TLS got me down!

Comments

• nordeend Alum Member

  November 2015 349 karma

  @alp7q 7sage is the shit. Bottomline you will find some of the best advice here. This forum is monitored and corrected (when needed) by the founders/instructors. Also, one can be nice and have great advice. They are not mutually exclusive. I haven't been on TLS but the community here will be real with what you need to do and positive/encouraging at the same time. It's awesome!
• Pacifico Alum Inactive ⭐

  November 2015 8021 karma

  Despite the fact that large swaths of TLS are a wasteland of shitty information and even shittier people, there is a ton of amazing stuff on there. There is just so much more volume and it's been around for so long that it can be pretty hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. I have two go-to threads on TLS: @"Mike Spivey"'s thread and the veteran's thread. The former I know is always going to be expert advice from consummate professionals who are in the know and not spouting random bullshit and so much of what I have learned has been from reading all nearly 200 pages of that thread. The latter I frequent because I am a veteran and it is the most incredibly supportive group of people I have met on TLS and everyone is discussing the same issues and programs that we are all using and we all share many of the same concerns. Mike Kim has a great thread as well where he addresses a lot of prep/Trainer questions, but I thought the Trainer was so well put together that I never really felt the need to hit up his thread too much. The only other threads I hit up are school specific ones, especially where current and former students of specific schools take questions and help newer or prospective students in matters related to that particular school. These are a great resource from 0L through employment and their value (at least for the good ones) cannot be understated.
  
  I think that is where people go wrong. They go on TLS and get sucked into terrible threads or the "what are my chances" threads where it's just the hivemind telling people to retake or not become lawyers. While I think some people need to hear either or both of those things, the TLS hivemind is usually super dickish about it. To me it is just like Reddit. If you go on r/new you are going to wade through a sea of garbage to find some really awesome stuff but it's still mostly garbage. If instead you go seek out subreddits that pertain to your interests then you will often find a vibrant community of like minded people. TLS offers that same dichotomy, so you just have to know what you're looking for and go find it or you will end up waist deep in hot garbage.
  
  7Sage has fostered a friendlier environment which on the face of it is not a bad thing to try and do. However, taken to an extreme you end up with triggering warnings and the like and I am vehemently against such nonsense. TLS is more reflective of reality while 7Sage is a little kinder than that. You generally won't find someone being a bigger asshole to people than me on 7Sage, but I've built up a reputation for being helpful so I have a bit more latitude to do so than a random person who walks in acting like a jackass. People that come in sideways usually find themselves ostracized or banned for being openly combative and unproductive members. Whether such things are "good" or "bad" is a matter of subjective opinion. I tend to lean towards free speech reigning short of actual harassment/bullying, because people do need a dose of reality now and then. Furthermore, we are all adults here and if you really want to be a lawyer you really need to develop a thick skin in my opinion, and TLS is emblematic of that. But I also understand seeing a community like TLS and not wanting your community to become that, and it is difficult to strike the right balance.
  
  Regardless, you should never let anyone on the internet determine your mood or choices in life. If TLS makes you feel like shit then why are you reading it? Maybe go do something more productive with your time, like PTing. Or just know where to go to find what you really need or want to get out of TLS and don't read the main threads that are just full of 80% bullshit. Happy hunting!
• alp7q Core Member

  November 2015 53 karma

  @Pacifico you're way too nice to be the biggest asshole anywhere! which I guess is my point. I have read TLS for Spivey and other experts and accidentally read too much into the other more negative lines of thought- like that if I go to anything short of HYS for sticker then I'll be eating ramen and bartending deep in debt for the rest of my days. (I'm not saying there may not be some truth to that). anyway, I guess I found 7sage and love how positive everyone (yes, you too) seems. but then I wonder if it is too good to be true. in other words- how hard is it to get into law school? and is it okay that I'm far less knowledgable about all the details than most of TLS?
• markariangeorge Member

  November 2015 121 karma

  @alp7q said:
  like that if I go to anything short of HYS for sticker then I'll be eating ramen and bartending deep in debt for the rest of my days. (I'm not saying there may not be some truth to that).
  

  But like nah. There isn't much truth to that at all. Sure if you go to some school with 20% bar passage and 70% loan default you are putting your self a big risk of that ramen life but if you go to USC (#20) or Davis (#34) at sticker you can still do just find and even get a 160k a year big law job if that is your jam or something else that is prestigious in its own right. I'm from Cali so I don't know too much about schools outside the state but I know people that have gona to both of those school at sticker price and are doing just find and people who have gone to Bolt with pretty big scholarships and are sort of nowhere. You make what you make of it... for the most part. Again, if your options are for-profits or schools that showed up the NY Times articles these last few weeks for sticker price I would say think twice and not to rhyme. But If you get into a top 40, especially if it is by where you want to work, and being a lawyer is actually what you want to do than F#%@ TLS and what they tell you. Do you, try hard, and you'll be fine.