Hard to believe that I’ll be back in Vancouver in less than a week, and starting UBC Law Orientation in less than two. But it’s true: many of my worldly possessions are already making their way across Montana, as two friends are enjoying a cross-continent road trip from my current home in Waterloo, Ontario. They’re in my car with a trunk full of my belongings, and I’ll meet them on Thur, Aug 26 as I fly in to Vancouver.
I have lived in Vancouver before, but UBC Law will be a completely new experience. I find myself full of questions: will law school be as interesting and rewarding as I hope? Will the people there be talented, interesting individuals (my hope), or will they be pretentious, arrogant, and self-serving (my fear)? Will the workload be manageable, or will our experience degrade into chaos like that chronicled in Scott Turow’s “One L: the Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School”?
One thing is for sure: the UBC Law Orientation staff have played an invaluable role in helping to manage expectations. I was personally given a tour of UBC’s law facilities, have already “met” many incoming classmates through the online Facebook group, and particularly enjoyed meeting both future classmates and current law students through casual ice-breakers. I even found three housemates via the Facebook group, so now four of us entering UBC Law will be living together on campus.
At the Toronto ice-breaker I plied second-year students with questions about the realities of the UBC Law. Workload? (High, but manageable.) Pretentious people? (They exist, but are few in number.) Dress code? (Casual.) Social opportunities? (Almost too numerous to name.) I also met quite a few of my incoming fellow classmates, and was reassured as they all seemed to be collaborative, talented, and … well, very nice people.
I won’t really know UBC Law until I actually experience it, but you’re more than welcome to follow along as we take that journey. And I would love to hear from other incoming UBC Law students about their own expectations, thoughts, and fears of our time ahead.