I thought he was in pre-med?
Well, my 1L core classes (outside of legal writing) didn’t have any papers…they were all just one (or rarely, two) anonymous exams that were graded and submitted with the grade curve directly to the administration. If there was a “participation bump,” it was never explicitly stated, and to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t be comfortable being graded in such an overtly subjective manner.
Well, maybe as a 3L, but your grades don’t really matter by then.
Best of luck. I start orientation on Aug 18 and class on Aug 23.
Just repeat to yourself: “Clarence Thomas is always right” 
Shouldn’t you be studying?
Good luck, good luck, good luck!
Nerd advice here. Treat it as a job. Given that you have worked for a while, you have a huge advantage on the kids out of undergrad who think 5 or 6 hours studying is hard.
Put in a good 8 hours a day for the first year at least. Your first year grades are pretty much the only ones that matter as they get you onto journals, and those are the only one’s you will have when applying for 2L jobs.
Also, pick courses you want to do, not ones for the bar. You can learn anything you need to know through the BarBri course, but you will never again get a chance to study constitutional law.
Enjoy it, it was the best three years of my life. I had worked for a while too - ended up being 33 when I went.
As a practical matter, it is wise to get involved in law-related extra-curricular activities if you are interested in a legal career.
It is very difficult to distinguish yourself to potential employers on the basis of marks alone; most law students do not get straight A’s no matter how hard they study - so when it comes time to hand around those resumes, it is better if you can show you’ve done something - worked in a legal clinic, been a research assistant (I did that), edited a student law journal, whatever.
The difficulty is that studying is so all-consuming it is easy to lack the energy and ambition for other things.
Okay, I just dropped off my son for his first day of school yesterday so I have some advice:
- Don’t leave your backpack in Daddy’s car
- If you don’t know where to go, ask a grownup. If you stand there and cry someone will come help you.
- Don’t leave your lunchbox at school
- Raise your hand if you have to go potty
- Don’t spend all your lunch money on ice cream
The extracurricular things will probably have to wait at least a semester, until I have a handle on my time management stuff. It’s a “part time” evening program (ie., 9 credit hours per semester); I’m still working full time during the day.
Similarly, there aren’t 8 hours in the day that I’m not already at school or work. Well, unless I sleep less, but I’m not sure I can manage 4 hours’ sleep a night for four years.
I’m not going to make light – you are in for a very tough four years. Keep your eyes on your finish line and remember it’s a long-distance run you’re about to embark on, not a sprint. Like a wily hunter, you’ll reach your goal by outlasting others with your dogged persistence, not by outrunning them with flashy speed. 
Some volunteer opportunities require very little committment. My 1L year I did a couple days in family court, helping people fill out Orders of Protection. Many campuses have Naturalization days, where you help people fill out naturalization forms, or Election-related volunteering helping people who might have wrongly been refused the right to vote. Stuff like this is fun, and really worth the minimal investment of time – not only because it looks good on a resume, but (IMHO) helping people really re-inspires one’s zest for the law.
Shit!
OK - part time is different. I meant, by the way, 8 hours including class time… For 9 hours a semester if you can get 4 hours a day in, plus a couple of make up hours on the weekend you’ll be gold.
As someone who does a lot of interviewing, the extracurricular that matters FAR more than others if you are looking for “Big Law” is journal experience.
Bless your heart.
First semester is the hardest, then you can figure out what they want. After that you can cruise.
So speaketh BBJ, who partied way harder in law school than in college and pulled off lawjournal and Order of the Coif. Not that it mattered a bit as far as my paycheck 
I agree that’s a good one to have, but for that very reason - competitive and difficult to get.
In my day, there was no such thing as summer student positions with law firms, and so getting a position as a research assistant to a prof for the summer was very helpful - for one, you could do it during the summer, when class was not in session; for another, you got paid for it; and third, the profs could write letters of recommendation or put in a good word for you.
Do you mean four hours a day plus whatever I put in on weekends?
I work from 9-5, will have just enough time to scarf down a burger and drive to school for class at six, and I’ll be there until 9.
You’re me! Except my orientation starts next week. Let’s start a club.
Your club will not have time to meet. 
I do. Averaging it out. Let’s say there is 2.5 hours class time in that 3 hours at school. Spend the other half our doing part of the next set of reading. Spend at least an hour when you get home (or preferably stay at the school for an hour after class) and you are up to the 4. For me it always worked to block time as much as possible - not a little here or there. I was full time, and would try to make sure I would be working in the time in between classes, and would tend to leave around 3, drive home and pick up my son, spend 3.30 till 8.00 with him, then work 8 till midnight on school stuff. So I tended to have 10-3 and 8-12 or so almost every day devoted to law.
I mean a ‘study group’. Study groups have beer, right?
I hope your first day is better than the guy in The Paper Chase.
Lucky for you that John Houseman is safely buried somewhere.
