Why I'm Nervous for Law School

Hi, my name is Rachel and I worry about everything.

As excited as I am for law school, I'm just as nervous. There are so many things you hear about law school, and I have no idea whether or not they're true until I experience it for myself. Naturally, with my anxiety, my mind has been abuzz with "what if's" since I chose to go to law school.

Although I'm trying to focus on what I'm looking forward to in law school, I thought it might be therapeutic to focus on my worries in today's blog. In addition, I figured it might be helpful for other incoming 1Ls and studying 0Ls to see that they aren't the only ones with anxieties about law school.

Cold calls

Randomly getting picked to spit out facts and answer questions until I'm stumped? Yeah, no thanks. If there's anything I'm truly afraid will cause me to have an anxiety attack, it's cold calls. I know that it's something that I'll get used to, and that everybody else has to go through it as well, but I know I won't be comfortable with it right away.

I'm not smart enough

I've never had too much trouble with school. The correct answers came naturally to me, and I had no need to study very hard due to my memory. However, I know law school is going to be filled with other students who do just as well as me, and even better than me.

There's something strangely worrying to me about not being great at school. It's an irrational fear, but it's still there all the same.

Money

Money is something I always worry about. You never know when your computer or phone is going to need to be replaced, or when you'll need some extra cash for food or a lost item. I can honestly keep going with this list, but I'm sure you get my point.

Law school is expensive, not only due to the cost of tuition, but for personal expenses, rent and utilities, textbooks, etc. There's already a lot to focus on during law school, and I don't want money to be at the top of my list. Thank goodness I've been saving up my tips from work!

The workload and studying

I didn't have to study much in undergrad. Of course, I had exams for gen ed courses and some others, but a lot of my tests were writing based due to my earning of a journalism degree. Law school will definitely have a much larger workload than college did for me, and I hope I'll be able to adjust to it.

In addition to the workload, I'm also worried about studying. Like I mentioned above, I didn't have many tests, so studying wasn't a huge problem for me. I spent more time editing articles and essays for my journalism classes or creating content for my marketing and public relations classes.

Mental health

I'm very honest about my depression and anxiety. It's something I've dealt with for most of my life, so I feel no need to hide it. But, I know it'll be tested during law school and I sometimes get worried it may get in the way of my studies.

One big reason I chose to attend the University of Denver is the focusing they put on law students' mental health. I'm grateful that there are so many resources available, and I know I'll take advantage of having them.

No Social Life

Of course, I'm not going to law school for the parties and socializing; I'm aware that it's for school, and I'm definitely not dedicating all that time and money to waste it. Still, I'll need some breaks from constantly studying to talk about something other than the law.

Homesickness

Even though I went to an out-of-state school for my undergrad career, it was only three hours away in Iowa. It was easy to take a weekend trip home or have my family come visit me. Now that I'll be moving to Colorado, I won't have the options I used to have.

I'm happy that I'll still be able to Facetime my family and text friends, but it's always nice to have the opportunity to see them in person instead.

xoxo,

Rachel