A Balancing Test: Managing Busy Schedules as a 2L/3L

When you’re a 2L or 3L, everything may seem like chaos—not because you’re new to school and anxious but because as the second and third years begin you’re suddenly thrust with a lot of work and responsibilities that didn’t necessarily exist when you were a 1L.

You have a normal course load, plus most of time you have new duties on a journal, clinic, student org, internship during the semester to keep your skills strong, social life, responsibilities at home, and oh—you may also need a job to pay a little thing called rent. It’s a lot.

The spring semester of my 3L year I remember flipping through the pages of my planner and coming to a slow realization that I had something booked for every Saturday until my birthday—my birthday is the last week of March! Like I said, those upperclassmen years are a lot.

It’s important to take on those added responsibilities and experiences, even though it can be really trying and stressful at times. If you are into you first few weeks and realize you have a lot on your plate the best course of action is to get ahead of this before you get any further into the semester.

One. You need to plan diligently. Like, I lived by my planner and encourage others to do the same. But it’s not just enough to schedule things—figure out if there’s things you can delegate (and delegate them) and ask for help if you think you’ll need it. I mentioned this before, but eventually my husband knew that the last weeks of the semester he was on his own for dinner/food in general. Help your family get used to these routines so that you you’re not stretched so thin all the time.

Two. Say yes, but learn when to say no. One of the things that happens is that there are a lot of opportunities for events and you may feel pulled to attend some (or if you’re an introvert, none). Learn to figure out if an event is worth your time—especially if it means sacrificing something else that’s important. For example, I said yes to participating as an attorney for a mock trial to help psych grad students (long story). I said yes because the person that asked was well-respected, the work sounded interesting, and I was bad at saying no. Halfway through the exercises, it dawned on me just how little benefit this was for me. Instead, I was internally freaking out because I was going to get behind on a research paper for something that didn’t really add anything to my life. I needed to learn how to value my time better and not do things just because it was expected or because I wanted to be nice. On the flip side, you don’t want to be so engrossed in only working/studying that you forgo a lot of good networking opportunities.

Three. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Not just your J.D. but a J.D. with a good academic record. We get so overwhelmed during the semester that we forget that the end-goal is good grades. They are especially important your second and third year because you want to show you’re consistent and/or have really improved since 1L year. Don’t de-prioritize your reading and studying. Remember how I was booked every Saturday? That meant that Sundays were spent in the library to do my readings for the week. It sucked to not have a weekend, but it wouldn’t have been smart (financially or academically) to let that go to the wayside just because I had new responsibilities during the semester.

How did you manage your schedule as an upperclassmen?