4 Ways To Make The Most Of Summer 2020

The pandemic has thrown a wrench in the plans of college students across the world, with many job and internship opportunities being canceled, postponed, or reduced in some significant way. What then, should students be doing in order to maximize their summer? In this post, we will explore 4 concrete things that students can be doing right now to maximize the summer, and minimize the damage caused by the global pandemic.

#1 - An Ideal World

In an ideal world, the rule of thumb is that you need to be doing at least 1 of the following 4 things;

1)     work;

2)     volunteer;

3)     take summer classes;

4)     developing yourself

Either of these options is a positive, as they help illustrate your ability to stay busy (without the need for an extended break between semesters) as well as a desire to further yourself. A job, of any kind, can demonstrate maturity, an ability to handle responsibility and dare I say it, the capacity to ‘Adult.’ While ‘Adulting’ is not an actual verb and is certainly not something that any client wants to hear their lawyer boast about doing, working demonstrates some sense of maturity. It will also give experience that simply cannot be acquired in a classroom.

It is also worth noting that you do not need to secure a job in a law firm, for that work experience to be beneficial. In fact, it is often difficult (albeit not impossible) for undergraduates to secure those roles, as you are often competing with much more experienced candidates, or current law students. The fact of the matter is, law students simply have more knowledge, training and, importantly, are capable of being hired as fee earners, much sooner. Accordingly, undergraduates should not get hung up on only finding jobs in legal employment settings. Instead, students should not think ‘Is this job close enough to the legal profession?’ but rather, ‘How can I package this experience to show positive aspects of who I am, and how that might look favorable when I apply to law school?.’

I once worked with a student who worked in his family’s pest control business. Yes, pest control. This particular student went into crawl spaces and cleared out rats, bats, possums and the like. He also helped with the business’s administration and worked with clients and suppliers. Was this viewed as a negative? It is all about how you package it.

In this particular case, the applicant outlined that he wanted to be a lawyer that acted for small to medium size enterprises with a focus on business law, and that he felt he needed to understand how such a business worked, before he could provide legal advice to such clients. He was able to provide a clear narrative as to how that work experience related to his goal of going to law school. The other benefit? I know very few lawyers who’d be willing to work in pest control, so apart from being able to articulate why that job connected with his desire to be a lawyer, he could also essentially say ‘check out both my humility and work ethic.’ He was ultimately admitted to his school of choice.

#2 - What If I Cannot Find A Job?

In the event you can’t find a job, or you can’t find something that is fulltime, you can still use that time wisely, and volunteer. Given the current hardships faced by so many, opportunities abound for altruism, but volunteering is a great way for you to develop your knowledge base and skill set. It is also a perfectly acceptable way to continue to build your resume. Law schools want applicants who see law as a way of giving back and serving the public, even those in areas like corporate litigation frequently give back to the community in the form of pro bono work, and volunteering shows that your words are backed by action. Again, the theme here is to do something this summer. I am tempted to make a Seinfeld reference to ‘The Summer of George’ but I realize it will show my age, so instead I’ll simply say this – summers where you do absolutely nothing, are not a good thing.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to spend 80 hours a week at the local pet shelter, but it does mean that you should look for ways to stay busy and use at least some of your time for the greater good – especially in the event you are not working fulltime.

#3 - If You Ain’t Earnin’ Be Learnin’

Now, I full appreciate that, for a bunch of reasons, you might not be able to volunteer, and employment/internship opportunities might be scarce. You might live in a place where those opportunities are truly hard to find. Maybe you don’t have a car, which makes getting places hard? Maybe you’ve got family obligations that make committing to a volunteering role difficult? Fear not, there are still things that you can be doing to use the summer well, and to further the building of your resume. In that event, you need to be furthering your education.

Summer classes are an excellent way for you to not only stay busy, but to obtain credits that can allow you to have a lighter spring semester in your junior year (when you’d start your LSAT prep if you plan on going straight to law school). It can also help you graduate early (and save money), or to get core classes out of the way, so you can focus on the courses that really appeal to you in the fall/spring. You can take these classes at Baylor, or at a community college, as long as you ensure that they will properly transfer. However… there is a catch.

Summer classes are often trickier than people think, for the simple reason that you are cramming an entire semester’s worth of work into a massively reduced schedule. Consequently, people are struck by just how much work they entail. The danger here is that the grades you receive for those summer classes – regardless of where you take them, will count towards the cumulative GPA you will use when applying to law schools. Without going into the nuances of the LSAC’s Credential Assembly Service (CAS), the important thing to remember is that while AP grades don’t count, high school Dual Credit classes and summer courses will – so take them seriously.

#4 - Create Your Own Luck

Our fourth positive us of time is something that I think you should be doing regardless of which of the previous options you pursue – develop yourself. Perhaps you had a course that you found to be especially rewarding? Why not read into it further? Consider writing a blog, or even reaching out to a professor you’ve worked closely with, to see if they might need some assistance with some research? Perhaps learn a second language, using the very wide variety of affordable (often free) resources that are out there. Perhaps you have an interest in commercial law? Visit the library website (https://www.baylor.edu/lib/) and find some journal articles or online PDFs explaining derivatives or credit swaps. Interested in criminal law? Go and read books on the topic, memoirs of famous lawyers or research notable trials. The bottom line is this, if you are passionate about something, finding a way to feed that passion during the summer can pay big dividends, as you grow as a student and develop your profile. It also goes without saying that everyone should also be using this time to really dig into the informational interviews that all Pre-Law students are strongly encouraged to be completing on a regular basis.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, everyone is facing the same challenges when it comes to the disruption that the pandemic has presented. However, by keeping busy and doing at least one of the things advocated for in this post, you can keep building your application for either law school, or the work force.

Like always, this is generalized advice and if you find yourself with further questions about how to best use the summer, please go ahead and contact me directly via prelaw@baylor.edu or feel free to call me directly via 254-262-6383. Baylor Pre-Law is also on Instagram @prelawBaylor