Things you wish you knew before you went to law school Forum

[worldtraveler]

Lawyers and law students post stuff you wish you knew before you applied or started law school.

Not about academics or succeeding in law school, but things about money, personal life, relationships, or major life changes that happened in law school and you wish you would have had a heads up.


I wish I realized that by the time you account for bar study and bar results, you have a ton of time with no income after you graduate, unless you are going to a firm that gives you an advance. Because of this, having savings or good enough credit to get a bar study loan is pretty much a necessity. Every public interest person I know had about $5 in their bank account at some point, unless they come from a wealthy family.

Most law students, at least at top schools, seem to come from upper class or upper middle class families and already have connections to what they want to do or there are just cultural norms they know that you don't know if that's not your background. Get used to being in that environment and get over it.

Law school really isn't that hard and you can keep the same friends and hobbies you had before law school. Maybe you can't do everything you want all the time, but you still have time for a life.

[First Offense]

If you go in with an SO, especially one that's not also in law school, you WILL have a major fight around exams. Prepare for it. The fight likely will have little to nothing to do with exams, but it will still be a distraction. Try to head it off at the pass if possible, and have that fight over Thanksgiving/Easter weekend, before you're full bore exam studying.

[03152016]

Most law students, at least at top schools, seem to come from upper class or upper middle class families and already have connections to what they want to do or there are just cultural norms they know that you don't know if that's not your background. Get used to being in that environment and get over it.

Interesting, though I shouldn't be surprised. Can you give an example of these cultural norms?

[A. Nony Mouse]

If you go in with an SO, especially one that's not also in law school, you WILL have a major fight around exams. Prepare for it. The fight likely will have little to nothing to do with exams, but it will still be a distraction. Try to head it off at the pass if possible, and have that fight over Thanksgiving/Easter weekend, before you're full bore exam studying.

Don't agree.

[seespotrun]

If you go in with an SO, especially one that's not also in law school, you WILL have a major fight around exams. Prepare for it. The fight likely will have little to nothing to do with exams, but it will still be a distraction. Try to head it off at the pass if possible, and have that fight over Thanksgiving/Easter weekend, before you're full bore exam studying.

Don't agree.

Yeah, disagree.

[despina]

If you go in with an SO, especially one that's not also in law school, you WILL have a major fight around exams. Prepare for it. The fight likely will have little to nothing to do with exams, but it will still be a distraction. Try to head it off at the pass if possible, and have that fight over Thanksgiving/Easter weekend, before you're full bore exam studying.

Don't agree.

Yeah, disagree.

[Holly Golightly]

A disproportionate number of law students are legitimately sociopaths. Others are just terrible people to have to be around. Still others are very nice, but super awkward.

There are also law students who are awesome to be around and who you will stay friends with forever. And plenty are perfectly fun to go drinking with, even if you don't love them the rest of the time. But it is a much different social environment than everything else I have done.

[brotherdarkness]

.

[ManoftheHour]

Socially, high school and college were awesome. Hope the trend continues.

And tag.

[northwood]

A disproportionate number of law students are legitimately sociopaths. Others are just terrible people to have to be around. Still others are very nice, but super awkward.

There are also law students who are awesome to be around and who you will stay friends with forever. And plenty are perfectly fun to go drinking with, even if you don't love them the rest of the time. But it is a much different social environment than everything else I have done.

Socially, I find it pretty similar to high school.

I agree with the whole clique thing.
It's like highschool, except the stakes are higher and people tend to overexaggerate/ outright lie. You will learn a ton about people in the weeks leading up to finals. It seems that finals( and the inevitable stress associated with them) tends to bring out the worst ( and maybe best ) in others. Same with OCI.

Just remember to do what works best for you, and sometimes its much better to just stay away from everyone for a while

[jbagelboy]

If you go in with an SO, especially one that's not also in law school, you WILL have a major fight around exams. Prepare for it. The fight likely will have little to nothing to do with exams, but it will still be a distraction. Try to head it off at the pass if possible, and have that fight over Thanksgiving/Easter weekend, before you're full bore exam studying.

Don't agree.

Yeah, disagree.

I actually completely agree with First Offense. My SO and I fought a lot when i started hibernating to study near exam time. It was fruitful to get the big fight out of the way a week or so before exams so they didn't come during.

You'll have a tremendous amount of conflict with a non-law SO during 1L anyway. This isn't to say they can't be wonderfully supportive, but it's just going to happen..every couple I knew in LS experienced it, in addition to my own.

[jbagelboy]

A disproportionate number of law students are legitimately sociopaths. Others are just terrible people to have to be around. Still others are very nice, but super awkward.

There are also law students who are awesome to be around and who you will stay friends with forever. And plenty are perfectly fun to go drinking with, even if you don't love them the rest of the time. But it is a much different social environment than everything else I have done.

Socially, I find it pretty similar to high school.

Only the k-jds acted/cared in this way. For those of us that worked before law school, I would say the comparison is pretty unrepresentative. I tended to gravitate towards other students with WE/more life experience distancing themselves from UG anyway. A couple of my close friends were k-jds but they were not like this.

[northwood]

A disproportionate number of law students are legitimately sociopaths. Others are just terrible people to have to be around. Still others are very nice, but super awkward.

There are also law students who are awesome to be around and who you will stay friends with forever. And plenty are perfectly fun to go drinking with, even if you don't love them the rest of the time. But it is a much different social environment than everything else I have done.

Socially, I find it pretty similar to high school.

Only the k-jds acted/cared in this way. For those of us that worked before law school, I would say the comparison is pretty unrepresentative. I tended to gravitate towards other students with WE/more life experience distancing themselves from UG anyway. A couple of my close friends were k-jds but they were not like this.

there's a lot of K-JDs, or K-JDs with a year off, at least in my experience as a law student

[jbagelboy]

Socially, high school and college were awesome. Hope the trend continues.

And tag.

Lastly, I found Ls totally different from college. But that has a lot to do with extraneous circumstances, like geographic location, substance use/abuse habits, and relationship dynamics (live w/ SO rather than getting down w/randoms)

[DELG]

I want to say, how to not get pregnant, but at the end of the day I am glad I did

I really can't complain I had a lot of fun, drank a lot, went out a lot, hosted friends a lot, plus got a job, baby and husband

[rayiner]

If you've got a three-year, $200k debt repayment plan, you might want to leave open the possibility you'll actually want to get married and start a family on a different schedule than you planned. Half a dozen marriages right out of school, not to mention three unplanned babies. And that's just out of the people I know well.

[notgreat]

.

[banjo]

Start law school with good eating, sleeping, exercise, hygiene, and time management habits (not just with respect to classwork).

Be able to laugh at yourself.

[First Offense]

Also - there is no good reason you should ever have to pull an all-nighter, ESPECIALLY around exams. Get sleep.

[linkx13]

tag

[bjsesq]

Even if you don't like gladhanding douches, try and make connections. You never know when a simple smile and brief conversation might save your ass later on.

[84651846190]

A disproportionate number of law students are legitimately sociopaths. Others are just terrible people to have to be around. Still others are very nice, but super awkward.

There are also law students who are awesome to be around and who you will stay friends with forever. And plenty are perfectly fun to go drinking with, even if you don't love them the rest of the time. But it is a much different social environment than everything else I have done.

Socially, I find it pretty similar to high school.

...so you agree that a disproportionate number of law students are sociopaths?

[Caesar Salad]

...so you agree that a disproportionate number of law students are sociopaths?

I have always heard that the legal field attracted sociopaths more than any other, except maybe politics.

[brotherdarkness]

.

[KD35]

If you don't have an SO, make sure to have friends/people to interact with outside of LS. Even if you have good friends in LS, you will inevitably end up almost always talking about LS. Law school is not the only thing in life and so having friends around outside of LS during the non-exam times is great to help keep you in check and help you maintain your sanity.

Also: Loans are meant to last for a full year, not the 9 month academic school year. So make sure you budget accordingly.