Now that you have a year of law school almost under your belt, this is a good time to reevaluate the many ingredients that make up your law school experience. Among the things you should ponder are the following:
If I am a full-time student, is this working well for me? Should I consider changing to a part-time schedule?
Reasons some students choose to move to a part-time program include:
1. Desire for more balance in everyday life.
- Stress reduction
- May improve relationships that are important to you
- Opportunity to do non-law school activities that you enjoy
- Opportunity to be more deeply involved in law school activities such as student organizations, MJF, competitions, etc.
2. Performance in law school might be better with a lighter load.
3. Debt management – work more hours and borrow less money to live on while in law school. Lower debt at the conclusion of law school often times allows a law school graduate to consider a broader range of first legal jobs because paying back law school debt is less of an issue.
4. Students who have undergone major life changes (ending a relationship, starting a new job, death of a family member or close friend, birth of a child, etc.) may wish to cut back to part-time.
If I am a part-time student, should I consider adding to my load?
Reasons some students move to a full-time load after starting part-time:
1. Students who start part-time sometimes use the part-time program as a transition into law school, increasing to full-timel as a 2L. This may or may not be a good idea for you, but it is worth considering.
2. Students who have started part-time will sometimes increase their load if they have lost or changed jobs during the first year or if their financial position has changed significantly due to a marriage or other significant life event.
Should I enroll in Summer courses?
Summer courses are often a good way to earn a few credits. There are both advantages and disadvantages to consider.
Reasons to consider summer courses:
- Opens the opportunity to take fewer credits during the regular academic year without substantially altering your intended graduation date, potentially offering more balance throughout the year.
- Allows students to focus on one subject that might prove to be more challenging if the course were taken in connection with other courses.
Reasons to consider not taking summer courses:
- Take a break from law school to focus on other things (family, friends, other things you may miss or that may miss you while you are engaged in law school).
- Focus on law-related or other employment.
As you prepare for your second year, develop a complete list of courses you are considering taking while you are in law school.
Your list should include more courses than you are able to fit into your entire law school program. Such a list is very helpful for many reasons. When planning this list, consider the following:
You should develop a complete list of required courses, bar courses you plan to take, and other electives you are considering taking. This makes it is easier to plan a schedule when courses you want to take in the coming semester are either offered at times that do not work for you, fill prior to your registration time, or conflict with other courses. If you do not have such a list, and instead only have a list of the four or five courses you want to take in the coming semester, you increase the chance of feeling as though you do not have many choices and you run the risk of choosing a course that is not a part of your overall plan.
Update the list each time you go into a new semester.
Ask yourself, “Have I developed an interest in an area of focus that will require me to take prerequisites in a specific order and do I need to begin planning now for the order of those courses?”