Typical Day as a first year law student

[Floatation Device?]

I am starting my first year in a couple of weeks.  I am trying to begin mentally preparing.  I figured it would be like my undergraduate days of classes from 8:00-noon with obviously lots more work.  However, someone suggested differently- more along the lines of 8:00-4:00 school days.  That was when I began getting nervous about finding the time to study.  I have always been one to HAVE to work hard to earn good grades.  Please enlighten me with your experiences of a typical day of law school during your first year.

[Coregram]

Assuming you are full-time, most likely you will have 15 credit hours a semester.  That's roughly 15 hours of in class time a week.  The difference with undergrad is that your school will likely assign you, as a 1L, to a section, and your schedule is determined by the section.  Everyone in the section is in the same classes, except maybe a writing or research class. 

But most people say allow 2-3 hours of prep/study time for each class, done before the class.  So you could be up to 45-60 hours if you include class and prep/study time.

[jchutz1]

I got my schedule this week. 
Monday and Wednesday
8-9 class 9-10 class 10-11 break 11-12 class 12-1 break 1-2 class 2-3 break 3-4 class.
Tuesday and Thursday
9-10 class
Friday
9-10 class 10-1 break 1-2 class 2-3 break 3-4 class.

Then on either Tuesday or Thursday I will have a writing lab from 8-9am.  And on every Tuesday and Thursday we have Academic Assistence sessions which are basically TA sessions from 2-4 that are mandatory.  I will be at school from 8-4 pretty much every day.  This is 14 credit hours.  Everyone that I have talked to says that you will need about 4-6 hours of study time every night. 

[Floatation Device?]

YIKES!  That sounds like a crazy schedule.  Thanks for your input.
Good Luck!

[vw515]

9-5 mon tues thursday
9-1:30 wed and friday
study time limitless
goodluck my fellow 1Ls we have a full time job we pay for instead of getting paid for.

[Ryckman_Boy]

15 hours of classes + 2-3 hours of study time per hour of class time, figure 40 hours on average for 55 hours of work per week.  Not too bad, until you factor in your first year writing seminar, which can easily add another 10-15 hours per week.  So, figure about 70 hours per week if you want to do well, and increase that by a 30% in the 2-3 weeks before exams.

[eee]

15 hours of classes + 2-3 hours of study time per hour of class time, figure 40 hours on average for 55 hours of work per week.  Not too bad, until you factor in your first year writing seminar, which can easily add another 10-15 hours per week.  So, figure about 70 hours per week if you want to do well, and increase that by a 30% in the 2-3 weeks before exams.

its cool... well just have to cut back on certain "perks" to make time for studying... like showering for instance. personally, i plan to shower once a week whether i need it or not

[cookieguggleman]

I have:

Monday through Thursday:
10-11:30 class
2-3:30 class

Friday:
11-1:30 class

That's it

[lawgirl]

eee,

LOL. Please do your future fellow students a favor and shower every day!!! Believe it or not, there are students that have to be "talked to" about that issue.

The worst was during one of my finals a few semesters ago. There was this girl in class who always made it a point to wear a lot of perfume. I would be on one side of the building on a certain floor and I could always tell when she got on the floor. It was that strong. During finals one semester, I saw her (more like smelled her) right before the final and purposely waited until she was seated before I went in so I would not be near her. Before finals started, she must have gutten a bug up her a** about something and ended up switching seats. She ended up a row in front of me and a few seats down. I ended up with a splitting headache half way through the final. Luckily, I knew the information like the back of my hand so I didn't stress too much about the final itself. I was sick to my stomach by the time I got done though. She seemed like a really nice girl, but I seriously wanted to strangle her. 

[eee]

hey, could be worse... id take bad perfume over bad BO any day