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I wasn't sure which forum to post in, but this forum seems like the best option for my question. I will be a 1L in the fall and will likely have to commute 45+ minutes by car to law school. Unless my landlord is sympathetic and lets me out of my lease, I will be stuck commuting. I am really worried about losing 1.5-2 hours per day to driving, especially since it will be for 1L. Does anyone have experience driving 45+ minutes to law school? Did you feel that you lost out on time to study or that it was really difficult to socialize with other students? Did you try to plan your day to avoid the traffic (e.g. leave home at 6am or go home after 7pm)?

FYI, the commute would only be 25 minutes w/out traffic (but that's never the case in LA). I would be commuting from downtown LA to UCLA.

0L here, so a clear lack of personal experience, but from browsing this forum, I would say that this is most definitely a bad idea. Arrow's guide on TLS (http://www.top-law-schools.com/loyola-study-advice.html) specifically states that he chose to live in the ghetto near the school rather than commute.

math101 wrote:0L here, so a clear lack of personal experience, but from browsing this forum, I would say that this is most definitely a bad idea. Arrow's guide on TLS (http://www.top-law-schools.com/loyola-study-advice.html) specifically states that he chose to live in the ghetto near the school rather than commute.

Thanks for your post. I know commuting 45+ minutes each way is not the best idea, but I might not be able to do anything about it.

xeoh85, the #1 student at UCLA who ended up transferring to Stanford had a 1.5 hour commute each way to school. Worked out all right for him (although I think he's one of those people who can sleep 4hrs/night longterm and be ok).

Then again, it takes me 15-20 minutes to get to school and that amount of time drives me crazy and feels like a waste, so I guess different strokes for different folks.

OP, if you can't do anything about it, at least you can take comfort in the fact that somebody had pretty much double your commute time and blew 1L out of the water

A lot of students at Pepperdine face those kinds of commutes. Everything seems to be okay. For what it's worth, I have a 40min commute and it has never bothered me. It limits your ability to go to the library on a whim, but in a way that's been a good thing because studying at the public library/house/starbucks has proved to be far less stressful than a library...that is full of stressed law students.

It depends on your personal preferences too. If you don't particularly like being at school, it's fine. You don't literally study all day as a 1L, so you really won't lose much, especially if you stay @ school after class and wait till' traffic dies (get your work done)

Everyday... It keeps me in the library until rush hour(s) is over.

I do. It's no big deal. It's not the bestest thing ever, but shit happens. Gives me time to let my brain take a break in between classes and going home.

I do - my commute was between 45 min to an hour every day. The commute got tiresome after awhile, but the benefits outweighed the trouble to me (I live with my folks, so not rent). I do all of my studying at home, and it's sort of nice because it gives me mental distance from school. I found that 1L was especially stressful because you're around all the same people who are super stressed all the time, and I think having a place that's removed from school (and especially the library) can be healthy. I don't think that commuting negatively impacted my grades at all.

mnolen wrote:I found that 1L was especially stressful because you're around all the same people who are super stressed all the time, and I think having a place that's removed from school (and especially the library) can be healthy.

This is entirely accurate. Finals are significantly less stressful when you study from home and not the library where everyone is constantly worrying and coming up with insane hypos that even the professor can't answer.

OP, I'll be doing an hour and a half each way. I feel your pain and then some.

I will be. I commuted the same amount to undergrad and my job, so it seems kind of normal to me. It's not ideal, and yeah, it'd be nice to crawl out of bed and walk across the street to class, but I don't think it's the end of the world either. If you're used to a commute, I don't think it's a big deal. If you aren't, it'll take some adjusting to.

I personally kind of like my commute, it gives me time to drink my coffee, wake up, and be by myself for a bit before I have to deal with people and work/school/whatever.

Thanks to all who posted! I guess the commute will be manageable. Like some of the other posters said, I think getting a chance to clear my head in between law school and getting home will be nice (although, I might actually end up more stressed fighting through LA traffic).

Can anyone speak to the social life of a commuter? Is it more difficult to make friends or attend social events? I think something like bar review would be pretty much out of the question for me since I would have to drive back home and am not really a big fan of crashing on people's couches or anything like that.

math101 wrote:0L here, so a clear lack of personal experience, but from browsing this forum, I would say that this is most definitely a bad idea. Arrow's guide on TLS (http://www.top-law-schools.com/loyola-study-advice.html) specifically states that he chose to live in the ghetto near the school rather than commute.

Your social life will be fine. Bar review is kinda blah anyways, everyone just sits around and talks about law school. In a way, it's nice to get away from everyone that you see 4+ hours a day (your classmates). There are plenty of other student groups on campus though that will have opportunities for involvement otherwise

My commute is usually about 30 mins, but one fenderbender or car broken down turns it into an hour plus. I swear by the Sum and Substance series on CD. I've used it for property, civ pro, con law and trusts and estates and they help a ton. It's a nice way to get black letter law when you can't sit and read it. Plus I strongly believe in the concept of learning things better through multiple mediums, multiple times.

leobowski wrote:

math101 wrote:0L here, so a clear lack of personal experience, but from browsing this forum, I would say that this is most definitely a bad idea. Arrow's guide on TLS (http://www.top-law-schools.com/loyola-study-advice.html) specifically states that he chose to live in the ghetto near the school rather than commute.

What is it with 0Ls thinking they have it all figured out? I wasn't aware that Arrow's guide was meant to be taken as the holy grail.

A long commute is not a bad thing - it's all about how it affects you. If you use this time to unwind, listen to music, catch up with friends/family or listen to books etc, it can be a positive thing. If you experience road rage and are generally miserable during the commute then it's a negative.

Seems like a total fucking waste of time/money. With the price of gas, I doubt it would save any money

Have you talked to your landlord? If they are a halfway decent person, they will work with you.

At the barest minimum, you should be able to advertise your place yourself and if you can find a legit renter, your landlord should let the new guy replace you.

I have done the 45-60 minute commute a lot in the past. If I had to do during 1L I would shoot myself in the face...if I could afford to buy a bullet after spending all my money on gas.

i commute 1.5 hours daily to columbia via subway--i honestly wouldn't mind at all if it didn't involve 30+ minutes of walking to and from the subway stop with a backpack filled with 1000+ page books

if anything, it's forced me to adopt a more efficient lifestyle and study habits.

for example, when classes end and some people go home and veg out for 1-2 hours... I'm literally forced to goto the library and do the reading for most of my classes because I physically cannot carry all the books home and back the next day. also, in between classes (i have like 2-3 hour gaps every day) it doesnt make sense to go home and nap/make lunch, etc. so i grab a bagel and tuck away in the library during that time. some days im exhausted and not too productive, but for the most part it forces me to squeeze in another a few hours of studying when i otherwise would've just wasted it at home with distractions.

yeah the commute can be taxing sometimes, but at least you're in a car blasting away to the radio with air conditioning instead of trekking through the snow and torrential rains of nyc, im sure you'll be okay.

.

kublaikahn wrote:Get a copy of the landlord-tenant law for CA. I would bet it is almost too easy to legally terminate a lease in CA, especially in LA due to crime, noise, smell, cockroaches, etc.

First step would be to work it out with the landlord. Dont mention going to law school, use the real reason (e.g. the neighbors keep you up at night and that wont work when you are in law school). If that does not work, give him written notice that you will terminate based on whatever problem you are having, like drugs in the neighborhood.

Yes, use the real reason... which isn't the real reason. Makes perfect sense. In kublaikahn's world, being shady as hell is always TCR.

Just listen to Sum & Substance (or Life of a Law Student, if you want free but hit-or-miss analysis).

king3780 wrote:

kublaikahn wrote:Get a copy of the landlord-tenant law for CA. I would bet it is almost too easy to legally terminate a lease in CA, especially in LA due to crime, noise, smell, cockroaches, etc.

First step would be to work it out with the landlord. Dont mention going to law school, use the real reason (e.g. the neighbors keep you up at night and that wont work when you are in law school). If that does not work, give him written notice that you will terminate based on whatever problem you are having, like drugs in the neighborhood.

Yes, use the real reason... which isn't the real reason. Makes perfect sense. In kublaikahn's world, being shady as hell is always TCR.

I did get an online copy of CA landlord-tenant law. Fortunately but unfortunately, I am not having any problems in my apartment or building, so I don't really have any legal grounds to get out of the lease. The lease also prohibits assignments and sublets, but I have heard of other residents adding and subtracting roommates, so perhaps my landlord would let me add a roommate onto the lease, and I could remove myself from the lease later on.

Any other suggestions or insight from people who did long commutes by car?

Puttanesca wrote:

king3780 wrote:

kublaikahn wrote:Get a copy of the landlord-tenant law for CA. I would bet it is almost too easy to legally terminate a lease in CA, especially in LA due to crime, noise, smell, cockroaches, etc.

First step would be to work it out with the landlord. Dont mention going to law school, use the real reason (e.g. the neighbors keep you up at night and that wont work when you are in law school). If that does not work, give him written notice that you will terminate based on whatever problem you are having, like drugs in the neighborhood.

Yes, use the real reason... which isn't the real reason. Makes perfect sense. In kublaikahn's world, being shady as hell is always TCR.

I did get an online copy of CA landlord-tenant law. Fortunately but unfortunately, I am not having any problems in my apartment or building, so I don't really have any legal grounds to get out of the lease. The lease also prohibits assignments and sublets, but I have heard of other residents adding and subtracting roommates, so perhaps my landlord would let me add a roommate onto the lease, and I could remove myself from the lease later on.

Any other suggestions or insight from people who did long commutes by car?

My property exam isn't until Thursday, so I couldn't tell you for sure, but I'm pretty sure that entirely forbidding sublets and assignments is fishy. Its really easy to modify a lease too, if you say, talk to your landlord and say, "look, I want out, lets figure out something that is agreeable."