Come Through for a Visit

There is only so much that you can learn about a community by reading about it. At some point you just need to check it out for yourself. When deciding on what school to attend, I found the visit to be the most useful and helpful tool. There are things that you can see on a visit that will never come through in a brochure, video or blog. You can get a sense of the morale of a place, get a chance to see it with your own eyes and have the opportunity to imagine yourself there.

There are a few things that you should be sure not to miss on your STJ visit. First of all make sure that you come at a time when you can sit in on a class. Nothing was more valuable to me as a prospective student than actually seeing how a lawschool class works. Pay attention to the professor to be sure but also pay careful attention to the students. The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the extent to which the students seemed completely engaged with the speaker. They hung on every word. Clearly this was a group that was committed to soaking up everything the professor had to say.

Also check out the atrium on the 4th floor. Slightly smaller and definitely less well known than the cafeteria atrium the 4th floor atrium is a great place to study or catch up on some reading before class. Somewhere between the library and the other atrium in volume the 4th floor atrium is a good spot. Not too loud to read but definitely a place amenable to some intense debate.