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I am a 3L and my wife is a 2L at a school in the Midwest. I have a job lined up in NYC after graduation. My wife just accepted a 2L summer gig in NYC in hopes of lining up a post graduation job there as well. I have two options:

Option 1: I can go to NYC with my wife for the summer, since I'll be moving up there in Sep anyway, but I know it will be hard to stay focused and resist exploring our new city when I should be doing bar prep.

Option 2: I can stay here in the Midwest where we go to law school and be alone while I study for the bar. This will suck because we will essentially trade places in the fall, when she returns home and I move to NYC to start my job. We're going to be apart her entire 3L year anyway, while I am working in NYC, and I don't know that I want to spend any more time apart than necessary before then.

Any thoughts?

Go to NYC for bar prep. Just need to do everything in your power to stay focused and pass the bar exam. Wife will have a cushy gig during the day, and you can use that time to study, leaving most nights free to do whatever you like (on your wife's SA dime!). Might also be good chance to get an idea of where you want to live in nyc.

ETA: I also think living in midwest and studying alone will have the potential to be more disruptive to your bar studies. Yes, you will have all days to yourself, but you will likely want to visit wife at least a few weekends, and will probably want to do zero bar work during those visits...when you are with her every day, its easier to fit in some prep work.

I think that perhaps for the relatively short period of time needed to prepare for the bar exam the option that presents the least number of distractions is the best option. The priority has to be passing because not passing means waiting another 5 months to take the exam and delaying everything that requires a passing score. Since I work with students almost all who have not passed on previous attempts I have a unique perspective as to the hardship associated with this.

Focus and target the exam. Pass it so that you can move on with your life.

--Sean

Go to NYC. Generally bar prep should only be during the day (if you're efficient), so by the time your wife comes home, you should be ready for a break.

As to being distracted, dude, don't do that to yourself. There's nothing worse than spending an entire summer studying for the bar to then having to study again WHILE you've started working somewhere and they know you failed the bar. You will have a lifetime to explore NYC. Grind over the summer and repeat to yourself "one and done." You'll be so much happier to get the bar behind you.

zot1 wrote:Go to NYC. Generally bar prep should only be during the day (if you're efficient), so by the time your wife comes home, you should be ready for a break.

As to being distracted, dude, don't do that to yourself. There's nothing worse than spending an entire summer studying for the bar to then having to study again WHILE you've started working somewhere and they know you failed the bar. You will have a lifetime to explore NYC. Grind over the summer and repeat to yourself "one and done." You'll be so much happier to get the bar behind you.

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