a case. Bad extemporaneous thinkers don't go to good law schools.

[OldTymeyFaceSmasher]

If you're a fast reader, good extemporaneous thinker, etc, does that help?

LOL

What's funny about that question?

Being a fast reader is going to shoot you in the foot untill you know how to read a case. Bad extemporaneous thinkers don't go to good law schools.

Okay.