Things You'll Need:
- a prospective or current law student
- a law school (probably lower tier)
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Step 1
Law school is hard no matter where the school ranks. Top 14 or tier 4, you will struggle eventually. Whether you can survive is really the question. If you are looking at attending a lower tier law school, make sure you know what you are getting into and are serious about practicing law for the rest of your life.
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Step 2
Study hard for the LSAT. It is probably the most influential factor in whether a school accepts you, whether they admit it or not. Definitely take some sort of prep course and study with a prep book at home. The better the school is ranked the less likely they fail out students.
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Step 3
When choosing schools to apply to, look at their attrition rate. Attrition rates generally represent the percentage of 1st year students that don't return the next year due to failing or withdrawal. The higher the rate, the more students are leaving. Around 10% is normal, 20-30%, watch-out.
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Step 4
Choose your school wisely. This is probably one of the biggest factors of whether you stay in school or not if you end up being an average student when in law school. Most schools have reputations, whether good or bad. Search the internet for opinions of current students and alumni on sites like http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/ and http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/
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Step 5
After you have been accepted and chosen a school to attend, do not work the 1st year of law school. If you are full-time student, you probably cannot anyway because of ABA rules, but if you are attending part-time, I still recommend you work as little as you can. Have your spouse, parents, loans, girlfriend/boyfriend support you if possible. Work is only keeping your from succeeding or even staying in school.
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Step 6
Use study guides throughout the year. Using them solely as a study tool for the final does not really help too much. Interpreting the law from your casebook is sometimes a task in itself, so understanding concepts from the beginning is a must. Outlining on your own is also important, using someone elses doesn't really make sure you get it.
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Step 7
Meet with your professors on a regular basis. They may seem intimidating in class when you are called on, but most are helpful in a one-on-one basis. If you make an effort to show them you are trying to understand concepts, they will usually be glad to explain. Plus, although the exams are anonymous, professors can tell a sutdents writing style/analysis by the end of the year. So if you show effort, they will give you more benefit of the doubt come grading time.
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Step 8
Study with classmates AND alone. Find the best routine for you. Even if you were used to only studying alone in undergrad, try study groups for law school. Seeing differing views of the same situation are part of how you are taught to think and there is no better way than getting different opinions of your classmates. Just remember, you are graded on a curve....
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Step 9
Lastly and maybe most importantly, finals are usually the only grades of the semester for a class, except for your legal writing class. Make sure you are prepared. If you get a low GPA the first semester as a 1L, you are putting yourself in a huge whole, especially if you are attending a lower tier law school. It is near impossible to stay in school if you bombed your first semester. Make sure you realize that you are graded against your classmates, so even if you thought you wrote an excellent exam essay, just remember it may not look so good against your 30 other know-it-all classmates.
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Step 10
Study hard, pray and good luck! Choose your school wisely.
