1 semester down, 5 more to go!
I’ve just completed my first semester of law school – that makes me 1/6th of a lawyer, right? Or 5/6th a normal person?
Wow – I’ve really come a long way. It seems not that long ago I was dreaming of being a law student, questioning whether I was capable to even get in. I had to make giant leaps of faith along the way.
Grades won’t be in for 3-4 weeks but even without knowing the “real” result of my hard work, I would say this semester has been a huge success. I worked harder than I ever have in my life and have grown not only intellectually, but emotionally (by learning to trust myself, believing I could do this).
I wish I had updated this blog more regularly throughout the semester but over the next 4 weeks of winter break I hope to update more regularly on my thoughts of the first semester. I have lots of advice I hope to share as well.
In the mean time, please let me know what you would like to hear! Either comment to this post, send me a message on the blog, or email me at lawschooldreamer [at] gmail dot com and I will address your inquiries in a post.
A Paralegal's Journey to Lawyerhood 
Practical Paralegalism said,
December 21, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Congrats on the completion of your first semester. I have no doubt that you did well!
Happy holidays,
Lynne
LawSchoolDreamer said,
December 22, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Thanks Lynne! Happy Holidays to you as well!
wannabelawyer said,
December 27, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Happy to hear you survived the first semester! I’ll be starting in the fall and am a bit apprehensive. Still trying to decide on a school too. I know you did some posts on 0L stuff, but I’m curious what you think the difference between first semester and the rest of law school will be, now that you “think” like a lawyer etc.
LawSchoolDreamer said,
January 1, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Thank you and it is good to hear from you! Congratulations on all of your acceptances and good luck on making your final decision. I appreciate your question, because quite honestly, I hadn’t thought much about my expectations as far as the remaining 5 semesters. I expect that I will be more confident in my abilities (depending on my first semester grades of course – which I have yet to receive). Next semester I’m taking what seems like the “tougher” 1L courses (property, con law, and civ pro) so I hope that I will feel that my analytical skills have deepened to take on these challenges. As for my 2L and 3L years, I’m really excited to begin taking classes specific to my interests and having a little more control over my schedule and the professors I am learning from. I was lucky this semester to get mostly good professors but the subject material wasn’t as interesting as what some of the 2L and 3L classes seem to be. I hope to write more about what I plan to do differently (or more/less of) in the upcoming semester but am waiting to do so until I (finally) get my grades back. That way, I can more accurately assess what I’ve done and what I need to improve.
I saw on your blog that you are reading Getting to Maybe. I bought it to read over my 0L summer, but didn’t get to it. I’m only about a 1/4 of the way in but I really like it thus far. I recommend that you take another look at it (just skim through it) once you have a few weeks of class behind you. It seems like it makes more sense that way because the authors give a lot of very specific law school examples that might not otherwise hit home.
Again, best of luck and thanks for reading my blog! I look forward to seeing your school’s list on your blog soon.