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You'll have tons of free time, and you should not attend a school that requires you to maintain a certain GPA to keep your scholarship.

Also, retake to see if you can't grab another point or two to get better options and make a full ride more likely. There is no downside.

Are you planning to keep living with your parents while in law school? Also retake.

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jaylawyer09 wrote:I really prefer to stay with the family while in law school.

Also, I didnt know that there are actually schools that dont require a minimum gpa for a full scholarship. Sounds great to me.

Tiago Splitter wrote:You'll have tons of free time, and you should not attend a school that requires you to maintain a certain GPA to keep your scholarship.

Also, retake to see if you can't grab another point or two to get better options and make a full ride more likely. There is no downside.

I am GLAD to hear this! I just finished talking to a student who graduated from South Texas College of Law (3.0/4.0 gpa) and he told me that people only care about chopping each others heads off, and that you will have absolutely no free time except on a saturday night.

Can we get more confirmations that you will have free time in law school? Perhaps any suggestions on which schools????

thanks!!!!!

You can easily make law school a 9-5 job. It does not require an exorbitant amount of work. During finals time, you will feel the need to neglect everyone for a few weeks. But for the rest of the semester, you can have plenty of free time.

But if you're going to law school, you need to realize how awful the market is, and understand that your career will more or less be determined by your 1L year. So, I think you should be willing to make it your priority above all else, if possible.

youll have plenty of free time

its like 40 hour commitment up until right before finals, & 25 of those hours are flexible study hours.

jaylawyer09 wrote: I am GLAD to hear this! I just finished talking to a student who graduated from South Texas College of Law (3.0/4.0 gpa) and he told me that people only care about chopping each others heads off, and that you will have absolutely no free time except on a saturday night.

this person sucks at law school

jaylawyer09 wrote:Here is the deal. I hate neglecting the family. Will I have time in law school to spend at least an hour a day and a little more on the weekends with the family? This includes eating on the dinner table, and discussing normal day-to-day events with each other. My current situation: Living in parent's household.

Wait, are we talking about "the family" as in your wife and kids, or your parents?

9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

BigZuck wrote:9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

Yep. However, if you're one of the "lucky" ones who gets a firm job for after law school......

rpupkin wrote:

BigZuck wrote:9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

Yep. However, if you're one of the "lucky" ones who gets a firm job for after law school......

Wait, I'm not sure what you mean...what does getting a firm job have to do with free time in law school?

I was just talking about my experience as a 1L

BigZuck wrote:

rpupkin wrote:

BigZuck wrote:9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

Yep. However, if you're one of the "lucky" ones who gets a firm job for after law school......

Wait, I'm not sure what you mean...what does getting a firm job have to do with free time in law school?

I was just talking about my experience as a 1L

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I completely agree with you (and others) that one has plenty of free time while in law school. I was just suggesting that the OP's question will make a lot more sense in relation to life after law school—i.e., after one graduates and starts work at a firm.

For spring semester, I did virtually nothing until after spring break. Not a good idea (April was really stressful), but it shows how much you can get away with in law school. For 2L year I'm actively seeking out hobbies to fill my time.

How much control do 1L students have over the scheduling of their classes. Not really concerned with what classes you take, but more about the times. Would it ever be possible to have no classes past like 1pm ?

BigZuck wrote:9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

Really? I could potentially take on part-time work? Only 40 hours a week? Wow.

180kickflip wrote:How much control do 1L students have over the scheduling of their classes. Not really concerned with what classes you take, but more about the times. Would it ever be possible to have no classes past like 1pm ?

You generally have little to no control over scheduling your classes as a 1L. Many schools will permit you to take an elective course or two during your first year. Other than that, your classes and schedule will be set by the school.

After 1L, though, you'll usually be able to set the schedule you want. I knew students who only took classes in the morning, or who managed to cram all their classes into Tuesdays and Thursdays. But during your first year, you won't have that kind of control.

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jaylawyer09 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:9-5 and 40 hours a week is an over-estimation, IMO. It's like a 20-30 hour a week gig I think, outside of finals time, where it ramps up to a 40ish hour a week commitment. I haven't had this much free time since college, it's nowhere near the time commitment of a full time job.

Lol. Just lol @ only having one night off a week.

Wow thats good to hear.mAny particular law schools? preferably in Texas.

Can confirm this is true for UT

jaylawyer09 wrote:

redsox wrote:

jaylawyer09 wrote:Here is the deal. I hate neglecting the family. Will I have time in law school to spend at least an hour a day and a little more on the weekends with the family? This includes eating on the dinner table, and discussing normal day-to-day events with each other. My current situation: Living in parent's household.

Wait, are we talking about "the family" as in your wife and kids, or your parents?

parents and siblings.

Not the point of this thread, I realize, but might be time to cut the apron strings a bit....It's great that you have such a solid relationship with your family, but I don't think you should base your law school decision making process on which school will allow you to attend the most dinners at mom and dad's. If living near family is important to you (which, again, I'm not saying is a bad thing) biting the bullet and going a better school for three years will give you a better chance at geographic flexibility/returning home.

With your numbers you should be good for UT, I would think. How important is living with your family? Where in Texas do you live?

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jaylawyer09 wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote: Not the point of this thread, I realize, but might be time to cut the apron strings a bit....It's great that you have such a solid relationship with your family, but I don't think you should base your law school decision making process on which school will allow you to attend the most dinners at mom and dad's. If living near family is important to you (which, again, I'm not saying is a bad thing) biting the bullet and going a better school for three years will give you a better chance at geographic flexibility/returning home.

With your numbers you should be good for UT, I would think. How important is living with your family? Where in Texas do you live?

H-town, plus I plan on going solo eventually. so, which law school I attend doesn't matter that much.

Being in-state with a 3.9+ GPA, if you can bump the LSAT up a few points you're competitive for the Chancellor's at UT (full scholarship). Retake for sure first.

jaylawyer09 wrote:
H-town, plus I plan on going solo eventually. so, which law school I attend doesn't matter that much.

Yes, it absolutely does. You're not going to want to open shop right after law school. You're going to want to get experience. (Ok, maybe you don't want to do this, but I think it is a horrible decision to try to start a firm without any experience.) And to get good experience, your school matters tremendously.

jaylawyer09 wrote:

redsox wrote:

jaylawyer09 wrote:Here is the deal. I hate neglecting the family. Will I have time in law school to spend at least an hour a day and a little more on the weekends with the family? This includes eating on the dinner table, and discussing normal day-to-day events with each other. My current situation: Living in parent's household.

Wait, are we talking about "the family" as in your wife and kids, or your parents?

parents and siblings.

It sounds like you are about to make a horribly uninformed decision for terrible reasons, which will have dire consequences for your future. I'm going to be blunt: If you are unwilling/not ready to move out of Mommy and Daddy's house to attend a law school that will give you viable career options, you are too young for law school.

It's understandable that you don't want to leave your family, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want a successful legal career, it will require sacrifices. If you aren't ready to make the entirely reasonable sacrifice of moving out of your parents' house, you need to take a few years and get some work experience until you are ready. This isn't your wife and kids.

And I'm sorry to break it to you, but your law school ALWAYS matters. Before you can go solo, you need to learn what the hell you are doing. That will require getting hired by someone in some sort of legal capacity (you learn nothing useful/practical in law school). Good luck.

Note: *This doesn't apply if the reason to need to stay at home is to take care of your parents for medical reasons, etc. But even in that case, you need to do more research.