Work Load during Thanksgiving

[BME_Law]

I understand that it is not even August yet, but I need to get a general idea about the work load over Thanksgiving so that I can book a flight (the ticket prices are getting pretty high already).  Anyway, I was wondering if professors tend to give more work during Thanksgiving break due to the extra days off or if it remains the same for any given week/weekend?  I'm sure that it may vary from professor to professor, but I just wanted to get a general idea from other people.

[biolawgirl]

I'm sure it varies from school to school, but law school is different than undergrad. The work flow is pretty steady as far as reading goes.  The problem is when you have memos due. They take up ALOT of time, usually all weekend the weekend before they are due so that makes doing the reading harder depending if you're trying to cram it in while doing the memo or trying to catch up after the memo. As far as I recall, at my school the last memo was due right before thanksgiving.  i think most people used Thanksgiving break to start/catchup on their outlines before coming back and the big finals crunch happens.. and you have your normal reading amount.

[pappahood]

it verys greatly among professors, but is also dependent upon the competition level of your class.

most of my profs didn't assign anything, but one decided that thanksgiving break would be a great time for a take home mid-term.  yes, i'm serious.  assigned the day before, due the day after.  needless to say, i stayed at school and didn't leave my study chair.

now this story isn't to scare you.  in fact, my professor is the exception to the general rule that prof's are actually human.  but be forewarned, things like this can happen.  plus, i knew everyone else in my class was studying their butt off (if they were trying to compete gradewise) over break so i had to keep par.

its important to see your family and keep sane during 1L so i advise buying the tickets and dedicating yourself to brining a little work home.  maybe, promise yourself you'll wake up earlier than everyone else and go to the local library or lock yourself in the basement for a few hours.  you won't miss any important family stuff and you'll get a little work done.  

if not, lots of students (mostly people who don't have family w/in 200miles) held law student thanksgiving dinners together.  so you could organize one amongst your friends, you can hang out and still study the rest of your break.

edit: most people did start doing outlines over thanksgiving break.  i'd recommend starting earlier, but if you don't, you'll still be fine.  i just didn't b/c of the stupid take home midterm.

lemme know what you think.

[BME_Law]

First, thanks for the responses.  I appreciate the insight.

Second, I was planning on going to my girlfriend's house because she is going to medical school and, at that point, we would not have seen each other for quite a while.  Originally, I was going to go Wednesday to Saturday; however, due to the prices, it looks like it is going to be Thursday morning until either Friday or Saturday night.  It seems as though it might be best to head back to school Friday night based on your comments.

Third, last year my Digital Signal Processing professor (yes, I was engineering, hence the name...BME=Biomedical Engineering) gave us a test at 6:25 pm the night before Thanksgiving.  My flight home was supposed to leave at 4:00 pm, but I had to cancel it and take the test.  Needless to say I was pissed off, but I took the test and ended up getting a 99.  That is why I am trying to plan this far ahead: 1) so that I don't get screwed and 2) so that I have time to do work during the break.

Thank you again for your reponses. 

[jimmyjohn]

First, thanks for the responses.  I appreciate the insight.

Second, I was planning on going to my girlfriend's house because she is going to medical school and, at that point, we would not have seen each other for quite a while.  Originally, I was going to go Wednesday to Saturday; however, due to the prices, it looks like it is going to be Thursday morning until either Friday or Saturday night.  It seems as though it might be best to head back to school Friday night based on your comments.

Third, last year my Digital Signal Processing professor (yes, I was engineering, hence the name...BME=Biomedical Engineering) gave us a test at 6:25 pm the night before Thanksgiving.  My flight home was supposed to leave at 4:00 pm, but I had to cancel it and take the test.  Needless to say I was pissed off, but I took the test and ended up getting a 99.  That is why I am trying to plan this far ahead: 1) so that I don't get screwed and 2) so that I have time to do work during the break.

Thank you again for your reponses. 

Stay as long as you can.  Don't sacrifice your loved ones for one more day of studying; it's not worth it.

[jacy85]

The problem isn't "how much work your prof assigns."  This isn't undergrad; the workload in law school is pretty steady, and there's always a lot to do.  (there are exceptions, as the poster who had a midterm; none of my profs gave midterms, so there's the usual caveat that it depends on the prof/school)

The biggest problem around thanksgiving is outlining/catching up.  Most 1Ls seem to have the same experience in that their memos/legal writing assignments are due right before Thanksgiving.  Most 1Ls also have the problem of not starting their outlines before then.

If you have family (and a g/f to see), definitely go home, and stay however long your budget will allow.  Just try to schedule your time during the semester so that you don't put off outlining till the last minute, and try to make it clear to your family that if you have some down time, you might have to spend a couple hours here and there outlining a bit.

[freshstart]

Don't forget to take a look at your school's schedule as well.  This year, our last day of classes is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and exams start the Monday following Thanksgiving.  It has not been so close every year, but it is this year.

[tacojohn]

Survivor, you must be on a quarter schedule then right?  If a semester school is having exams that early, you must start in mid-August.

A good thing to try to get done over Thanksgiving is a rule outline, for a class like Civ Pro.  Putting the rules in your own words does not require you pay the same amount of attention as trying to sift through notes or cases to put what you want in your outline, and can be done on the laptop while watching a football game.  That way you don't need to completely hide away to get some work done.  Of course if you don't think that will be helpful then you shouldn't do it just to feel like you got work done.

Unless your professors do something truely heinous like have a midterm due the day you get back, or have a memo due the day you get back, you should be fine.  It's important to relax during Thanksgiving, because if your exams are in mid-December like most schools, as soon as you get back from Thanksgiving people will start going crazy with anxiety, and it's impossible not to be swept up in it just a little.  So you really need to relax and recharge, since the marathon of the semester is almost over and you have to run the sprint next.

[freshstart]

We are on semesters, but we start Aug. 19th.  Our calendar was changed last year to add about 5 minutes to each class and reduce the semester to 13 weeks from 14, allowing us an extra week at Christmas.  I will be done with my exams on Dec. 5th, so I'll have plenty of time to make cookies

[slacker]

Where I go, 1L memos are due the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. See if you can figure out if you'll have anything like that going on. Some of my profs cancelled classes; most didn't.

There will always be more to do in terms of studying. If you can get a few days off, take 'em. It'll be your last break for a bit.