Ramsey Cooper is a first-year student at Loyola Law School dedicated to centering community and humanity through her legal studies and career.
The best thing about Loyola is the emphasis on community. It is unique that the law school is a separate campus from the undergraduate school. This separation promotes interaction among law students and helps create a sense of togetherness. Finals season would have been much harder if I felt structurally disconnected from my peers as I might have on a predominantly undergraduate campus.
The organizations here also emphasize community through mentor programs. Most organizations have an option to pair up with a 2L or 3L to help you navigate through the year and acclimate to the law school climate. These guidance programs are important for perspective especially for someone like me who is a first generation law school student and new to California living.
In the first year, Loyola separates the students into four sections: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Being in one of the afternoon sections has been a struggle as a morning person, but the people make the later classes exciting to be in. As the months go on, I find myself sad thinking about when my section will no longer be my section. Having a shared schedule with my peers has created bonds I hope to carry with me after graduation. I feel so lucky to have found people I can both confide in and study effectively with.
It would be inauthentic to not mention the impact of the curve when discussing the social climate. I will not attempt to fumble through an explanation of how it works, but I will describe the feelings that crept in after the realities of the grading system were realized. There was a noticeable chill coming into the second semester that wasn’t there before. Before, it was almost like a fog had set in and we were all holding hands to get through it together, but now, some people have made it through and let go while others are still trying to find a way. This is the unfortunate reality of most law schools across the country. The curve grading system creates an inherently competitive environment that may be uncomfortable and which negatively impacts self worth and trust in the fairness of the system. So, while community is emphasized especially in your 1L first semester here at Loyola, it is important to know that the change after grades are announced will be startling especially if, as a first generation student, no one has told you about it or prepared you for it.
This semester we got a tiny taste of the un-sectioned life after 1L with our elective classes. Every 1L student had the opportunity to rank their top three electives, so all of the sections were mixed into the classes based on those rankings. It’s been nice to talk to others in different sections and hear their perspectives on classes we all took with different professors. I don’t imagine the chilling impact of the curve will go away completely, but I do believe when we are able to take classes outside of a set section, we won’t need to wear as heavy of a coat when the grades come out.