a JD for JSD: another Northwestern California University School of Law journey thread

[jsd]

Just over a month in, and I'm really enjoying the school and the program setup. It is definitely a big commitment and sometimes I'm scratching my head wondering why I got myself into this for 4 years, but so far no true regret.

General impressions and quick thoughts so far:

-Information and classes are interesting, enjoying what I'm learning

-I'm thinking I'll never remember any of it, haha... I need to switch up my studying habits a bit if I ever want to make it through exams (let alone the bar in 4 years)

-School learning management system is pretty cool, and content outside of the the casebooks is setup well. Optional live classes, tons of recordings of past live classes with various professors so you can pick the one that fits your style (or mix and match), access to a lot of third-party resources and tools.

-I like the self-paced model, but I'm mostly sticking to the suggested study path and pace. There's is a ton of reading (not surprising) and a lot of small things to keep up with, and speeding ahead wouldn't help much anyway. If I finished everything in 6 months, I still would have to wait until the last month to take my finals, and I wouldn't be able to start my 2L term until next year when I "should" have finished 1L anyway. Plus, going that long without doing anything certainly wouldn't help with retention. I think it's definitely possible to complete the core work quicker (particularly if you're a speed reader -- I am not), but as stated, the requirement of the final exams being done in month 12 kind of makes this pointless.

-There are some Pass/Fail assignments that need to be completed during the year, but as far as your overall course grade, it's based 100% off of exam essays (a third based on your midterm, and the rest on your final). These are bar-style essay questions. I am not looking forward to this.

-All other work is pass/fail and is required to pass before exams are unlocked for you (case briefs, definitions assignments, mini-thesis).