Weekend Trips during Law School? Forum

[Amir N]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

[plenipotentiary]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

I'm an 0L, so I don't know about weekend trips. However, I'm also going to be doing the long distance thing next year, and I think that if my SO were only an hour away, we'd just live together at the halfway point. Half an hour is not a long commute.

[danquayle]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

I had a SO 6 hours away during 1L and I visited at least twice a month, sometimes every weekend.

[Amir N]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

I had a SO 6 hours away during 1L and I visited at least twice a month, sometimes every weekend.

Wow. So you left Friday after classes and came back late Sunday? Did you study over the weekend?

[jaudette]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

Law school is tough, but its nowhere near life consuming. This would be very feasible in a normal week.

[Rand M.]

Yeah, law school does not have to take 24 hrs of each day. I think if you go in thinking that way, you will be shocked at how much free time you will have. For a big chunk of the semester the only thing you really need to do is keep up with the reading. There's no reason you can't completely take a weekend off every month.

Law school is work, but its just not that much.

[JOThompson]

A number of my classmates have SOs in Chicago, which is four hours away. They seem to find time to visit once every three to four weeks, while still staying afloat in classes and assignments.

[eandy]

My SO is about 10hrs away from me, but I have managed to go visit him a few times this year(1L). I just get extra work done during the week to make up for it. I can't from now until the end of the semester, though. Some people may be able to do it, but I just can't find the time to give away an entire weekend from here out.

[JOThompson]

My SO is about 10hrs away from me, but I have managed to go visit him a few times this year(1L). I just get extra work done during the week to make up for it. I can't from now until the end of the semester, though. Some people may be able to do it, but I just can't find the time to give away an entire weekend from here out.

I suppose a person who takes the bus to their SO could also accomplish a bit of work in transit.

[eandy]

My SO is about 10hrs away from me, but I have managed to go visit him a few times this year(1L). I just get extra work done during the week to make up for it. I can't from now until the end of the semester, though. Some people may be able to do it, but I just can't find the time to give away an entire weekend from here out.

I suppose a person who takes the bus to their SO could also accomplish a bit of work in transit.

Yeah, but the bus may not be doable either. In my case, the ride (each way) on a bus is about 20hrs and costs 200 dollars. For that price, I could just drive the two hrs to the airport and fly there.

[thexfactor]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

If i were you.. I would go every weekend no matter what the costs........

all kidding aside... ( only half kidding) 1-4 hrs isnt bad in terms of driving.. but the bigger problem is the focus issue.. Spending time with your SO will hurt you when it comes down to studying. You will likely spend your whole weekend with her. In this case, since your SO is in med school, I would do everything I can to spend as much time as possible with her....

[etown989]

I would not imagine this being a problem... get your work done during the week (leaving you little free time during the weekdays) but at the same time should free up your weekends.

[AreJay711]

You can still get a lot done while visiting your partner. Even with you Friday shot with travel and taking care of your carnal needs, you still have time Saturday and Sunday to get some work done (like 9-3 or something). I imagine if you took a little time to do work while you were there with your partner you could see each other more often. I'm just a 0L but I have done the long distance relationship thing -- didn't work out for me but but you might as well give it a shot.

[straxen]

1L here, my SO has come to see me just about every other weekend so far (I'm east coast he's west coast, so me going there isn't much of an option...but 1-4 hrs isn't too bad), hasn't seemed to be that big of a problem. I make up the time working pretty hard on the other weekend. Come the latter half of the semester we'll dial it down to about once a month. But don't count on getting any work done on that weekend. Ultimately, I've found the phone calls more distracting from work than the actual visits.

[Lwoods]

I'm just a law applicant as well, so I can't speak to that part. However, I am married to a doctor and was with him throughout medical school (dating for 1 year, married for 3). It will likely be difficult to coordinate your schedules so that neither of you are preparing for a big exam during your weekend once a month. This could be good because you'll both have to set aside study time during your weekend together. However, the med student / law student relationships I witnessed did better when they were able to see each other more frequently for shorter periods.
Any chance you'll both wind up in NYC? You'd have CLS, NYU, and Fordham; she'd have Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Mt. Sinai, AECOM, and SUNY Downstate...

[Jen Loblaw]

Do any of you doing the long distance thing feel like you missed out on the "law school experience" by concentrating all your work into the week days and then being busy all weekend? My SO is applying for grad school at the same time I'm applying for LS, and it's very doubtful that we'll both get into the same schools or even the same area.

[Jen Loblaw]

Crap I killed the thread

[Amir N]

Do any of you doing the long distance thing feel like you missed out on the "law school experience" by concentrating all your work into the week days and then being busy all weekend? My SO is applying for grad school at the same time I'm applying for LS, and it's very doubtful that we'll both get into the same schools or even the same area.

Good question, I've wondered the same thing...

[Kretzy]

Do any of you doing the long distance thing feel like you missed out on the "law school experience" by concentrating all your work into the week days and then being busy all weekend? My SO is applying for grad school at the same time I'm applying for LS, and it's very doubtful that we'll both get into the same schools or even the same area.

I haven't felt that way at all. My SO is about 4 hours away (up to 6 in traffic...silly California) and we probably see each other every other week. He's also in school, but does come here more than I visit him. I know a few other folks who have been flying to see their SOs (1 SF-NY every couple of weeks, the other SF-Chicago every 2 weeks or so) and have been very social.

On weeks I leave, I definitely make sure to go to Bar Review, in order to make sure I see my friends, and I front-load my work so that I can concentrate (as much as possible) on spending time with my SO. It can be tough time-wise, but it's well worth it.


TL/DR: Totally doable, and you can be social. Plus, when your SO is awesome, it's completely worth it.

[Lwoods]

Do any of you doing the long distance thing feel like you missed out on the "law school experience" by concentrating all your work into the week days and then being busy all weekend? My SO is applying for grad school at the same time I'm applying for LS, and it's very doubtful that we'll both get into the same schools or even the same area.

If law school is anything like medical school, this could be a big issue first year when everyone's getting to know each other and forming their friend groups. There were a ton of parties my husband's MS1 year that everybody went to. There weren't as many the subsequent years (though everyone has different insane schedules MS3 and MS4).

Because a number of my husband's classmates were shomer Shabbos, most parties were on Thursday instead of Friday / Saturday. That could help some... but you can't count on it unless you're at Cardozo.

[straxen]

Do any of you doing the long distance thing feel like you missed out on the "law school experience" by concentrating all your work into the week days and then being busy all weekend? My SO is applying for grad school at the same time I'm applying for LS, and it's very doubtful that we'll both get into the same schools or even the same area.

Not really, I've had chances to meet people and go out every now and then. That being said, sometimes I feel silent judgment when I say I can't go to bar review I've got to meet my SO this weekend. I've had a professional job before and am in a [cohabitational] relationship of over 2 years, so I moved beyond the "college phase". Someone who hasn't might feel this to be a stronger problem. I think it's a question of priorities as well, I might be able to do bar review by cutting down on phone calls during the week, for example, but I just choose not to.

[danquayle]

How feasible would it be to make a weekend trip every three to four weeks to see my significant other (please assume the driving distance would be anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours)? We are likely going to different law and medical schools. Thanks for any input!

I had a SO 6 hours away during 1L and I visited at least twice a month, sometimes every weekend.

Wow. So you left Friday after classes and came back late Sunday? Did you study over the weekend?

Pretty much. Nah, didn't really study during the weekends. In general, I didn't study a huge amount outside of reading the cases. But you can easily get everything you need done during the school week.

With regards to whether leaving every weekend isolates you from rest of your classmates.... yes. Definitely. You become sort of a ghost in the law school social life. But, if you know many law students, you might not consider this a bad thing.