What do you wish you knew/did when starting 1l Forum

[Cobretti]

If 1L winds up being even in my top 3 most stressful years of my life I'll bake both of you a cake.

I miss being a starry-eyed 0L. Fuck the real world.

lulz, we aren't all 22yr old k-jds

but for everyone not just trying to scare 0Ls, this thread has been very helpful, TY

[Mr. Frodo]

Tag for the Shire.

[RodneyRuxin]

lulz, we aren't all 22yr old k-jds

but for everyone not just trying to scare 0Ls, this thread has been very helpful, TY

1) How many people that are done with their first year of law school are 22? For one, even most KJDs are 23/24.
2) Your future depends on this year, and everyone else in your class (who you're competing with) knows the same thing. I wish I knew how stressful it would be going in so I could prepare myself mentally. I'm so sick of people with a few years of WE trolling around these forums like they're all the wiser. Your two years doing low-level consulting work isn't going to impress anyone in law school; everyone begins the race at the same starting-line..

[Danger Zone]

LOL @ 1L being stressful. It's three months of relaxing, followed by a month or so in absolute hell, followed by a few more months of just chilling and drinking your face off, and then another month back into the flaming pit.

[RodneyRuxin]

LOL @ 1L being stressful. It's three months of relaxing, followed by a month or so in absolute hell, followed by a few more months of just chilling and drinking your face off, and then another month back into the flaming pit.

lol DZ--in schools with a quarter system it's basically 2/3 weeks of chilling, 2/3 weeks freaking out about (graded) LRW, month of hell. Repeat x3

[Danger Zone]

Fair, I have always thought that quarter systems sounded like the worst thing ever.

[UVAIce]

1L is as bad as you want to make it. I know people who pretty much lost their marbles and those that didn't. I was fairly chill over the whole thing. Definitely easier than undergrad, but then I took 20 credits a semester as a UG. I think that for some students it's the first time that they feel the pressure of knowing that if they screw up there could be real consequences. I got over that when I was 18.

lulz, we aren't all 22yr old k-jds

but for everyone not just trying to scare 0Ls, this thread has been very helpful, TY

1) How many people that are done with their first year of law school are 22? For one, even most KJDs are 23/24.
2) Your future depends on this year, and everyone else in your class (who you're competing with) knows the same thing. I wish I knew how stressful it would be going in so I could prepare myself mentally. I'm so sick of people with a few years of WE trolling around these forums like they're all the wiser. Your two years doing low-level consulting work isn't going to impress anyone in law school; everyone begins the race at the same starting-line..

I had 7 years of work experience in the Army prior to law school, and I could definitely tell that I was in a much better place mentally and socially than the vast majority of my peers. I can tell that you are a younger guy just because your first point of contention is that K-JDs (you) are not 22, but are instead 23 or 24 (much wiser). College is not the real world, and someone with even a year of experience in the real world is a step ahead of you, suck it up.

[RodneyRuxin]

Your post is just so bad I don't know where to begin.

You say "college is easier [than law school]" and then you essentially say later that "this isn't college anymore suck it up"

Your "anyone with 1 year of WE has an advantage" shtick is the exact thing I pointed out was wrong earlier ITT.

You make an assumption about my age (which adds no value to your point)

And to top it all off you agree with me that many 0Ls aren't ready for the new levels of stress (which is what I used to point out that I wasn't just trying to scare 0Ls, it's legit something I wish I had known before LS), but phrase your post as an argument.


Go to the old timers thread and join the circlejerk about how valuable WE/age is. The reality is: once you get your slight WE bump at OCI and KJDs catch up on the "soft skills"(they may already have), whatever you did before that is no longer relevant.

ETA: I appreciate your service regardless

[UVAIce]

You're completely misinterpreting what I just said.

- I said college was easier than law school. True. I also said this isn't college anymore and to suck it up. True. In no way did I want to imply that law school was the real world, it is not. What I was trying to point out is that with OCI and firm jobs coming up we will be entering the "real world." Don't be angry that the people who worked for a living get a boost. You also may never get the chance to catch up on the "soft skills" that other people have as law has a high attrition rate.

- You may think it is a shtick, but it comes through in the numbers.

- I'm saying that must K-JD 0Ls are not ready for the real world. The fact that 1L is too much for them is kind of damning evidence. I'm a big proponent for people to spend 2-3 years in the work force before they attend law school.

- My "slight" bump in OCI won't come from the work experience on my resume, but I will get a massive bump thanks to the ways that my life experiences allowed me to succesfully tackle 1L with minimal stress and excellent results. This is exactly why you don't "get it." The bump in age and work experience isn't in a resume tag line, but in the tools you've succesfully developed to handle things when shit hits the fan. Just being old, or just having "work experience" doesnt' cut it.

[Danger Zone]

My "slight" bump in OCI won't come from the work experience on my resume, but I will get a massive bump thanks to the ways that my life experiences allowed me to succesfully tackle 1L with minimal stress and excellent results.

Signed, someone that hasn't fucking done OCI yet. Get out.

[UVAIce]

My "slight" bump in OCI won't come from the work experience on my resume, but I will get a massive bump thanks to the ways that my life experiences allowed me to succesfully tackle 1L with minimal stress and excellent results.

Signed, someone that hasn't fucking done OCI yet. Get out.

Want to bet. : )

I'm not going to get into the specifics here, but my performance in 1L has given me a lot of opportunities so far. I have a 1L SA and a number of callbacks for next year already. I also already have an offer for next year.

[UMich11]

My "slight" bump in OCI won't come from the work experience on my resume, but I will get a massive bump thanks to the ways that my life experiences allowed me to succesfully tackle 1L with minimal stress and excellent results.

Signed, someone that hasn't fucking done OCI yet. Get out.

DangerZone ->UVAlce



UVAlce -> DangerZone

[RodneyRuxin]

You sound entitled as fuck so apparently you didn't pick up all of those "soft skills" during your time off from school

[sinfiery]

I'm not going to get into the specifics here, but my performance in 1L has given me a lot of opportunities so far. I have a 1L SA and a number of callbacks for next year already. I also already have an offer for next year.

Glad to know WE actually doesn't mean shit aside from one dudes anecdotal prespective of how it helped him get better grades which is probably the only thing that matters because WE is a huge flame pre getting a professional degree


#Team K-JD(ish)

[UVAIce]

You sound entitled as fuck so apparently you didn't pick up all of those "soft skills" during your time off from school

You sound like a whiney kid. I wish you the best of luck, but I have a feeling we would have a much different conversation if we were chatting in person - namely more civility. It's obviously pointless to bring this up in a forum, but the major point I was actually trying to bring up was that you shouldn't freak out! And yes, adult human beings chuckle when they see K-JDs freaking out about 1L.

I'm not entitled to jack, but I can make an objective observation about what I've done and how things are going for me. I'm not trying to prognosticate about someone else's success or failure, but just commenting on the factors that I know helped me be succesful so far. I think a lot of people on this forum board and elsewhere would get behind the idea that you should try and get out into the workforce before going to law school. I'm sorry some business analysts hurt your feelings and inside you feel inferior to everyone who has had a job and now need to put your big boy feelings on the internet.

[RodneyRuxin]

You sound mature, too.

[UMich11]

I'm not going to get into the specifics here, but my performance in 1L has given me a lot of opportunities so far. I have a 1L SA and a number of callbacks for next year already. I also already have an offer for next year.

Glad to know WE actually doesn't mean shit aside from one dudes anecdotal prespective of how it helped him get better grades which is probably the only thing that matters because WE is a huge flame pre getting a professional degree


#Team K-JD(ish)

I think there are advantages to both, but being someone who is going in after 2-3 years of WE in the field i would like to practice, i think it will give me a slight edge (i'd say it's one of the softs that may give me a bump, but no major thing).

For instance, i have been working at a boutique investment banking firm as a senior associate. Because we work internationally that means i actually travel and have facetime with clients, potential buyers/sellers, PEGs, VCs, etc. My clients aren't small mom and pop shops, my average deal size ranges from $100-500m.

Often times i was the sole one going from my office and by the time i leave (next spring) i'll have finished a deal i ran on my own ($75m sale) and managed my own group of junior associates. Seeing as i want to go into M&A/securities/corporate/transaction law, i think i have a slight advantage over K-JD, but that's just my 2cents worth.

Everyone takes away different things from work, some coast through and don't go after opportunities; i did because i came into finance without a finance degree and had to prove myself. Then, 6 months after starting i was promoted to SA, it's all what you get out of it.

[UVAIce]

You sound mature, too.

Which is why I curse on the internet.

[sinfiery]

I think there are advantages to both, but being someone who is going in after 2-3 years of WE in the field i would like to practice, i think it will give me a slight edge (i'd say it's one of the softs that may give me a bump, but no major thing).

For instance, i have been working at a boutique investment banking firm as a senior associate. Because we work internationally that means i actually travel and have facetime with clients, potential buyers/sellers, PEGs, VCs, etc. My clients aren't small mom and pop shops, my average deal size ranges from $100-500m.

Often times i was the sole one going from my office and by the time i leave (next spring) i'll have finished a deal i ran on my own ($75m sale) and managed my own group of junior associates. Seeing as i want to go into M&A/securities/corporate/transaction law, i think i have a slight advantage over K-JD, but that's just my 2cents worth.

Everyone takes away different things from work, some coast through and don't go after opportunities; i did because i came into finance without a finance degree and had to prove myself. Then, 6 months after starting i was promoted to SA, it's all what you get out of it.

Yeah, someone with directly related WE like you seem to have had will very likely help. I can't argue that. I just can't imagine the same benefits (at least to any degree similar to what you may experience) for every white collar job someone holds for 1-2 years. I am completely biased and this is just wishful thinking, but still. Multimillion dollar deal experience is one thing but talking up your level of knowledge about office professionalism is another.

[unlicensedpotato]

This argument is actually a pretty good preview for law school.

[dkb17xzx]

This argument is actually a pretty good preview for law school.

laughed out loud

[finnandjake2]

I'm addicted to lurking in tls forums because I'm strangely fascinated by how the different personalities that are attracted to law school clash on anonymous forum boards.

On-topic, is there any other good advice besides "don't do it!?"

[Cobretti]

I'm addicted to lurking in tls forums because I'm strangely fascinated by how the different personalities that are attracted to law school clash on anonymous forum boards.

On-topic, is there any other good advice besides "don't do it!?"

Or is the problem that most of us have the same personality?

[finnandjake2]

I'm addicted to lurking in tls forums because I'm strangely fascinated by how the different personalities that are attracted to law school clash on anonymous forum boards.

On-topic, is there any other good advice besides "don't do it!?"

Or is the problem that most of us have the same personality?

Truth. Different manifestations of the same neurotic personality traits.

[DoveBodyWash]

WE is important because NU says it is.