5 Reasons Law School is like Greek Life

Before becoming a law student, I pictured law school as a terrifying place where everyone wore suits, tried to beat the grade curve and had no humor. It took only a week of being here that I realized law school is greek life for adults. If you missed out on the greek life culture in undergrad, worry no more! Come to law school for a grown-up world of drama and fun.

1. Bar Reviews

Welcome to the world of law school! You have too many reading assignments to complete, are overwhelmed about a topic and can’t understand what your professor was talking about in class! No worries for you because at law school, every Thursday is a Bar Review where you get to go out drinking with your fellow classmates and pretend you don’t have to wake up at 7am the next morning to do it all over again! Bonus points for the number of drunk kisses that occur between the 1L and 3L class, phone numbers exchanged and awkward avoidance of people the next morning. My friends and I love watching this occur on a weekly event.

2. Drama

 Think “MTV Real World” with more than 20 cast members. The fights between friends and couples become daily news that everyone talks about in between classes. He said and She said drama becomes a daily thing. You learn more about your classmates than you ever needed to know! It can be fantastic and fun, until the drama and gossip is about yourself. Be prepared, it happens to everyone at least once.

3. Close Quarters

There are about 600 students in law school and you are all enclosed in one building. You walk into the building feeling tired or grumpy? You have to put on a smiling face to greet everyone you see. It takes about one month to know most of your 1L class and you will love and hate them for the amount of time you spend together. At the end of the day though, your classmates are the only ones who understand your stress about finals or need to get snack food at midnight while studying. You will gain your best friends from this closeness.

4. Cliques & Labels

 Groups of friends quickly form because of the amount of time you spend together. These groups start becoming known for different titles, usually because of one or two people in their group. Some classic examples? The “party” group, the “Christian” group, the “jewish kids”, the “gunners”. The best way to handle all these labels is to become friends with everyone. Clique, but true. Everyone at law school is interesting, don’t judge someone because they don’t fit what clique you fit into.

5. Acquiring “bigs” aka 3Ls who give you outlines

 In Greek life, there are Bigs and Littles. Bigs basically show you the ropes, hold your hand through different situations and listen to all your complaints while giving great advice. Your law school bigs are the 3Ls. They can tell you all about a professor, explain how to handle class and introduce you to their friends. Best of all? They help you obtain outlines from former students so you can gain additional insight into a course.

So come join the Greek Life scene at law school! All jokes aside, law school is the best and worst thing that can happen to you, you will make great friends, learn about others and have a great time.