Hi everyone! I am writing from Old San Juan, in Puerto Rico. I am here really really appreciating the sun, walking around outside as much as I can, and picking up Spanish...word by word. I don't have regular internet access, so this will be it for this week, but I start my co-op on Monday and should have more computer time then. I hope everyone is well and I can't wait to swap co-op stories with all my law school friends embarking on new adventures,

Posted by Sarah at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello from the midst of finals week! I am done with my two in class finals, Federal Courts and Employment Law. Now, I have about 24 hours to finish a take home exam for Law and Economic Development and a paper for my Independent Study. On top of that, I have only a few days left to clean my whole apartment, and pack up to leave for Puerto Rico! All and all, I'm worried I won't get it all done, but I guess I don't have a choice! At least the end goal is worth it...another semester of law school down, and, soon, a warm island beach to sit on...

Posted by Sarah at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ira and I were talking a few weeks ago about how one of the most common questions we get from prospective students is "How many hours a day do you work?"...and how hard it is to answer that question. It's hard to answer because I don’t think most of us think about it that way (it would probably be too overwhelming!) and also because it just varies so much. But it occurred to me today that I can still give you a sense of things. Below are two days, one during a regular week, and one during this week (the week before finals!). They are ripped pretty much verbatim from my planner so...enjoy!

Monday, December 10 (Non-Finals Time)

Wake up at 7, grab breakfast on the way to school (thanks Dunkin Donuts!)

8-12: Work in the CISP office, selling NUSL merch to people, inventorying used text books, and studying in between tasks. This is a work study job, so I get paid about $10 an hour.

12 – 1:30: Employment Law with Prof. Klare

2 – 3:40: Law and Economic Development with Prof. Danielson

I’m out of school by 4! Usually I’ll go home to drop off my books and take a walk. Back at home by 6, have dinner, watch some TV, and get in a few hours of studying. In bed by 11.

Tuesday, February 12 (Finals Time)

Wake up at 7, grab breakfast on the way to school

8-10: Table for CISP, get people to vote on which of their peers should receive co-op funding for public interest co-ops

10-12: An Employment Law study group with friends, going over a past exam

12-1: A meeting on loan forgiveness, and the new federal loan programs

1:45-3:15: Federal Courts class with Prof. Burnham

3:30-5: Work on finals outlines, discuss exam anxiety with friends.

5-6: Federal Courts study session with friends. Only get through about 1 page of notes (out of 50!). Wow.

6-8: Work in the CISP office.

8 onwards: Walk home, have dinner, talk on the phone to my boyfriend, catch up on emails, do reading for class tomorrow.

In bed by 11 or 12.

Hope this gave you some sense of being a law student! My advice would be to know your own tendencies before starting law school. If you’re someone who tends to over commit to activities (ahem), acknowledge that now so that you will avoid it in law school (especially 1L year!). If you are someone who studies well with others, make that happen, but if you aren’t, don’t try to participate in study groups just because you feel like you should. And don’t be afraid to change your strategy. One week my computer was broken, and I realized that without that hunk of plastic in front of me, I made a lot more eye contact with the professor and looked at the case a lot more closely (instead of the formatting on my computer). Once I realized that, I tried to incorporate those things into my class habits, even once my trusty computer was back. Bottom line: no one can tell you exactly what its going to be like to be in law school….and that’s why it’s important to know your priorities ahead of time. Want to spend a lot of time with your family? It’s probably best you try to avoid living far away, with a commute. Want to stay in shape? Schedule those work outs in. Most of all, go easy on yourself. All of us thought we would be the exception to the rule, the law student who can do it all. None of us can. The sooner you accept that, the happier you will be.

Posted by Sarah at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With less than two weeks left till finals, the pressure is on. Honestly, this is when I am probably the worst person to talk to about law school, or to ask about my experience, because I am tired and cranky! Every time I give a tour I tell students "Anyone who tells you law school isn’t hard is lying." They just are. It’s a hard experience, with a lot of challenging coursework, a sheer overwhelming bulk of tasks and materials, and a pretty intense work ethic surrounding you. It's at these times when finals are breathing down my neck and I'm berating myself for all those nights spent watching Law and Order instead of studying the law that I start to wonder if I'm really cut out to be a lawyer. Who could possibly work so hard for the rest of their career?

Luckily, I have friends. Specifically, friends who remind me that I don’t always feel this way. Although it seems like long ago to my mind, my friends tell me that when I was on co-op I didn’t feel this way. I didn’t feel too stupid for the law, or in over my head. I felt (or so I hear) excited about the challenges, enlivened by the intellectual stimulation, and like maybe, just maybe, it was something I could actually be good at some day.

So I'll push through these next two weeks and make it through finals. At the end of it all, I probably won’t feel filled with a love for the law, or a sense of my place in it. However, hopefully my co-op will bring back those feelings. It’s important to feel like you may, someday, be good at what you have spent so much time and energy working at. I hope co-op gives me the chance to feel that again.

Posted by Sarah at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are in the midst of some changes over here at the law school. For years, NUSL has prided itself on not having grades, and instead having narrative evaluations, individually done for each student by the professor. Coming to NUSL, the lack of grades was not a prominent consideration in my mind. However, having been here almost two years now, it has taken on greater significance. I have seen first hand, again and again, how lack of grades (and consequential lack of class ranking) really leads to a community of cooperativeness. This wasn’t a reality to me until I met people from other schools who knew the exact rank of others in their class, and I realized what a different environment there is at Northeastern. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I have felt no competitiveness while studying for finals. There is no incentive not to share notes and outlines, or not to study together, because no one benefits by another doing poorly on the exam (there’s no such thing as a curve here at NUSL!). I credit this almost entirely to the lack of letter grades and rankings. To be sure, the eval system has had its disadvantages: quality, length, and clarity of evaluations varies greatly between professors; some employers are (understandably) confused by the system; and the process of converting these evaluations into page long transcripts as required by some federal employers can be unwieldy.

For better or for worse, however, this system is changing. Starting next year, students will continue to receive written evaluations but will also receive key words such as "good" and "excellent." Some (including me, to be honest) fear that this will create a system tantamount to traditional grades. Others welcome the standardization. Multiple school wide meetings have been held about the issue, with various student groups giving their two cents. Regardless of your opinion on the issue, it’s a conversation that’s going on here, and one you should be willing to get involved in if you come to NUSL.

Posted by Sarah at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)