[chadplusplus]

I went to a borderline Tier 2/3 school.

For the first 2-3 weeks of the first semester, I busted my ass reading for hours and hours each night. Eventually, reading cases clicked for me and I became much more efficient in my studying. I also discovered commercial outlines (despite being discouraged by professors, these things are the bomb). The first year of law school ended up being a ton of fun - lots of boozing, chasing women, and other debauchery. Then, the money I had saved ran out and I had to get jobs during my first summer. For the remainder of law school, I worked at least 2 jobs in addition to taking class (one with a law office, one menial job). That sucked, but I got through it and graduated just outside of the top 10%.

I had always intended on being a big firm guy, but I ended up in a small (3.5 lawyers) rural law office (which actually makes it the largest law office in the county). Between the instant performance requirements and depressing-ness of the situations with which I was dealing, it was overwhelming at first. But now that I have figured out how to delegate tasks, manage my own time better, and disassociate myself from my clients' problems, I thoroughly enjoy my job. I work in a rural area so the cost of living is very low, so I can manage to put in 30-40 hours/week on average and still make relatively good money. I was golfing 3 times a week for a while. However, the nature of being in a plaintiff's firm means that one week you may have nothing to do and can golf all 5 days and then the next week, you'll suddenly get 5 new clients and have to work 60 hours to get all of their pleadings ready and filed.

Edit: Oh, I also wanted to agree on what has been said about buckling down the week of finals. I slacked off all semester (first year due to booze/fun, second and third because of my work schedule), but during finals, I would take time off from my other obligations and study at least 12 hours/day. Fortunately, I always had a studious girlfriend around the time of finals, so she would have all the good outlines and study materials. Coincidence?