The soon-to-be 1Ls are lighting up my inbox, and I’m starting to get duplicate questions.
The typical email starts with a variation of “Hi, I start law school the fall. I saw your blog, and didn’t get a chance to read it. Can you answer these questions?” I can, I did, and I will – but don’t be offended if you’re linked to this post (or this one).
Here are some of the common questions this week: 1L: “I’m thinking of getting a rolly backpack…and” A: No, no, no, no, no, no, NO. Do not. Put down the fug and step away slowly. Yes we see people considering them every year, and it confuses me. Assuming your law school has student lockers, there is no reason for you to carry around 5 law books at one time, so a rolly bag is unnecessary. I simply carry my books in my hand because typically I’m going to my locker to exchange one book for another. And I find that when I’m studying, I’m not going to focus on more than one or two classes, so dragging a stack of books to the library is unnecessary. Don’t be that guy or girl who looks like they are about to catch the next flight to fugville. See:Jill on backpacks
1L: “What supplements should I buy?” A: I recommend waiting for your professor to recommend a supplement. Check the syllabus. Some professors teach from the supplements, and other professors insist that you shouldn’t read anything but your casebook. I also recommend waiting to buy supplements until the middle of the semester when you have a better idea of what you don’t know. You’re not going to score any points or good will by bringing up obscure arguments from a hornbook. If you are inconsolably freaked out, then make a few purchases from West’s Nutshell series. These tend to be just enough to get you grounded in a subject. If you feel cheap, then wait until you get your LexisNexis and Westlaw passwords. Westlaw contains treatises like Wright & Miller (for Civil Procedure) and Lexis has course outlines.
1L: “I want to start a blog but I don’t know if I can keep up with it…” A: Assuming your blogging goals are somewhat similar to mine (see post here), then my best advice is to sign up for a blog at wordpress.com and give it a shot. The trick is to post every day, even if it’s just a sentence or two. The second you stop posting consistently is when your blog is most likely to die. And yes, most blawgs die. SeeThree Years of Hell, and Frugal
1L (following up): “Why wordpress?” A: WordPress is the standard for blogging software. WordPress.com accounts are free and easily customizable. The problem with blogspot and typepad blogs is that these services don’t have as many options and it is harder for people to comment on those blogs. Also, if you’re feeling fancy, you can get a dot com address for your wordpress.com blog for only $15-20 a year. I’m pretty sure this is what Huma of humarashid.com did. And please, when you get a new blog, don’t spam everyone’s blogs with your new address.
1L: “Okay, so I’ve seen in your fashion post that things can get really petty…are law students really that immature or is it just you?” A: Let me remind you that I am not Oprah. All of my advice comes with a hefty dose of salt. Wear what makes you feel comfortable. Just do so with the realization that some of your peers are as petty as I am (see here). Think of it like this: you are in professional school. Showing up looking like a hot mess for law school is the equivalent of accusing your coworkers of being immature because you decided to show up at the office in pink, bejeweled crocs. Now, yes, the fact that someone is sitting at the UMN library, enraged that a classmate is wearing flipflops is silly, but I think that flip flops during orientation is more akin to the pink crocs at the office. See Think Like a Woman, Act like a Man.
Female 1L: ”If I start blogging will have creepy men hiding in the bushes outside of my apartment?” A: There will probably be creepy men hiding in the bushes outside of your apartment, but it won’t be because of your blog. Think of online privacy as a bicycle lock. Your average bicycle lock is going to stop the vast majority of bike thieves, but no bike lock can stop that rare, determined bike thief. The same thing is true for stalkers. The rare stalker is going to stalk regardless of how good your pseudonym is, and regardless of how carefully you guard your online presence. Frankly, so much information is available via public directories and information companies (like Lexis), that the rare crazy is not going to be stopped by anything but the Tazer x3 in your purse. So no, don’t post a picture of your apartment with the address and a challenge, but also don’t be afraid to use your real name – because frankly, it’s not a secret. See also: 3 years of hell, and Fresh Thought Soup.
And no, I’m not saying go out and buy designer clothes – the point is that you can look put together without wearing your church clothes, or looking like a Kinko’s manager (no high-water khakis please.)
My experience: There was a girl who wore the same thing throughout orientation: ass-cheek exposing shorts, a red tank top, an oversized hoodie, and her greasy hair in a sloppy bun. She was a super-smart girl, but she looked like she smelled, and was called uncharitable names (like slutty hobo) for the rest of the year.
Some classic dressing tips are here, and female law students who need extra help should check out Huma’s tips. When in doubt, women should check out their local Forever21 for a quick cheap but put-together look or Banana Republic for personal assistance on what is flattering your body type.
This isn’t Undressed, Raising the Bar, or the first day of college. Bedding your classmates will come back to haunt you. Well, unless you’re this guy:
3. Check the ego.
It takes people a while to understand that in law school, the playing field is level. Unless you ditched a full ride at Harvard for Nowhere University, you are probably not the smartest kid in your class. So be careful, because the section-mate you are bragging to just might be a PhD or getting a dual degree in Rocket Science.
Also, no one cares how much time you spent reading hornbooks during the summer, how prestigious your undergrad was, or how much money you made in your former job. You are in law school. Save yourself the ego-check and humble yourself before you get to school. The grades are based on finals, so you don’t get any points for muscling your classmates during orientation.
My experience: During orientation, the entire 1L class was in an auditorium. Some prestigious lawyer gave us a lecture about his experience and this girl raised her hand, preceded to tell the speaker (and the entire 1L class) about a lengthy book she read on a completely irrelevant subject, and asked the lawyer for his thoughts on the book.
The presenter’s mouth said: “Uh, I haven’t read that one.” His face added: “You crazy bitch.”
Your classmates will get to know you in time. Disclosing things too early will just earn you a reputation as a socially inept. We don’t need to know about your DUIs, roaring undergraduate drug habits, or thoughts about your weight. We also don’t need your blog address. We’ll stalk you when we add you on facebook.
This happens at every school outside of Utah: after orientation, you will head to a local pub with your section-mates, someone will get crunk for jesus and embarrass themselves.
And in law school, no one bothers to stop a social train wreck. Law students will just stand by and chuckle nervously as the disaster unfolds – and because no one ever says anything, this behavior is repeated throughout the year. Don’t be that guy.
And remember it is not too late to get the essential law school summer reading:
As a senior in college, I relied on law student blogs to find out what to expect for my first year of law school. Part of the law school experience that was ignored by a lot of blawgs is the late law school application process (ie, deciding where to go, and then getting there.)
This sucked.
So, for all the 0L’s out there, here are four things that happened to me:1
The problem is that the law schools that have given me full tuition scholarships (Drake, Stetson, etc.), are not top tier schools, and the other schools that have given sizable scholarships (Yeshiva, Temple, DePaul, etc.) are still not in UMN’s league. (keep reading)
I applied to over 50 law schools. I realized that applying to every school that sent me a fee voucher was a waste of time, especially when the schools started harassing me for deposits. The only school I paid to apply to was UMN (my first choice school). And that’s where I’m at. The lesson? It’s good to have options, but there is a such thing as overkill.
They were not kidding when they said late July. And once I accept these loans that I will supposedly receive, how long will it take for me to get the disbursement? (read more)
I go to a public law school, so financial aid is based on the FAFSA. Students who take out the full amount of loans get around $7,000 a semester for living expenses. Check with your school and don’t be afraid to ask the financial aid office, “How much do students have to live on after tuition and fees?” if that’s what you really want to know. And yes, loans came in about a week before class started.
So what are law schools doing to recruit minorities? According to National Jurist, law schools are now taking “a personal approach” to admissions.
I saw this “personal approach” at work this past year. I was more aggressively recruited by law schools than when I applied to undergrad, even though I was a better applicant coming out of high school. (read more)
This included aggressive calls from deans and questionable tactics from minority organizations within law schools. The Lesson? Being an minority made me more desirable to law schools, but the best school for me was one that didn’t want me for my skin tone.
4) Housing: House me please! The apartment search was sort of a crapshoot. I spent a lot of time on rent.com, but I couldn’t really make any decisions without a financial aid award.
The lesson?Ask your financial aid department about your monthly budget (assuming you get all of the loans) and save up enough money for your first month’s rent and security deposit because you won’t get a reimbursement check until the eve of classes.
Also, check out the law school discussion forums. There are school-specific threads where upperclassmen from your school will answer your questions. This was very helpful to me because a lot of the UMN students I spoke to at campus preview weekend were local, or had rich parents…so they couldn’t help me find affordable housing.2
I hope this helps.
1 This is my experience, it may not be true for you. Please communicate with your law school and current students at your school.
2 If you are applying to UMinnesota (and don’t have children or pets) you can apply to the Gamma Eta Gamma house. Gamma is a co-ed legal fraternity that is close to the school and rents rooms at $400/month.
A housemate and I wanted to get four things done today: buy books, get a locker, activate our student IDs for the law library, and a buy student bus pass.
Simple right?
Well, the library cards are only activated at orientation, so that taken off the agenda.
I was able to get books, a locker, and my bus pass. No problem.
My housemate wasn’t so lucky – she tried to charge the books ($780!) to her student account, and her student ID was declined.
Bookstore clerk: “The computer says you’re not registered.”
Hm. Orientation is Wednesday. All of the other 1L’s are registered… That’s a problem.
So we go to the law admissions office and they send us to the law school registrar. The registrar tells my housemate she is registered, but that she must have a hold on her record.
Apparently international students have a hold on their records until they attend a special orientation.
So we are sent to the international admissions office. We wait and are eventually told, “Hm. That shouldn’t be a problem, but we put a temporary release on your stop. Go to the student card office to see if it worked.”
On the way to student card office we stop at the bank because my housemate’s name is spelled wrong on her debit card. The nice cashier orders a new debit card and tells my housemate that she can use her misprinted card until the new one arrives. Great. Peace out.
We walk across the river to the student card office, wait in a 15 person line, and are told by a woman who shouts everything TO GO TO THE STUDENT SERVICES OFFICE.
Thanks. We get to the STUDENT SERVICES OFFICE, take a number, wait. The student assisting us smirks and tells my housemate that she, in fact, isn’t registered.
My housemate calls the law school like “wtf mate?” and the law school registrar tells her that she was supposed to call them and inform them that the stop was removed.
My housemate: “But doesn’t your computer system tell you that my stop was removed?” The registrar: “Yes, but you’re supposed to call us to tell us it was removed. Call us back in 15 minutes.”
Fine.
So my housemate decides to use her debit card to pay for the books. Who needs a student account anyway!? So we cross the river again, go to the law school bookstore, grab all of the books again, and she pays with her card.
Which doesn’t work.
Crap.
My housemate: “OH! I forgot to activate it.”
She goes outside and calls the activation number.
Electronic voice on phone: “Your card is invalid. You suck at life. Goodbye.”
So we leave the books at the bookstore again and go back to the bank.
“Nice” teller: “Oh, I accidentally deactivated your card. Oops.”
The Nice-yet-newly-annoying teller hands back to the now-useless card, and we go to the student services office next door to see if my housemate is finally registered. Yes. She is. Yay.
Student Services lady: But your registration isn’t going to show up for the bookstore for 24-hours. So you can’t get your books today. Hah. Sucks.
Crap.
So housemate decides she’s going to pay cash. You can’t mess up cash. She goes back to the nice-yet-incompetent bank teller and asks for $800.
Teller: “Trying to buy books?” Housemate: “Yep.” Teller: “You know you can charge it to your student account right?” Housemate: “Well, actually, I can’t. I just registered today.” Teller: “Oh, and your card doesn’t work. Sucks. Well, here’s the cash, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, and 800! Have a great day!”
So we return to the bookstore, get the books for a THIRD time, and my housemate pays drug dealer style, in crisp $100 bills. Cash money!
She then goes upstairs, gets a locker, and we go downstairs to shove the heavy books into said locker.
But course the combo doesn’t work. Housemate is two seconds from wigging out. We both try 10 times and then housemate storms upstairs and gets a new locker, which works.
Our entire adventure took about three hours.
We were both hungry so we walked downtown to Taco Bell. At Taco Bell my housemate checked her receipt from the bank and said, “Crap!”
Me: “What happened now?” Housemate: “The teller gave me $800 but the receipt said she debited $900.” Me: “Hah. How are you going to prove that she didn’t give you the extra $100?” Housemate: “My word is going to have to do because this is some bullshit.”
We finish the Bell, bus back to campus, and my housemate goes back to the now-thoroughy-annoying teller, who thankfully remembered her. The teller was nice and apologetic because this was her second fuckup with one customer in a single day. They ended up giving my housemate the extra $100 instead of crediting it to her account.
We then went to the undergrad bookstore, (across the Mississippi river again) and raided it. We both bought speakers, U of M clothes, and I bought a lot of art supplies. A room opened up in the house so I no longer have a roommate. I’m using the extra space as art studio space. Har.
My housemate’s bad luck didn’t end at school. We went to dinner with two other housemates at the local pan-Asian restaurant and they forgot to enter her order.
So the three of us (dudes) politely waited for her food to come.
Housemate: “Cmon guys, EAT! Your food is getting cold.”
We smiled politely and ignored the request. Pfft. We aren’t going to be rude and chow when the only girl at the table is foodless.
After 10 minutes she started eating rice so we would eat our food.
Her meal came about 5 minutes later.
Heh. Today just wasn’t her day but at least she went through the circus today, and not during orientation.
Today I learned that I can’t escape the crazy. The crazy is omnipresent like the holy ghost or roaches.
First, crazy invades the porch: I am reading on the porch when this French guy named Jan comes up and asks me where he could find “affordable housing.”
I explain to him that the area is mostly fraternity and sorority houses. And, being French, Jan has no idea what the whole greek-life shindig is about.
“Well, at least for undergrads, you typically pay a lot of money and get harassed for six weeks to be part of this semi exclusive organization. This one here is for law students, so we skip the hazing and extraneous fees. What? You don’t know what a lawyer is? Eh…we are those older kids with the thick books that aren’t going to be doctors.”
More questions from Jan, including why American houses are so dirty – I don’t know, because they aren’t French? Jan eventually left. Took forever and a dose of awkward.
I went inside and told one of the housemates about my encounter with the Frenchman. My housemate grinned and said, “Hm, funny. I had the same conversation with him when he came by yesterday.”
Le wtf?
So, the porch isn’t safe from crazy. Fine. Crazy is out in public, at cafes, and right there on my porch…little did I know that crazy had also been in my room.
When I returned to my room I found my miniature lay figure knocked over on my desk. There was also a two year old fraternity application in the middle of my room.
I looked around, halfway worried that crazy was still in the room or that something had been swiped.
Hm. No, everything was still in place….
… the only thing missing was my sense of privacy.
Hm. I feel left behind. All the other 0L blawgers have become 1Ls… except me. I’m reading all the ”first day of class” and orientation posts…and well, I’m still on vacation.
I finished my move two weeks ago but orientation starts on August 27th and my first classes start the day after labor day. I’m living in a coed legal fraternity house so my days are spent hanging out with other law students – namely in bars, shopping, and Mario Cart.
Excitement. I know. Enjoy your books. I won’t feel the pain for another week
Oh, and we’ve even gone on a rollercoaster!
That’s the “Fairly Odd” Rollercoaster in the Mall of America. I wanted to go on the other coaster, but I couldn’t convince Stella (another 0L housemate). Hm! Let’s add that to the finals to-do list.
This weekend was mostly shopping madre and hanging out with the Gammas.
Madre flew up from Miami this weekend to help outfit the room. We took the rent-a-car to the suburbs and got, well…lost. We eventually found Wal-Mart, the madhouse that is Ikea, and Mall of America…
When law students go out: Lucy’s Birthday celebration with the Gammas.
Maybe I am too formal about email correspondence but, well…this is a short email exchange I had with a financial aid rep from Otherschool (a law school I decided not to attend.)
——————————————————————————–
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 23:02:11 -0700
From: FinAid@Otherschool.edu
CC: FinAid@Otherschool.edu
Subject: No FAFSA on file
To: Jansen
Hello,
You recently received a letter from our office letting you know that we would be evaluating your financial aid eligibility. We can only do this if we receive a copy of your completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). As of today, we have not received your data.
Bla bla, complete your FAFSA bla bla bla.
If you do not need financial aid at this time, please let us know and we’ll code your account accordingly. In the interim, if you have any questions, please let us know, we’d be happy to assist you.
Sincerely,
Terry
Office of Financial Aid
Otherschool, School of Law
FinAid@Otherschool.edu
(213) 623-8088
From: Jansen 8/10/2008 12:59 PM
To: FinAid@Otherschool.edu
Hello, I do not know if this email was sent in error, but I am not attending Otherschool School of Law in the fall.
I have already communicated this with the admissions office. If my application is still on file, please rescind it.
Thank you.
- Dennis Jansen
Date: 13 Aug 2008 23:02:11 -0700
From: FinAid@Otherschool.edu
sorry abt that, we’ll take care of it. Thx, Terry
Office of Financial Aid
Otherschool, School of Law
FinAid@Otherschool.edu
(213) 623-8088
I’m staked out in the living room. I might be here all day.
I’ve checked the 22 blawgs I’m subscribed to and now there’s nothing but me and Live In Session.
Why? Am I sick of Minneapolis already? Am I determined to annoy the fraternity with my TV-hogging? Did I break my leg? Develop a sun allergy?
No, no, no, and no – I am waiting for UPS.
All day. Whatever it takes.
You see, UPS and I have some history…
A shelf I ordered from Target.com never arrived…erm well, it never arrived as far as I’m concerned. UPS supposedly left my shelf “at side door” but there was nothing at either side door OR the front door of the house.
Why would they leave it at the side door anyway?
UPS either delivered to our neighbors again (Campus Crusade for Christ), or UPS actually left the package at a side door and it was stolen by our other, less Christ-like neighbors.
Whatever. It was a generic shelf. Not a huge deal.
If UPS loses my books I’ll be horrified. So here I sit.
Although I’m getting hungry, and I’d feel like a complete dork ordering in when there are dozens of restaurants in the neighborhood.
Watch…UPS will arrive the second I turn the corner. Hmf. To be continued.
Update: Made a Qdoba run and ran into a UPS guy on the way. Not my UPS guy of course. The driver said he had no idea when my driver delivers. Hm. I also checked the side doors… no packages yet. The stake out continues.
Update #2 : Snuck out to the convenience store. On my way back I ran into my UPS driver. She told me 30 minutes. Yippie.
