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Law School-First-Year, The Fear-Part II "Look to your left, look to your right, at the end of three years only one of you will still be here." The Dean of the law school I attended provided my class with his own version of this famous saying on my first day of law school. In his reference he stated that we should look to our left and right because that is who we were going to graduate with. The Dean was right. It is common for first-year law students to become very anxious because they question whether they are law school material. Anxious to the point where it may impact their lives, like the three weeks of insomnia I experienced during my first semester. Below are a few things to keep in mind when and if the anxiety of your first year of law school begins to build. First, understand that the overwhelming majority of entering law students graduate. Many law students who do not graduate do so for personal reasons such as family considerations, health considerations, or lack of desire, and not academic reasons. Law school administrations and faculties honestly do want all their students to graduate and will try to assist students in what ever reasonable ways they can. Second, you are intelligent enough to graduate law school. It was not a mistake that you were admitted to law school. Law schools use many different factors in determining who is admitted and each application may be reviewed by more than one person. Law school admissions committees know what qualities and skills law students must possess to do well and they do a good job of making sure their admitted applicants possess those qualities and skills. Finally, even if you do experience academic difficulty in law school every law school in the country has academic support professors to assist you in learning the law. These professors provide individualized help that is specifically tailored to the students they are helping. They also have the ability to explain the law in several different ways that allows students to grasp what has previously eluded them. I have seen academic support professors have a big impact on the academic achievement of law students they have worked with. Below are a few websites that address law school success. http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/academic_support/ http://www.princetonreview.com/law/research/articles/success/classroomTips.asp http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/profiles/glesnerfines/success-front.html Other related articles on this website include The Law School Experience: Fear, Work, & Boredom, Law School: First Year-The Fear Part I, Law School: Second Year-The Work , and Law School: Third Year-The Boredom. Good luck in your first year! Michael Santana If you have any questions or comments about this article, or want to write your own article about the pre-law or law school process, feel free to contact me.
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