Every other week, Washington College of Law student Naveed Afshar gives readers a look into pursuing a law degree.
Tens of thousands of prospective law students just completed the February Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Some are passionate about a legal career, while others apathetically fell into the path. Despite the varying levels of motivation, one thing is clear: law school is looming.
Generally speaking, things are never as bad as they seem. I always knew law school would be brutal, but it wasn’t until I actually started that I learned it is much worse. Don’t get me wrong, it can be enjoyable and it is certainly rewarding. You develop analytical skills that will permeate into every aspect of your life. I think of law school as a ridiculously overpriced gym membership for your brain. Then after three years, you realize that your brain is sore and you are broke, but you won’t regret it. I promise. Follow these three golden rules, and you will be fine.
1. Ask for help.
Find a study group. Find a study buddy. Be a brown-noser and frequently go to office hours. Annoy your Dean’s Fellows with emails. It really doesn’t matter how you do it, just make sure that you do. Law schools have resources. Use them. $48,000 a year affords you access to some pretty damn smart professors; you will regret not building relationships with them. Gone are the high school glory days where the less you cared, the cooler you looked. In law school, confusion is expected, but there is no excuse for failing to do anything about it. Ask questions. Bypass this rule if you are some transcendent pseudo-deity who can absorb the entirety of a law school course without any assistance, in which case: (a) dope and (b) share the wealth.
2. Get out of the library.
Oxygen is where it’s at. It can be easy to forget that when you spend 16 consecutive hours in a windowless study room, getting up only to use the bathroom or meet the same Papa John’s delivery guy in the lobby for the third time in three days. Some people don’t like to study at home, and it makes sense. No one wants school work to interfere with relaxing. But don’t underestimate the importance of a distraction. Go read your textbook at a coffee shop in Adam’s Morgan. Or, close your books entirely and go for a run. Have a beer and watch your March Madness bracket crash and burn. Spending hours in the library is unavoidable, especially during the first year, but don’t let it consume you.
3. Don’t compare yourself.
Want to know the key to perpetual feelings of inadequacy? It is a compulsion, a primal human tendency. If you haven’t learned by now, no good comes from comparing yourself to your peers. There will always, no matter what, be someone smarter than you. Comparing yourself is a toxic habit that can prevent you from pursuing your own passions because you are too busy looking over your shoulder. This is especially true in law school. If you have to grind to earn a B+ in Contract Law, your ego will be bruised when you find out that your lazy classmate pulled off an A. Does that take anything away from your hard-earned grade? Of course not. And yet, we can’t help ourselves. Some people are so cautious to avoid meaningless comparisons, that they refuse to talk about grades entirely. I mean it. Things get awkward. They might be onto something, though. Whether it’s grades, internships or any other activities, comparisons don’t get you anywhere. Worry about yourself and no one else. Be selfish.
