I wanted to know if anyone had any advice for someone returning from an extended LOA. I completed both 1L semesters, and am now going to complete my degree in 18 months (graduate May 2017) by taking 4 semesters worth of courses in 3 + summer. Areas of concern include:
-- Employment, both explaining my absence and getting back on board applying for jobs
-- Social Life (my friends have graduated by now)
-- Rustiness (Kind of forgot a lot of what I learned in CivPro, citations, etc.
-- Extracurriculars were also disrupted. Law Journal, moot court, etc.
Just wondering if others have gone through this, and if they had any advice.
Returning from a Leave of Absence Forum
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haus
- Posts: 3896
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:07 am
Re: Returning from a Leave of Absence
My experience in returning from leave of absence is not with law school, but from undergrad.
Through a series of life events, it took me 16 years and 11 colleges to wrap up my degree. As I went from school to school, I had to sort out social and extracurricular from scratch. At the time it seemed to be a but of a pain, but in retrospect this turned out to be less of an issue than I had imagined it would be.
As for rustiness, this could be an issue, but if you have only been gone for a year or two it is not likely to be a real problem. If somehow you are looking at 5 plus years, be sure to give yourself some extra time, especially early in your first semester back.
Through a series of life events, it took me 16 years and 11 colleges to wrap up my degree. As I went from school to school, I had to sort out social and extracurricular from scratch. At the time it seemed to be a but of a pain, but in retrospect this turned out to be less of an issue than I had imagined it would be.
As for rustiness, this could be an issue, but if you have only been gone for a year or two it is not likely to be a real problem. If somehow you are looking at 5 plus years, be sure to give yourself some extra time, especially early in your first semester back.
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n1o2c3a4c5h6e7t
- Posts: 275
- Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:00 am
Re: Returning from a Leave of Absence
Like the above poster I also took an extended break (5 years) between undergrad to pursue another career. It's no big deal at that level, but I imagine law school is different. You will likely be less competitive than your classmates for biglaw (if you couldn't handle law school, you'll be the first to leave) and public interest (not a true believer). That said, what you did in the interim, if relevant to your desired employment, might ameliorate things. And if you go to HYS (for example), that would probably lessen the negative effects too. You should definitely have a good story prepared for OCI either way. (Note that the parentheticals merely reflect my opinion of what concerns employers might have.)
With regards to your other concerns, it's not hard to make friends (transfers do it all the time), and substantive knowledge of 1L law is completely unnecessary for 2L (I've forgotten almost everything).
With regards to your other concerns, it's not hard to make friends (transfers do it all the time), and substantive knowledge of 1L law is completely unnecessary for 2L (I've forgotten almost everything).
