Law School Discussion

Woops, sometimes I have trouble using teh internetz.

These awards will be inspired by song titles, and have no meaning whatsoever. You can also suggest other song titles or lyrics that would be good awards.

Current award: Which LSDer is "Standin on the Verge of Gettin it On"?


Updates: The LSDer Most Likely to shoot a man in Reno, just to watch him die is Credo

The LSDer Who is Most J-j-jaded is Rev, honorable mention to Cady and demingh

The LSD Desperado is GCoop, honorable mention goes to Cane.

The LSDer Who is Easy Like Sunday Morning is jer, the "Easiest" female LSDer is Cady.

The LSD Witchy Woman Award goes to me, Zamora, with a close second going to Miss P.

The Biggest LSD Golddigger is dcgirl, honorable mention to Chica and Hank.

...a laptop?

This week in the Washington Post David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University, wrote about why he has banned laptops in his classroom. After the first six weeks of class he did an anonymous survey; 80% of his students said they were more engaged in class without a laptop, and 70% said they preferred not having a laptop.   

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601544.html

Professor Cole is not the first professor to ban laptops; at every school I've visited there have been a few law professors who do not allow laptops in class.

This is my question: if doing well in law school is really about gaining as many small advantages over your classmates as possible, should you use a laptop? If you are truly more engaged without it, should you opt to leave your laptop in the bag?

Discuss.

I did search for a Heroes thread, but both of them were about very specific issues and were old. So here's a better one. (Because who doesn't love a poll?)

Ok, we have a few more schools to hear from, but right now BC is the frontrunner, especially after getting rejected from some other schools we don't care to mention. (Who needs them really?)

The important thing is we are in at BC, and very happy about it, thank you very much.

So let's work on our mid-cycle enthusiasm, shall we?

Update: Wouldn't want to forget this link:

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1168423325385

Update: I'm sorry I've abandoned you all, but I hope you all enjoy BC Law and I will think of you fondly while I'm at W&L.

In this thread we will workshop your personal statement, be excited!

Please read the FAQs before posting:

Zamora what do I need to do in order to be included?

You must post an excerpt from an essay you have written.

Will your advice be helpful?

It depends on how you define helpful. If by helpful you mean that our advice will make you laugh, then yes, it will be helpful.

Does the excerpt I submit have to be from my personal statement?
No, you can submit excerpts from your diversity statement, addenda, the essay you wrote in second grade about legumes, or on any other topics. Just be sure to tell us the purpose of your essay.

Can you give us an example of your editing skills?

Of course I can.

Before: I want to go to law school because I liked being in college and now that I'm in the real world I am scared.

After: Graduating from college was a slap in the face. I had spent four years immersed in academia; I lived every day hoping only to expand my mind. I could literally not go to the bathroom without striking up a conversation about Proust at the urinal. Upon graduation I faced the real world. I had read Slavoj Zizek's essay, "Welcome to the Desert of the Real," but frankly my first job out of school, temping at McDonald's, did not seem relevant to Zizek's paranoiac ramblings on the topics of terrorism. When I was promoted, however, to "French Fry Control Specialist" I realized that the life of starving artist slash part-time McDonald's employee allowed me to really get in touch with the people and provide me with real life experiences I could draw on in order to create my Tolstoy-esque novels. However, I have come to realize that writing about the little people is not enough. I need to help them. I need to rest my banana hammock on the prestigious knowledge that is the law, I need to contribute more to society than just my droll yet insightful musings on the way the french fry has shaped our modern idea of Americana. Thank you for your consideration.

EDIT: You can submit an excerpt or critique the work of others.
 
Read Zizek at:
http://web.mit.edu/cms/reconstructions/interpretations/desertreal.html