Top Law Schools

It seems like "Your first year in law school is hard, really hard." is a universal truth. Is it still true for non T14 schools? I am sure it is still hard, but it's not Harvard. What are other people's experiences in non T14? Are they living in the library?

Also, to some degree I am sure it depends on the student right? I have my master's degree and I am used to not sleeping and using spring break as an opportunity to catch up on my thesis. So, maybe it won't be as hard since I have some experience being drilled?

0L here so take this with a grain of salt, but 1) there are plenty of brilliant people at non-T14 schools and 2) Law school isn't going to be anything like grad school or undergrad so you can't use that as a measure of how well you'll do in law school (not to mention that everyone else around you did just as well, too)

Huh?

Pretty sure 1L will be a lot more stressful the further down the rankings you go since you have to fight to get to the top of the class to have a fighting chace at getting the job you want...

Schools like HLS isn't graded so I'm sure it's not as stressful as someone from (for example) Fordham, where you need to be in the top third of the class to go into Biglaw.

But then again I guess it depends on the student and his/her goals. If they went to Hofstra to become just a local solo pracitioner, then yes, I think he/she would have a much laid back experience in law school over someone going to Fordham and gunning for Biglaw.

So, this may be totally unfounded, and I am definitely not saying non t14s are harder, but I imagine the competition being more obvious in a school where only 15% of students get biglaw as opposed to 50%+. I definitely don't think you can expect any school to be less than pretty tough.

Eh, I went to a lower T1 where not many get biglaw and it wasn't competitive at all. Also 1L is hard in that it's a totally new way of thinking (for most people), it's not hard in that you have to live in the library and work 24/7. I treated it like a 9-5 job, it was fine. People are particularly stressed over finals (especially 1L) but otherwise it's what you make of it.

Its the t13 now thank you

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It's what you want it to be. I knew people staying in the library until it closed. I knew people partying almost every night. I put it my work, but got 8 hours of sleep every night during 1L (except during memo writing and finals weeks).

1L for me was a lot of work, but still thought it was fun.

guybourdin wrote:So, this may be totally unfounded, and I am definitely not saying non t14s are harder, but I imagine the competition being more obvious in a school where only 15% of students get biglaw as opposed to 50%+. I definitely don't think you can expect any school to be less than pretty tough.

I imagine a decent number of people at regional schools knew that BigLaw was unlikely going in and aren't shooting for that.

1L isn't hard unless you want to be in the top percentile. If that's what you want it's going to be hard everywhere. However, if your at HYS or CCN, being in the top percentile isn't as imperative.

1L at upper t-14. I would echo t-14 is less stressful because most people are going to get a job. Last year 90% of OCI interviewees at my schools got SAs. People stress out here, but as long as you are not both in the bottom of the class and a bad interviewer, it seems like things work out. I assume that the toughest schools to be at are the ones where 25%-35% of the class gets biglaw, because you still have a ton of ambitious people there but there is less certainty.

its as stressful as you want it to be. the work isn't really that hard, but you might feel like you have to keep pushing yourself to make sure you get at least median. the problem is you don't know if what your are doing is right, and you may not know how much is enough. if you don't worry as much about all that then it won't be stressful.