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This might be a dumb question, but I was wondering if once you have an offer for the summer, if it matters from that point whether you pursue things like moot court or other extracurricular activities that are looked upon favorably by employers? Right now I'm on a secondary journal and I would prefer to concentrate on grades instead of pursuing additional extracurriculars. Is my lack of outside-of-class ambition something that could jeopardize my chances of a permanent offer at the end of my eventual summer? Is there another reason to pursue additional extracurriculars at this point aside from personal development or long-term resume fluff?

TYIA

I would say pursuing extracurricular activities is still important for two reasons:

1) You have no way of knowing whether or not you will be involved in 3L OCI. This includes you hating the firm while you work for it over the summer and deciding that you really need to do something else.

2) As a 2L, I found the extracurricular stuff has already helped me quite a bit vis-a-vis networking. I already knew people who had summered at the firms I had CBs with, and in at least one case someone was even kind enough to advocate for me with a firm they had accepted a full time offer from. I never would have known the relevant upperclassmen except for joining various student orgs. I certainly wouldn't have been able to get an offered summer to advocate for me. Networking is a really powerful tool and it works in mysterious ways, don't pass up the opportunities when you have them.

That said...it's not like you're quitting the journal, right? Lots of people only do 1 or 2 activities, so you probably don't need to go nuts either.

OneMoreLawHopeful wrote:I would say pursuing extracurricular activities is still important for two reasons:

1) You have no way of knowing whether or not you will be involved in 3L OCI. This includes you hating the firm while you work for it over the summer and deciding that you really need to do something else.

2) As a 2L, I found the extracurricular stuff has already helped me quite a bit vis-a-vis networking. I already knew people who had summered at the firms I had CBs with, and in at least one case someone was even kind enough to advocate for me with a firm they had accepted a full time offer from. I never would have known the relevant upperclassmen except for joining various student orgs. I certainly wouldn't have been able to get an offered summer to advocate for me. Networking is a really powerful tool and it works in mysterious ways, don't pass up the opportunities when you have them.

That said...it's not like you're quitting the journal, right? Lots of people only do 1 or 2 activities, so you probably don't need to go nuts either.

Thank you, these are two good points. Thanks for the thoughtful input.

Any advice regarding quitting a secondary journal? I have leadership positions in other activities, offers in hand, and am considering dropping the journal stuff. Do you think that matters?