Slackers unite?

[Jhuen_the_bird]

Ok, I'm not THAT much of a slacker, but I feel inferior due to a conversation I had with a fellow student.  He was talking to me after our last exam about how he hadn't studied much - just maybe 8-10 hours a day for the past couple weeks .... W ... T ... F?  And that he knew ppl who were staying up and doing like 14 hours a day.  WTF are people studying so much?  I don't have the stamina to study for more than a couple hours at a time, and there were days throughout exams (or half days) where I took a break and didn't do ANYTHING.  I don't feel like I was grossly unprepared for the exams, but, granted, grades haven't come out yet!

But I'm not stressed ... the worst that can happen on our B curve is straight C's ... still get the degree.  And so long as you try and work with the career ppl you get some type of job ... it just might not pay and you get money from the school.  Still more than I would make with my undergraduate degree for a summer of work.

I just want to know ... are there ppl like me?  Ppl who can't just completely change their "slacker" ways in law school ... who can only study a reasonable amount? (Now, mind you, I DID do nearly all the assignments for classes - all the reading, and participated in class, and I only skipped 2 contracts classes ever).  But ... jeeesh, how much is it worth KILLING yourself for?  Especially when grades don't matter after your first job anyway?

Oh, btw ... I'm finished w/ exams now ... just gotta wait for when grades come out to see how I did :-P

[Suzieq830]

um Cs will NOT get you a good job at most school even if you "try and work with the career people" unless you are at T14.  what school are you at may i ask?

[Jhuen_the_bird]

I didn't say a "good" job ... just a law related job of some kind.  Last year, only 2 1L's didn't get law related jobs for the summer and that's b/c those 2 ppl didn't look or try.  There are so many non-paying clerking or public interest jobs out there, so there is SOMETHING to do.  And if you get a non-paying job, the school will give you a stipend for your living expenses.

I go to the University of Cincinnati ... not a top 14, but underanked and well respected in the area (which is where I want to eventually work/practice anyway).

I didn't say C's will get you a good job ... just that, so long as you graduate you can get SOMETHING and what matters after school is your personality, talent, etc.

[thorc954]

sounds like you are pissing your money away on tuition to me... I mean, i dont study too much, but its because I am smart and six-seven hours is enough for me if my outlines are done before exam week.  Although your grades dont matter much after your first job, your first job matters tremendously in where you get your second job. so, in effect, the grades do matter a lot.  It seems to me that if you really cared aboutlaw school, you would be putting as much effort as you can in. Some of my friends are slackers, but they arent here for the same reason. they are doing this to hang out with their friends in the city for a little longer.

off my soap box now.

ps. career services suck terribly and cant do *&^% for getting people jobs.

[Jhuen_the_bird]

Whoah ... I'm not TOTALLY slacking, and I consider myself smart, I just CAN'T study 10-15 hours a day like my classmates.  I'm not even sure how it's feasible.  I also feel like making the change from a 10 week quarter to a 15 week (which was actually longer b/c the 1L's started earlier) KILLED ME.  I was SO burned out by the time exams got here, and I found that I studied progressively LESS for each exam as it arrived ... I did do nearly all the work all semester, as I said, I just couldn't study for exams like a crazy person.

I also have no idea if my "system" was successful or not, as I don't know my grades yet

I did make outlines (except for 1 class, b/c it wouldn't have helped), and I tabbed and highlighted and read supplements.

[gershonw]

well i study hard.  mostly because i want to do well.  i may, or i might not.  i don't have any but my legal rhetoric grade back for first semester and it was the lowest in my small section( mostly a problem with typos and a fiasco on a citation exam where is didn't see the final two pages of of the exam and failed...the writing and research skills themselves were fine)...but my doctrinal grades may be ok or even really good.

so i may stop studying quite as hard if i realize that i wont do well anyway..

but either way..im not in law school to get a high paying job (law school paid for by the folks)..even if i did do well enough to get a biglaw job i wouldn't take it because its often uninteresting work for long hours*. ...that is to say im in law school because im interested in the law and want to be a lawyer..so i think that itself is a good enough reason to study hard.  maybe not as hard as the OP's friend though.

as for the contention that C's get degrees and even the bottom 50% of the t4 will eventually snag a legal job somewhere after some amount of time...i think thats true given the statistics (yes i know there isn't a 100% reporting rate of salaries and employment but its actually much higher than the nay sayers want to say to scare you and its backed by independent NALP material from employer surveys)...but you want to have as many options as possible and also if you are in debt want to be able to pay that off before your 40 if you don't get biglaw or a public interest/gov deal thats willing you with your debt interest or fall into a category that gives you forgiveness after 10.years of payment or whatever...(thank god i don't have to worry about the second)


*(although i have/had ambitions of clerking to use as a step for an interesting gov career..perhaps in mental disability law-or criminal law (crim being my major and place with all my work experience)

[unlvcrjchick]

I'm just like you.  This past semester, I didn't even START studying until 1.5 weeks before exams, and even then I was studying 5 hours per day at the MOST.  I've been doing this practically throughout law school (I graduate in May, thank GOODNESS), and I'm ranked in the top third of my class, I'm on Law Review, I'm a Law Clerk, and my student note is getting published next year. 

In fact, the few times I received a mediocre grade (a C was my lowest grade, and I've earned only one of those) were the times I had actually studied the most. I feel the reason for that may be that when you study every little thing on any given subject, you begin focusing on the minor issues, the minutiae, that score you, at most, a few extra points on the exam. 

Bottom line:  if you just focus on the big picture and on the big issues, this should be enough to earn you a great grade, like an A- or even the highly-coveted-but-seldom-earned A. 

So, don't fret: you CAN be successful without studying 8-10 hours per day (sorry, but I'm calling BS on that one, for I don't believe one can really study that much without going insane), and consequently, have a life. Good luck to you come grade time!

[thorc954]

okay,  i just read my post, i was drunk last night (still celebrating the end of finals two weeks later, lol, i deserve it).  Anyway, just make sure you are studying enough so that you know the material. My friend describes her study plan as "smarter, not harder."  I think it is a much better way of classifying it then saying "slacking."  Either way though, to each his own. 

what type of work do you want to do post grad?

[Jhuen_the_bird]

okay,  i just read my post, i was drunk last night (still celebrating the end of finals two weeks later, lol, i deserve it).  Anyway, just make sure you are studying enough so that you know the material. My friend describes her study plan as "smarter, not harder."  I think it is a much better way of classifying it then saying "slacking."  Either way though, to each his own. 

what type of work do you want to do post grad?

No idea yet.  I really, really liked torts, but the exams was ridiculously (and surprisingly) difficult (not what anyone expected based on what we'd done/read for class), so hopefully a potentially lower grade doesn't discourage me - I was so looking forward to ambulance chasing (er ... personal injury!) lol.  But I'm pretty much open to anything ... even technically non-lawyer positions (mediator, arbitrator, undergrad professor, etc.)

[cesco]

I definitely agree with the study smarter, not harder, but 5 hours a day during finals seems incredibly low.  Does your school do reading weeks? What do you do with the rest of your day when you dont have classes? 

To the girl calling BS on someone studying 8-10 hours a day - I did at least that on a regular basis leading up to finals.  Most people (non students) have full time jobs that require at least that many hours a day, so its not really an unreasonable schedule.  I often worked 60-70 hours a week at my pre-law school job, so  the idea of camping out in the library for a full day isnt all that bad - especially considering I wear my comfy clothes, take coffee and meal breaks with friends, and check email regularly.  Mental breaks definitely increase stamina. 

Anyway, to each his own.  You might end up with excellent grades... success on a law school exam seems to be knowing how to take the exam, not knowing every minute detail.  But having a solid grasp on the law sure seems to help you see the big picture when you analyze a problem.