What’s an evening student to do? Most of us work all day, go to school at night and the remainder of our time is spent trying to balance homework and family. Still, there are certain realities of law school and ultimate employment, and those realities have to do with our academic career beyond the grades. Books (and advisors, I presume, though I’ve not had time to talk to one) tell us that we need to get on a law review, go to seminars, volunteer for student groups or pro bono work. I personally am inundated with email every day with extracurricular options to gain useful advice from and schmooze with top attorneys, authors, judges, career experts, and others that will help me not only make a career decision, but perhaps assist in the invaluable process of networking. I would love to participate in at least half of these things. Pro bono work, of course! Work on a law review, sure! Those would be great experiences and would be super on a resume, but the reality is, there are four days a week that I already don’t see one of my kids. When exactly do I fit anything else in, and if I don’t, how do I compete with the (mostly day) students who have had plenty of time filling their time with useful law-related activities?

Sure, I already have a job in an area at least somewhat related to law. Holding down that job, maybe even excelling at it, while going to school will say something about the kind of person I am. OK, good. My grades will count for a lot, as I understand it. (I went to The Evergreen State College where we did not have grades, so this concept eludes me.) That I can work on, but being a first year and having very little idea of what exams will really be like, this area makes me nervous. (I know, join the club.)
What is the real expectation? Do they (you know, “Them”) expect that evening students compete in the same way as day students? How do employers evaluate one experience versus another? I guess that’s what it all comes down to – our experiences are just different. I’d love to be having the non-working or part-time working day-student experience, but that’s not the reality of my life. Maybe I can sneak in a bit of pro bono work or contribute something extracurricular here and there over the next four years (yes, evening is a 4-year program). If I do not, will it be the cause of my law career never even getting off the ground? Probably not, but I guess I should talk to an advisor about low time commitment projects that help build experience and resumes!