A WARNING to D/L law students!

I have fallen behind in one subject and am off track (though not, I think, actually behind the "power curve" in the other subject.

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!

I find coming up with a single hour per day increasingly difficult, working full time and with Summer approaching. Family and work are making my time very short indeed. NOW, however, I have to find MORE time to catch up as well as running to keep up with the flood of new material.

Here is my WARNING for students considering any California D/L program:

I am struggling to find an hour each day. But the California Bar requires a documented 864 hours of study every year. That, ladies and gentlemen is a little less than 2-1/2 hours per day. EVERY day.

Bottom line:

1) KNOW the enormity of the task you are attempting.

2) DO NOT FALL BEHIND!

3) Expect MAJOR disruption in your personal and family life.

Your studies will command a much higher priority than you thought possible. Those around you will NOT understand.

If there is ANY way to earn uyour law degree in a resident program, that is probably the better option for the vast majority of students in the vast majority of circumstances.

 

While I am not a DL Law student, I am a DL MBA student and your time management advice is well taken, it is not unusual to spend an hour or two on school work most nights per week. Your workload is extremely heavy, but I know you will persevere, good luck...

William

 

Very wise words. I'm not in law school either, but am working on my DL BA and have been stalling on finishing a 7000 word essay on a book I'm working on. So many things vie for my attention!

 

1- Yes
2- Yes
3- Yes

I am a distance learning law student, and last year with University of London was brutal. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in school. By the time revision came around I had to be studying 30+ hours a week. I rarely fell behind, for which I credit LTO.

Best of luck to you.

 

I can't imagine that DL law school is anything short of tougher and more stringent than regular law school. I had terrible study habits in law school, typically would start off each semester telling myself: "This time I'm doing it right, going to keep right up, do all the extra work, burn through the books, read prof's scholarship, etc." This would typically last for a couple weeks, then I'd just give up and goof off til the last few weeks of the semester and then cram day and night til the exams. I repeated that absurd cycle through six semesters, treated the Bar the same way, but passed first time! : ) I can't fathom that could be done in DL law school; there's just no safety net really, if you blow it, you blow it, and you better keep up.

 

This is so true in all DL I think.
Fortunately, at my level (pursuing a BA Math at Excelsior) I can get out of having gotten horribly behind by taking a no penalty drop on the course I ran out of time on and starting it over. But the wasted time and money!!

Elizabeth

 

A suggestion for prospective law students…

Starting today keep track on an hourly basis of your activities for the next week – work, leisure, commuting, sleeping etc.

This time next week review your activities for the past week. If you can’t find 17 hours of activities you’re willing omit from your life for the next four years you shouldn’t enroll.

Maybe a little over simplistic but this is the type of commitment necessary for success.

 

the proverbial 26 hour day

Thanks all for a scary but most helpful thread. I agree that any DL student can profit from what has been said here and by putting the suggestions into disciplined practice.

 

When I decided a DL law program was the route I wanted (or had to) take in earning my degree, I began to faithfully set aside 25 hours per week for study in my current classes. I have been doing this for 2 years. I'm hoping this habit will be helpful when I begin my DL law studies with Taft Univ.

We will see!

 

If being a lawyer is your ultimate goal, have you considered going for it NOW?

Taft is a good, well known school; I believe that if you have an A.A. or A.S. (not an A.A.S.) or 60 s.h. creditable toward a bacherlor's degree, Taft will consider your application.

Good luck to you! Keep us posted!

 

1) The task involves 864 hours per year, which is 16.62 hours per week, which is 2.37 hours per day.

2) Even if things were so out of hand that you had studied exactly 0 hours so far this year, there are only 110 days gone, which leaves 255 days, or 36 weeks. This ups your 864 hour annual requirement to 24 hours per week or 3.42 hours a day.

3) Your family will HAVE TO understand. Set aside a separate study area. If you have young children, let them know that they are not to enter Daddy's (Mommy's?) study unless one of them is bleeding to death, choking to death, or something like that. If your spouse or your parents are causing the family-related disruptions, tough, they can take it like adults. Be assertive!

 

Nosborne:

I have considered it. However, getting a Bachelor's degree has been a personal and professional goal of mine for many years. Now that I am educated about Excelsior and can move very quickly through exams to complete the degree, I have opted for trying to finish my bachelor's first. I know it will add a year or so on to my overall education plan but I feel it's worth it.

Although, the representative at Taft assured me that AA/AS student do as well, if not better than graduate students??

What would be the advantages of going in only with an AA/AS vs a BS? Any? Other than cutting off time to reach my goal?

Thank you. I have come to respect you very much through your postings. Any sage advice from an experienced lawyer like yourself is appreciated.

By the way, may I ask what type of law you practice?

 

I will eagerly defer to Nosborne on anything having to do with law school.

I would say that getting the bachelor's is a good idea, though. Think of it as backup. Also, (I never thought I'd say this) there is something to be said for just plain knowing more stuff about more stuff. It might make you a better lawyer or whatever you wind up doing.

It's just a thought. Nosborne's the expert (David Boyd is the expertissimo).

Good luck to you whatever you decide.

 

Gee Ted, quit being so indecisive! BTW, you're absolutely right.

This applies especially to anyone whose work hours are self-set. You gotta carve the bleeding chunk out of your schedule and stop your ears to any self-induced guiltmongering (oh, I should do more in the office, or, I'll miss little Susie's rugby match, or...).

Consider study the meaning of life and work an evasion.

 

Actually, even choking to death should be scheduled IN ADVANCE to avoid disrupting your studies. Should you YOURSELF begin to choke to death, make sure you really ARE dying then dial 911 and, before you pass out, gather together some study materials for any potential periods of semi-consciousness in the hospital or ambulance. D/L law students who are actually comatose need to hire readers to go over the material in their hospital rooms...

The only advantages I can see to going directly to the J.D. are time and cost. The Bar in general doesn't care about your undergrad degree UNLESS it is in accounting or engineering/hard sciences.

Some D/L law schools will award you a B.S. in Law mid way through your J.D. studies but that degree isn't likely to be accredited. I don't know if Taft does this. (Come to think of it, I think some CalBar accredited schools do this as well, but I could certainly be wrong.)

Well, too, a B.A. in certain foreign languages might also count for a good bit. Depending on what you want to do, Spanish is increasingly valuable. In some legal fields, it is becoming indispensible. Japanese, Korean or Mandrin would be very valuable to an international business law firm but such firms are likely to look a bit askance at a D/L law degree if what little I've heard is true.

Hm. Now there's a thought...I wonder if reasonable fluency in a commercially important foreign language might overcome a lawyer's unaccredited J.D.?

 

Damn straight! My Dad had a childhood friend and neighbor who earned his PhD in History from the University of Michigan in 1972. His dissertation was entitled "The Political Sociology of China in the Late Chou Dynasty." When fresh out of grad school, he had difficulty finding professorships. But thanks to Tricky Dick's opening up of trade with China, he made good money hiring himself out as a translator for firms doing business in China. To the best of my knowledge, he is now a professor at Seton Hall. His name is Barry Blakely.

 

Russian, Spanish, and Tagalog would be useful for immigration law firms specializing in fiancee visas.

 

Some 20/20 rear vision here as a current California DL law student:

1) Have the support of your family. Add to this that you have no children under ten years old in the house. Working and then adding 30+ hours a week of studying will destroy your marriage.

2) Make sure your study space isn't something like a "computer room" where the wife wants to spend an hour on the Internet while you are trying to study. It's cute for the first hour it happens, but you will flip out every time it happens from there on as it breaks your concentration.

3) Send the wife shopping when quizzes or exams come due. They will always test you by checking their email in the middle of your time-sensitive test.

4) Have the support of your family. Yeah, I already said this. But, seriously, four years of involuntary family neglect will come to haunt you two years in. For as much as they want you to succeed in law school, until you actually do, you suck ass for neglecting them. You will be reminded of this in the middle of every time-sensitive exam you take.

5) Forget about a DL law degree unless you are single. I wish I did this before I got married, when I actually had the time, but now it is a rocket sled to an early grave trying to keep some semblance of balance.

I don't mean to be cynical here, but realistic. It really is hard, and is much harder than you can imagine.

Regards,

Christian

 

1) While it is true that it is much easier to pursue one's studies if one is unmarried and childless, DO NOT let family obligations become an excuse NOT to pursue one's studies!!! If indeed you have young children, explain to Tammy and Trudy and Timmy and Toddy, "Mommy and Daddy are working on their JDs (and/or MBAs and/or MAs/PhDs in History or whatsoever else degrees) so that they can get better-paying jobs as lawyers and businessmen and businesswomen and history professors (and Mommy/Daddy will be so much happier once they get jobs that they really like), so if you guys will let us study now, we'll take you to McDonald's for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday!" If it's the wife that's too demanding on one's time try, "Honey, Viagra doesn't seem to be kickin' in yet! Can it wait four hours?"

2) Make sure the wife understands that your study time includes your time to be on the Internet right now or you could, if financially feasible, get a second computer. Encourage your wife to look through Bears' Guide and find a degree that suits her!

3) Again, make sure the wife understands that your study time is your computer time.

4) Remind them that they need to make short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits. It is not for nothing that your old football coach and/or PE tacher used to say, "No pain, no gain!" Your salary increase will be worth the short-term sacrifice of Daddy's/Mommy's time studying. And, of course, throw in the occasional short-term bribe.

5) Like I said, do not let family obligations get in the way of your studies.

 

Combine the last two posts and you have a great idea of what it takes to be in a California DL law school.

Don't let family get in the way, which I wrongly implied in my post, but prepare them as far in advance as possible, make sure they understand, and if they turn on you before you even start, think again.

You need to feed and care for your family every chance you get in order to succeed. It's been a very fine line to balance, and I haven't fallen off it yet, but I am getting dizzy.

Christian