So ever since early in the Fall semester I’ve been giving tours of the law school to prospective 1Ls. During the school year one would take them to class and then show them around afterward. During the summer it’s much less interesting… but I’ve given a ton of them since most of the other tour guides are out of town for the summer. I like it. It lets me do a few things that I really enjoy.
For starters, there’s a bit of talking. That’s pretty much the whole job. Just talk. Talk about the school, life as a 1L, IU basketball… whatever. It’s free-form. There’s no script or anything like that. I like talking. It’s fun.
Giving a more sane perspective of law school. Let’s face it, folks, a lot of law school kids are running-in-circles, crack-addled-chihuahua, cartoon character crazy. Straight up out of their minds. Can I tell you how many times I hear from prospies that other law students have told them that there is “no time to have a life”? Now I know some folks have a flair for the dramatic and have a really skewed perspective on law school… but give me a fucking break!
Yes, yes… there’s a lot of reading. Tons of it. Yes, you spend a lot of time with your nose pressed up against a treatise or hornbook about some arcane rule of law dreamt up by the sex-deprived brain of a powdered-wig-wearing old coot who just happens to be really really important to the development of law in his day. And, yes, your grade depends not upon how well you know that arcane point of law, but how well you know it compared to your classmates… but get a grip… it’s not that bad.
The more healthy among us go out1, watch TV, eat meals that involve more than shovelling food into our mouths while glancing furtively at each other… we have lives, people. No, you’re right, not the same lives as if we were undergrads studying English and spending three-quarters of our waking hours (and half of our sleeping ones) with a beer in our hand (or laying on the floor next to us). You’re right, it’s not the same as if you have a 9-to-5 at BigCo, Inc.’s HQ. But you have as much of a life as you choose to have.
…but I seem to have gotten off on a tanget.
I also enjoy being able to answer the hundreds of questions that these folks have. I’m honestly not sure what it is about law school that makes normally reasonable and patient people turn into insatiable law-school-information junkies, but I was one once and so are a lot of the people that I show around.
I also enjoy indoctrinating them. You know, luring them over to “my side” of the law school before any of the less desirable elements2 can get their grubby little paws on my precious little 0Ls.
Only kidding about that last part3.
Anyway… I’ve been giving a lot of tours lately, and I find it odd how much I enjoy hearing people say that they are coming, or want to come, to IU. The guy today was really interesting. He’s planning on starting in the fall and has spent the last few years on some sort of humanitarian ship floating around Africa… he asked a lot of questions and seemed like a pretty cool guy. He had his Dad along, who was also a pretty cool guy.
Good addition to the class of ‘09, I think. Nice work, Admissions.
Yes, I find that ironic as well
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