gap year to-do list
If you’ve followed me since my LSAT prep days, you know I like schedules. I hate the feeling of floating around without doing anything substantial– gap years suck but I do feel like there should be some progression, mentally and physically.
1. Read THIS BLOG in its entirety. An anonymous hiring partner reveals how law firms hire law students. Much more than boring “do’s and don’ts”, I like the no-bullshit attitude about legal hiring. Yeah, it’s still intimidating, but at least the blogger tries to tell you what’s going on behind the scenes. I won’t go as far as say that this blog will completely unlock secrets to scoring a sweet job, since it’s a given that getting a job takes some hustling. At the very least, legal hiring won’t seem like a black box anymore (is my job application dead or alive….or both?).
2. Make some $$$ for law school expenses. Enough said.
3. Get back into running (hah, this might as well be my New Year’s resolutions). I used to run regularly and then [insert excuse here].
4. Attend an open house at Wonderland Law School… I wanted to go sometime this week, but given recent blog entries of law students, I know it’s finals time for them. I’d hate to be THAT kid. I remember when prospective students came to my undergrad university during prime midterm season or right before finals. They were lucky my eyes were unable to produce lasers. With that said, best of luck to law students, though I doubt any of them have time to read my blog. I shall visit WLS when the weather is sunnier and you are happier, hopefully.
5. Keep blogging. I have received a few emails that have pondered my school’s identity. For now, my happy silence will have to do.
6. Read. Hm, I want to write more for this one, but I haven’t had the motivation to read much lately. Does anyone else feel like December is a twilight zone for non-academic productivity? I am getting things done… they’re just not related to law school at all.
#1. Thanks for the blog link- I’ve never seen it before.
#2. I found it much easier to save when I had ideas of how much I needed to save for what and a list of things to save for and then check off (I like lists too…)- ie. $600 for a new computer, $800 for books, X for travel expenses, etc. etc.
#4. On behalf of a current student…thank you! Plus- why would you go at a time when you’re pretty certain to get the worst possible impression of your future school? People are much friendlier come February.
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I agree with comment above: Visit in Feb.
Also, don’t prep too much. I started law school 3 weeks before the actual semester in a jump-start program at my school. By the end of 1L I really felt like I was way more exhausted/burnt out than other students. I’d been going at this incredible pace for so many months that when I needed the most energy (finals!!) I was running on empty.
Instead, prep by doing everything you think you might want to do and won’t have time for once school starts. Read NON-legal junk: magazines, fiction, the newspaper, anything but law stuff. You’ll get saturated with it 1L year. Hang out with family and friends; go to every birthday party, wedding, social event that you can; you’ll miss many once school starts. Lastly, sleep. My gosh, if you can find a way to bottle sleep, do it and save it for later. I miss sleep. Sigh.
Best of luck at Wonderland!
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An excerpt from tomorrow’s WSJ article entitled: Law Firms Keep Squeezing Associates By JENNIFER SMITH
Law firms are finally starting to recover from the recession, but they aren’t taking their young lawyers along for the ride.
That means little relief for young associates—who took on hefty law-school loans, only to run into layoffs and stagnant pay in the years since 2008—and fewer chances for new law-school graduates to get in on the ground floor.
Many elite firms have shrunk their ranks of entry-level lawyers by as much as half from 2008, when market turmoil was at its peak. Salaries and bonuses for those associates have remained generally flat. Meanwhile, a degree at a top law school can cost $100,000 or more.
“The efficiency of law practice has just changed dramatically in the past five years,” says Bill Dantzler, a hiring partner and head of the firm’s tax practice. “We don’t have to have these armies of young associates. It’s good for the clients, it’s good for everybody.”
That means reputable firms can be even more picky about whom they hire. While firms still compete for the highest-ranking graduates from Ivy League and other top law schools, it is a different story for solid candidates who lack gold-plated résumés. Students with lower class rankings or from second-tier schools who once would have made the cut “wouldn’t have a prayer of getting in now,” Mr. Dantzler says.
White & Case LLP, an international law firm, plans to hire about 60 entry-level lawyers this year, compared with prerecession classes of 90 to 100.