Law School
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Law school mental and physical health, explained.
Here’s a blog post detailing a rough patch I went through in law school during my first year and what I did to work on my mental and physical health! It’s pretty crazy to look back on my first year now, and I am so glad I have worked on taking care of myself. I don’t share this story to scare anyone or deter folks from applying to law school, but to share my experience and hopefully give some helpful advice! After my first year of law school, I was in pretty bad shape. Coming in, I knew that the workload and the anxiety/imposter syndrome would be stressful, but I…
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Your PreLaw and Admissions Questions, Answered
You all submitted your prelaw and admissions questions to my Instagram stories, and I am here to answer! Any advice for people who don’t have a strong GPA when applying? I’m at a 3.2 rn. I definitely feel you on this! I had an undergraduate GPA of 3.38 when I applied to law school and was stressed seeing that it was below a lot of median accepted GPAs of law schools I wanted to apply to. I’m not sure what your major is, but environmental policy was a bachelor of science and the grades that lowered my GPA were things like calculus, biology, and intro environmental engineering. I tried to…
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Managing Stress in Law School
It’s no secret that law school is a stressful place. During my first year of law school, I didn’t know how to manage stress very well. I spent hours in the library studying, my skin broke out, and I often forgot to eat, causing me to lose about 15 pounds of weight. This is certainly not everyone’s experience with how law school stress manifests itself… but it is mine. At the time, the stress and imposter syndrome were overwhelming and I wasn’t able to prioritize my mental or physical health because I was too busy navigating law school classes, internship applications, and everything else. Balancing classes, studying, and other activities…
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What does a typical law student schedule look like?
One very frequent question I get asked is what my schedule in law school looks like. When do I study? for how long? How many classes do I have each day? Well, here’s the answer! Class Scheduling. During 1L, you don’t get any choice on which classes you can take. Everyone takes the same courses, so you will likely just be handed a schedule. I usually had 2 or 3 classes a day, but only one class on Fridays. After 1L year, you get the choose your courses and schedule them on your own, similar to how you would in undergrad. You will be picking a mix of courses you…
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Lessons Learned During My Second Year of Law School
“1L scares you to death, 2L works you to death, and 3L bores you to death.” Somehow, my 2L year was easier AND harder than 1L at the same time. Being able to take classes in area(s) of law i’m interested in made the learning so much easier, but I was also managing an externship and preparing for a national moot court competition at the same time. Not to mention remote learning the entire school year eased my stress and allowed me to focus more on me, but more about that in a bit. I’ve learned a lot this year, and I’m really looking forward to getting started on my…
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MPRE questions, answered
The Multi-state Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE) is an exam many people don’t know about coming into law school. In all states but Wisconsin, you are required to pass the MPRE in addition to the Bar exam in order to practice law! The exam is two hours, and 60 multiple choice questions (50 scored). Your score will fall on a scale of up to 150. The passing score will vary by state. For example, California has the highest minimum passing score at 86 (i’ve seen some posts that say this is roughly 30 questions correct but I am not sure). Many Bar prep companies offer an MPRE prep course for free,…
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Legal Internship Questions Answered
Recently I shared more about my upcoming summer legal internship with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C.! It’s a 12 week summer honors program for law students who have finished their second year. I applied last August and got into the program around October after the interview process (one phone interview with a panel). I then got placed into the Civil Rights Enforcement Office, which deals with discrimination claims alleged against people/groups who receive funds from the EPA. I’m very excited about it! Unfortunately, it will be remote for the entire summer, unless the office returns to in-person (then I’m welcome, but not required, to join them). And…
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What to Bring to UC Davis
Three essential purchases for starting college or grad school at UC Davis. A Bike, and the correct bike lock. You might have heard about how everyone in Davis bikes to get to class or around town. It’s true, we have plenty of bikes here. Davis even had the first bike lane in the U.S.! Bring a bike or have a plan on where to get one because the Targets and Walmarts of the area often sell out fast at the beginning of the school year. I also HIGHLY recommend a U-Lock for locking up your bike. Anyone in Davis will tell you that is the type of bike lock to…
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A Guide to UC Davis Law
A reflection of my time at King Hall I wanted to write out a blog post on King Hall since it is admissions decision season and a few people had asked me about my experience at King Hall. The TL;DR: I love UC Davis Law and can only say good things. Read on for a little bit about my experience, some testimony from my classmates, and some facts about our law school! I just wanted to start this post by saying I did do my undergrad here at UC Davis, so my choice to come to law school here was very much tied to that. I had a great experience…
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Tips For Finding Pre-Law Internships
Here is a post about my own pre-law internship experience and some tips on how to find one yourself. I want to stress though, that legal experience is NOT required nor expected for law school applications. It’s a great opportunity for insight and exposure to the field if you can do it, but don’t stress is you aren’t able to! My Pre-Law Internship Experience I took to google for the area around my university. I was fortunate because not only did my college have a law school, but I was located right next door to the state’s capital with a ton of legal internships. I ended up at the public…