Thoughts on a 7Sage inspired approach to success in 1L

chrono1012

Hello,

I have been hearing a lot about the massive amount of importance that 1L can have on one's career. I have also noticed that a common thread among successful 7Sagers on the LSAT is that they seem to study a lot more than most people. >1 year vs 3 months for your typical student.

Given these thoughts, I've been toying with an idea for succeeding in 1L. I don't know much about law school classes or the process so this might be totally off, but I figured I'd put it out there and see what you think. Here it is:

Deferring enrollment for one year before 1L in order to "ghost" the classes. Ghosting classes is where you take classes that you are not enrolled in in order to learn the information without being given an actual grade (and sometimes without even being enrolled in the school). I've heard of it being done in undergrad and possibly MBA programs, but haven't heard of it in law school. Given that 1L seems to have such such a large impact on the rest of your career, it seems that having 2 years of exposure to the material would put you at a large advantage and be very beneficial.

Ghosting would give the opportunity to get introduced to the course material, to experience the workload of law school and the study habits that are effective for it, and would allow you to begin to make the outlines. I've heard that the 1L class load is fairly similar across schools, so this may be effective even if you are ghosting at a different school than you plan to attend.

Given the immense importance 1L has on your career, it seems that having 2 years to study for it versus one would give someone a large advantage?

What do you guys think? Would this be feasible and possible to do in a law class setting? Would this be beneficial and effective? This was fairly off the cuff and I am certainly no expert in law school, so please feel free to correct any incorrect assumptions I may have made.

Thanks so much for the help!

Cant Get Right

I really don't have much knowledge on this, so I'm not sure. I definitely follow your reasoning here though and can definitely see how it'd give one an edge. I know a lot of folks last cycle did a 0L study group to start getting ready. Seems like a more intense version of that. It's definitely an interesting idea. Curious to see what others think.

alex.e92

I have not heard of this approach nor do I have any non-anecdotal advice so take this with a grain of salt, but two minor concerns come to mind:

1. You might want to be sure that the particular culture of the law school that you are attending aligns with this plan. Arguably, the second most important thing next to 1L grades is probably networking with both professors and other students /2 and 3Ls who act as mentors (I know they play varying roles at different law schools so this may not be important to you). I can think of a school in the t-14 where the social culture can be particularly punishing towards people who are perceived to be "gunners" and a law school in the t-14 where this might be totally fine, if not expected for students to come to 1L with some knowledge of the curriculum. I don't know if this matters to you, but I can see how this could *potentially* be isolating at certain law schools (which shouldn't stop you, but might be worth thinking about a good culture fit when looking at schools).

2. there is a significant opportunity cost, financially, to doing this which may or may not outweigh the advantage you would stand to gain.

Again, I have no personal experience with this, only a small sample of 3L friends. Best of luck and let us know how it goes either way