Law School Orientation and my room!

"True we build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state."

 - John W. Davis

On our first day of orientation, my class was given this quote. 2,700 students applied to Pepperdine this year, and 240 are in my entering class. The median LSAT for my class is 161. Overall, my class is the most academically qualified class in the history of Pepperdine Law. 

Most of what we heard during orientation was pretty scary. Some of the professors shared the schedule that they worked with when they entered law school - and it's pretty impressive and disciplined. Among other things, we were told: 

"90% of you will not be in the top 10%." (Very obvious, but also pretty profound for a group of perfectionists and high achievers.)

"You have to have some fun. Your family and friends will hate you as it is."

"Even if you don't know the answer, say it loud. Never show fear." ... and

"Law school makes us, on a daily basis, to stand in the other's shoes." 

Also during orientation, I received my locker, which made me feel a little like I was back in high school, but I found out pretty soon that I have plenty of books to fill the locker ... and if you've ever wondered what $900 looks like, then look to the left!

I was told that it will take 2-3 hours to prepare for every 1 hour in class. During orientation we had a session that taught us how to brief cases, we talked about outlining, and we had a "simulated class." I really loved the simulated class. It was really interesting, and I have a great teacher in a subject that might not be very interesting to me otherwise - property. 

During the Legal Research and Writing sessions, we took a grammar test to see what level we are at grammatically, and I'm happy to report that I got 24 out of 25 questions correct! I have, in addition to my 4 regular law classes, a legal research and writing class. To give you some insight as to what students think of the class, Professor Schultz, one of the LRW teachers, told us about one of his evaluations - in the evaluation a student said, "Professor Schultz, I tended to hate you with an undying passion." Hopefully my experience will be a bit more positive. 

We also heard from the counseling center at Pepperdine on how to 

deal with stress. Interestingly, studies have proven that law school is more stressful than medical school - something I wouldn't have guessed - and Pepperdine is very concerned about our mental health and faith. Although school is the number one priority, they emphasized that we are in a marathon, not a sprint - and to do well, we have to make sure we have fun so that we don't get burned out. 

Something that I've learned about Pepperdine already is that they love to FEED us! I think they have provided 95% of my meals for the past week! Also, everyone here is very nice and the teachers are genuinely interested in the students. According to the professors, Dean Starr's motto is: "It's all about the students." (And they really live by it.) I have never met professors who want students to come by during their office hours so much, whether it's for a question or just to say hi and chat.  

So I start my "real" law school classes tomorrow, and it should be interesting! I will report back with any horror stories!

Before orientation started, I headed for California with Mom and Karen. They came to help me get settled into my room, and they did a great job! I think they were shocked, though, by the traffic and the fact that motorcyclists here drive on the center lane between you and the other cars! We didn't end up having much time for them to see any tourist attractions, but we made sure that we got to the beach at least once! My room is adorable! Mom and Karen really helped me decorate it, and Karen was our carpenter for the weekend!