Orientation Day: Some Thoughts For 1Ls During the Program

  

This morning, I sat in on a talk given by our Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Donald Corbett,  to nervous, but eager entering 1Ls. I thought I would pass along a few of his many great comments:

              You Can’t Always Get What You Want

In college, things tend to come relatively easily. You spend a little time on your studies and you do relatively well. The more time you spend, the better you generally perform academically. That’s not the case in law school. You may put a great deal of time, energy and effort into a course and, yet, you still manage a “C” in the course. What was that about?!?

Law school is an endeavor where you may not exactly succeed in the way that you thought that you might. You must persevere and stay in it for the long run.

   

        Reintroduce Yourself to Friends and Family

Your family and friends may know that you are in law school, but may not appreciate what that exactly means. When you start getting the normal: “Hey, you want to go to the mall,” “ You want to hang out tonight?” “How about that movie?” . . you may have to tell them no. You may have to explain and re-educate those close to you that you are now in a completely different ballgame.

    

       

           Let Go of the Drama

You will travel as a group in your 1L class. Stay focused. When you law school colleagues start to get snarky and start gossiping about others – walk away. Sounds trite? Hardly. This can be serious stuff if you let it get out of hand.

                   Professors can Help From August through April, But not in June

A law student needs to put in the time and effort during the school year to: read the cases, keep up with outlines, and seek out help from professors and tutors in the moment. If you wait till after final exams and start making excuses for underachieving – it’s way too late.

----- 

Good thoughts, Professor Corbett. I thought I would pass them along.