9 Myths about the First Year of Law School for 1L's

I never truly knew fear until I had been accepted to law school. The summer before I started law school, I was more scared than I had ever been before. I dealt with my fear in the way I had always dealt with fear; I went out and tried to learn everything about the thing that scared me (in this case, law school). Turning to books and information for comfort was what had allowed me to get into law school, and admittedly, it's one of the things that kept me alive during law school. Yet if I could give any entering students advice, I would not recommend that you read twenty books about entering law school, like I did.

In my experience, none of the books I read were even close to what I experienced in law school. Maybe it's because I went to a different school, maybe it's because everyone experiences law school differently, but a lot of the things I read in these books didn't turn out to be true. The following is a list of general statements which I found to be prevalent in pre-law school literature; I found that all of these statements were either inaccurate or false.

If you don't develop great outlining skills, you will never do well in law school. Outlining is important, and you should make your best attempt at it. But I was never a master of outlining, and I did well in many classes. The most important part of outlining is the thought process. Outlining is helpful because it forces you to really think through the material you're studying. If you're putting in the effort, outlining will help, regardless of how great your outlines are. Try your best at outlining, but don't despair if you are unsure of yourself.

If you don't rank in the top 10% of the class, you will never be able to find a job. I was extremely worried about this one, especially after my first semester class rank was released and I wasn't in the top 10% of the class. All of the books I had read made it sound like if you didn't finish in the top 10% of the class, you had no hope for summer jobs or a good job after graduation. However, despite the fact that I was never in the top half of the class, I got paid summer jobs every year, I had a clerkship at a good law firm during my second and third year, and I landed the job that I had always wanted right out of law school. Don't freak out if you don't get the best grades, it's still possible to get a great job. Check out my other articles (coming soon) for more tips.

Every other student in law school is rooting for you to fail. This scared me a lot. Every book I read suggested that every other student at my school would be rooting for me to fail. Some books even suggested that other students would actively try to make me do poorly by doing things like hiding books and playing mind games to psyche me out. I took this into consideration when I was choosing a law school. I visited several campuses and took note of how the students interacted with each other. The admissions team at this school also focused on the school's friendly and supportive atmosphere. My class still had a few "know-it-alls" who always wanted to discuss grades and who attempted to become the teacher's pets. However, I never even heard of anyone at my school hiding books. No one ever tried to steal my briefs, outlines, or memos. And no one tried to mess with my head.

Professors want to scare and embarrass you. For a few of my professors, this certainly seemed true. But the majority of my professors sincerely wanted all of their students to succeed, and they did not purposely try to embarrass their students when calling on them in class. In fact, many of my professors allowed students to pass on a limited number of occasions during the semester (usually one or two class periods). Even in the classes which did not allow this, if students were unprepared, they would say so when called on and the professor would move on without additional comments. Additionally, if you are truly prepared but struggling when you're called on, very few professors will continue asking tough questions just to embarrass you. I had a few class periods where I had read the material but I was stumped by a professor's question. When this happened, the professor would usually either open the question up to the class or call on someone else to help.

You must join (or not join) a study group to succeed. Before starting law school, I heard all kinds of different opinions on this. I heard that you should avoid study groups because they waste time. I also heard that you must join a study group in order to succeed because it allows you to actively discuss knowledge and ideas in a group. I don't think there is one rule that applies to everyone. I chose not to join a study group because my mind tends to wander when I am around other people. However, I know a lot of people who joined study groups and found that it was a great benefit to their study schedule. Whether or not to join a study group is really a personal choice. I would recommend giving it a lot of thought before deciding, but I won't recommend you to do it or not do it.

The ultimate dream job of every law student is to work for the biggest firm in a huge city. I knew before I even started law school that this was not the job I wanted, and yet everything I read seemed to suggest that every law student is striving for this job and I should be, too. Don't get me wrong. These are high-paying, high-profile jobs, and the competition to snag one is fierce. But not everyone is dying to get these jobs. And if you're not, there's nothing inherently wrong with you. People go to law school with all kinds of different career objectives. You might want to work for a corporation, you might want to go into publishing, you might even want to be a zookeeper. Everyone has their own reasons for attending law school, and there isn't one job that's better than the others.

The famous adage, "the first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death, and the third year they bore you to death." This, surprisingly, was mostly true. The first year I was scared out of my mind because I didn't know what to expect, and no matter how many books I read, I couldn't get over my fear. The second year, I was less scared, because I had survived the first year and I basically knew what was ahead, but I was still really busy with the workload. The only part I would disagree with is the prediction for the third year. Personally, I was never bored during my third year; I was so busy, I feel like I barely had time to breathe. The third year was easier than the other two years because I finally felt like I got the hang of law school, but I was by no means bored. I was working at legal clinic, working a part-time clerkship, looking for jobs, applying for the bar, plus studying and making plans for after graduation. Not boring at all!

If you were accepted at more than one school, you should choose whatever one ranks the highest nationally. This myth materialized for me both before and during law school. U.S. New'sannual law school rankings did factor into my decision when choosing a law school. Then, at the end of my first year, my law school's ranking went down significantly. A lot of people from my class responded by abandoning ship; they transferred schools. I chose not to and I'm glad that I didn't. My law school advisor told me that your law school's ranking will probably not be a top consideration of any employer when you're looking for a job. It is more likely that the employer will consider things like your past experience, your location, your interests, and yes, your grades. It's true that if you go to Harvard there will be more job options for you than if you go to a third tier law school, but for most jobs, you will not be eliminated because of your law school.

Your first job should pay six figures or it's not a good job. This myth was not in any book I read, but it does seem to be a common myth and I wanted to address it. First of all, most people don't earn that much right out of school. Pay varies widely by state, but in most states starting pay for an attorney is considerably lower than the famed six-figure starting salary. The people who do tend to land jobs which pay six-figure starting salaries are those who get jobs with the biggest firms in large cities, and often the workload for a starting associate at these firms is unbearable. It may sound glamorous to make $100,000 a year right out of school, but you will definitely be putting in a lot of time to do so. What you make in money you will probably sacrifice in other areas of your life. You will have the potential to earn a comfortable living eventually, but please realize that going to law school is not a ticket to getting rich quickly or easily. Like any job, earning money will still take a considerable amount of time and effort.

The article above is based on my personal experience in law school. I would love to see some comments from other law school grads who could give advice to incoming students. Did anyone else have a different experience? Please share your thoughts with other soon-to-be 1L's!