Previously, on Corporette…

17 Comments

1. 2L here. Do you think I’m shooting myself in the foot if I take on two different internships (one twelve hours a week, one fifteen hours a week) along with classes in the fall semester? I will literally be in either class or an internship from 9-5 every day from Monday-Friday (most days running between classes and internships).

   I feel like in this economy I need my resume to be as fabulous as possible but my school advisor is strongly encouraging me against this. Thoughts?

   1. Sorry. Meant my advisor is DISCOURAGING me against this.

   2. I have a couple of concerns: First, it depends on what you are taking, but in my experience, the first semester of the 2L year tends to be the busiest of law school (Did you hear that adage about how the first year they scare you to death, the second they work you to death, the third they bore you to death?), so if you had a hard time keeping up first year, I wouldn’t do it. I think that a lot of people think that they can get away with doing less studying during the 2L year, but I personally don’t think that’s a good idea- you still have to read cases pretty carefully.
      The second is that you should have some flexibility for interviewing and, in particular, informational interviewing. I assume that you can make some arrangements (and skip a few classes here and there), but it’s something to keep in mind. You are also likely to have a few group oriented projects for your 2L year.

      On the other hand, having the internships is likely to help, not your resume, but your contacts. I think that the most important thing that you can do right now is to meet a lot of people to try to tap into hidden opportunities, and you can’t do that in class, but you may be able to due to the internships. So, if the internships will allow you to meet and connect with a lot of people in the field(s) that you are interested in, I would go for it, but if they will only serve to enhance your resume, I would probably say don’t.

   3. How many hours of classes are you taking? I remember hearing the equation (which seems true to me, having survived law school) that one hour of class equals four hours of work, so if you’re taking 12 hours, you already have 48 hours of work. Adding another 25 hours worth of internships to that equals a schedule worse than that of a biglaw associate. Since showing up for work is not something you can skip but studying is skippable, your grades WILL suffer.

      IOW, don’t do it. Pick one internship. See if you can defer the other for next semester.

   4. I am going into my 3L year and I am wrapping up a summer of a 40 hour a week job at a firm along with Evidence. It’s doable (especially if you need to be doing something every minute of every day like me), but I warn you that you will get worn down in ways that you cannot be prepared for. Largely because you will never feel like you have any time to truly relax. If you get some time to yourself you will either be (1) studying or (2) beating yourself up for not studying (and then you’re not really relaxing are you).

      Plus, there may be leadership roles or school organizations that you may want to be a part of that are not being advertised right now, but you will not be able to join because your schedule is so jam packed.

      If you do take both internships, another thing to think about is transportation (espcially with the winter coming). Will you be taking public transportation to/from work/school? If yes, you’ll probably be on a very tight schedule and face the possibility of missing something entirely because one connection was late. If you have a car think about the time that you will be on the road (rush hour, lunch hour, etc.) and make sure to factor that into your travel time.

      If you only take one, which I suggest, maybe you can work it out with the other site to work there during the Spring semester (and then you’ll be ahead of the game which is really what every law student wants right?).

      A friend recently told me that when you try to do everything, ultimately something is going to suffer, so try and minimize that by planning ahead and not overcommitting yourself.

      Hope this helps and good luck.

   5. YMMV, but my lowest GPA semester out of six during law school was the semester I was taking a full-time course load, interning PT, working/clerking PT, and editing one of the journals at my school. And job-hunting (it was 3L year). It was just one thing too many for me. If you can dedicate yourself to keeping your grades up, then go for it. I’ve been asked about that semester by interviewers!

2. Kat, is it possible for you to do a daily posting for people to just have threadjacks? Lately it’s been getting to be a little overwhelming when I’m sifting through comments on your other postings and seeing random topics… while it’s 90% entertaining, I’m sure I don’t need the extra incentive to keep my work breaks so long.

   1. …if you don’t need your work breaks to be so long, then keep them short. We like the threadjacks.

      1. I like them too – I’m just saying that lately it’s hard to read what people think about a pretty top/suit/shoe/posted topic between the other stuff.

   2. That’s basically what the Coffee Break is, but it doesn’t change things. The fact is people are going to keep threadjacking every thread, it’s the culture of this website.

      1. I understand that it’s the culture, but is it just me or has there been an uptick in thread-jacking, even in the last few weeks? I’m totally not against the concept, and absolutely enjoy all the comments and advice they dole out. It’s been my observation however, that some people are waiting around for a fresh post simply so they can threadjack, which might takes away from what Kat is posting about.

         1. I don’t know, the comments on the religion post were almost all on-topic. I think generally people don’t have that much to say about a given item of clothing (which is not to say they don’t appreciate seeing/reading the posts!) so those posts tend to get ‘jacked by default.

         2. I think when Kat asks for people’s recommendations or advice, those topics seem like they have few threadjacks when compared to the normal TPS report/coffee break topics. The Coffee Breaks are good in theory, but usually they pop up at the end of the day when most people are heading home from work and aren’t going to be spending as much time online.

         3. How much is there to say about a given top or suit or whatever anyway? The great thing about this site is the community and associated comments. I’d hate to stifle that.

      2. Kat, what about doing a Morning Coffee post so the in-depth threadjack conversations can go on throughout the day? Then the afternoon post could be the clothing item that people may have stronger opinions about. You might get lower traffic on the main feature of the day… but just a thought.

   3. I like thread jacks, there are only so many things to say about a dress or skirt.

      Maybe you can scroll….

   4. I like the threadjacks a lot. I usually just skim through the actual comments on the clothing, so if they weren’t jacked, I’d probably just skip most of them.

      I get the problem with taking too long work breaks, though!

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