Law school a great experience but not for the faint of heart

No one prepares you for the mental and physical exhaustion of law school.  They try to scare you with Latin phrases and statistics of how many hours they spend studying.  The practical advice — the survival skills — are much more difficult to come by. It seems like everyone I talked to last year saw me as their personal punching bag to unload all their law school grievances. I mean, law school can't be that bad, can it?  

I go to school with crazy people. Sure, they cannot be committed, but their borderline paranoia has even me questioning my sanity. Case in point:  Knowing that law school classes follow seating charts that are filled out during the first day of classes, I showed up half an hour early to my Civil Procedure class to get a good seat.  When I arrived, the only available seats were in the second to last row! Absolutely shocked, I sit behind rows of laptops filled with Facebook screens and instant message conversations.  I can only imagine how early the students in the front row arrived.

Law school already has the reputation of hyper-competitive students ripping out pages of library books and stealing exams. While a bit extreme, law school is much more of a battleground than I ever imagined.  As a first-year student, you're competing against everyone else in your class.  All first-year courses are graded on a curve, which has everyone scrambling for good grades. The only problem is, the world of quizzes, midterms and papers is gone.

This system inherently fosters an atmosphere of paranoia that is palpable.  To compensate for the lack of direction, many students are already living at the library.  I was not one for library studying in undergrad, yet, I too feel myself being drawn to the law library, if not for the quiet atmosphere, then for the image of sure dedication.

See, with no objective standard to compare to, law students are left comparing their behaviors, study habits and answers in class to one another.  Take that mentality and mix it with the competitive students mentioned above, and you have an environment anyone would be scared to enter.

All that being said, I am absolutely in love with my decision to attend law school.  I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to study a field that I am truly passionate about, in a city where I wish to work.  The subjects I am studying are interesting and the discussion generated in class is engrossing.  The people I am meeting are some of the most interesting individuals I have met.  

Law school is a serious investment financially, emotionally and mentally.  I advise students who are thinking about attending law school to do their research.  Go online and read a Supreme Court case, visit the various Web sites available for pre-law and current law students.  Get as much information about the law school process possible. If, after conducting this research, you're not scared away from the law school environment, then throw yourself into the process wholeheartedly.  Believe me, it will be quite a ride.