Posted by snikles at ppp-68-122-72-20.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net on January 21, 2004 at 02:18:28:
In Reply to: I'm going to law school in the fall... posted by The Cam on January 21, 2004 at 01:57:42:
1. the socratic method- i won't go into very many details about it, but the theory is that they can teach you about the law by making you read cases and then asking you questions about the cases in front of the rest of the class. the problem is that they never tell you if your answer to their question or any of the other students answere are right or wrong. i will admit that not all of my proffs were purely socratic, but they were enough to make it confusing.
2. the grading is arbitrary- the professor's will pretty much admit that this the case. when questioned one of my proffs responded that he couldn't tell you what would be an "A" answer, but he knows one when he sees one.
3. it is fairly expensive- unless you go to an instate public school you are going to be up to shaquille o'neals ass in debt.
4. final exams- you go to school for 5 months and never take a test until the end of the semester. you have no quizzes, papers or nothing to tell you if you are understanding the material. then they lock you in a room for 3+ hours, non-stop while you try to figure out what the hell the professors want you to say about whatever ridiculous fact pattern that is put in front of you. this isn't like undergrad where you get finished and leave early. you use every minute. the way the exams are designed you can't get to all the issues in the allotted time. whoever gets throught the most and analyzes them well sets the curve.
5. the hastings curve- know one is quite sure how it works, but theoretically it is suppose to make the median 3.0. this means that half the studenst have below a 3.0 gpa. most of the other 1st tier law schools end up with nearly all of their students over 3.0.
so what school are you going to?