OneL

[jessieivy1]

I - like probably a TON of other future law school students - am reading OneL and was wondering how much of it is true to other people's experiences of their first year (especially at schools that are not "top ten" schools).

Thanks!

[QUAKER OATS]

It is very true, I'm at a tier 4.

[tacojohn]

Generally I would say it's not that true.  Some schools are still insanely competitive like that, but nowadays Tier 4's are more likely to have that sort of atmosphere, rather than HYS.

But some of the overall themes exist.  People do get freaked out about grades.  People do take "Legal Methods" too seriously at times (at least in my opinion).  There are a few jerks at even the most cooperative schools who act like Kyle does in the book.

My advice to someone who has read One-L is not to assume law school is like that, but take it as a cautionary tale and a worst-case scenario.  If you start to get overanxious or freaked out, read a few passages.  If what you're going through sounds similar, then you probably need to step away and do something to rein yourself back in.

[NotReally]

Complete and Utter cr ap.  No connection to current reality.  Apparently people have spoken to other people in Turrow's class at law school and they have said he was a freak about stuff even back then. 

From the reality I have seen as a oneL and my friends at schools from the top to the bottom of the rankings I have never seen or heard of anything that extreme, but if it wasn't extreme it wouldn't sell books to unwary 0ls year after year. 

I read it and found it enjoyable, but I reccomend reading it as fiction.

[inthesun]

My law school experience has been very laid back and enjoyable.  I think that the experience you have depends on the law school you choose, and the way you react to it.

[plumbert]

Whatever struggle or conflict I have experienced has been internal--I sometimes feel I'm not doing enough, focusing enough, challenging myself enough. I do *not* feel threatened or concerned by anything anyone else is doing.

[plumbert]

Double post--looks like we cannot delete our own double posts

[lincolnsgrandson]

It's not so much false as it is exagerrated.  It's a well-written description of what the first year of law school feels like.  These feelings are difficult to convey to everyone else, so he probably played with the details.
If he wrote that students study eight or nine hours a day, that probably wouldn't faze a lot of readers, so he wrote sixteen.  The first semester, you will feel intimidated about the Socratic Method, even though few professors intentionally abuse it in order to humiliate students.  And you might feel proud when you handle it well and embarrassed when you don't. 
And the part about stealing books in the library - as far as I recall, that didn't happen it the book.  One person argued to Turow that that's what people do.  And some people at law school do get suspicious and paranoid, justified or not.
Fun book.  There's a good reason every law school but Harvard puts it on its recommended reading list.

[giraffe205]

It's been about a year and a half since I read it so I may have remembered this incorrectly, but my favorite part was when he said that Harvard's tuition was around $2,000.

[eray01]

To tell you the truth, I don't think any of the books I read as a pre-law were very accurate.