School Books

Now I knew going into law school that the books would be expensive. And they are. However, I feel like I've been able to scout out pretty good prices for all of my books.

What I find really disturbing, however, is that there are 8 required books for the Legal Research/Writing course at my school. I know a couple are necessary and will be useful for throughout law school, for example the Bluebook Citation Guide. But EIGHT? REALLY?

To those law students out there in the universe, do your schools require so many? And more importantly, did you actually use them all?

Study Schedule

I should just admit it: I'm a planner. Now some people might thing that this isn't a bad thing. With me, however, it's not just a general plan for what my days will look like. In undergrad, I used to take my syllabi and map out my reading for each night for the entire semester before classes even started. Then, each night I would have to do the reading before going to bed.

I had thought I'd mellowed in the three years since then. Getting my MLS turned me into a lazy learner; I rarely read. And why would I, when the readings were then reiterated to us in class and the professors provided 70+ slides for each class that also repeated the material? I'd only do what I needed to get the assignments in.

Ever since I got my IL Fall Schedule, I've been trying to figure out what my days will look like. On average, how many hours a day will be required of studying, or how many hours per class session? Obviously, this differs for everyone, but is it really about 3 hours per class session, as suggested by Law School Confidential? How much time does Legal Research and Writing take up?

These are just some things I've been thinking about lately. I cannot wait for school to start so this blog can be more about mocking law students (none of whom are any stranger than I am, I'm sure) and the law school experience.

For the time being, I'm chugging away at my two jobs and looking forward to 5:00pm on July 31st, my last day. Packing is taking up the majority of the rest of my time...2.5 out of 5 bookshelves packed. I ran out of small enough boxes for books -- they get heavy so fast, so I've moved on to cleaning out the rolltop desk for the time being.

Til next time.

A Librarian in Law School?

I remember a time when I used to be decisive, but before I graduated from undergrad, this melted away. I spent five years in a liberal arts-filled bliss and planned on going for my Ph.D. in Classics before I realized that I really did not want to teach. So I took a year off and worked in a library, as I'd done all through college.

I spent a lot of time contemplating what I wanted to do next and I thought long and hard about law school before deciding I wasn't ready to make that decision, and knowing it wasn't a decision that should be made until I could be decisive.

This led to me going to graduate school for library science. Luckily, I had an assistantship, so I didn't acquire any debt. I figured I would learn a lot about researching that could be helpful no matter what profession I eventually entered. It was okay, but the lack of analytical thought drove me nuts. I enjoyed the reference classes when I was actually researching, but there was no challenge, which is something I need to hold my interest.

Long story short, my mind returned to law school. I was certain I would be challenged. I knew I'd be using the analytical part of my brain that was so dormant during my library classes. I enjoy research and writing. I think I'd be good at it, which is also something mandatory of the profession I choose.

I'm heading to law school with the security that if I don't want to practice law, I enjoy reference librarianship and law librarians positions are more financially stable (so I'll eventually be able to pay off all the loans).

I'm looking forward to using my brain again, to wake up from the lull that my life has been the last three years. It'll be interesting to see how the next three compare....