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Current 2Ls- Are you studying harder than last year?

I would say there is some decreased studying, and some of my classmates are doing a lot less, but often because we have a lot in the way of journal responsibilities, internships, part time jobs, club leadership, etc. In my case, I felt like I had something to prove last year, because of my educational background. I did not always take the most balanced approach, and I am way better about that now. It's an issue of live and learn, but I am so much happier, and not feeling like I need to do X,Y, and Z for OCI is the best feeling in the world.

I voted massive slacking.

Absurd amount of slacking.

I hope everybody's doing the same, or I'm in trouble.

Less studying, but doing it smarter.

I went with less studying, but not really slacking.

Fewer classes with finals + more things to do outside of studying for class = fewer hours studying. I had a pretty front-loaded semester though. Overall, I'd say I'm way busier this semester than I've ever been, but not as much of that busy-ness has been the all-consuming studying for finals that went on 1L year.

I'm ashamed and embarrassed at the degree of my slack-offerey

We all need to consider that there may be self selection going on here based on the fact that we are browsing TLS during finals.

Since I don't have a job lined up for the summer yet I'm not slacking off at all.

Okay, maybe a little bit. Studying is not fun. Plus I'm not afraid of exams anymore.

yes, but it could be because i have so many multiple choice exams. my brain has interpreted that as 'prof doesn't care, why should you'.

i want a do-over. goddamn finals have been bad for me.

This has not been a very productive quarter. I have a kind of doom feeling sinking in, yet it doesn't seem to be motivating me.....there have been a lot of changes in my life in the past few months, so maybe I just feel "different." Time will tell I guess.

so much apathy

joobacca wrote:i want a do-over. goddamn finals have been bad for me.

I want a do over too. I wasted way too much time in the beginning of the semester.

thexfactor wrote:

joobacca wrote:i want a do-over. goddamn finals have been bad for me.

I want a do over too. I wasted way too much time in the beginning of the semester.

FTFY.

A lot of slacking relative to what I did last year, but what I did last year was not repeatable in terms of drive and effort.

Lawl Shcool wrote:A lot of slacking relative to what I did last year, but what I did last year was not repeatable in terms of drive and effort.

Yea i have the same feeling. Last year was about life or death....... kill or be killed.
This year the odds are not as bad if you have a summer position. Obviously still competitive to get an offer and good grades helps, but usually that offer is dependant on your performance at work.

thexfactor wrote:

Lawl Shcool wrote:A lot of slacking relative to what I did last year, but what I did last year was not repeatable in terms of drive and effort.

Yea i have the same feeling. Last year was about life or death....... kill or be killed.
This year the odds are not as bad if you have a summer position. Obviously still competitive to get an offer and good grades helps, but usually that offer is dependant on your performance at work.

Ya that is how I am seeing it. So long as my grade are not atrocious, my offer or no-offer will be based on my work product. Also, since I will be the only person in the entire office from my new school, odds are pretty low that anyone will be able to decipher my transcript anyways.

I've been much more consistent in reviewing and keeping up on my outlines through out the semester. The extra time on the weekend from not having to do LRW stuff has been GREAT! So i'm probably studying more, but I am more conistent, more relaxed and less stressed than last time (minus the legal profession test I bombed today!)

I think the big thing your first year is to realize that there are no "tricks" in law school. You go to the class, take notes and spit back what the prof wants to hear on the final. I was so skittzed out trying to buy all these hornbooks and such my first semester! I wasted massive amount of time. I did fairly well top %15 (3.02 gpa), but then the next semester focused entirely on class material and went up to %12 (3.33 gpa). The longer I am in school, the more I realize that the only thing you need to worry about is in class material.

Last year, I gunned my brains out because I feared unemployment. After transferring and getting a biglaw jorb through OCI, I'm still worried that somehow, someway, I'm going to get dinged. I think I'll always have a fear, rational or irrational, of getting dinged. I mean, from the LSAT to LS applications to 1L grades to journal competition to OCI to 2L grades...the penumbra (con law II exam today) of the "ding monster" is always lurking around the corner, ready to tear your life to shreds should you take one fateful misstep.

Because of the super-long OCI season, I wasn't caught up in reading until the end of Thanksgiving break. Now, fear of looking like an idiot amongst a new set of classmates (not to mention starting over with no GPA) scares the sht out of me. I mean, I'm still paying an absurd amount of money to go to this school. Moreover, I don't want to give my firm something to ding me for by getting awful grades (should we hit another recession which is always an imminent possibility). In sum, I voted gun in part because my circumstances forced me to do so, but also because I have an irrational fear of failure. FML.

Outside of law school, I swear I'm normal.

Big Shrimpin wrote:Last year, I gunned my brains out because I feared unemployment. After transferring and getting a biglaw jorb through OCI, I'm still worried that somehow, someway, I'm going to get dinged. I think I'll always have a fear, rational or irrational, of getting dinged. I mean, from the LSAT to LS applications to 1L grades to journal competition to OCI to 2L grades...the penumbra (con law II exam today) of the "ding monster" is always lurking around the corner, ready to tear your life to shreds should you take one fateful misstep.

Because of the super-long OCI season, I wasn't caught up in reading until the end of Thanksgiving break. Now, fear of looking like an idiot amongst a new set of classmates (not to mention starting over with no GPA) scares the sht out of me. I mean, I'm still paying an absurd amount of money to go to this school. Moreover, I don't want to give my firm something to ding me for by getting awful grades (should we hit another recession which is always an imminent possibility). In sum, I voted gun in part because my circumstances forced me to do so, but also because I have an irrational fear of failure. FML.

This.....is closer to how I currently feel than I would ever care to admit.

Also,

Big Shrimpin wrote:Outside of law school, I swear I'm normal.

Lawl Shcool wrote:

thexfactor wrote:

Lawl Shcool wrote:A lot of slacking relative to what I did last year, but what I did last year was not repeatable in terms of drive and effort.

Yea i have the same feeling. Last year was about life or death....... kill or be killed.
This year the odds are not as bad if you have a summer position. Obviously still competitive to get an offer and good grades helps, but usually that offer is dependant on your performance at work.

Ya that is how I am seeing it. So long as my grade are not atrocious, my offer or no-offer will be based on my work product. Also, since I will be the only person in the entire office from my new school, odds are pretty low that anyone will be able to decipher my transcript anyways.

so you go to wustl eh?

patrickd139 wrote:

Big Shrimpin wrote:Last year, I gunned my brains out because I feared unemployment. After transferring and getting a biglaw jorb through OCI, I'm still worried that somehow, someway, I'm going to get dinged. I think I'll always have a fear, rational or irrational, of getting dinged. I mean, from the LSAT to LS applications to 1L grades to journal competition to OCI to 2L grades...the penumbra (con law II exam today) of the "ding monster" is always lurking around the corner, ready to tear your life to shreds should you take one fateful misstep.

Because of the super-long OCI season, I wasn't caught up in reading until the end of Thanksgiving break. Now, fear of looking like an idiot amongst a new set of classmates (not to mention starting over with no GPA) scares the sht out of me. I mean, I'm still paying an absurd amount of money to go to this school. Moreover, I don't want to give my firm something to ding me for by getting awful grades (should we hit another recession which is always an imminent possibility). In sum, I voted gun in part because my circumstances forced me to do so, but also because I have an irrational fear of failure. FML.

This.....is closer to how I currently feel than I would ever care to admit.

Also,

Big Shrimpin wrote:Outside of law school, I swear I'm normal.

I have the same fears too, but I cant motivate myself like last year. This isn't life or death. This might be dangerous, but I feel that if i get crappy grades, I can always motivate myself next semester and fix the situation.
( I am currently sitting in an exam room getting ready to take an exam) This is how unworried i am. Reading and posting on TLS 15 mins before a final!

thexfactor wrote:

Lawl Shcool wrote:

thexfactor wrote:

Lawl Shcool wrote:A lot of slacking relative to what I did last year, but what I did last year was not repeatable in terms of drive and effort.

Yea i have the same feeling. Last year was about life or death....... kill or be killed.
This year the odds are not as bad if you have a summer position. Obviously still competitive to get an offer and good grades helps, but usually that offer is dependant on your performance at work.

Ya that is how I am seeing it. So long as my grade are not atrocious, my offer or no-offer will be based on my work product. Also, since I will be the only person in the entire office from my new school, odds are pretty low that anyone will be able to decipher my transcript anyways.

so you go to wustl eh?

nope

thexfactor wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:

Big Shrimpin wrote:Last year, I gunned my brains out because I feared unemployment. After transferring and getting a biglaw jorb through OCI, I'm still worried that somehow, someway, I'm going to get dinged. I think I'll always have a fear, rational or irrational, of getting dinged. I mean, from the LSAT to LS applications to 1L grades to journal competition to OCI to 2L grades...the penumbra (con law II exam today) of the "ding monster" is always lurking around the corner, ready to tear your life to shreds should you take one fateful misstep.

Because of the super-long OCI season, I wasn't caught up in reading until the end of Thanksgiving break. Now, fear of looking like an idiot amongst a new set of classmates (not to mention starting over with no GPA) scares the sht out of me. I mean, I'm still paying an absurd amount of money to go to this school. Moreover, I don't want to give my firm something to ding me for by getting awful grades (should we hit another recession which is always an imminent possibility). In sum, I voted gun in part because my circumstances forced me to do so, but also because I have an irrational fear of failure. FML.

This.....is closer to how I currently feel than I would ever care to admit.


I have the same fears too, but I cant motivate myself like last year. This isn't life or death. This might be dangerous, but I feel that if i get crappy grades, I can always motivate myself next semester and fix the situation.
( I am currently sitting in an exam room getting ready to take an exam) This is how unworried i am. Reading and posting on TLS 15 mins before a final!

This. The fear is alive and well, the motivation...not so much. No matter how many times I remind myself I have NO GPA currently, I still can't get it in gear. No one has had a summer offer rescinded before you start based on grades...right?