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Connecting a Cultural Divide, a Book Review
I recently finished reading Cup of Water Under my Bed (CWUB) and I highly recommend it! CWUB is a memoir by Daisy Hernandez, a Latina with a Cuban father and Colombian mother. A New Yorker who became a journalist for the New York Times before moving on to write progressive pieces with a focus on social justice. I became interested in reading CWUB just by the title alone. I grew up with Mexican culture/traditions, so when I heard, “cup of water under a bed,” I didn’t think of Santeria (which is the context of the title), but rather remembered my mom would cure me from Ojo and place a cup of water…
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Breaking Law School Barriers III: Letters of Recommendations
This series, Breaking Law School Barriers, tackles the big and small issues that come into play when you’re deciding if you’ll even attend law school. The purpose is to give practical advice for college students, and for current law students and attorneys to give suggestions about their real world experience. Today we want to discuss letters of recommendations (LORs) for your application. It can be awkward asking for a letter, but if you build solid relationships with your professors and advisors, you’ll have a better chance of obtaining solid letters that will help get you admitted. Most schools require at least two, and generally want it from a professor, not…
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What Did You Miss?
We’re so excited for 2015! We have a lot of fun and informative plans in store for everyone! Though we’ve only been sharing information for the past four months, we wanted to share our favorite posts thus far: For prelaw students: our first part of the Breaking Barriers series. For law students: creating institutional change at your school even when faced with resistance. For attorneys: navigating the rules of professional etiquette, starting with your wardrobe. For those creating work-life balance: What to do when family obligations become obstacles. Of course my ultimate favorite is our mission statement! We’ve had a really great four months and look forward to the New…
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Setting and Achieving Goals
We’re keeping things a little light and easy since we’re easing back from the holidays, and are eagerly waiting for the New Year. During the new year, I really love taking this time to assess my current station in life and see where I can create change and improvement. I know some find New Year’s resolutions a little cheesy, but I think it makes sense to start the year with a clean slate and make an effort to progress in either our personal or professional lives. The problem, of course, is the difficulty in creating healthy habits (or stopping bad ones). So today we’re offering a few steps to take…
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Before and After
Seven years ago, my husband (then boyfriend) and I celebrated our first Christmas together after finishing my first semester of law school. I recently stumbled across a picture of our tree: I have to smile at the sparseness of the apartment; the newspaper wrapping paper; and the window treatments because the apartment was always freezing! The struggle was real! Aside from upping my decoration game, this picture reminds of the difficulties of that first semester. During the midst of my first semester finals (and almost all the other final seasons thereafter), I always felt this constant pressure of anxiety that I’m sure many people feel. Would my grades be good…
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Breaking Law School Barriers II: Hidden Costs
This series, Breaking Law School Barriers, tackles the big and small issues that come into play when you’re deciding if you’ll even attend law school. The purpose is to give practical advice for college students, and for current law students and attorneys to give suggestions about their real world experience. For those that have started the law school application process it’s likely that you already know this–even applying to law school cost money. Seriously, as a college senior applying for law school, all I could do from giving up, was keep hoping that I would be given extra hours at my part-time job so that I could afford what…
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Gift Guide for Law Students
We’re sharing some gift ideas for law students! If you’re in the midst of finals, you may not have been able to give suggestions to family/friends that ask you what you’d like for the holidays. So today’s gift guide has ideas for useful presents that can come in handy for most law students. Gift Cards: Gift cards to restaurants and coffee shops are great, but you can also consider giving a gift card to Amazon or any store that sells text books at much cheaper rates than school bookstores. I know, text book purchases aren’t very fun, but any little bit helps, right? Coffee tumbler: Coffee is a given and…
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Easy and Healthy Snacks for Stressful Times
For people that knew me in law school, they may laugh that I’m about to encourage people to eat healthy during law school finals. I would laugh too. Not only did I tend to not snack healthy during school, but I wasn’t eating healthy–period. So, I totally understand how during this time in school, you’re more likely to say, “screw it,” and go to bed instead of packing a healthy lunch for the next day. Or more likely, say, “screw it,” and eat the free pizza that the bar prep course/student organization is offering instead of staying cooped up at the library. But it’s not just easy to eat poorly…
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Beating Anxiety During Finals
Anxiety during final exams is no joke. It’s bad in college, but hits an all time high once you’re in law school. I remember that I would get really bad heartburn the day of exams my 1L year because I was just so nervous and anxious. Hopefully everyone is more chill than that, but the likelihood is that things are bad. And I get why it’s so high-stress–there’s so much riding on your grades! Obviously, nothing will help beat the anxiety more than being well-prepared in the material–that’s a given. But even when you’re fully prepared there’s still a sense of urgency and pressure you’re working under. How do you…
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What Not to do at a Job Interview
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of networking and interviewing with students. I really enjoy this interaction and am super impressed with most students. Acing interviews really requires a lot of preparation, both in knowing the company, the job description, and your own strengths. Of course there are people who stumble. Often the stumbles occur because of self-doubt or (even worse) being ill-prepared. It’s really awkward to see a good candidate miss the mark because they did something that was very avoidable. I mean, it’s awkward for me, but it’s bad for the candidate because a big stumble may result in not getting an offer. Let’s avoid that! …