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nuggetls

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Starting law school with a baby

Post by nuggetls » Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:02 am

I'm expecting next March and planning on starting law school Fall 2018 with a 5 month old. This post isn't to ask for advice whether or not this is a terrible idea (my husband and I are very committed to making this work), but I'd love to hear from any of you who are parents to young kids - especially if you are the mom - what your experience has been like. I'd also love insight on any T14 schools that are particularly child friend i.e. have childcare services on campus, the administration and professors are generally understanding, an older/more professional student population, the area around the school is child-friendly, etc. Due to my husband's work situation we are looking primarily at T14 schools in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area.

RedPurpleBlue

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by RedPurpleBlue » Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:25 am

Northwestern is by far going to be the T14 with the oldest and most professional student population. 90% have 1+ years of work experience, 70% have 2+ years, and 50% have 3+ years of work experience. Several of my classmates in just my 60 person section are married and have kids. When you combine all four sections, I would imagine the number of parent/married law students make up a nice little group. Regardless, even if they aren't married and don't have kids, the majority of students are on the older and more professional side.

NU doesn't have a daycare (to my knowledge), but you only have 3hrs of class a day, so it's not as demanding as a 9-5. Lunch breaks are 1.5-2.5hrs long, so if you choose to live close by you'd have plenty of time to go home and make sure everything is okay. None of my married friends with kids have really had any problems up to this point. They haven't needed to skip class or leave early or anything like that either. Even if they had, our professors are really cool and understand things happen, so I doubt there'd be any consequence other than them missing some lecture material.

albanach

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by albanach » Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:47 am

nuggetls wrote:I'm expecting next March and planning on starting law school Fall 2018 with a 5 month old. This post isn't to ask for advice whether or not this is a terrible idea (my husband and I are very committed to making this work), but I'd love to hear from any of you who are parents to young kids - especially if you are the mom - what your experience has been like. I'd also love insight on any T14 schools that are particularly child friend i.e. have childcare services on campus, the administration and professors are generally understanding, an older/more professional student population, the area around the school is child-friendly, etc. Due to my husband's work situation we are looking primarily at T14 schools in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area.
I realize it's not in one of the areas you listed, however UVA has childcare available close to the law school. My kid was a bit older, but I had at least five or six classmates with infants during law school.

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TLSModBot

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by TLSModBot » Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:56 am

GULC has childcare options too and my class had plenty of somewhat older students (I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).

But, like, go to a better school than Georgetown

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MKC

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by MKC » Fri Sep 22, 2017 9:58 am

Capitol_Idea wrote:I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).
I'm impressed. Seriously.
Last edited by MKC on Sat Jan 27, 2018 1:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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AvatarMeelo

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by AvatarMeelo » Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:13 pm

MarkinKansasCity wrote:
Capitol_Idea wrote:I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).
I'm impressed. Seriously.
Seriously.

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UVA2B

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by UVA2B » Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:15 pm

clueless801 wrote:
MarkinKansasCity wrote:
Capitol_Idea wrote:I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).
I'm impressed. Seriously.
Seriously.
Turnaround time alone makes this insane. And makes me terrified of how hectic your life is now Cap.

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UVA2B

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by UVA2B » Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:22 pm

albanach wrote:
nuggetls wrote:I'm expecting next March and planning on starting law school Fall 2018 with a 5 month old. This post isn't to ask for advice whether or not this is a terrible idea (my husband and I are very committed to making this work), but I'd love to hear from any of you who are parents to young kids - especially if you are the mom - what your experience has been like. I'd also love insight on any T14 schools that are particularly child friend i.e. have childcare services on campus, the administration and professors are generally understanding, an older/more professional student population, the area around the school is child-friendly, etc. Due to my husband's work situation we are looking primarily at T14 schools in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area.
I realize it's not in one of the areas you listed, however UVA has childcare available close to the law school. My kid was a bit older, but I had at least five or six classmates with infants during law school.
I'm sure most of the top schools have some childcare nearby, but I will reiterate that the UVA CDC system is excellent. You're not automatically in there as a student, but if you get on the list early enough, you'll get a spot as a priority 1 because you're a student.

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TLSModBot

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by TLSModBot » Fri Sep 22, 2017 8:38 pm

clueless801 wrote:
MarkinKansasCity wrote:
Capitol_Idea wrote:I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).
I'm impressed. Seriously.
Seriously.
I wasn't the one who carried em, so that made it easier

But yeah my grades went into the toilet after 1L but *shrug* who cares

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nuggetls

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by nuggetls » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:48 pm

Capitol_Idea wrote:GULC has childcare options too and my class had plenty of somewhat older students (I went from zero to 3 kids during law school).

But, like, go to a better school than Georgetown
Yikes. Your wife is a superhero. We are thinking about having #2 sometime during my 2nd or 3rd year, but I suppose you can only plan so much.

Haha - to your last point, I did my undergrad at Georgetown many years ago. I loved it, but my husband and I are both ready for a different experience.

nuggetls

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by nuggetls » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:49 pm

RedPurpleBlue wrote:Northwestern is by far going to be the T14 with the oldest and most professional student population. 90% have 1+ years of work experience, 70% have 2+ years, and 50% have 3+ years of work experience. Several of my classmates in just my 60 person section are married and have kids. When you combine all four sections, I would imagine the number of parent/married law students make up a nice little group. Regardless, even if they aren't married and don't have kids, the majority of students are on the older and more professional side.

NU doesn't have a daycare (to my knowledge), but you only have 3hrs of class a day, so it's not as demanding as a 9-5. Lunch breaks are 1.5-2.5hrs long, so if you choose to live close by you'd have plenty of time to go home and make sure everything is okay. None of my married friends with kids have really had any problems up to this point. They haven't needed to skip class or leave early or anything like that either. Even if they had, our professors are really cool and understand things happen, so I doubt there'd be any consequence other than them missing some lecture material.
Thank you. This is so helpful - Northwestern is definitely high up there on my list due to the reasons you mentioned.

nuggetls

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by nuggetls » Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:55 pm

UVA2B wrote:
albanach wrote:
nuggetls wrote:I'm expecting next March and planning on starting law school Fall 2018 with a 5 month old. This post isn't to ask for advice whether or not this is a terrible idea (my husband and I are very committed to making this work), but I'd love to hear from any of you who are parents to young kids - especially if you are the mom - what your experience has been like. I'd also love insight on any T14 schools that are particularly child friend i.e. have childcare services on campus, the administration and professors are generally understanding, an older/more professional student population, the area around the school is child-friendly, etc. Due to my husband's work situation we are looking primarily at T14 schools in NYC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area.
I realize it's not in one of the areas you listed, however UVA has childcare available close to the law school. My kid was a bit older, but I had at least five or six classmates with infants during law school.
I'm sure most of the top schools have some childcare nearby, but I will reiterate that the UVA CDC system is excellent. You're not automatically in there as a student, but if you get on the list early enough, you'll get a spot as a priority 1 because you're a student.
I've heard that UVA is great for families - it's such a bummer we can't make it work.

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WinterComing

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by WinterComing » Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:33 pm

I started at YLS with a young child. Happy to talk more by PM, but the bottom line is that if you're a parent going to law school, this is a decent place to do it. There is a daycare in the law school building that is super convenient and quite good (but also expensive). You don't have grades the first semester, so the transition to balancing law school and family is maybe a little easier. And you won't be alone: 46 percent of the class of 2020 is 3+ years out, and I know several other parents at the school. Finally, New Haven has a bad reputation but is actually a very family-friendly city.

ETA: The commute for your husband to New York would probably suck though. Sorry, I missed the city preferences on the first read.

NoDayButToday

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Re: Starting law school with a baby

Post by NoDayButToday » Tue Sep 26, 2017 10:27 am

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