My 1L JDO Experience

By: Stephanie Schmudlach

  The decision to go to law school, while not always hard in itself, is without a doubt one of the hardest processes that those who seek graduate level studies may go through. Deciding to pursue a J.D. as an undergraduate student, or even in high school, gives you the advantage of continuous studying and maintaining your pace as at each step you take. So, what about those of us who make the decision later in life, the ones who decide to take this path as a second, or even third career, maybe even a second or third graduate degree?

  This year’s 1L JDO class has an average age of 37 years old, meaning many, and most of us have been out of academia for quite a while. We chose to attend a program that allows flexibility while maintaining structure because we work full time jobs and have families that require our presence and attention. A full-time in-person program, or even a part-time in-person program, would require many of us to make sacrifices we aren’t able to make. So how are we doing now that we’re halfway through our first semester? We’re figuring out our balancing act.

  I think most of us have figured out a system that works well as individuals to keep up with the work required while maintaining some semblance of our personal lives and some hold on our personal responsibilities. We’ve had students attending their synchronous sessions from work or kid’s sporting events and still putting in the effort and attention their classes require.

  I think a large part of our ability to hold ourselves and each other accountable can be credited to the cohort as a whole. Because so many of us come from similar places in life, we, as a class, get along well. We spend time encouraging each other and interacting with each other in a way that most people wouldn’t think you would get in an online or hybrid program.

  Having the ability to bounce information off one another and vent to people who understand what you’re going through is a connection I never imagined I would get in a program like this. As someone who attended a similar undergraduate program, my experience so far has been beyond what I expected. From the Jumpstart program to the in-person residencies to learning to take the professors and not just the class, overall, the first half of the semester feels like I made the right choice in not only attending law school but specifically in attending CSU.