As I was looking through the Fall schedule and trying to pick out my classes for my 3L fall, I found myself getting overwhelmed with trying to find classes that I wanted to take, while still trying to fulfill credits with classes that are bar tested or would be likely to serve me in my career. Obviously law school is only three years, with one of those years almost completely chosen for students, and another few courses required, leaving students with only so much room to take electives that they want to take purely out of interest.
I only have two more semesters left and I'm finding that some of the courses I put off until next year I likely will not end up taking because I also need to prioritize other bar-tested courses and bar-prep classes. Not that I wish law school was longer, but I do wish I had more freedom in my schedule to take classes that I think would just be fun, or be able to fill more credits with practical courses, rather than feeling the need to tether myself to a schedule that I'm less interested in, but would benefit more from from a bar standpoint, as well as as general knowledge.
This also gets more frustrated when many classes conflict with one another, leaving me with even less options. I don't really think there is much that can be done about this, as there are many factors that go into creating a schedule that works for professors and students and taking the more general or heavily-tested courses is very important, but I just wish there was a different way for students to be exposed to some of the interesting topics and seminar classes without overloading on courses or feeling like their not taking the "right classes."
This was such a struggle for me as well every semester I feel like every class I wanted to take were at all the same time. These are definitely tough decisions to balance and sadly there were many courses that interested me that I never got a chance to take.
ReplyDeleteUnless things have changed dramatically since I was in law school 4 1/2 decades ago (which is certainly possible), I would caution against taking courses solely because they are heavily tested on the bar exam. The bar exam approaches issues differently than how they are taught in law school. I am not sure taking a law school course on a particular subject will help you more on a particular subject than a good bar review course. Take what interests you. You may never get another chance. And it may open your eyes to a different career path.
ReplyDeleteAs for scheduling, law schools already make significant use of adjunct faculty members. I presume this is both for cost savings (adjuncts get paid $1,000 per credit hour per semester - so a two credit course pays $2,000, which is far less than having a regular faculty member teach the course) and for scheduling flexibility (adjuncts are usually practicing attorneys who are only available late afternoons or evenings). Perhaps even greater use of adjuncts would make more courses available at times that also fit student schedules?
I totally agree with you! I wish that on the other side of this, the bar could maybe limit the subjects that are tested so that we as law students could take those but also take classes that we have interest in.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I am a 3L now and agree. It seems this semester all the classes were at the same time and all conflicted with each other. On top of that, you have to make sure you are fulfilling your graduation requirements as well as taking helpful bar classes.
ReplyDeleteI run into this issue every semester and I think part of the issue is not having a lot of options and prioritizing my schedule over everything else. I agree that utilizing adjunct professors would benefit the students by offering more availability for classes and they tend to be heavily focused on practicality.
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