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I missed a major Note deadline, and I'm being told that I'll be booted if I don't turn my draft in before exams. The thing is, exams start in one week and I don't want to trash my studying for curved classes by trying to conjure a draft out of thin air (let's assume, for the sake of argument, that I have a BS outline and need a 30-page draft) for this secondary journal.

I know I screwed this up real bad. But should I resign before they can kick me out? Tell interviewers it wasn't what I expected so I decided to do spring moot court instead? Kill myself writing a draft and let my grades go all to hell? I honestly don't know. Talk to me, TLS Ouija board.

Add'l info: no SA, median at T1

No, just hand in a complete piece of shit like everyone else.

Just post your topic here and we'll research it for you.

Why do you assume it needs a lot of work? Just hand in something vaguely readable.

What version of a draft? A rough draft, or a final draft that will be submitted for publication?

Also, is there any chance you can have a one-on-one meeting with your supervising faculty member to discuss a due date that comes after finals?

I basically handed it my rough draft as my final product. Seriously, just write semi-legible stuff, unless you're gunning for publication its absolutely ridiculous to spend any time on your note.

I bet it's a pain in the ass to kick you off. Just hand in something crappy.

Only law students .

Or ask for a meeting with your notes editor and EIC, be upfront about knowing you fucked up, and ask if you can hand something in a week after exams end. That's what I did.

Do not resign. You will not be kicked off. Honestly I didn't even know there was any such thing as a "major note deadline." It sucks that you will have to ram out a 30 page piece of crap draft in the same week you are studying for finals (poor planning...but you have admitted as much) but is is certainly doable without tanking your grades. Your grades are the most important thing here, but not getting kicked off/resigning journal is of some importance as well. If you have an outline that means you at least have a topic. Take a single day, ram it out, and put this whole mess in your rear view mirror. There is no reason that you would have to sacrifice your grades.

Its not really like your secondary journal will help you all that much as far as employment prospects go (it don't feel like it was a huge boost to me, although I am employed) but not being on any journal or having to tell employers you quit journal will probably hurt you.

I was on the e-board of my secondary journal my 3L year and we had to threaten a kid like this as well (not my idea, the higher ups...) but no one ever really thought we were going to have to do it. Your e-board gets that the job market sucks and don't want to make it even worse for you but you have to at least turn in the minimum page length piece of crap like everyone else.

Also, if you are just sincere and ask for an extension you will almost certainly get one.

tl;dr Just suck it up and take a day to ram out the thirty pages.

Write as many pages as you can, submit it, and then keep writing.

When they e-mail you about the "incomplete" work, just e-mail back saying you accidentally submitted a partial copy and attach the hopefully "completed" version.

I am assuming the deadline is Friday and they usually won't read through the piece until sometime on Sat or Sun.

Seriously, unless you want to get published, most journals really don't care that much about what you turn in as long as the final product has an introduction, some kind of discussion, and a conclusion.

If your journal is anything like my journal was, then it's an empty threat designed to have you turn some crap in. That way, they can edit it over the course of 20 minutes and get on with their lives. That said, my journal didn't have a deadline near finals. Your journal even having a deadline remotely close to finals is bullshit. They have to expect that everyone's drafts will be bad. So if yours is also bad, don't fret.

Just ask for an extension and you'll probably get one. I did, because the editors rejected my first topic and I therefore lost a lot of research time, so I figured they would see reason.