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Throwback–Posts You May Have Missed in Our First Year
For those new followers (or just for those that would like a refresher), here are some of the earlier posts from Latinas Uprising that are worth a revisit–especially as a new school year starts and many others will begin new jobs in the weeks to come! How would you/do you react when you’re mistaken (sometimes on purpose) as the interpreter? Different shoe options when working in conservative law offices (side note: wedges forever!) The best way to study in law school is to Study How You Study! The importance of being an active alumna, even if (or especially if) you didn’t feel very welcomed at your educational institution. How to…
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Summer Series: Holding Yourself Accountable During the Bar.
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Gaby, a law school grad ready to take on the New York Bar and what she’s done to stay the course this summer. My name is Gaby. Originally from Nevada, I graduated from law school in Washington, DC. I’ve decided to study for the New York bar from…
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Summer Series: Balancing your Responsibilities with the Bar
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Ariana and her great tips on balancing your life responsibilities while studying for the bar! My name is Ariana, I just graduated law school and I’m currently studying for the NY & NJ bar exams this July. In addition to having a big Dominican family, I also had a…
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Stress Relief while Studying for the Bar
When I say that studying for the Bar is stressful–I am not joking. It’s not just the anxiety of the unknown, or because so much is riding on the exam. Most people never experience this type of environment, where you’re memorizing and learning so much information in such large chunks of time; where suddenly you’re putting your mind through a horrible obstacle course of vague terms and complex legal theories. And closer to the exam you’re studying 12 to 14 hour days. That is crazy-pants. I don’t even work for 12 hours a day! I say all this, not to freak people out, but to acknowledge the high stress you’re feeling.…
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How to Study for the Bar
So–I wrote this post a million years ago in a different forum but thought I’d share here rather than create new material on how to study for the bar since this was written when the Bar was still fresh in my mind. For those that have started your bar prep course, you’ve likely found that you don’t remember much from 1L year and aren’t scoring very high on the tests and essays. That is completely normal. It takes a while to remember the basics, but what happens is that everyone starts to freak out and then it’s hard to handle the stress. So first, regardless of how you’re doing on…
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Necessary Study Supplies for Bar Exam
Right before my 3L year ended, my comparative law class went to dinner with our professors (you know, the one course with a cancelled trip to Chile that still made us write a paper #stillbitter). Anyway, dinner was lovely, but I remember that one professor made it a point to tell me I was about to embark on the worst summer of my life while I studied for the bar. She wasn’t right, but she wasn’t wrong either. However, instead of scaring all of those that are starting bar prep, I come with better information–necessary bar exam supplies to help you get the most out of your studies. Obviously, you…
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Replace This with That: stress reduction while studying for finals
Ok so, I know that it’s easy to push the importance of healthy habits when I’m not in the middle of a stress storm. I totally get that in the heat of the moment most people will be inclined to pick what makes them feel good right now–I know that was almost always my default behavior. During school, I opted to eat whatever junk food I wanted because I was so miserable studying that a little treat like soda was, I thought, well deserved. Except–the treat became a daily habit and that was not good for my body or mind. My last year of law school I decided to give…
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If You Didn’t Pass the Bar
It’s hard to talk about failing the bar. First, because nothing we say will really remove the sting for those that didn’t pass. Second, because it’s so unfair how not passing upends your life for another six+ months, and even if you have a clear head now that the news has settled, it still doesn’t change the fact that you have to put in more time to pass this test. If you receive bad news like this, it’s important to give yourself time. Don’t make rash decisions right away (unless you really have to)–you need the time to bounce back mentally and emotionally. Slowly, you’ll come to terms and you’ll…
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Prepping for your Summer Job
My 1L year, the month I was supposed to start looking for summer job options, I received bad news after bad news involving my family– all of which culminated when I was told that my dad had just been diagnosed with cancer (he’s fine now, thankfully!). With all this added stress, guess who never made it to career services, or even knew that deadlines for jobs starting in MAY were approaching in December? Me. It was me. By the time I could actually focus on finding some type of summer employment, I was scrambling to find any agency that was still looking for help. Luckily, after cold-calling a few nonprofits, a…
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Prepping for your First Week as a 1L
I remember the long train ride as I went to my first law school class. Property, with Professor Rose. I brought my laptop because even though I had never used a laptop to take notes in undergrad, I just knew that in law school note-taking on a computer was a must. Twenty minutes into the class, my computer’s battery ran out. Then I realized I had forgotten to bring my power cord… It was a whimper of a start for my legal career. Do you remember your first law course? I hope it was better than mine. Now, obviously that didn’t really predict what school would be like, and I…