Study shows third-year law students slack off

A recent study by the Law School Survey of Student Engagement confirmed the existence of an ailment that has been plaguing students for years. That ailment: senioritis.\nWhile third-year law students aren't exactly "seniors," the survey, titled "The Law Schools Years: Probing Questions, Actionable Data," shows these third-year students -- as well as fourth-year part-time students -- exhibit similar behavior to college and high school seniors. This behavior includes spending less time studying and coming to class unprepared.\nPatrick O'Day, the survey's project manager, said the survey asked students how frequently they went to class prepared, how hard they worked to meet faculty expectations, how many hours they spent preparing for class and participation in co-curricular activities. He said fewer third-year students went to class prepared than first-year students. And, he said, there were declines in the numbers of third-year students working to meet faculty expectations.\n"This indicates that (third-year) students aren't spending as much time and effort in trying to be prepared and involved in class (as first-years)," he said.\nO'Day said the results are based on two years of data and 34,000 first- and third-year law students at 1,000 different schools. After compiling the information, the survey gives each university a detailed report comparing it to other schools that have similar numbers of students and affiliation (public, private or private religious).\nAccording to the survey results, "by the third year, students seem to have learned how to 'do' law school, mastering routine academic challenges so well that the experience will 'bore you to death.'"\nLeonard Fromm, dean for students and alumni at the IU School of Law, said he sees law students finding it difficult to keep motivated during their final semester every year, for a variety of reasons. \n"In many respects, this is natural, and I would imagine similar to what other graduate and professional students experience in their last semester of their degree programs," he said in an e-mail. \nMany times, he said, students who have post-graduation jobs lined up before their third year begins do not find it necessary to continue to do their best work.\nBut third-year IU law students Will Ramsey and Bradley Hargis disagreed, saying their peers who have jobs already still work hard.\n"They still have to pass," said Ramsey, who accepted a job offer during winter break. "The grade is important for the second job, too."\nHargis added that many students still want to work hard because they want to be good students.\nThe two did agree that they are studying less than they did their first years, but they say much of their studying time is taken up by co-curricular activities such as Moot Court, law journals, papers and research. They also said first-year students don't know how to use their study time effectively.\n"(They) waste a bunch of time," Hargis said. "They don't know how to study. They're not used to reading the law and write down facts that aren't important."\nO'Day agreed, saying the first year is meant to "scare you to death" because everything is new, the Socratic method is used and expectations are so high students are scared not to do work.\nRamsey and Hargis said they do like to go to class prepared because professors call students out.\nFirst-year law student Erin Hittinger said she studies 10 hours a day outside of class during the week and eight hours a day on weekends.\nShe said she has noticed that while first-year students claim spaces in the library to study, she doesn't see second- or third-year students much.\n"I've heard that second- and third-year students study more," she said. "I've also heard that once they had jobs, they slack off."\nO'Day said students who slack off during their final year are squandering opportunities to communicate with some of the best thinkers about law.\n"There's an opportunity beyond grades to really learn something," he said. "When you go to class unprepared, you won't learn as much."\nFromm said while many students do slack off, others take the opportunities to really learn something.\n"There are third-year law students who are motivated in their studies because they have found an area of study that generates real interest for them, and they realize this is their last chance to take certain courses," he said.\nOthers, he said, are motivated because they are preparing for the bar exam. \nO'Day said regardless of why a final-year student is slacking off, there are many different models law schools can use to maintain motivation. Some ideas include making the curriculum as relative as possible and creating more internship and externship opportunities.\n"Some people think law school should be four years," he said. "It is expensive to go to law school, (often) $77,000 debt. If you're going to have a third year and you have to incur debt, it should be valuable."\nThe Law School Survey of Student Engagement is a project of IU's Center for Postsecondary Research. The study was co-sponsored by the Association of American Law Schools and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.