Hello all,
While I am still deciding which acceptance to put in the mail I have a question. I have read differing opinions on how to prep for LS before one arrives ... so I am curious about two things. First, what have the rest of you done to prepare/how did it work? Second, I am considering picking up the nutshell series (at least for the first few courses I take) so I'm wondering what everyone thinks of doing that/if anyone has done it ... and opinions on the series if you have them.
Thanks guys!!!
Read, read, read, read, read. If you do it right, you can know 90% of the material for your first semester before it even begins. I did a good job of this in torts and only the last few classes covered concepts I wasn't that familiar with. In the classes where I didn't do this, it shows, big-time.
These two books go into it pretty well:
http://www.amazon.com/Law-School-Getting-Good-Gold/dp/1888960809http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Law-School-II-Before/dp/1888960507/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321534563&sr=1-1Remember this sequence:
1. Your GPA is already set, but with any luck it's a good one.
2. After that, your LSAT is EVERYTHING. Treat it like a war. Treat it like there's no 2nd place. You either win or you go home. Because...
3. The law school you get into is EVERYTHING. Most people will not graduate at the top of the class. Most folks would end up in the fat part of the curve at most law schools. You're a lot better off being there at a great law school than a lesser one. Are there exceptions? Sure, but why make life harder on yourself. And once you get in...
4. Your 1L grades are EVERYTHING! Especially your first semester grades if they're good enough to get you a biggo Summer job. Not many people improve after 1L year. Instead, the vast majority just figure out ways to keep the same GPA but with as little work as possible. If you finish 1L with a 2.5, yes, it's possible to bring it up to 3.5 by graduation... very, very few people have what it takes, inside, to do this. It's not a commentary on how tough people are. It's just an observation of the reality that if you got half Cs and half Bs in your first year, you're just not going to get a 4.0 for the next two.
Now, yes, tjere are manifest exceptions to all the rules above. I'm sure there's somebody who got a 2.5 in 1L and graduated 3.5 and made the top 10%.
However, it's foolish to base your aspirations on exceptions if you don't have to. Your life will be much easier and the path to $$$ is much better paved if you do it with steps 1 thru 4 in mind.
Good luck. Now go out there and ****ing kill it!
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