Going It Alone (or Life Without Study Groups) Forum

[clara]

Heya, TLS.

I'm a brand new law school student. Through a couple of days of orientation and a couple of classes, it's become glaringly obvious to me that i don't really fit with the rest of my class. Nobody really notices i exist, which means that at least people don't hate me, but...it's a lot of corporate types, daddy's money types*, and me. I'm not shocked, this is law school.

I'm a semi-native resident of the wonderfully socially retarded town i go to school in. I have buttloads of friends**, including in the general student body of my school. I just don't see myself fitting with these people, and any attempt to try being extremely embarrassing (i ran away from our school cookout to go hang out with undergrads, go me...it's better than being seen at a table alone, right?)...but what everyone has drilled into me is that if you don't have a study group, you will die. Possibly in a fire. Is this true? I'd love to hear about experiences. What works if you're not going the study group route? I think i can live with three years of on-campus social isolation if it's not gonna kill my grade. I have antidepressants, i'll be okay.

*=if your parents can afford to pay for law school, more power to you. all i've gotten from my parents was love and moral support...okay, and the occasional lasagna, so i got plenty, too. my dad's lasagna is really good. it might be illegal in delaware, it's so good.

**=my friends are mostly, yanno, magenta-dreadlocked technopirates, various and sundry queers, critical mass bicyclists, brilliant biochemists, etc. they don't look like they fell out of a Hollister store, yanno?

[Grad_Student]

Hey don't close yourself off to everyone just yet, keep an open mind. Two of my best law school friends are hippie-vegan-potheads and the other drives an M3 and only burberry shirts.

Anyway, yeah you can study alone, PLENTY of people do it. I have found very rarely a large group works. If you can hook up with a study partner, then you'll be golden. The only thing that sucks is you don't know how smart they are or if they will bring you up or bring you down. Play it by ear for awhile, talk to folks, go to the bar when your section goes...even if it's just once. You might be surprised by the folks you meet.

[clara]

yeah. i'm not giving up per se, it's just...i'm at a good school, just not the school with the freaks. the half-brown fat queer contingent that was half my damn college isn't here. also, i'm like 8-10 years older or 10-15 years younger than everyone. WHINE WHINE WHINE. nevertheless, i knew what i was getting into.

i've skipped out on social gatherings mostly due to fear of knowing absolutely no one, whereas i can go sit around in the student center and in 15 minutes i'll run into somebody i know. maybe it's just going to take more of the antidepressants and weed. i just have this fear that the other thing beaten into my head (law school is like high school) is waiting to get my ass because i had a rather okay, non-traumatic high school experience.

your reassurances are MOST welcomed. thanks!

[cubswin]

my friends are mostly, yanno, magenta-dreadlocked technopirates, various and sundry queers, critical mass bicyclists, brilliant biochemists, etc. they don't look like they fell out of a Hollister store, yanno?

Must one be either a magenta-dreadlocked douchebag or a Hollister douchebag?

Also: "Yanno."

[rms5005]

Not entirely sure what the point of your post is. You went on a long rant about your anti social behavior and judging people youve known for no more than a few days and throw in a line at the end if you should be in a study group? Do you want advice or are you just looking to rant about your depression or bitch about people who are different than you? Whatever floats your boat but all I'll say is regardless whether or not you join a study group, you have to change your attitude if you want to succeed in law school....or life. During orientation, where NOBODY knows anyone, you cant be afraid to sit down with people out of fear of not knowing them. You dont have to be the most social in the world, but you cant be afraid of people either. Regardless what grades you end up with, especially in this economy, law firms look beyond grades and want people that fit and youre not going to fit in anywhere with that kind of attitude.

Anyway, I was in a study group and would definitely recommend it. It is hard to fully understand issues on your own and talking things out with others who will inevitably understand somethings that you dont greatly helped me understand the heart of many issues. Some in my study group did well, some didnt. Lot of my friends didnt do a study group---some did great, some didnt. People work differently and only you know how youll work best. I think anyone else would tell you the same.

[seeker63]

Don't listen to the guy above. If you don't feel comfortable socializing, don't. Law school is a strange place, and it tends to attract a certain type of student. Frankly, I think I know how you feel. I never felt comfortable around a good number of my classmates.

Some people need study groups, but not everyone. They have their pluses and minuses. For most law students, the social, talkative, in-need-of-ego-boost/note comparison types, study groups will help. I think most students like study groups because it reassures them that other people are struggling too. And if you're truly struggling, getting another set of eyes can't hurt. Others use study groups productively to get more done in less time. But remember, you have to know the material yourself, and in general this means wading through difficult stuff and reasoning out the issues yourself. You can't rely on a smart friend to do it for you, because black-letter-law is only at the threshold of a good lawyerly analysis.

If you're smart and plan on busting your ass, you don't need anyone else to do well. Just read the cases, study hornbooks, make your outlines, and rehearse for exams. If you have questions, you can always bug the professor or, if that fails, ask another classmate (you don't need to be in a study group to ask someone a question). Sometimes it helps to ignore your competition, since they'll be stressing each other out. And it's much easier to bust your ass working by yourself than in tandem.

It helps sometimes to sit back and watch the hilarity of law school from afar. Just wait, some of your classmates will get discouraged and stop working, some will all but quit halfway through the year, and others will turn to booze and other drugs in an effort to escape their failures. It happens every year at every law school. You don't need to be around that shit if you don't want to be. More often than not, "socializing" is code for "commiserating" or, more accurately, "drinking away our sorrows." Most of the people who can't deal with the stress are the "daddy's money types" who haven't experienced difficulty before.

If you can go it alone I highly recommend it. If you can't, ask the guy wearing tie-dye to join a study group.

[Drake014]

You just started classes? Where are you going to school at?

[dbt]

I don't see why this is a problem. I plan on having 1 study partner, 2 max. I think larger study groups are just going to get bogged down in questions that you already know the answers to anyway when you could be further studying the reading, doing practice exams, or relaxing/having fun.

If I were you, I'd try hard to find one or two students to study with.

Are you at Michigan summer start? Have they started yet?

[starlight007]

I think she's at Seattle according to profile where according to their website

Rolling Admissions Program
A rolling admissions program with a March 1 priority deadline; an early enrollment option through which all admitted students may begin legal studies in the summer, rather than waiting until fall; and a flexible schedule through which they can complete their first year in 9, 12, or 15 months.

[clara]

Yeah, i meant to prune that out before posting. Oops. So much for anonymity.

There are plenty of magenta-dreadlocked douchebags, cubswin. Couldn't agree more; i just know how to screen for douchebag much better in that culture and with its clones than i know how to screen for douchebag with the Hollister clones. (Actually, my school seems to be more A&F.) And, yes, i say "yanno." Too much texting, i suppose, or maybe it's just that this is a casual conversation and thus my ass is being lazy.

Seeker: Smart? Kinda. Planning on busting my ass? Oh yes. I'm pretty good at the whole being self-directed thing for the most part.

For what it's worth, rms5005, much of it is growing up in a fairly anti-social, polite-to-a-fault culture. I'd rather be alone than creep someone out and i know that that's kind of the social order i was brought up with. And i'm pretty successful in life already, so i wouldn't bother with the screed o'disapproval unless you have something useful to say. Thanks.

[redsox8105]

You sure are literate.

[clara]

Sarcasm generally should be creative, dry, and witty. Would you like to try again?

[redsox8105]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

And there you go again!

[00TREX00]

...

[Logan Hunt]

Seriously. I was a model for Abercrombie and Fitch and I am still going to law school. Why would you not talk to someone like me? I am from the same background of you.

[Gooner]

Study groups are useful in that they expose you to a wide variety of exam-answering strategies. I'd definitely recommend them right before finals, but not really during the semester, where you're better off having only your prof's perspective.

[clara]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

And there you go again!

It rather sounded that way. Given that i can't seem to find anything that points to my literacy in my corpus of posts on this board, one could reasonably come to the assumption that it was intended as sarcasm.

[MrOrange]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

And there you go again!

It rather sounded that way. Given that i can't seem to find anything that points to my literacy in my corpus of posts on this board, one could reasonably come to the assumption that it was intended as sarcasm.

Probably meant loquacious...regardless...if you're going to be that guarded on an internet message board...

[clara]

Study groups are worthless, friends are not. You sound like a 12-year-old girl listening to Morrisey and painting your fingernails black. We all have social anxieties and complexes, and law school naturally attracts a lot of tools. Just be open to new experiences, and don't scoff at people who listen to crappy music. If you don't give people a chance just because they are wearing a polo shirt, you are an idiot.

I assure you, i listen to crappy music, and i own a polo shirt or two. I think this might be the best advice yet, though i should probably scratch painting my fingernails black and writing bad poetry whilst listening to The Smiths.

[clara]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

And there you go again!

It rather sounded that way. Given that i can't seem to find anything that points to my literacy in my corpus of posts on this board, one could reasonably come to the assumption that it was intended as sarcasm.

Probably meant loquacious...regardless...if you're going to be that guarded on an internet message board...

"loquacious" would certainly be accurate on the interwebs. I have some jitters, ergo the guardedness.

[MrOrange]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

And there you go again!

It rather sounded that way. Given that i can't seem to find anything that points to my literacy in my corpus of posts on this board, one could reasonably come to the assumption that it was intended as sarcasm.

Probably meant loquacious...regardless...if you're going to be that guarded on an internet message board...

"loquacious" would certainly be accurate on the interwebs. I have some jitters, ergo the guardedness.

0L, grain of salt, blah blah...

I'm somewhat older than many entering 1L's (27 in October), and many of my UG friends have already been through LS. From what I've been told...I wouldn't worry about study groups and whatnot as they relate to being social...you don't have to be best friends with whatever clones populate your group...you just have to trust that they know their shit, and you've gotta be trusted for the same thing.

Chalk it up to networking...you don't have to like the people you work with, and they don't have to like you...but y'all better view one another as useful.

[strawberrysmoothie]

.

[clara]

i have a feeling, when not freaking out, that that entire damn post is true, strawberrysmoothie. thanks.

[XxSpyKEx]

Study groups are worthless, friends are not.

+1. Study groups are a complete waste of time, with the exception of discussing old exams towards finals (and that's sometimes only moderately helpful) so don't feel that you need one. However, living "with three years of on-campus social isolation" is a bad idea. While there are a lot of nerdier people with a stuck up attitude in law school, just give people a chance because there are normal people as well.

[Chris_cpb]

.they don't look like they fell out of a Hollister store, yanno?

Hollister is for brain-dead highschoolers