Things are officially in full swing at MSU law now that it is late October. The amount of reading required for each class has picked up tremendously from the first few weeks, but it was expected. Also, various fact patterns in class continue to build and expand on previously learned rules of law. Thus, when a professor asks a question one must always be trying to reach back a few weeks to see if any other rules apply - either as viable defenses or perhaps as a slightly different cause of action.

My outlines for each class have now grown to be about the length of a senior seminar paper. And, I still have about five weeks before finals. One of the best pieces of advice that I could give an aspiring first year law student would be to start your outline on the very first day of class and continue adding to it as the semester rolls along. This way, you know you have everything you need to prepare for finals and you can always go back and "trim" it down as necessary. I know a lot of students who read all of the briefs for class and merely highlight in their case books, but plan to start outlining over Thanksgiving break. Personally, I think there is just too much material to effectively draw up an outline for all of your classes in a week. Plus, lets be honest, you're going to want to go home and spend time with family and friends, as well as watching football and finally eating a home cooked meal.

I plan to use my break for all of the aforementioned reasons as well as reading over my outlines and getting ready for the last two week push of classes before finals approach. Again, I cannot stress how important finals are. Here, the grade you get on your final is the grade you get in the class. Also, there is a 1L curve here, only so many students will get A's, B's, C's, D's, and yes, some students are guaranteed to fail.

Aside from all of the studying that is required, I think it's important to be able to balance class work with at least something that resembles a social life. So, being at Michigan State there is always something going on around the campus village area. I would compare it to something like the Purdue bars for all of you who have been. So, I have had my fair share of fun nights out, but ultimately staying focused is key and it's been easy for me so far mainly because I live about 3 miles from campus away from the undergrads. I am looking forward to this weekend though because Michigan comes to town for the football game on Saturday. Hence, my house turns into a makeshift motel (no bed-no breakfast) for friends in town to tailgate and go to the game.

Well, that's about it from me for now. I hope that some of this blogging has helped answer a few questions for any of you students who plan to attend law school. Hopefully, some of you upperclassmen are gearing up for the fall LSATs. If you do have any specific questions then email me ( ehrieb@wabash.edu) because I would love to help in any way possible.

Brandon