Thanksgiving Forum

[nutella123]

What are people doing for Thanksgiving? Part of me is feeling that I should just stay at school and study hard since exams are just a few weeks away. Then another part of me feels like a total loser doing that - like all balance is leaving my life. Thoughts?

[dingbat]

What are people doing for Thanksgiving? Part of me is feeling that I should just stay at school and study hard since exams are just a few weeks away. Then another part of me feels like a total loser doing that - like all balance is leaving my life. Thoughts?

Go be human

[KMaine]

What are people doing for Thanksgiving? Part of me is feeling that I should just stay at school and study hard since exams are just a few weeks away. Then another part of me feels like a total loser doing that - like all balance is leaving my life. Thoughts?

Go be human

This

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

I'm a 1L but i think it depends. I have four closed book exams, with the first one three days after classes end. I'm staying here to do flash cards, practice MC and essay questions.

[Tom Joad]

What are people doing for Thanksgiving? Part of me is feeling that I should just stay at school and study hard since exams are just a few weeks away. Then another part of me feels like a total loser doing that - like all balance is leaving my life. Thoughts?

Study and feel good to do it.

[jrf12886]

Do relax a little bit, but take advantage of this last opportunity to catch up on outlines/study.

[Lacepiece23]

Stay and study you can miss eating turkey one year not the end of the world. Maybe take a half day off, but at least I know that I wouldn't be comfortable not taking advantage of a full day to study close to finals with no class.

[swimmer11]

Stay and study you can miss eating turkey one year not the end of the world. Maybe take a half day off, but at least I know that I wouldn't be comfortable not taking advantage of a full day to study close to finals with no class.

This is what I am doing. I know for a fact I would not be able to sit still knowing my finals are only two weeks away. Yes, I am a neurotic 1L. But, no, I am not burning out CSWS.

[greenchair]

Stay and study you can miss eating turkey one year not the end of the world. Maybe take a half day off, but at least I know that I wouldn't be comfortable not taking advantage of a full day to study close to finals with no class.

This is what I am doing. I know for a fact I would not be able to sit still knowing my finals are only two weeks away. Yes, I am a neurotic 1L. But, no, I am not burning out CSWS.

Agreed. I am taking off from 6pm-11pm that night to eat and drink. That's it.

But I'm also not an American and don't really care about Thanksgiving.

[NotMyRealName09]

Take the long weekend and RELAX. Save up your energy and hit the ground running beginning the following week. It's not "just turkey," its about a literal recharge. Eat a lot. Get a little fat (if only temporarily for those of you exercisers). Your body will burn it off during the stress you're about to endure, and you'll be thankful. Once you actually begin to feel that stress, it will be harder to eat the calories you need.

And to those who say "no, I'm not burning out," ignore our advice at your peril. There is more to studying effectively than raw hours committed. It is also about taking some time to let your brain relax and get to that filing its been putting off. It can only do that when it isn't thinking about law. YOU HAVE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT LAW SCHOOL FOR A FEW DAYS.

[rinkrat19]

I'd rather miss Christmas than miss Thanksgiving. Not kidding.

[Sirius]

Stay and study you can miss eating turkey one year not the end of the world. Maybe take a half day off, but at least I know that I wouldn't be comfortable not taking advantage of a full day to study close to finals with no class.

1 word: TROLL

[Gorki]

Stay and study you can miss eating turkey one year not the end of the world. Maybe take a half day off, but at least I know that I wouldn't be comfortable not taking advantage of a full day to study close to finals with no class.

At the very least, this plan sounds like a good way to start a Noire, brah.

[09042014]

I did an unscientific poll in my section. Nobody we went home did better than top third. Nobody who went home wed-sun, did better than median.

[ilovesf]

Depends when the first final is.

[lakerinstl]

I'm going back home (which is only 1.5 hours away) tomorrow. Most people I've talked to have said they are staying until at least Wednesday. To hell with that, I'll putting in the same amount of work there as I would at home.

[MarcusAurelius]

I did an unscientific poll in my section. Nobody we went home did better than top third. Nobody who went home wed-sun, did better than median.

tssss thats gud!!!

[skw]

I did an unscientific poll in my section. Nobody we went home did better than top third. Nobody who went home wed-sun, did better than median.

IMO it depends on where you are prep wise. If you have kept your outlines updated and already worked through some PTs, you should be able to take off at least a day or two. I am at the top of my class at a T1, and I took off 1L (and will be taking off 2L) all day Thanksgiving and half of Black Friday. For clarity, I study every weekend for at least 8 hours, and I am "almost ready" for finals. If that were not the case, I would probably take off only a half day to eat turkey and then hit the books. Everybody is different though and what works for me is certainly not guaranteed to be the best idea for someone else. I am ready to eat turkey and drink wine though. Gobble, gobble.

[MinEMorris]

I agree with SKW, the bottom line is that it depends on where you are prep-wise.

Also, I don't want to come off as one of those militant people that treats 1L like it's judgment day, but I really think it's in your best interest to not believe that you're entitled to a healthy work/life balance in 1L. As frustrating and uncertain as 1L is, it really is a miraculous opportunity to potentially open up virtually every legal career path to yourself through just 8 months of hard work. Unless you're absolutely certain you want to work in an area of law that won't require strong grades to get a foot through the door out of law school, I dare say that it's irrational not to put your heart and soul into 1L. There are of course limits to this (e.g. if a family member gets in a serious accident, obviously forget about law school), but for the most part I think you just need to bite the bullet and accept that this 8 months of your life is quite possibly the most career bang you will ever get for your effort buck. If, for example, you get mediocre grades in 1L and later decide that you would like to work in one of the places that generally require really strong first year grades to get a foot in the door (i.e., top government positions, big law, etc.), you will likely have to work much harder and for a lot more time than you could ever invest into 1L to get in a position to have that opportunity. Even people I know who got really strong grades and decided to do something where grades were much less relevant (e.g. public defender) didn't seem to regret how hard they worked to get their grades. For one thing, choosing such a career path in the face of other opportunities really shows, even to yourself, how committed you feel toward that path. It also eradicates any insecurity you might otherwise have had about why you didn't outperform in law school/have the same opportunities as some of your peers (of course, I don't think anyone should be insecure about things like that, but it's natural to experience to some degree).

All of that being said, I think it's very possible to have a strong work-life balance in 1L and still do well. I personally averaged about ~40 hours a week of solid lawschool related work (including class time and readings) and finished top 5% at a T30 (frankly, I was pushing it and in some ways got lucky-- if I could go back again, I feel I would work harder). But there were periods of time where I was pulling more like 80 hours a week, or dedicated a holiday break to getting work done, and I think one of the advantages I had during those times is that the stress didn't cut as deeply into me as it did my peers because I didn't feel I was being deprived of anything I was entitled to/"should" have at that point in my life. Point is, I think the prudent thing to do is just to expect of yourself that you will work as hard you need to get grades that reflect your best efforts, and if that means working holidays or having a crappy work-life balance in general, understand that it's appropriate, worthwhile, and time-limited. I hope that helps and doesn't come off as hardass advice.

Anyway, good luck to you and I hope you get to eat some turkey!

[chicubs88]

My approach as a 1L last year was this. I had an entire week off, so if you count the break from Sat. - the next Sunday it was 9 days. Take all of Thanksgiving day off. For the other 8 days, work at least 5 hours each day, which really isn't that bad. That's 40 hours of studying and outlining you can get in. If you are behind on your outlines, then ratchet up the studying a little bit and get maybe 50 hours in. Its not that bad when you consider how important 1L year is. My goal last year and again this year (2L) is to have my outlines done by the time I get back from break. That way all I have to worry about up until finals is reviewing and practice tests. If my spelling or grammar is slightly off I apologize; I'm pretty drunk right now.

[LSATNightmares]

You're not a total loser. I'm also staying at school for Thanksgiving, since I'm on the opposite coast from home. It makes me down at times, because I'm not even having Thanksgiving dinner with anyone; pretty much everybody from my regional school goes home. I'm a 2L, and I'll be writing my 20-page student note instead that is due the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So I totally get that what you're doing stinks, but at least others will be doing the same.

[andythefir]

This threat has completely ignored the most important point: it's not the number of hours it's the quality of hours. If you're close to your family and haven't been able to see them since August then go home, take all day Thursday to just be around your family and friends. Recharging your batteries will make the last push to finals much more effective. Work some the rest of the weekend if you're behind on your outlines but 1L is not a race to see who can put in the most hours.
In my class the people in the library until 3AM every day didn't go home for Thanksgiving and kept putting in the same loony hours. They were all bottom 10%. If you can't go home then take this natural break to do whatever it takes to recharge and refocus.

[NotMyRealName09]

This threat has completely ignored the most important point: it's not the number of hours it's the quality of hours. If you're close to your family and haven't been able to see them since August then go home, take all day Thursday to just be around your family and friends. Recharging your batteries will make the last push to finals much more effective. Work some the rest of the weekend if you're behind on your outlines but 1L is not a race to see who can put in the most hours.
In my class the people in the library until 3AM every day didn't go home for Thanksgiving and kept putting in the same loony hours. They were all bottom 10%. If you can't go home then take this natural break to do whatever it takes to recharge and refocus.

This. I not only went home but didn't really do anything until maybe Saturday - Sunday. I hadn't even begun outlining until that point, though that was my style. From that day forward it was 12-16 hour days until it was all over. And TAKE NAPS WHEN SLEEPY. Seriously.

I was #1 in my class first semester 1L. Just another perspective - as said, it isn't quality, it's quantity.

[Leaborb192]

What are people doing for Thanksgiving? Part of me is feeling that I should just stay at school and study hard since exams are just a few weeks away. Then another part of me feels like a total loser doing that - like all balance is leaving my life. Thoughts?

Enjoy your free time while you got it.

[warandpeace]

Just so you know, Elle Woods (in the musical, idk about the movie) stayed and studied over break. Take from that what you will.