Advice for Aspiring Lawyers

The LSAT is not the end of the world. Just the worst multiple choice test you've taken....so far. Just wait, it gets worse. And, honestly, if you're studying for it and "can't handle the pressure", good luck with law school, because you're going to crumble. 

• Learning how to de-stress is key.
• Be really really really sure that you want to do this. Seriously, you're giving up three years of your life, and likely a relationship or two (not necessarily a romantic one), and your ability to think like a normal person. 
• All of law school feels like this: 

Take that however you will. 

• Get ready to hear generational generalizations. Most law school professors are significantly older than you. By significantly, I meant that there will be a noticeable generational gap. Such as today, when my professor blanketly made the assumption that history doesn't matter to the three generations currently in class. Personally, I find that mildly offensive. 
• You will routinely get through 10 minutes of class and it will feel like an eternity. Unless you're a much better person than I am. Which you probably are. What I'm saying here, is that more days than I'd like to admit feel like this: 

• It is OK to go to law school, only to realize that you really don't ever want to practice law. Or to go to law school and suddenly realize that you want to be a big mouthed litigator (I would be the case in point on that one). 
• Even if you don't want to practice, TAKE A CLINIC CLASS, dear god, take a clinic class. Otherwise, unless you're incredibly into esoteric details, you're going to lose your damn mind and wonder why you have resigned yourself to large amounts of debt and surroundings that are disturbingly like a case study in both game theory and clinical psychology. 
• The lesson to be learned from not getting into the law school of your choice is this: kick ass your first year of law school, and you can transfer. 
• Unless you're some sort of fitness freak, your physical well being will likely take a minor to major nosedive at some point during your law school career. Take a good long look in the mirror, and think about how attractive you feel at the moment. Then divide your attractiveness by half, and add the largest dose of nerdiness you have access to. Then add the inability to have normal conversations, unless they're peppered with legal terms. Yeah, getting the picture now? Not pretty, is it? I will say that it does get better....by 3L year. If you have a job. 
• Think about your job situation currently. Do you have a good shot of getting one? Do you currently have a solid job? Do you feel fairly satisfied with your situation in life? Do you enjoy not being in a soul-crushing amount of debt? Do you enjoy having a social life? If you answered yes to most of these questions, be prepared for most of that to be turned on its head in law school.  Ta-Da! Sucky life situation. 
• Do you gain a sick sense of functionality as a person watching other people's lives fall apart (in a strictly #firstworldproblems sense of the term)? Do you get a sort of masochistic pleasure from being overburdened with work? Are you extremely type-A? Do you enjoy listening to/reading about extremely opinionated people tearing each other a new one? Then, my friend, law school is for you.
• Learn how to make quick meals, or how to freeze months of food. Also, have a dishwasher. 
• Get comfortable ordering things online. 
• Begin dreading parking tickets like the plague. 
• Begin dreading tuition statements like the plague
• Begin questioning the logic of externships. 
• Practice hiding your jealousy for when a classmate gets that journal spot/summer job/moot court spot/ class/grade/recommendation that you wanted. 
• Determine how much you care about quality of things vs. free-ness of things. 

This has been my tutorial in getting ready for law school . Now, deep breaths, learn how to meditate, and invest in coffee.