USD 2007

[snobord99]

the books were new, i do extensive writing/highlighting in my books so i opted to get new instead of used (esp since by the time i got there there were no more used books first semester)...basically, first semester you have 3 classes plus skills...each class will need a casebook (between $100-130) and maybe a supplement (i only had 2 require supplements all year and they were both under $30)...skills had 3 books which added up to about $100, but again, you can get away with not getting them imo...what you need to know will be covered in class and it doesn't really contain any real useful info...one of them was good as a reference once in a while, but it was far from necessary...

[dsnutter]

Crap, missing 2 days is going to be killer. It would have been nice for USD to at least tell me that a couple months ago so I could arrange for some time off. And I was planning on spending my vacation time on finals...psshhhh

[USDer]

the books were new, i do extensive writing/highlighting in my books so i opted to get new instead of used (esp since by the time i got there there were no more used books first semester)...basically, first semester you have 3 classes plus skills...each class will need a casebook (between $100-130) and maybe a supplement (i only had 2 require supplements all year and they were both under $30)...skills had 3 books which added up to about $100, but again, you can get away with not getting them imo...what you need to know will be covered in class and it doesn't really contain any real useful info...one of them was good as a reference once in a while, but it was far from necessary...

Thanks. Sno and any other upperclassmen:

Do you mind sharing what your typical week was like 1l? When classes started and ended? How many days a week did you have classes? Did you stay in the library after class to study or did you go home? Basically what your strategy was to keep up with readings, etc.

I know some of these things will be addressed at orientation but i'm freaking out a little not knowing what to expect till then.

Thanks again.

[Law9486]

Thanks Sno and Law9486 for your input. Nice to hear that there'll be a used book sale.

Sno the cost of 1st semester books - were your books all used, all new or a combo 'cause $500 seems reasonable for new books.

Sno and Law9486 how were you able to get away with not opening lawyering skills books? Did you use library resources or was the class just easy enough that you didn't need the books?

Thanks

Everyone's LS class will be different in terms of books. My professor assigned homework out of the basic grammar one, so you probably needed it. If I could do it again, I would wait until you actually needed the books to buy them (except for the bluebook of course.) I bought a supplement for contracts that I never opened. Oh, and I probably spent about 250 on books as an evening student (2 classes and LS.) But its really only first semester that you cant buy your books in advance. Second semester you will probably know who your teachers are before your finals.

As far as workload goes, my life was a little different in the evening program. But let me say, save yourself some headaches and dont ask too many people this question. Generally do what feels right for you and try to block everything else out - law school is a serious mind game. But anyways, I worked in the mornings, and then studied from 2-5:30 and then class from 5:30 till the end. Then I usually studied about 3-4 hours a day on the weekends. This is actually studying and not playing on the internet time. This kept me current through the year and then I studied more around finals time. (PS - Evening students generally have a week between finals as opposed to one day, so they count on you needing to work a little.)

[StevePirates]

spam alert:  Hey guys, so now that my summer class is in high gear, I don't have much time to chat on message boards.  I'm kind of keeping a blog about my law school experiences thus far.  If anyone wants to read it the web address is

www.jollylawger.com

We just did our first midterm last week and it was a pretty brutal test.

[USDer]

Thanks Law9486 for your advice.

I have another question:
So what are most people doing for insurance. Called Admissions office and was told they don't offer insurance packages. Are people buying private insurance? If so can you please give info?

Thanks

[dsnutter]

Thanks Law9486 for your advice.

I have another question:
So what are most people doing for insurance. Called Admissions office and was told they don't offer insurance packages. Are people buying private insurance? If so can you please give info?

Thanks

They don't offer insurance? Wow, that is crappy. Even my lame ug offered insurance, but that may be beacuse it is public?
It seems as though you will be paying quite a bit if you get some sort of private insurance. I know my company pays nearly 70% of our insurance coverage, and I still pay a lot.

Sorry that I am of no assistance.

[Harry Potter]

I talked to admin last week and was told that they would send out insurance info in a couple of weeks.

Also spoke to IT and was told to get a laptop with XP......

[snobord99]

you can get insurance through the school...i think it cost about $850 for the year...

[MCB]

Hey all!

After about a year of obsessively trolling this site without registering, I've made the final decision to attend USD Fall '07 and I couldn't be more excited!   

This has probably been discussed (and I'm going to hunt around some more), but any apartment search tips would be wonderful.  I'm from the LA area originally so I don't know much about the different parts of SD.  Any specific area that a lot of the law students live?  Where's a good place to get started looking for places and fellow law roommies?  That's my biggest priority at this late date...