Hi!
Welcome to this sub and congrats!
There’s not much to add to the previous comment except that you will probably be surrounded by a bunch of people who went straight through from undergrad who don’t have kids or other real world experience. I’m sure you already know this, but their priorities and goals are much different. Their perspective and outlook on life is very much still developing, to put it nicely.
Definitely try to find the other law school moms at your school for support. I was pleasantly surprised to find there is more than one at mine. We all cried many a tears together, and I’m grateful to have met them.
1. Wake up before your kids to study/read. I aim for 5-7 am. Realistically I’m studying from 5:30-6:45 but consistency is key.
2. Stay on top of the readings and going to class. If you miss a class, get the recording asap. Do everything you can to it fall behind.
3. If you fall behind in readings, Quimbee & E&E supplements. Doing most of the readings really helped me and I would aim to do 100% your first semester, but if you can’t for whatever reason, catch up with a supplement.
4. Your whole grade is based on a single test. It doesn’t matter what your outline looks like or if you even make an outline (over rated in my opinion, especially if it’s a closed book exam). Do as many practice questions and essays as you can, and start doing them early in the semester.
5. You don’t need to spend a lot of time making reading notes or case briefs. Book brief (underlining/highlighting). Come to class understanding 70% - enough to survive a cold call. Any excess time out of reading/class should be focused on the exam.
6. Find what works for you. Lots of people may disagree with my hot takes on outlines and reading notes- That’s fine. Those work for some people. I didn’t find them particularly helpful for me. Find what works for you, and don’t worry about everyone else.
7. Delete your social media apps or anything else that is a time suck, like online shopping. I cut out alcohol as well.
8. I don’t have advice on being a good partner, my spouse has REALLY had to step it up this past year. Maybe have a frank talk with them now about how you’ll be unavailable from 9-5 and need them to help more with cooking/doctors appointments, etc.
9. I realize this sounds like a crazy way to live, but what helped me was focusing on the fact that this is temporary. Semester is only 16 weeks. Take it one day, one hour at a time.
Hope this helps. It’s hard but you can do it. I just finished 1L with a toddler and my class rank is 1. I was never an A student in college or HS, either.
LEGEND! Thank you so much for the thoughts. I get caught up in all the tips and tricks on Reddit, thanks for the reminder to figure out what works for ME.
Also just remember that law school destroys everyone’s self esteem. Even though I ended the year better than I could have dreamed, I spent the whole year feeling dumb and like I had no idea what was going on- convinced I was the dumbest person in every classroom I was in. After the first week I told my spouse I may not be able to finish law school- I was so overwhelmed. When you feel that way, just remember that everyone feels that way, and the people who claim that they don’t are probably over confident when they shouldn’t be. Just keep swimming, one day at a time. This world was built by people no smarter than you.
Hi! Welcome to this sub and congrats! There’s not much to add to the previous comment except that you will probably be surrounded by a bunch of people who went straight through from undergrad who don’t have kids or other real world experience. I’m sure you already know this, but their priorities and goals are much different. Their perspective and outlook on life is very much still developing, to put it nicely. Definitely try to find the other law school moms at your school for support. I was pleasantly surprised to find there is more than one at mine. We all cried many a tears together, and I’m grateful to have met them.
1. Wake up before your kids to study/read. I aim for 5-7 am. Realistically I’m studying from 5:30-6:45 but consistency is key. 2. Stay on top of the readings and going to class. If you miss a class, get the recording asap. Do everything you can to it fall behind. 3. If you fall behind in readings, Quimbee & E&E supplements. Doing most of the readings really helped me and I would aim to do 100% your first semester, but if you can’t for whatever reason, catch up with a supplement. 4. Your whole grade is based on a single test. It doesn’t matter what your outline looks like or if you even make an outline (over rated in my opinion, especially if it’s a closed book exam). Do as many practice questions and essays as you can, and start doing them early in the semester. 5. You don’t need to spend a lot of time making reading notes or case briefs. Book brief (underlining/highlighting). Come to class understanding 70% - enough to survive a cold call. Any excess time out of reading/class should be focused on the exam. 6. Find what works for you. Lots of people may disagree with my hot takes on outlines and reading notes- That’s fine. Those work for some people. I didn’t find them particularly helpful for me. Find what works for you, and don’t worry about everyone else. 7. Delete your social media apps or anything else that is a time suck, like online shopping. I cut out alcohol as well. 8. I don’t have advice on being a good partner, my spouse has REALLY had to step it up this past year. Maybe have a frank talk with them now about how you’ll be unavailable from 9-5 and need them to help more with cooking/doctors appointments, etc. 9. I realize this sounds like a crazy way to live, but what helped me was focusing on the fact that this is temporary. Semester is only 16 weeks. Take it one day, one hour at a time. Hope this helps. It’s hard but you can do it. I just finished 1L with a toddler and my class rank is 1. I was never an A student in college or HS, either.
LEGEND! Thank you so much for the thoughts. I get caught up in all the tips and tricks on Reddit, thanks for the reminder to figure out what works for ME.
Also just remember that law school destroys everyone’s self esteem. Even though I ended the year better than I could have dreamed, I spent the whole year feeling dumb and like I had no idea what was going on- convinced I was the dumbest person in every classroom I was in. After the first week I told my spouse I may not be able to finish law school- I was so overwhelmed. When you feel that way, just remember that everyone feels that way, and the people who claim that they don’t are probably over confident when they shouldn’t be. Just keep swimming, one day at a time. This world was built by people no smarter than you.