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How to Apply to Law School

What is law school like?

Law school is the obstacle between college and the bar exam. It's known for being a royal pain in the ass (and rightly so). In law school you'll read judicial opinions, and take notes. Then you'll go to class where the professor will ask you questions to lead everyone else to the correct answer. They do this by forcing you to take your answers to their logical extremes. They'll isolate principles through their questions until some concept is implicitly clear, but they'll never just come out and say it. This is called the Socratic Method. Open up anything written by Plato and you'll see a demonstration of the technique. Some people like it, and some people don't. It's a tradition and it's probably what you're going to get.

At the end of the semester is a written exam. Your grade on the exam is usually your grade for the class. It isn't like college where you had midterms, quizzes, and a paper. Your days of hearing people say, "I mean, I had an A- going into the final…" are (thankfully) over. In law school everyone goes into the final (known as the "exam") with the same thing: nothing. Actually, that's only true in the grade context. Physically, students bring quite a bit into the exam: notes (known as "outlines"), books, computers (for typing only), booze (for after), clocks, and good luck charms.

Law School is three years long (with summers off). At the end you get a Juris Doctor degree. Then you must take the bar exam for the jurisdiction in which you wish to practice. It takes a couple months to prepare for that. Assuming you pass the bar, you'll be ready to start saying "I'll sue the pants off you! Tortfeasor!" like you mean it (because you will mean it).

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