Baylor Law: It's Better Than You Think
I received a comment that read:
“Sorry to crash your blog... I noticed that a thread that I posted on BaylorFans about whether I should attend Baylor in the Fall made its way onto the comments of Sothebearsays... so I thought, what the hell, I might as well see what the other half of the Baylor blogosphere thinks.”
In response:
I have yet to experience the “boot camp”, and am useless when it comes to worldly advice. I haven’t taken a final and my schedule is ridiculously easy. People say life will get more difficult but they have lied to me before.
When you start, you and I will share a class or two. I’ll be your friend and I’ll show you the hangout spots in Waco. We are nice people, I promise.
Academically, I don’t think you will find more competent professors. I’ve sat in on law classes around the country and Baylor classes are by far the most entertaining. Not easy, but entertaining. Just show up on time, be prepared, and turn off your cell phone.
The school quote is: “Baylor Law: Where Fun Goes to Die” but it’s more of a hyperbole than anything. It’s human nature to brag about how hard things are. It’s fun to tell war stories of getting belittled in class, spending 20 hours a day preparing, walking uphill both ways to class etc. but it’s really not that bad. If you can stay off Facebook, you will have plenty of time to live your life. If you already use Facebook, be my friend.
During orientation Prof. CivPro said, “You should be working from 7 AM – 7 PM on law school stuff 6 days a week.” I don’t currently have enough work to follow that schedule but it seems like a fair estimate of what it should be. Finals and PC will be more.
If you come to Baylor, your first drink at either Starbucks or Crickets is on me. Neither SMU or UH can promise that. I’ve only been in law school for 7 weeks. That's all I got.
P.S.
Bring a puppy and buy a few Baylor law school shirts and meeting girls won’t be a problem.
posted by Jon Swanburg @ 7:43 PM
18 comments
18 Comments:
swanburg, "I'll be your friend," is kinda creepy.
To the kid who crashed the blog--I'm also from a family of Baylor lawyers, and can tell you that if you're planning on practicing in Texas, DO IT. If you're planning to go to another state DO NOT. Bar passage rate for Texas is consistently the highest, and the majority of the professors are amazing. (Swanburg, you will soon experience some of the "gems" that make it difficult, as well as the ones that have a difficult time teaching their subject, though many changes are happening with what faculty member teaches which courses.) Plus, your relatives can relate to just how hard it is--they won't think you're bitching about nothing (which is what some other law schools' students do). Good luck making the decision!
(I'm also the poster above)--if I read the original thread at baylorfans.com correctly, did you really decide to go to Wesleyan? If so, that's suicide. All jokes aside, when we say go somewhere else... we mean somewhere remotely reputable. Wesleyan is one of the 3 jokes of the 9 accredited law schools. NO ONE respects people that come out of there--future jobs, etc. Shitty education for shitty students who couldn't get in other places.
other anonymous-
Thanks for the input. Yeah, the Wesleyan thing was a joke. A bunch of trolls got on there and informed me that, in their opinion, I couldn't "cut it" at Baylor... So I jokingly said that they'd caused me to change my mind and go to Wesleyan instead. I've heard that it is hands down the worst place in the state to go.
Also, in case you're wondering, I deleted the thread, because I got tired of the excessive chest-beating that goes on over there. One guy spent at least an hour telling me that I can't handle the pressure at Baylor... because his brother goes there and he knows that it'd be too tough for me. Funny stuff...
I'm assuming this is Tom from MySpace. You have befriended over 87 million people so you might want to stop pointing fingers and play a game of hide and go f*!# yourself. If it isn't Tom from MySpace then I agree "I'll be your friend" is kind of creepy.
While I think it's good to offer positive, well-intentioned advice rather than the typical "Don't ever come here!", I think yours, Jonathan, fell short of the mark. I know that your schedule is a dream, but the summer starters are the only ones that experience that. All of the fall and spring starters had more classes to contend with and had to be up at school no later than 9:15 every day. Plus, I remember not having time to do anything but get up, go to school, come home and study for a really long time. You'll discover this when you start taking classes like Contracts, instead of Crim Law where the first day assignment lasts you for 6 weeks. So, good effort, but be aware, you are not having a typical Baylor experience this quarter.
Hahaha, i love how the doomsayer upperclassmen always post anonymously. truth be told, when i go out, the upperclassmen are out there raising their drinks with me.
apls, dont get spooked by a few 2nd years. law school is hard, but it is not going to crush you under its weight. that baylor pushes people beyond to their limits is attractive to me. it makes me excited to be here.
maybe youre not the same kind of person i am in that regard, but i encourage you to ignore the people who are saying that baylor is too hard for you, or that you will regret coming here. i think they are wrong.
I think you need to re-read my post. I'm not a "doomsayer" as you put it, nor do I use hyperbole to scare off potential applicants (quite the opposite, if you read the beginning of my post). Rather, my post was intended to point out that it's hard to have perspective after being here less than a full quarter, particularly when your quarter has a different experience. Without commenting on whether it is "easier" or "harder", I'm sure you can at least agree that it is different by the sheer fact that you take different classes your first quarter than do the spring and fall starters. Good Lord!
That's great that you want to be pushed "beyond your limits" and all, but maybe wait until it's actually happened (or at least something remotely close) before you start pontificating on the joys of law school.
Thomas and Anonymi-
My Baylor decision was solidified today when I got my AWESOME Baylor Law "tradition of excellence" t-shirt in the mail. I'm gonna wear it every day this week! I'm not really sure if I'm one the 'the best', but if the best belong at Baylor and they'll let me go there too... well then WHAT have I been doing all of this thinking ABOUT!?!?
- Uncontrollably Excited APLS
PS- Blogwriter:
I'll be your friend too!! Man, law school's gonna be great... Just like undergrad, except this time I'll graduate with a guaranteed $120k job. I can't wait!!
APLS, im glad you chose baylor, ill see you in class in the fall. i like how much fuss has been made over whether you should go to baylor, and its all decided by a simple t shirt.
anonymous, if you are trying to tell me that i cant be an advocate for the law school I am currently attending because im a summer starter and my experience is not good enough, i think that you should jump off your high horse and into a lake.
Thomas, are you actually reading what I write or just skimming? That's not what I was saying at all and you should have realized that from the content of my comments. Considering that one was just a reiteration of the other, I'm not going to repeat myself again for clarification. You might try not to be so reactionary in the future. I was merely offering a constructive critique. That's what blogs are for: to be a sounding board for different ideas. However, feel free to completely misread this comment as well.
Thomas, he was trying to say that perhaps a 1Q should not be expressing opinions just yet and especially a 1Q who has a substantially different schedule than those who start in the Fall and the Spring...if you think that is a high horse I think you might want to get off yours. At least consider the possibility that you may not know everything...especially since you have yet to take a final in law school.
Into the lake with both of you!
If you want to talk about this further, come and talk to me. My identity is no secret. Otherwise, give it a rest.
You know what.......shutup. I agree, we haven't seen all that Baylor Law School has to offer. None of us will deny that...and I respect the fact that y'all are still around. I do think that you bitter anonymous-i (pl) should chill the hell out though. We have a right to have opinions too, even if they have no legitimate basis in your eyes. We are all adults here...so stop acting like y'all are on your second tour of duty in 'Nam and we are the newbies just falling off the helicopter. Get over yourselves and HEY.....if you think we are lame and sucky then stop commenting on the 1Q blog.
This business of fall and spring starter battle scars is extremely trite...so please, find something better to do than stand at the gates of "Hell" attempting to slap the smiles off of every student who walks through them. Because truthfully, nobody likes the kid who interrupts every story to say "I've totally done that but it was ten times more awesome than when you did it". Nobody wants to be that guy's friend.
Afterthought...$20 says in a few quarters I will be lecturing the 1Qs on how easy they have it, using dramatic adjectives and adverbs and wishing momentarily that I was as naive as they. Blissful ignorance...I am enjoying it while it lasts.
Ok, this is my last post, because apparently no one understands the intent behind my post. I never said, "Don't come here. It's too hard." In fact, I noted that I appreciated that Jonathan did not say that as many do. Nor did I say that you guys have it way easier, as you seem to have interpreted. I merely said your experience is DIFFERENT, which you should be able to agree with, because you take DIFFERENT classes.
Furthermore, saying you should hold off on advice (or at least temper it with a few disclaimers) until you've had time to experience a little more is not a slam. I don't give people advice on what kind of practice they should go into, because I haven't done it yet. This doesn't make my opinion crap, just uninformed. Reacting the way some of you did to what I said was unnecessary and really didn't make any sense, because it didn't address what I was speaking to. I'm sorry you got upset and took it the way you did, but that was much more a reflection of your own expectations about what people will say that what I actually said. That's it.
Thomas, we don't need to have it out, because it never had anything to do with you personally.
Don't worry guys... I'm already in the lake. Water is quite warm actually. uhh.... yep.... definitely just got warmer.
-AFLS
haha...we're not angry. just overly-sensitive. and really i just wanted to find a place to say "second tour of duty in 'Nam".
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