With my 3L year rapidly coming to a close, one of the biggest questions on my mind for the past few months has been what bar prep course I should use. We’ve all gotten the emails and seen the representatives sitting outside the library, but what is the difference between all the different options? Although I have yet to actually go through any bar prep course myself, here is what I’ve learned from my many hours questioning reps and otherwise scouring the internet.
Continue readingthird year
Why I’m Okay with Being a ‘Non-Traditional Student’
I’ve never quite belonged in law school. I was told when I started the application process – and many times since – that I’m a ‘non-traditional’ student, which seemed mainly to mean that I was older than everybody else. I didn’t mind; I am older than everybody else. But before law school I never thought of myself as non-traditional. Or old, for that matter. Now it feels like I’m inescapably both, whether I like it or not.
Law school is hard enough without being told you don’t ‘really’ fit in – and that’s ultimately what being ‘non-traditional’ means. You don’t fit in. And in truth, I don’t. For one thing, people call me by my first name here all the time. Outside of a doctor’s office or Starbucks, I haven’t heard my first name this much in twenty years. It was always “Professor Deere,” or “Dr. Deere,” or just…Deere. Which is what I was before all this first-name calling business.
Continue readingMaking the Most out of 3L Year in the AG’s Office
I’ve heard many of my peers say that they think law school should only last two years. I see their point – after all, many of the subjects on the bar are covered in the very first year of law school. But beyond that, it can be strange to go from the classroom, to working in the summer, then readjusting to the classroom all over again. Particularly after 2L summer, when many students take on more substantial roles as summer associates and law clerks, it can feel like a regression to go back to class – especially if you already know where you’ll be working after graduation.
But law school is three years – not two. And although I’ve only just started my 3L year, I’m becoming more convinced that that’s a good thing.
Continue reading3L is Finally Here: Why This One is so Special
Thank goodness the library doesn’t issue noise complaints on the first day of school.
My friends and I — running on the high of eating a grocery store salad in the Yellow Room — skipped to the fourth floor of the library. There, we each took turns accidentally playing Instagram Reels on full volume. Like clockwork, anxious 1L’s flooded the library atrium at 3:00 p.m., muttering reflections about their inaugural lectures and cold calls to new friends.
There’s nothing like the first day of 3L — or as my friends and I have dubbed it, “senior year.” Novelty accompanies familiarity: freshly-painted Stuart Hall walls and large-scale portraits dot the paths we’ve spent pacing between classes. Somehow, Legal Grounds manages to brew better coffee every year. And even the light streaming through the library’s fourth floor windows cuts different shadows on the books and reports lining the shelves.
Continue readingReflections as a 3L
When people told me as a 1L that law school would fly by in the blink of an eye, I never really believed them. It sounded like a tall tale at the time, when I was still trying to figure out whether Quimbeeing cases was worth it (spoiler alert: Quimbee is always a good choice and will save you so much time). But now as a 3L, I have to say that law school did indeed fly by–and as the end of my law school career approaches, I have much to reflect on.
Continue readingBC Law Class of ’21 Celebrates 3L Week!
Four days from graduation, I think it’s safe to say that the 3L class has really been through it this year. Somehow we’ve persevered through crashed and lagging zoom meetings, sneezing into our own faces under masks in socially distanced classrooms, and not one, not two, but three rounds of remote exams taken in all corners of the globe.
So this week, we celebrate. Because we have freaking earned it! The 3L Week Committee–comprised of LSA President Kayla Snyder and Vice President Morgan Lam, 3L Reps Julianna Hernandez and Rachel Taylor, and me (Chair of the 3L Week/Gift Committee)–wanted to seize the opportunity for the first time in a long time to actually be together. We wanted to give our class the party it deserves! It was tough to plan, adjust, and re-plan and re-adjust around COVID guidelines, but the Committee put together a fantastic schedule.
Kicking it off last Friday night, we celebrated with the first bar review in a hot minute at BC After Dark at the Hillside Café, where graduating students enjoyed lots of drinks and delicious food at their very own outdoor on campus bar!
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BC Law: Impact 