Previous 7Sagers that are now in Law School

Comments

• sarahfatima28 Alum Member

  January 2016 320 karma

  Thanks for taking time out to write this.Would love to hear more.
• 1 Like

  Sheri123 Alum Member

  January 2016 1196 karma

  Thank you @mpits00 this is a wonderful idea and great information that I think will help a lot of us prepare. I'm with @sarahfatima28 would also love to hear more.
  
  When you mention outlines, do you mean preparing outlines for what is covered in your class or is this something completely different?
  
  
• 1 Like

  kennedybj Alum Member

  January 2016 697 karma

  On average, how much reading and writing were you having to do every day?
• 1 Like

  aquaboogy Member

  January 2016 15 karma

  Great info. Thanks for sharing and would definitely like to hear more.
• 2 Likes

  LSATisland Free Trial Inactive Sage

  January 2016 edited January 2016 1878 karma

  I'm a 2L at the University of Toronto. I'd be happy to add my experience here or via PM if anybody wants, but I'd like to qualify the above post for readers by saying that the experience of law students are varied, and none will fully capture your future experience.
• LSATisland Free Trial Inactive Sage

  January 2016 1878 karma

  Let me just add (b/c I've had to field lots of questions re competitiveness): U of T has been for me, and hundreds of current U of T students and alumni I've spoken to, a very friendly and warm place. Unfortunately, there is often a mistaken reputation that the school is aggressively competitive, but this is not the case.
• 1 Like

  lsatings Alum Member

  January 2016 349 karma

  I'm interested in hearing more as well! Did any of you prepare for law school (either by taking a course or reading some books or even outlining) before actually starting? Did it work for you?
• Nilesh S Alum Inactive ⭐

  January 2016 3438 karma

  Worked for me in contracts and con law at least... or so it seems... one can never tell the grades are good( some good-ish) but that could be due to a variety of factors including prep during the term.
  
• mpits001 Alum Member

  January 2016 edited January 2016 938 karma

  @Sheri123 Yes, I mean outlines covering what's in class. Outlines can include any information you may need when you study for the exam. Remember the outline is your key to the exam. Not only does it help you study for the exam, but you learn more about the subject you're outlining when you're outlining.
  
  @kennedybj Last semester & this semester I read a lot (maybe 6-8 hours daily?). Not only do I read the casebooks, but I also read other supplements that explain everything. Sometimes when law professors teach, the theory or point doesn't always come across clear. You should be mentally prepared to read more than what you are actually assigned. Case-briefs also really help. Some people only read case-briefs (explained a bit more down below), and some people use case-briefs to review the case (after reading the full case) or study for finals. Writing will vary from professor to professor, but for your legal skills class you will be writing a lot.
  
  @LSATisland I should have qualified my post. This is my individual experience. My experience with competitiveness is more limited than yours. Some people work hard and will share things with you. Some keep to themselves, and others will outright lie or try to mess others up. There are certainly more people willing to help out than the latter, but these people exist.
  
  @lsatings my prep for law school was very limited. The most you should probably prep for is learning how to outline properly. When you get your first week assignments (my school gives them out about 2-3 weeks before school starts), do them as soon as you can before school starts, and outline. Fitting in outlining when you have so much to read & do is very hard, and there will be instances where you can't find time to outline. I will say this, reading cases the first semester/year is pretty important. Past that point though, a lot of people ONLY read case-briefs (still read supplements) in order to save time, because at that point you may already have a job at a law firm (if they like you in the summer), you may be doing moot court or participating in other law school related things.
  
  @"Nilesh S" I share your sentiment; grades and all.
• eddySH84 Member

  January 2016 39 karma

  Will be really helpful if any previous 7sager share part time law school experience (with full time job)
• mpits001 Alum Member

  January 2016 edited January 2016 938 karma

  @eddySH84 I'm actually part of the hybrid program at my school (which means I'm full-time, but I take classes with the day sections and part-time sections). If you have any specific questions I can ask my fellow colleagues in the part-time section!
• mimimimi Free Trial Member

  January 2016 edited January 2016 368 karma

  I feel panicky - It sounds like outline is important but what do you mean by outline? Is there a sample I can take a look at? I have never outlined in my student career.
• mpits001 Alum Member

  January 2016 edited January 2016 938 karma

  @mimimimi I would link some of my outlines, but I feel a bit hesitant. I found a link here.
  
  http://www.law.nyu.edu/students/studentbarassociation/courseoutlines/firstyearoutlines
  
  You can look at some of them there. They have the ol' general outline formatting. Your outline may be as intricate or simpler than than those above (I've only glanced at a few). The point of an outline is to have something that gives you all the important information, in condensed form, so you can study for finals.
  
  Also, don't worry, most people have never outlined before going to law school.
• Chipster Study Yearly Member

  January 2016 893 karma

  So, the idea is to memorize or be able to recall all the individual facts on the outlines to answer multiple choice questions or write essays??
• LSATisland Free Trial Inactive Sage

  January 2016 edited January 2016 1878 karma

  @"Chipster Study" I don't think you should worry too much about outlines; there's enough to worry about before law school.
  
  The basic idea of outlines is to have the essentials of the course in reduced form. Outlines vary in length, depending on how much information is included. Each case in law school usually stands for one principle, so you'll typically want an outline to include the case (very few facts, or just a word or two that will remind you of them), the basic issue and holding, and other stuff too if it's important to the professor.
  
  Law school exams are generally not multiple choice. The classic law school exam is a "fact pattern" whereby you must "spot the legal issues" and apply the law to the facts. Some exams will have essay questions, though it kind of depends on the professor.
  
  There is a benefit to producing your own outlines, as this helps the study and review process. By forcing yourself to write your own outline, the cases and the law might become clearer to you. However, this is also time-consuming. Many people just rely on outlines from previous students. As you'll see, people in law school develop their rhythm for law school: for classes, reading cases, outlines, etc... What works for someone won't necessarily work for another, and you'll hopefully figure out in 1L what works best for you.
• Nilesh S Alum Inactive ⭐

  January 2016 edited January 2016 3438 karma

  Yeah I would say thinking about outlines etc before you start law school is needlessly worrying and in a sense putting the cart before the horse. About summer summer prep well there are more conflicting opinions on that issue... some people just read something like getting to maybe... some read commercial outlines and some do a 1 week prep course before law school like the one offered by barbri... I think any or all of these work... but you're in no way disadvantaged if you don't know what an outline is before you get to law school. I personally favored reading commercial outlines a week or so before class started and then doing hypos and practice exams through the sem as a method of prep... and did not outline (or brief cases) myself at all - the best I did was take notes about what the professor thought was important in the margins of my books. This might not be the best method of work for everybody and then again, it might work well for others... it all depends upon your style.
• harrismegan Member

  January 2016 2074 karma

  This has been so helpful!! Thank you!
• Sheri123 Alum Member

  January 2016 1196 karma

  Thank you all for this information. Any other advice or perspectives would be greatly appreciated. For those of us trying to improve our LSAT score for the Feb, any advice or tips on what helped you?