UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[Stringer Bell]

When and how do we find out our schedules?

[5ky]

When and how do we find out our schedules?

Not until two or three days before orientation. Somebody could go through and cull out all of the different section schedules already, but you won't know what section you are in until right before orientation. Kind of a pain, but it is what it is.

[Cavalier]

When and how do we find out our schedules?

Not until two or three days before orientation. Somebody could go through and cull out all of the different section schedules already, but you won't know what section you are in until right before orientation. Kind of a pain, but it is what it is.

I'll do it later if no one else does first.

[WVUCelticFan]

Related to the Thanksgiving/Fall break question, does anyone see a problem with going home Labor Day weekend? I know it's pretty soon after the beginning of school, but we generally have a family reunion that weekend and I want to run in a 5k at home if possible that weekend.

[5ky]

Related to the Thanksgiving/Fall break question, does anyone see a problem with going home Labor Day weekend? I know it's pretty soon after the beginning of school, but we generally have a family reunion that weekend and I want to run in a 5k at home if possible that weekend.

No. I can't imagine a problem going on a trip or anything until about mid-November. That'll be about when your LRW memo is due, and then after that, including Thanksgiving, you really should be gearing up for exams. I stayed in Cville for Thanksgiving break, though I did not work on that Thursday.

[BruceWayne]

Related to the Thanksgiving/Fall break question, does anyone see a problem with going home Labor Day weekend? I know it's pretty soon after the beginning of school, but we generally have a family reunion that weekend and I want to run in a 5k at home if possible that weekend.

No. I can't imagine a problem going on a trip or anything until about mid-November. That'll be about when your LRW memo is due, and then after that, including Thanksgiving, you really should be gearing up for exams. I stayed in Cville for Thanksgiving break, though I did not work on that Thursday.

I'm not trying to be harsh, but this isn't the sort of mindset that you should be carrying into law school--especially not a school like UVA. You can do whatever you please, so go home if you want; but if you are serious about your professional future you should be thinking about squeezing as much time as possible out of your day to study. Particularly if you're interested in the sorts of jobs that people discuss on here.

[WVUCelticFan]

Thanks for the quick responses. I was asking more about whether there would be events/meetings/class things I would need to do that weekend. I'll be taking a train both ways (so ~12 hours of studying while riding) and have no problem studying most of the time I am home. That said, if 3-4 hours of a family reunion and an hour or two given over to a race three weeks into the semester makes as much difference as you seem to be implying, I have to believe 95% of the school is screwed.

[BruceWayne]

Thanks for the quick responses. I was asking more about whether there would be events/meetings/class things I would need to do that weekend. I'll be taking a train both ways (so ~12 hours of studying while riding) and have no problem studying most of the time I am home. That said, if 3-4 hours of a family reunion and an hour or two given over to a race three weeks into the semester makes as much difference as you seem to be implying, I have to believe 95% of the school is screwed.

I can tell that you haven't spent much time around UVA law students!

[WVUCelticFan]

Haha, probably true. Do you really think it would be that big a deal? I would honestly get as much studying done at home as at school (nothing to do here besides what I mentioned), but if it would really be an issue I can skip the reunion (its like five people's birthdays, including mine) and find another race.

I know the first few weeks into my senior year were as busy as I've ever been, but that was with 18 hours and teachers continuing straight on from May.

[thesealocust]

I'm not trying to be harsh, but this isn't the sort of mindset that you should be carrying into law school--especially not a school like UVA. You can do whatever you please, so go home if you want; but if you are serious about your professional future you should be thinking about squeezing as much time as possible out of your day to study. Particularly if you're interested in the sorts of jobs that people discuss on here.

. . .

WVUCelticFan, I left UVA for extended periods of time over three weekends during my fall semester (once was over thanksgiving) and had two out of town guests for an extended period of time as well. I spent time in upstate NY, DC, and Florida for various family and other reasons.

Many people I know did similar things.

My professional future seems to have withstood that choice.

[itsirtou]

Related to the Thanksgiving/Fall break question, does anyone see a problem with going home Labor Day weekend? I know it's pretty soon after the beginning of school, but we generally have a family reunion that weekend and I want to run in a 5k at home if possible that weekend.

No. I can't imagine a problem going on a trip or anything until about mid-November. That'll be about when your LRW memo is due, and then after that, including Thanksgiving, you really should be gearing up for exams. I stayed in Cville for Thanksgiving break, though I did not work on that Thursday.

I'm not trying to be harsh, but this isn't the sort of mindset that you should be carrying into law school--especially not a school like UVA. You can do whatever you please, so go home if you want; but if you are serious about your professional future you should be thinking about squeezing as much time as possible out of your day to study. Particularly if you're interested in the sorts of jobs that people discuss on here.

Er, I don't know about that. I went home/visited friends kind of frequently -- two weekends in September, once in October, Thanksgiving. I think you'll be perfectly okay/on par with everyone else even if you take a weekend trip or two.

[BruceWayne]

Haha, probably true. Do you really think it would be that big a deal? I would honestly get as much studying done at home as at school (nothing to do here besides what I mentioned), but if it would really be an issue I can skip the reunion (its like five people's birthdays, including mine) and find another race.

I know the first few weeks into my senior year were as busy as I've ever been, but that was with 18 hours and teachers continuing straight on from May.

Lol I'm not saying the 3 hours will make a difference. I'm just saying that you should be careful about having a laid back mindset in general. Also I'm not sure why thesealocust is giving you his anecdotal "evidence" about relaxing a lot and doing well. To be honest, one thing that you will learn very quickly about UVA, and I'm being serious for a moment, is that people constantly comment on how little work they do, how little they study, how much they party, and how little they care about exams etc. even though they study around the clock (making it worse is that you actually SEE them studying around the clock, even though their constantly telling you how laid back they are). I was discussing this with another UVA poster one day, and we both agreed that it's one of the downsides of the school. I'm not bashing the school, and you'll have to experience it to really understand what I'm talking about, but it's annoying as hell. But it's a part of the UVA culture. I've noticed that people at other schools B/S a lot less about that kind of thing.

[thesealocust]

Haha, probably true. Do you really think it would be that big a deal? I would honestly get as much studying done at home as at school (nothing to do here besides what I mentioned), but if it would really be an issue I can skip the reunion (its like five people's birthdays, including mine) and find another race.

I know the first few weeks into my senior year were as busy as I've ever been, but that was with 18 hours and teachers continuing straight on from May.

Lol I'm not saying the 3 hours will make a difference. I'm just saying that you should be careful about having a laid back mindset in general. Also I'm not sure why thesealocust is giving you his anecdotal "evidence" about relaxing a lot and doing well. To be honest, one thing that you will learn very quickly about UVA, and I'm being serious for a moment, is that people constantly comment on how little work they do, how little they study, how much they party, and how little they care about exams etc. even though they study around the clock (making it worse is that you actually SEE them studying around the clock, even though their constantly telling you how laid back they are). I was discussing this with another UVA poster one day, and we both agreed that it's one of the downsides of the school. I'm not bashing the school, and you'll have to experience it to really understand what I'm talking about, but it's annoying as hell. But it's a part of the UVA culture. I've noticed that people at other schools B/S a lot less about that kind of thing.

I told him (1) that I went home for a few weekends, and (2) that I did not feel it had caused my professional career to suffer. The point was to refute your hilarious suggestion that your career demands your presence in mother charlottesville all fall semester. None of my response was talking about how little work I do, none of it was suggesting that I had done well my first year of law school.

The ONLY implication beyond what I actually said was that you're drastically overstating the 'problem.'

[BruceWayne]

Haha, probably true. Do you really think it would be that big a deal? I would honestly get as much studying done at home as at school (nothing to do here besides what I mentioned), but if it would really be an issue I can skip the reunion (its like five people's birthdays, including mine) and find another race.

I know the first few weeks into my senior year were as busy as I've ever been, but that was with 18 hours and teachers continuing straight on from May.

Lol I'm not saying the 3 hours will make a difference. I'm just saying that you should be careful about having a laid back mindset in general. Also I'm not sure why thesealocust is giving you his anecdotal "evidence" about relaxing a lot and doing well. To be honest, one thing that you will learn very quickly about UVA, and I'm being serious for a moment, is that people constantly comment on how little work they do, how little they study, how much they party, and how little they care about exams etc. even though they study around the clock (making it worse is that you actually SEE them studying around the clock, even though their constantly telling you how laid back they are). I was discussing this with another UVA poster one day, and we both agreed that it's one of the downsides of the school. I'm not bashing the school, and you'll have to experience it to really understand what I'm talking about, but it's annoying as hell. But it's a part of the UVA culture. I've noticed that people at other schools B/S a lot less about that kind of thing.

I told him (1) that I went home for a few weekends, and (2) that I did not feel it had caused my professional career to suffer. The point was to refute your hilarious suggestion that your career demands your presents in mother charlottesville all fall semester. None of my response was talking about how little work I do, none of it was suggesting that I had done well my first year of law school.

The ONLY implication beyond what I actually said was that you're drastically overstating the 'problem.'

LMAO!

[5ky]

Relaxing? Nobody said anything about relaxing. I said it wouldn't be a problem to go on a trip until November. That's a fact -- if you can't take a weekend trip in August/September/October somewhere because of time constraints, then you have some serious time-budgeting problems.

Who is "studying around the clock" from August - December, exactly?

[5ky]

I told him (1) that I went home for a few weekends, and (2) that I did not feel it had caused my professional career to suffer. The point was to refute your hilarious suggestion that your career demands your presence in mother charlottesville all fall semester. None of my response was talking about how little work I do, none of it was suggesting that I had done well my first year of law school.

The ONLY implication beyond what I actually said was that you're drastically overstating the 'problem.'

Ditto for me.

[crossingforHYS]

ok--so a trip should be fine....but I am interested in this culture thing.

Do thesealocust and 5ky agree with this fact?

Just an interesting thing to prep for, if that's the case.

[itsirtou]

ok--so a trip should be fine....but I am interested in this culture thing.

Do thesealocust and 5ky agree with this fact?

Just an interesting thing to prep for, if that's the case.

What, the culture of bragging about how little you study?

Personally, I haven't encountered that at all. People don't really talk about how much they study, tbh...but that's just my experience.

[5ky]

ok--so a trip should be fine....but I am interested in this culture thing.

Do thesealocust and 5ky agree with this fact?

Just an interesting thing to prep for, if that's the case.

Culture of claiming not to work hard but working hard in reality? I've seen that posted on these boards on more than one occasion. I can't say that I've experienced much of that personally, particularly not my group of friends and acquaintances.

I'm sure there are a number of people like that, but I think TLS goes a bit too far the other way in bragging how hard they worked, when in reality, they did not work quite that much.

Besides, even if it were overwhelmingly prevalent, who cares? Work hard, don't get behind, you'll be fine.

[WVUCelticFan]

I think I may understand the culture thing slightly. While none of us ever studied like law students did, we emphasized partying and downplayed studying, especially if it was studying ahead of time or anything someone might think was gunnerish.

[crossingforHYS]

ok--so a trip should be fine....but I am interested in this culture thing.

Do thesealocust and 5ky agree with this fact?

Just an interesting thing to prep for, if that's the case.

Culture of claiming not to work hard but working hard in reality? I've seen that posted on these boards on more than one occasion. I can't say that I've experienced much of that personally, particularly not my group of friends and acquaintances.

I'm sure there are a number of people like that, but I think TLS goes a bit too far the other way in bragging how hard they worked, when in reality, they did not work quite that much.

Besides, even if it were overwhelmingly prevalent, who cares? Work hard, don't get behind, you'll be fine.

Yep the culture of lying about how little you work.

I know that this doesn't necessarily matter, because everyone should just worry about themselves and everyone works differently.

I was just curious about how prevalent it was....no particular reason other then sheer curiosity.

[5ky]

Yep the culture of lying about how little you work.

I know that this doesn't necessarily matter, because everyone should just worry about themselves and everyone works differently.

I was just curious about how prevalent it was....no particular reason other then sheer curiosity.

No, I understand why you were asking. But I do think it goes both ways, people under and over exaggerate how much you work if you press them to discuss their studying habits. But in general, I agree with itsirtou that for the vast majority of people, I have no idea how much they worked or did not work. They simply did not say.

[wackjickham]

People on this board evidently like to talk about how much everyone talks about how much they study.

[itsirtou]

People on this board evidently like to talk about how much everyone talks about how much they study.

everyone check your totems

[5ky]

People on this board evidently like to talk about how much everyone talks about how much they study.

everyone check your totems

http://chud.com/articles/content_images ... ruined.jpg

That kind of ruined the movie for me.