Preview courses <--- Current 1Ls please comment

[AspenLizzy]

Is anyone planning to attend a law preview course?  I've gotten mail from Law Preview and Bar-Bri so far, but am unsure if this is worthwhile.  They both cost around $1200 for five days.

[Festus]

There is little consensus on the board about the preview courses.  Many people think them an absolute waste of time and money, and seem to hold that opinion rather strongly.  They make very coherent arguments against any useful learning on the subject matter taking place.  They make the point that any advantage the course might give you will have long dissapated by the time exams come around.

However the proponents of the courses make the points that the benefit from the courses isn't the subject matter, but rather the "how to study/brief/outline/time management portions of the courses.  They seem to feel that an a feeling of preparation and confidence may help them adjust and get 'in the groove' faster.  It is repeatedly pointed out that it may be of more advantage to someone who has been out of school for a while.

The proponents of the courses seem to lack credibility in the sense that they all seem to be people who have spent the money and are trying to justify it.  The detractors lose an equal amount of credibility in that none of them seem to have actually taken the course.  Law students I know who have taken the Law Preview course said it helped a little at first, but probably didn't make any difference by the time exams rolled around. No one except the companies that take your money are emphatic that it will make a difference beyond the first few weeks.

I think it all comes down to how you want to spend your time/money.  People scream about how expensive a $1,000 course is at the same time they are borrowing $120,000+ to pay for school.  They talk about wasting your whole summer by taking a 5-day course.

I think it probably is a bit of a rip-off.  BUT what have you got to lose.  The cost is absolutely inconsequential compared to the cost of attending law school.  The time is five days out of a 12 week summer. 

If you think it will help you adapt, cope, get started on the right foot, whatever...  Then I say do it.  Most peple seem to regret the things they didn't do more than the things that they did.

[DDBY]

Bahh! Humbug!

I didn't take a LSAT prep course, and I refuse to blow $1200 on a L.S. Prep course.  I've been using the public library to takout out books a on various subjects just to keep up my reading (I'm 9yrs out of UG).  So I work 10 hrs a day, and read at night if I feel like it. I did buy a Tort Casebook in January ($3 on amazon), and I haven't read it since January. I've read some of the advice books but I not doing anymore than that.  The only people who know what you need to be ready are the people at your school.  Some professors follow IRAQ some professors blah blah blah blah. Every school is different blah blah.  Every student is different blah blah. If they didn't think you were ready they wouldn't have blah blah blah.

[ColumbiaJD]

Is anyone planning to attend a law preview course?  I've gotten mail from Law Preview and Bar-Bri so far, but am unsure if this is worthwhile.  They both cost around $1200 for five days.

I am one of those who would strongly discourage you from wasting the money!  I didn't take one, and I did fine.  I know people who took them and wished they hadn't.

Some argue that the courses are useful for teaching you to think like a law student, take notes, etc.  I can't speak to other schools, but at Columbia they taught us all that before classes started!  And we didn't even have to pay extra!  Of course, there are also plenty of free/cheap resources that can give you the kind of advice a course like that would give you.

I really don't think it would help!

That said, I don't think it would hurt much other than the waste of time and money.  so... if you are rich and sitting around on your arse bored all day, then by all means do the prep course.  But if $1200 or a week of your time actually means something to you, I'd suggest you steer clear.

[slacker]

Is anyone planning to attend a law preview course?  I've gotten mail from Law Preview and Bar-Bri so far, but am unsure if this is worthwhile.  They both cost around $1200 for five days.

I am one of those who would strongly discourage you from wasting the money!  I didn't take one, and I did fine.  I know people who took them and wished they hadn't.

Some argue that the courses are useful for teaching you to think like a law student, take notes, etc.  I can't speak to other schools, but at Columbia they taught us all that before classes started!  And we didn't even have to pay extra!  Of course, there are also plenty of free/cheap resources that can give you the kind of advice a course like that would give you.

I really don't think it would help!

That said, I don't think it would hurt much other than the waste of time and money.  so... if you are rich and sitting around on your arse bored all day, then by all means do the prep course.  But if $1200 or a week of your time actually means something to you, I'd suggest you steer clear.

I'd agree with you, but I'm not a current 1L.

[Brett McKay]

Don't waste your money on the prep courses. It won't help you that much in school. If you really have an itch to get a start on learning, just go to a law school library in your area and check out some Examples and Explanations of your first year courses. You'll save lots of money and probably learn just as much as you would from those prep courses.

[AspenLizzy]

Thanks all.  I'm really looking forward to taking LEEWS and thought this might be something similar.  From the vehement support I've seen on this board for LEEWS, I guess not.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

Thanks all.  I'm really looking forward to taking LEEWS and thought this might be something similar.  From the vehement support I've seen on this board for LEEWS, I guess not.

LEEWS is not a preview course tho--it just teaches you the best techniques for issue spotting on exams iirc.  I definitely plan on getting the cds.