Law school?

[msd]

how much time a day would you say you spent working in your first year? I've heard just about everything from 8 all the way up and through 12.

I probably worked 8-9. Really, I just treated it like a job. When my wife got up to go to work, I got up to go the library. I am at the library by 8-9 am and (because my wife is rarely home before 8 pm - work + gym), I would get home around 8 as well. That is essentially 12 hours minus 3-4 hours for class and lunch. Totally doable in my estimate.

Did you have any techniques that helped you balance out your studies and your personal life?

You know...I just made sure that I used all my free time as efficiently as I could. With less free time, I had to pack everything that I wanted to do into it and so I found myself planning my free time a little more. Again, no reason you can't find the balance.

 

[Michael Tree]

I'm currently half way through law school. I'm also doing it simultaneously with a doctorate in psychology, so my experience may be a bit atypical, but the basics of law school are the same.

First of all, for admissions the LSAT is all important. A good LSAT will give you a better chance to get in, and may get you a better scholarship. The best advice I can give for the LSAT is to get a few books on it, and practice like mad. Learn how to answer each of the question types, and do as many practice tests as you can find, in controlled circumstances. Some of the questions have a 'trick' that you need to learn in order to do them quickly, particularly the analyical and inductive reasoning, while the verbal sections just take practice.

Law school can be both stressful and enjoyable at the same time. It's a lot of work, but it's manageable, and you likely won't know how you'll handle it until you try. If you like challenges, and have a mind for tricksy details (and frankly, what is D&D but a mess of trisky details? ) you'll probably enjoy the work too.

I wouldn't count on finding a job in sports law though. There aren't a lot of positions in it, so the competition for work in that field is fierce.

While in law school, you may be able to find a part time job working as a clerk for a law firm or private practice, or working in the law school. The pay's generally fairly lousy, but no worse than retail, and it's good experience.

 

[Endur]

I agree with everything MSD and the other posters said.

My comments:

All law schools are pretty much the same inside the classroom. They are as fun or as miserable as you want them to be.

Law Schools are very different from a job prospects perspective, however. Highly rated law schools virtually guarantee job offers. A lowly rated law school may leave you in a retail position.

Try your absolute best to get into Harvard or another famous school. It will help your career for the rest of your life, no matter what you decide to do.

What would I recommend?

1) Study for at least a year for the LSAT. You want a perfect score.

2) Try to find a way to prove to the admissions committee that you will be a perfect student for them to recruit. I don't know what to tell you here, but this should be strived for.

3) When you do get in, study hard for the first year. That's the most important year. If possible, study before you enter your 1L year. Look at the course outlines, read the textbooks, and be prepared to take the exams before your classes start.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I'm currently half way through law school. I'm also doing it simultaneously with a doctorate in psychology, so my experience may be a bit atypical, but the basics of law school are the same.

Wow. That's hardcore. Good for you.

I wouldn't count on finding a job in sports law though. There aren't a lot of positions in it, so the competition for work in that field is fierce.

While in law school, you may be able to find a part time job working as a clerk for a law firm or private practice, or working in the law school. The pay's generally fairly lousy, but no worse than retail, and it's good experience.

That's good to know about sports law, and good experience is absolutely key. I'm already trying to sniff around and see if I can get some work at a firm or practice during the next year, but given that it's the end of the holiday weekend and I just started looking, that's not gone much of anywhere yet.

1) Study for at least a year for the LSAT. You want a perfect score.

See, I'm taking it in a month, so that might be tricky, but if I really feel like I bombed it, I have no qualms about cancelling my score and putting these plans on hold for another year (and might do that anyhow if I can secure work that'll let me make some money that I could save and put towards law school).

I probably worked 8-9. Really, I just treated it like a job. When my wife got up to go to work, I got up to go the library. I am at the library by 8-9 am and (because my wife is rarely home before 8 pm - work + gym), I would get home around 8 as well. That is essentially 12 hours minus 3-4 hours for class and lunch. Totally doable in my estimate.

If I were to go back and redo my years at UNC, I would have made my work schedule more like a regular job. As I was leaving, I started to realize that, although it probably wouldn't have changed how I felt about PhD track literature, it probably would've made my life feel more normal. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing.

Thanks, all.
Nick

 

[LightPhoenix]

Not to pimp the school in my home town, but Syracuse University had nationally renowned programs in both Law and Communications. If you were willing to put in a little extra work for a TRF (Television, Radio, and Film) degree as well as Law, you'd be in an excellent position to go into the field of Sports Law. It doesn't necessarily mean you'll get in, but you'll be covered both from production and law, both of which SU excels at.

 

[Bront]

On the financial side, make sure you inform the school you will be attending that you are currently unemployed or underemployed (assuming you are) compared to your previous incometax information. I lost some of my scholarship my second year in school because I had had a reasonably well paying contract job for 8 months the previous year before I entered, and if I had spoken up, I could have saved myself at least $5,000 in student loans. Of course, I found this out only after I saw a freind of mine do exactly that.

Do some research on schollarships yourself. Some universities are very good about trying to get you as much help as you can (Mine was, though they failed to mention the above option to me, I never had to pay anything up front), but not every one is, and there are many options out there than they may not be aware of beyond that anyway. I don't know specificly about law school, but I know they're out there for most schooling. The only real problem I forsee is that by the time you're ready to start paying off your student loans, the interest rates will likely be higher than they are now, which will be unfortunate. I got lucky (I think I'm under 2% on mine), but student loans still are not that bad compaired to most other loans, the interest is tax deductable (much like a morgage). Once you're ready, I'd consolidate them asap (unless you think interest rates are going down), and then probably go for a 10 year payoff plan. You're unlikely to find anything with much less interest, and it's unsecured debt, so you're not in danger of much more than penalties and extra interest if you can't pay it. I would avoid postponing payment if you can, but obviously this is job and other debt dependant.

Hope that helps. I can't speak much on the actual schooling itself, having done a more IT oriented degree.