If one more of my law school peeps asks me about fall semester registration I seriously think I’m going to stab my eyes out with a rusty nail.
Now that the outrage over our recent SBA elections is starting to die down, everyone’s attention has focused on class registration. We start registering for summer and fall semester tomorrow.
The exciting aspect about this year’s registration is that we actually get to choose our classes! We’ve completed most of our required courses, the only one left is Advocacy which is my school’s final installment of our Legal Research and Writing program.
However, freedom in choosing our classes apparently comes with a price. Everyone is freaking out and obsessing over their schedules. It’s all anyone is talking about at school these past few days.
“What are you taking?”
“Which section of Advocacy are you going to pick?”
“Why do you want to take Crim Pro, take Sports Law with me instead!”
“I’m not going to have any classes with you, we need to coordinate our schedules better.”
And the list goes on.
Truthfully, I don’t care if I have any classes with my friends next year. While I love my law school peeps dearly, conforming to their schedules so they don’t have to sit alone in class is not something I’m willing to do.
Scheduling is a pain in the butt. Not only am I planning for classes that might be full by the time I register, I have to consider my work schedule and my son’s school and activity schedule. This leaves me with few options and I’m not going to take “Law and Underwater Basket Weaving: Survey” because my friends are.
Furthermore, I’m not going to take classes just because:
- The prof teaching the class gives no lower than an A++
- The class is pass/fail
- The final is an open book 24-hour take home
- There is no final exam
- Attendance isn’t taken
- You don’t get cold called on in class
I could care less if my future profs are tough graders and brutal in class. I spend a lot of money each semester to learn the law and so long as my profs help me become an attorney through their teaching, it doesn’t matter to me that their final is a pee-your-pants-while-vomiting nightmare.
Ok, my rant is over, I feel better. Now I just need to figure out how to avoid my friends for the next 36 hours until I get my schedule figured out . . .
Nah, those bullet points are fantastic reasons to take a class. I decided to “challenge” myself my last semester and take this ridiculous non-profit orgs class because it seemed like an important topic that I would use some day. Epic fail. 100+ pages of reading each week, group projects, participation points, the professor was a complete snoozer, I still feel violated by the final exam, and it killed my gpa. Also, the only time I’ve used the material is when a friend who didn’t take the class called me up to ask some questions.
Take classes you’re interested in, not necessarily because they’re bar topics, and from professors who are actually good teachers. Some of the classes I learned the most in were the ones that were the “easy” classes (i.e. no final, didn’t call on people, and/or graded easy), like Insurance, Scientific Evidence and Immigration. For me it took the pressure off and I could just focus on actually learning the material and not freaking out. There’s a point where if you’re too overworked and stressed out, you aren’t learning anything anyway!
Happy scheduling!
ProtoAttorney, you make some really good points, especially the one regarding the “easy” classes, I hadn’t though of being able to just relax and listen to the prof (go figure
).
Among other classes, I ended up (partially because I was waitlisted for several classes I wanted to take) signing up for Federal Indian Law. A subject I will most likely never use in the future, but it’s being taught by my Property prof and it’s her area of expertise. I think the class will be very interesting and I already love her teaching style. Her exams aren’t easy but it should be an interesting class!
Thanks for the great advice!
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