RA, JI and LR all in one semester?? Forum

[lsatextreme]

Currently got a judicial internship lined up with a judge in the state supreme court but I will be telecommuting entirely. Also found out I made LR this past week. Given all this, I was really planning on RAing for this professor in the IP department who is the professor for many of the classes that I take (naturally since I'm IP focused) and is well connected in various places, so it would be nice to kiss some serious ass and do good work for him. He essentially told me that the position is mine for the Fall if I wanted it, but I'm not sure if doing all of this in one semester is overburdening myself? I also need to make sure that I maintain good grades this semester since I'm pretty much taking 14-15 credits too, so I'm not sure whether I should wait on the RA until Spring to take over the Fall JI.

Has anyone else had to handle such a "load" before? Am I just being a bitch here?

[Ruxin1]

Make sure you got time to JO

[mr_toad]

I am in a similar boat (gov't internship, RA position, part-time job, waiting on journal decision). For both of the former, I specifically discussed my need for flexible hours in case I got main journal, and they're both ok with me working up to what I feel I can handle (also taking bare minimum load of 12 hours to compensate). You definitely want to be careful as one or two lower grades due to high extracurricular activity will likely cancel out (or more) the beneficial aspects of those resume lines.

[Tom Joad]

Make sure you got time to JO

This post should not go without praise.

[Miller32]

Last semester I did LR, part-time firm gig, part-time gov't gig, RA, and 13 credit hours. My life sucked and my grades dropped. Wouldn't recommend anything close.

[mr_toad]

Last semester I did LR, part-time firm gig, part-time gov't gig, RA, and 13 credit hours. My life sucked and my grades dropped. Wouldn't recommend anything close.

I've kind of secretly promised myself to drop the gov't gig if I get law review but not if only secondary journal. But it's good info to hear that it's hell... might second-guess myself still.

[Miller32]

Yeah I mean, like I said, I wouldn't recommend it, but I understand your thinking. Last year I created a thread just like yours asking almost the same question - Am I taking on too much?

Even though most people told me not to do it, I did it anyway. So it's not like I think I'm going to change your mind. I'd think carefully though.

I actually think I got quite a bit better in terms of legal chops, and am better for going through it; it just sucked while it was going on, and I'm pissed that my grades dropped. Competing against kids who are only focused on school and not 100 extracurriculars is not a level playing field at all, no matter how confident you are that you'll still do well.

[ca$hmoney69]

Make sure you got time to JO

this is the most importat incite on OP's problem...

[kalvano]

It will be a miserable existence. But, better to have a miserable semester in the fall of 2L than in the spring. I did mine in the spring, and then went right into working, and it really sucked.

[queenlizzie13]

Currently got a judicial internship lined up with a judge in the state supreme court but I will be telecommuting entirely. Also found out I made LR this past week. Given all this, I was really planning on RAing for this professor in the IP department who is the professor for many of the classes that I take (naturally since I'm IP focused) and is well connected in various places, so it would be nice to kiss some serious ass and do good work for him. He essentially told me that the position is mine for the Fall if I wanted it, but I'm not sure if doing all of this in one semester is overburdening myself? I also need to make sure that I maintain good grades this semester since I'm pretty much taking 14-15 credits too, so I'm not sure whether I should wait on the RA until Spring to take over the Fall JI.

Has anyone else had to handle such a "load" before? Am I just being a bitch here?

I'd probably drop the RA until spring, or drop a class, if you can. Did you get credits in the summer?

[goodolgil]

It will be a miserable existence. But, better to have a miserable semester in the fall of 2L than in the spring. I did mine in the spring, and then went right into working, and it really sucked.

Not if you're going also through the OCI process at the same time (especially if you're required to fly out for callbacks).

[timbs4339]

I've done PT internship, FT credit load, journal (staff and exec bd), RA, and PT jobs all four semesters after 1L. You just have to treat it all as if it was a single job. For me that meant prioritizing assignments as they came in. With law school classes there is a habit of putting everything off until the last month of school because you can always just catch up later. You can't do that when you have a lot of commitments.

I'd also recommend taking classes where you aren't really expected to be on-call/in-class everyday, as sometimes emergencies come up. It of course, helped immensely that my school offered credits for being an RA/clinic intern as well as on the exec board, as well as having a super-easy curve and a lot of classes filled with LLMs.

[howell]

Much of this will depend on the judge and the teacher. If you know people who have worked for either before, check with them. One judge nearby required at least 20 hours a week. An RA position could take that kind of time too. Or they could each be 5-10 hours a week, in which case it's as big a problem.

But assuming each is about 10 hours a week, it's doable. You will find plenty of people who have faced similar or worse. My experience was LR managing editor, competed in a moot court competition, involved in 2 other organizations that required regular meetings, full-time load including a time-consuming internship, working part-time 20+ hours per week, and multiple out of town interviews in one semester. I had several semesters that were similarly hectic.