Monday, December 27, 2010

What should you be doing this Winter Break?

Every law school staff member and administrator has put in their two cents on what you should be doing during these next couple of weeks before the Spring semester starts up again. Granted, everyone’s situation is different so these administrators’ words and advice may definitely go on deaf ears. Well I don’t know what you should be doing this time per se other than catch a breath, nap a lot and enjoy the time where your law school can be temporarily out the door. I figure by saying that this post would be completely useless if it ended there. If you’re not like me and slaving away at an entertainment law term paper that is perpetually extended until the end of time, here are maybe a few productive things you can do this winter break or really things I hope to do this break. Find out what they are after the jump....


  1. Blow the dust off your resume and tweak it, a lot – Everyone says winter break is a good time to start looking for a summer externship (paid or unpaid but more likely unpaid) and you’ll definitely need your resume to be tweaked to be a legit legal resume. The economy is not getting any better but there’s no better time like the present to start working on your resume to be amazing to give to legal employers and internship coordinators. Creating a legal resume is completely different than your run of the mill resume that help you land that summer job or arguably get into law school. For more tips on tweaking that legal resume to awesomeness, check out Syracuse's Law School segment on Legal Resumes and don’t forget that cover letter too
  2. Do your housekeeping items for your Spring classes – If you already know your classes for next semester, now would be a great time to go into your school’s outline bank and get old outlines from the classes you will take. Do this now rather than the finals/reading week crunch finding that outline. Your anxiety will definitely get the better of you where it will take you longer to find these documents realize they never existed which definitely hurt your cause. So take care of your class housekeeping items now when you got very little going on than when your law school life becomes hectic
  3. Start applying for summer programs NOW – If you are applying for a study abroad program or summer school at another ABA law school, now would be a great time to do all the application work that comes with it. Many deadlines for the summer come shortly after the spring semester starts and many of them operate under rolling admissions. These programs are pretty much guaranteed acceptances pending you are in good academic standing so don’t lose out on a great opportunity especially when you are presumably qualified because you applied too late. Moreover, it would be a good time to figure if you want to either do summer school at another school or do a study abroad program. I did an abroad program last summer and did everything by mid-January and for some programs that would have been too late but thankfully for my program there were a lot of spots open
  4. Start think about these 4 lovely letters, MPRE – If you are a 2L, definitely start thinking about when you plan to take the MPRE (Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam) if you haven't taken it already. Whether or not you have taken a course in Professional responsibility or ethics still think about it. This is one of the exams (often forgotten) you have to take before you become an attorney. This test already sounds like such a nuisance and seems utterly useless. There are three times the MPRE is offered: March, August and November. Definitely see if you take up the committing to prepare for this exam during the year or in the summer. For more information and to reluctantly register for the MPRE go the National Conference of Bar Examiners site. Registration deadline for the March MPRE is January 18th, 2011
  5. Catch up on those ZzzZzzs – Law school burns everyone out! So definitely sneak in as much sleep as you possibly can. I was so burnt midway through finals that studying for them became even a bigger struggle. Law school is very demanding where you are guaranteed less than 8 hours of sleep a night. If you can manage to get 8 hours a night, I’d like to hear it! During this break, I am clocking in at 10-12 hours of sleep at least 3x a week. It’s glorious and a rarity nowadays because I know come January 10th, I will be lucky if I get 6-7 hours of sleep some nights.
  6. Celebrate on your accomplishments and stay connected – Whether you are a 1L barely surviving first semester (or did so with flying colors), a 2L reaching the halfway point or a 3L excited to see light at the end of the tunnel, we have all accomplished something great this past semester by the mere fact that we got through it. How do you celebrate? Do the things you enjoyed on your free time, whether it is a hobby you take up or just get together with friends, definitely do these things! Our brains need a break to do something fun and mindless - in short, NOT law school related. Reconnect with the friends you ditched the moment you got to law school because they could not to begin to understand our miserable lives since matriculation. However, I am sure they miss you terribly as much as you miss them so hang out with them you’ll make your friends/loved ones as well as yourself a happy camper.
Think this is a bit overkill or there is not enough to do (I don’t know how that would be the case but each to their own?) What have you been up this winter break? What would you recommend your fellow peers do during these next couple of weeks? I want to hear it all so sound off in the comments s’il vous plait J

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