<p>Do law students live in dorms? socially: how is law school different from undergrad?
do most people go directly from undergrad to law school? which law school has a "dead poets society" feel to it?
do people hang out in each other's rooms? do people have philosophical debates till 3am? </p>
<p>also put down which law school you're answering these questions to</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>For Michigan:</p>
<p>“Do law students live in dorms?” a couple hundred do (out of almost 4000 students). Mostly younger students and international ones.</p>
<p>“socially: how is law school different from undergrad?” there is a wider age range of students (but everyone can drink legally), many have families and kids and other obligations so less time to hang out, they live in a larger geographic area so it’s not as easy to just drop by and see people. But there are certainly dinner parties, trips to the bar, football games–whatever you want your social scene to be, you’ll find some people who feel similarly. And you’ll also find people who want no social life at all, or whose social life is completely separate from other law students.</p>
<p>“do most people go directly from undergrad to law school?” No. the median age is around 25. But there are certainly many people who go straight through.</p>
<p>" which law school has a “dead poets society” feel to it?" I have no idea because I never saw it. But one day my property class actually did have some people get up on the desks and recite o captain, my captain. Is that from DPS (not the poem, obviously, but saying it like that)?</p>
<p>“do people hang out in each other’s rooms?” Maybe the people who live in the dorms. But most people don’t live in the dorms.</p>
<p>" do people have philosophical debates till 3am?" I think you’ll be surprised at how pre-professional a degree a J.D. is. There are some folks who like to argue about politics and philosophy (it can be annoying when they do it to excess in the classroom!). There are some folks who want to be professors. There are lots more folks who want to be lawyers in firms or the government or nonprofits, who want to learn the most they can in 3 years but who, if they’re going to stay up til 3am with friends, would rather talk about anything other than philosophy–because they do academic stuff all day and want a break!</p>
<p>from your questions, I get the sense that you’re in college and are hoping law school will be a continuation/expansion of that experience, with lots of high-level intellectual stimulation. It might be what you’re looking for, but I think there’s a good chance you’ll be disappointed. Asking these questions is a good thing. I think looking at poli sci and philosophy grad programs might be another good idea.</p>
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<p>Yes. It’s very important not to have high intellectual expectations from law school, for at least the first year. The courses are standardized, the topics you deal with are not given too in-depth treatment, and you’re in classes as large as 100 students. You’re all graded on a curve, based on a 3-4 hour exam administered at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>I can’t say I found any of my first year as intellectually stimulating as college. But I can say that, now that I’m in some seminars on the more theoretical aspects of the law, I’m enjoying myself a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insights 
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<p>" But one day my property class actually did have some people get up on the desks and recite o captain, my captain" - did they really do that? ohhh what would I give to be in that class. </p>
<p>if you go to a top law school- will there be more intellectual stimulation/philosophical debates there? I’m at a tech based school and I feel like I’m missing out on the intellectual discussions in college/or just haven’t found the right people.</p>
<p>“you’re in classes as large as 100 students” : does this happen at small law schools such as Yale/Stanford?</p>
<p>according to top-law-school.com:
"Students say that getting to know their classmates is “very easy” since they see each other so often. Perhaps as a result, another said that “this place generates the sort of trust and collegiality that makes people feel OK about leaving their laptops in the library unattended for hours…In fact, one student who fell ill said, “they picked up groceries for me, drove me to doctor’s appointments, and just came by to visit and cheer me up when I was having a really hard time.” The one downside of this closeness is that gossip spreads quickly and “everyone knows everyone else’s business.”</p>
<p>would you say this is an accurate description of Stanford Law School?</p>
<p>The questions you ask in this post are differently focused from your initial inquiry. Do law school classmates know each other so well such that they trust each other with guarding their belongings? I guess that’s true at any law school with a civilized student body.</p>
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<p>I don’t really know. Yale is going to be the most intellectual law school of them all, because of its size and academic focus. Bluedevilmike would be better equipped to discuss the intellectual atmosphere there.</p>
<p>As for Stanford, I never got the impression that those “debates” happened a lot in private spheres. “Debates,” in law school, tend to occur in panels with guest lecturers and other pre-established forums. The notion that students drink coffee and discuss moral paradoxes in the dormroom until the wee hours of the morning is naive and nauseating at best: 1) Any such conversation, after hours of studying and after spending all your energy throughout the day on other activities, is bound to be trivial and superficial. 2) Generally, most people are not in the mood to talk about the law when they’re trying to relax.</p>
<p>If you find the intellectual atmosphere at your school not to your liking, don’t look to law school as a solution. That would be a 180,000$ mistake. Think about transferring, or pursuing a different academic program.</p>