A Word with the Upper Years: A Course Selection Guide
My 1L was a magical time where I got to meet a lot of new people from different backgrounds working towards the same goal of surviving our first year. We laughed together, we cried together over the exams, and we finished the first year strong. Now in my second year, a lot of us are taking different path and I might not even have the same class with some of the people, but of course we remain good friends.
The registration for term 2 is nearing us again and some of us are puzzled with the million-dollar question:
What courses should I take!?
Follow Your Heart
First and foremost, always try to sign up for courses that are exciting to you. When you are interested in a course topic, it will give you the encouragement to engage with the material more. It will also give you the drive to keep going even on those days that you feel down.
For example, for me, this was the case with my Immigration Law class because of my personal background. I wanted to know more about this area so I could help other international students like myself in the future. This passion gave me the drive to read the 100 pages long chapters every Monday for the class, even if I was dead tired.
In addition to that, your passion for a course can help you seeking more information about that area. I signed up for my local CBA (Canadian Bar Association) chapter on Immigration Law where I get updates about changes in the law, important legal precedents, and webinars on the development of the field. Doing so has helped me greatly in improving my knowledge of the field and making new connections with the practitioners of Immigration Law.
Diversify your Transcript
Another approach is to try to test the legal waters by taking some courses from different areas of the law. I come from an English Literature background before starting my law school journey and I have never ever heard of anything related to business law. However, I was always curious to see how businesses are run in Canada because I always wanted to have my own small business one day. The opportunity presented itself and I signed up for Business Organizations Law class, and I could not be any happier with my decision.
Signing up for that class, I believe, shows my versatility to future employers that I am willing to get out of my comfort zone and try new challenges. It is also a fact that a lot of law firms out there have a business heavy practice and having this course on my transcript could help me get my foot in the door.
A diverse course selection has helped me with my seminar courses as well where I must write term papers. I could borrow materials from my Aboriginal Law class and use them in writing my paper in my Housing and Homelessness seminar on the topic of Indigenous people’s eviction situations.
Talk with Your Mentor on Course Selection
If you have a mentor in law school, let it be an upper year, a professor, a lawyer you worked with in your summer position, it is always a good idea to get their insight on course selection according to your future goals.
When I talked with some of my friends who were working at a law firm during the summer, they told me that their mentors would suggest taking some hands-on experience courses such as Civil Procedure classes, for example.
This of course does not mean you have to follow everything other people tell you. It is just a good idea to have different points of views on course selections from the people who have been through the similar thing as we are.
