One of the most common topics about which we receive questions here in Admissions is the level of competition at the Law School. The answer I usually give is that our students are competitive with themselves but not each other, and are, in fact, more than happy to help one another wade through Fed Jur or Con Law I. A great example of this is a session organized by the Law Women's Caucus (LWC) to help 1Ls choose the best elective for the Spring Quarter. All 1Ls choose one elective from a selection of seven to eight 2L/3L classes, including Legislation (taught by Professor Gersen '04), Health Law (taught by Professor Malani '00), Economic Analysis of the Law, and Copyright (taught by Professor Picker '85), as their fourth class. To aid the 1Ls in this process member of the LWC held an informal session where the upperclassmen shared their experiences and opinions on specific classes and about the way to choose classes more generally. One of the 1Ls in attendance, Michelle Sowemimo ('10), shared her thoughts on the session:
"I found the session EXTREMELY helpful to understanding more about the electives beyond what was already available on the website. The 2Ls and 3Ls who gave advice did an excellent job of balancing both the pros and cons of each elective. This gave me a clearer idea of what each elective would entail.
I think being able to choose electives in the first year will really help me to start narrowing down my academic interests. I also didn't realize until the session that I would be in classes with 2Ls and 3Ls which I think is also a great asset!"
Thanks, Michelle! For more information on academic support services offered by the Law School contact Maureen Sheehan '04, Associate Director of Student Affairs, who is a great source of guidance about crafting your course schedule not only for the 1L year but for the entirety of your law school career.