BC 1L taking questions Forum

A forum for applicants and admitted students to ask law students and graduates about law school and the practice of law.
whatever17

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by whatever17 » Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:53 pm

when did y'all hear about your section/class schedule after deposits were down?

bceagle_4

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by bceagle_4 » Wed Apr 05, 2017 6:43 pm

whatever17 wrote:when did y'all hear about your section/class schedule after deposits were down?
I don't remember exactly when it was. But definitely in the summer. Think it was towards the middle/end of July! They wait to do the sections until most of the 1L class is set.

helydia

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by helydia » Fri Apr 07, 2017 6:18 am

bceagle_4 wrote:Another BC 1L here to answer questions. I finished first semester at the top of my class with a 4.0 (probably thanks to a healthy amount of good fortune) and hope to help others do similarly well as well as answer any questions about BC, Boston, or law school in general. Fire away!
Thank you guys for doing this. The questions and answers above are really helpful. I have deposited for my seat in the new class.

- Your GPA is quite impressive. How hard did you work for it? How much do you think the grade is related to how smart the student is?
- Have you considered your chance of transferring to Harvard if you end up with a 4.0 this semester as well?

bceagle_4

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by bceagle_4 » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:15 am

helydia wrote:
bceagle_4 wrote:Another BC 1L here to answer questions. I finished first semester at the top of my class with a 4.0 (probably thanks to a healthy amount of good fortune) and hope to help others do similarly well as well as answer any questions about BC, Boston, or law school in general. Fire away!
Thank you guys for doing this. The questions and answers above are really helpful. I have deposited for my seat in the new class.

- Your GPA is quite impressive. How hard did you work for it? How much do you think the grade is related to how smart the student is?
- Have you considered your chance of transferring to Harvard if you end up with a 4.0 this semester as well?
Let me start by saying, welcome to the BC Law community! I believe you made the best choice in law schools.

GPA/Grade Stuff: thanks for your compliment. I worked fairly hard last semester. But by no means did I even come close to studying the most out of my classmates. I think a fairly large portion of my success can be attributed to two key things, efficiency and stress (the former being something you can control and the latter being something you just need to be aware of). In terms of efficiency, I have always been someone who has always needed less time than others to accomplish the same assignment (at the same level, if not higher, of quality). Papers in college that took people a week to write, I would often finish in at most two days. Obviously, increasing efficiency is a great goal. So here are a few things I do that I think help me do that. 1) When studying, don't set a time limit for how long you'll be at the library. Rather, set a list of the things you want to accomplish. This may seem really obvious. But too many of my classmates, for whatever reason, seem to think that hours spent in the library is an important measurement of success. I.E. my friends will say something to the effect of "I'm going to study from 9AM-8pm this Saturday." This allows them to essentially just punch the clock and feel like they are being productive. What I'll say to myself is "I'm going to outline separation of powers for Con Law, focus on the distinctions between common law and MPC for homicide, and write/revise this specific section of my law practice brief." This gives me clear goals to accomplish and when I finish them, I get to leave for the day.

Another thing I think I do that contributes to my efficiency is taking a break. Law school is a lot of work. And truth be told, there's always more work you can be doing. It's easy to get in this mindset of "I need to be at the library until 8pm every single day." Especially around finals time. Maybe that works for some people. But in my experience, breaks are certainly needed. There's no set formula for how often you should take some time off. You just need to know yourself well and listen to your body/mind. For me, there are some days where I'll wake up and think that I'm in a productive mode. But then I'll get to the library and start reading an assignment or outlining and realize that absolutely nothing is sticking. When this happens, I don't power through just to say I did the reading/outlining. Instead, I go home and take a break. Watch some netflix. Play some guitar. Go for a run. Whatever it is. Then I might try again later that night, or just take the day off. Too many people think that you can't take an entire day, or even half a day, off from studying when close to finals. But I think that doing so is a) crucial to mental health and b) increases productivity. It is important to note that 1L finals are almost all long, issue-spotter type exams. And they absolutely never have the same facts as any of the cases you read throughout the semester. It is important to go into those finals well-rested and not with an exhausted brain from too much studying. But you need to figure out what that means for you. For me, it meant I never studied after lunch the day before an exam. It seems that I was in the minority in doing that, most people stopped around dinner. Just find what works best for you and do it.

My last piece of advice here is that every student is different. And if you're going to law school at BC, you were clearly a pretty successful student for most of your life. Remember how you got to this point. If you studied a bunch of hours a day, every day, continue to do that. If you were like me and took a few days off, do that. Law school is much different from undergrad in the way material is presented and exams are given, but at the end of the day it's still school. I think too many people forget that sometimes and completely change what worked for them in the past once they get here.

I just realized how long this was, so I'm gonna talk about the second point quickly. I have no interest in transferring to Harvard. And here's my logic. BC is the #26 ranked law school. That's pretty good. If I finish top of my class at BC, I can do whatever I want in terms of career. There's no guarantee if I transferred to Harvard that I would do as well (yes, I'm aware that merely having a degree from HLS will mean incredibly opportunities, but still for later reasons I won't transfer). More importantly, I believe that a decent amount of my success is due to the environment and community at BC. We treat each other with respect. Are friendly towards one another. And always willing to help each other. This often isn't the case at other law schools. They tend to have this cutthroat environment that is super competitive. I've heard it described by some people that they feel like their classmate would actually stab a knife in their back if it meant moving up a spot in the rankings. That's not the way it is at BC. Finally, I've formed some great friendships this year at BC. And have no interest in transferring schools. But I know for some people, the goal is to do really well during 1L and then transfer to a T-14 school. That just isn't for me. Call me a fool, but I believe there are more important things than a law school's ranking (even though BC's is very high and does the best at placing big law jobs in Boston) when it comes to choosing a school/staying at a school.

Hope that helps and sorry for the rambling. I just woke up and started writing.

helydia

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by helydia » Fri Apr 07, 2017 8:40 pm

bceagle_4 wrote:
helydia wrote:
bceagle_4 wrote:Another BC 1L here to answer questions. I finished first semester at the top of my class with a 4.0 (probably thanks to a healthy amount of good fortune) and hope to help others do similarly well as well as answer any questions about BC, Boston, or law school in general. Fire away!
Thank you guys for doing this. The questions and answers above are really helpful. I have deposited for my seat in the new class.

- Your GPA is quite impressive. How hard did you work for it? How much do you think the grade is related to how smart the student is?
- Have you considered your chance of transferring to Harvard if you end up with a 4.0 this semester as well?
Let me start by saying, welcome to the BC Law community! I believe you made the best choice in law schools.

GPA/Grade Stuff: thanks for your compliment. I worked fairly hard last semester. But by no means did I even come close to studying the most out of my classmates. I think a fairly large portion of my success can be attributed to two key things, efficiency and stress (the former being something you can control and the latter being something you just need to be aware of). In terms of efficiency, I have always been someone who has always needed less time than others to accomplish the same assignment (at the same level, if not higher, of quality). Papers in college that took people a week to write, I would often finish in at most two days. Obviously, increasing efficiency is a great goal. So here are a few things I do that I think help me do that. 1) When studying, don't set a time limit for how long you'll be at the library. Rather, set a list of the things you want to accomplish. This may seem really obvious. But too many of my classmates, for whatever reason, seem to think that hours spent in the library is an important measurement of success. I.E. my friends will say something to the effect of "I'm going to study from 9AM-8pm this Saturday." This allows them to essentially just punch the clock and feel like they are being productive. What I'll say to myself is "I'm going to outline separation of powers for Con Law, focus on the distinctions between common law and MPC for homicide, and write/revise this specific section of my law practice brief." This gives me clear goals to accomplish and when I finish them, I get to leave for the day.

Another thing I think I do that contributes to my efficiency is taking a break. Law school is a lot of work. And truth be told, there's always more work you can be doing. It's easy to get in this mindset of "I need to be at the library until 8pm every single day." Especially around finals time. Maybe that works for some people. But in my experience, breaks are certainly needed. There's no set formula for how often you should take some time off. You just need to know yourself well and listen to your body/mind. For me, there are some days where I'll wake up and think that I'm in a productive mode. But then I'll get to the library and start reading an assignment or outlining and realize that absolutely nothing is sticking. When this happens, I don't power through just to say I did the reading/outlining. Instead, I go home and take a break. Watch some netflix. Play some guitar. Go for a run. Whatever it is. Then I might try again later that night, or just take the day off. Too many people think that you can't take an entire day, or even half a day, off from studying when close to finals. But I think that doing so is a) crucial to mental health and b) increases productivity. It is important to note that 1L finals are almost all long, issue-spotter type exams. And they absolutely never have the same facts as any of the cases you read throughout the semester. It is important to go into those finals well-rested and not with an exhausted brain from too much studying. But you need to figure out what that means for you. For me, it meant I never studied after lunch the day before an exam. It seems that I was in the minority in doing that, most people stopped around dinner. Just find what works best for you and do it.

My last piece of advice here is that every student is different. And if you're going to law school at BC, you were clearly a pretty successful student for most of your life. Remember how you got to this point. If you studied a bunch of hours a day, every day, continue to do that. If you were like me and took a few days off, do that. Law school is much different from undergrad in the way material is presented and exams are given, but at the end of the day it's still school. I think too many people forget that sometimes and completely change what worked for them in the past once they get here.

I just realized how long this was, so I'm gonna talk about the second point quickly. I have no interest in transferring to Harvard. And here's my logic. BC is the #26 ranked law school. That's pretty good. If I finish top of my class at BC, I can do whatever I want in terms of career. There's no guarantee if I transferred to Harvard that I would do as well (yes, I'm aware that merely having a degree from HLS will mean incredibly opportunities, but still for later reasons I won't transfer). More importantly, I believe that a decent amount of my success is due to the environment and community at BC. We treat each other with respect. Are friendly towards one another. And always willing to help each other. This often isn't the case at other law schools. They tend to have this cutthroat environment that is super competitive. I've heard it described by some people that they feel like their classmate would actually stab a knife in their back if it meant moving up a spot in the rankings. That's not the way it is at BC. Finally, I've formed some great friendships this year at BC. And have no interest in transferring schools. But I know for some people, the goal is to do really well during 1L and then transfer to a T-14 school. That just isn't for me. Call me a fool, but I believe there are more important things than a law school's ranking (even though BC's is very high and does the best at placing big law jobs in Boston) when it comes to choosing a school/staying at a school.

Hope that helps and sorry for the rambling. I just woke up and started writing.
Thanks so much!! Detailed answers are always awesome. :wink: :wink:

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em15

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by em15 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 1:21 pm

I was told on a tour that there will only be 2 journals next year. Could someone expand on this? Should I be concerned?

bceagle_4

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by bceagle_4 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 1:35 pm

em15 wrote:I was told on a tour that there will only be 2 journals next year. Could someone expand on this? Should I be concerned?
They are combining all of the journals under the "BC Law Review" journal (except the U.C.C. Digest, which is the second journal). This will allow for a) people on Law Review to write about whatever topics they wish instead of being bound by what specific journal they are on and b) more people to put BC Law Review on their resume.

This is not something you should be concerned about for a number of reasons. First, you are not in law school yet so it is much too early to be concerning yourself with journals. Second, there is no way of knowing whether you would receive the grades necessary to have made it on to law review under the old format. Statistically speaking, this benefits you.

This is the extent of my knowledge because I'm just a 1L and will not be on a journal, if at all, until the fall. Hope this helps!

em15

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by em15 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 1:42 pm

bceagle_4 wrote:
em15 wrote:I was told on a tour that there will only be 2 journals next year. Could someone expand on this? Should I be concerned?
They are combining all of the journals under the "BC Law Review" journal (except the U.C.C. Digest, which is the second journal). This will allow for a) people on Law Review to write about whatever topics they wish instead of being bound by what specific journal they are on and b) more people to put BC Law Review on their resume.

This is not something you should be concerned about for a number of reasons. First, you are not in law school yet so it is much too early to be concerning yourself with journals. Second, there is no way of knowing whether you would receive the grades necessary to have made it on to law review under the old format. Statistically speaking, this benefits you.

This is the extent of my knowledge because I'm just a 1L and will not be on a journal, if at all, until the fall. Hope this helps!
Thank you!! I'm still debating between two schools, so I'm starting to be nitpicky with stuff like this haha. This definitely helps!

bceagle_4

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by bceagle_4 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 2:38 pm

em15 wrote:
bceagle_4 wrote:
em15 wrote:I was told on a tour that there will only be 2 journals next year. Could someone expand on this? Should I be concerned?
They are combining all of the journals under the "BC Law Review" journal (except the U.C.C. Digest, which is the second journal). This will allow for a) people on Law Review to write about whatever topics they wish instead of being bound by what specific journal they are on and b) more people to put BC Law Review on their resume.

This is not something you should be concerned about for a number of reasons. First, you are not in law school yet so it is much too early to be concerning yourself with journals. Second, there is no way of knowing whether you would receive the grades necessary to have made it on to law review under the old format. Statistically speaking, this benefits you.

This is the extent of my knowledge because I'm just a 1L and will not be on a journal, if at all, until the fall. Hope this helps!
Thank you!! I'm still debating between two schools, so I'm starting to be nitpicky with stuff like this haha. This definitely helps!
This is not the kind of stuff you should be nitpicky with. If it's between two schools, and all things are fairly equal (rankings, job prospects, scholarship $) the best way to decide is to just see how the school feels to you when you tour. I can honestly say that being comfortable in your environment is crucial to success in law school. Much more so though whether there are 2 journals or 30 journals.

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em15

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by em15 » Sun Apr 09, 2017 3:09 pm

bceagle_4 wrote:
em15 wrote:
bceagle_4 wrote:
em15 wrote:I was told on a tour that there will only be 2 journals next year. Could someone expand on this? Should I be concerned?
They are combining all of the journals under the "BC Law Review" journal (except the U.C.C. Digest, which is the second journal). This will allow for a) people on Law Review to write about whatever topics they wish instead of being bound by what specific journal they are on and b) more people to put BC Law Review on their resume.

This is not something you should be concerned about for a number of reasons. First, you are not in law school yet so it is much too early to be concerning yourself with journals. Second, there is no way of knowing whether you would receive the grades necessary to have made it on to law review under the old format. Statistically speaking, this benefits you.

This is the extent of my knowledge because I'm just a 1L and will not be on a journal, if at all, until the fall. Hope this helps!
Thank you!! I'm still debating between two schools, so I'm starting to be nitpicky with stuff like this haha. This definitely helps!
This is not the kind of stuff you should be nitpicky with. If it's between two schools, and all things are fairly equal (rankings, job prospects, scholarship $) the best way to decide is to just see how the school feels to you when you tour. I can honestly say that being comfortable in your environment is crucial to success in law school. Much more so though whether there are 2 journals or 30 journals.
Unfortunately, I felt really comfortable at both schools, and rankings/employment/bar passage etc. is the same at both. The big difference is one school is in my home state, but I'd like to live somewhere new. However, the school in a new location that I'd like to be in is more expensive for me.

theventriloquist

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by theventriloquist » Thu Apr 27, 2017 8:41 pm

How are the girls? Very imbalanced, so i imagine they are easy to fuck?

user has been banned

Npret

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by Npret » Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:03 pm

Deleted my quote of above because it's just gross.
Last edited by Npret on Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Thu Apr 27, 2017 9:16 pm

Yeah, that's a ban. Don't ask shit like that.

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mattlawsuh

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by mattlawsuh » Tue Apr 17, 2018 7:06 pm

Do you mind sharing your 1L schedule for both semesters, just to get an idea about what our academic year will look like? Also, what elective did you choose, and why? Do you recommend it? Or regret it?

em15

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by em15 » Sat May 26, 2018 1:18 pm

mattlawsuh wrote:Do you mind sharing your 1L schedule for both semesters, just to get an idea about what our academic year will look like? Also, what elective did you choose, and why? Do you recommend it? Or regret it?
Generally, the schedule has torts, contracts, civil procedure, and law practice in the fall (15 credit hours) and property, constitutional law, criminal law, law practice, and an elective in the spring (17 credit hours). One of the sections had torts and property switched. You can PM me for the elective I took. The electives are small, and I don't want people to be able to identify me on here. There are many different topics to choose from for your elective. One issue with the electives to keep in mind is that half of them have finals and half don't, so you may have an extra final to study for than many of your classmates.

jstanhope14

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by jstanhope14 » Sun May 27, 2018 10:18 am

when do we get our bc.edu emails?

em15

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Re: BC 1L taking questions

Post by em15 » Sun May 27, 2018 1:29 pm

jstanhope14 wrote:when do we get our bc.edu emails?
Looks like we got ours June 8th last year.

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