How to survive law school?

chelseayang

besides preparing myself for LSAT, i've been up to think about what i should make ready before i finally get into a law school.

I don't know if anyone else here also think a lot about this question. We have language disadvantage. what if i could not get into classroom discussion? What if i could not get the jokes of the professor?

the bigger barrier here is from culture difference, which we could not possibly make up within a short period of time.

then the question: what do you do to get ready for law school?

mygoalusa

It is reasonable concern that lot of the factors will contribute to our possible incapability of doing well in law school. I have survived two year MBA program, which may not be as demand as law in terms of the language requirement and study load, but I want to tell you folks, there are ways to bridge the gaps to make up for the disadvantages.

• Hard work - this seems to be a given, but I could not emphasize more on this. Averagely, we Chinese students need to spend 25-50% more time on previewing course material and completing assignment than that of the native speakers.


• Make your utmost effort to participate class/team discussion - Spend extra time preparing for the class discussion where most native speakers can just open their mouth and utter the words like what we do in Chinese, we need a bit time on structuring what we want to say. A lot of the natives pour words out so naturally but sometime you will find it does not make any sense. We could, possibly, speak slowly, word by word, in good grammer, without using fancy metophers, and make sure you have a point to state, people will listen; the more you do this, the more confident you will be.


• Take every opportunity to deliver presentations - my first presentation is based on word by word write up a few days before and memorization of each word, no surpise when I completed my presentation, my classmate made a comment "looks like you are reciting a poem". Time by time, I cut down my writing, to a section heading, to an outline/sketch, and eventually to just a few words that could remind me about what I want to say. Practice, practice, practice. Join a Toastmasters group. It was there where I learned how to make impromptu speeches.


• Do all you can to indulge yourself in the non-academic life - Live in a school dorm if you can, interact with fellow students, volunteer for the student associates, be active in TGIFs (thank god it's friday party), drink beers (if you are not allergic to beer), go to offices to chat with faculty members or professors (there is also such thing as impression marks in North America), be part of the sports team (learn how to play base ball if you don't know how). It is always my take that, academic excellence is not an eye through which we could grasp the whole picture of a person, you need to be well around, no lawyer will work in a vaccume environment, you need to interact with others on a daily basis. These are the best ways to learn their cultures and develop the rapport with your fellow students.


• Anything about their culture you don't understand, ask them - I do this all the times, I would not pretend that I knew, what is the big deal that I didn't know. The more you ask, the more you will learn. If someone laughs at your about your "ignorance", then don't deal with him/her next time.

Law school will likely be more brutal experience than business program. But don't be intitimated, build your confidence strategically, and you will get there.

Joan1980

Very inspiring advice!!!

I believe you did a very good job in business school.