Day 1: Sunday
I start off Sunday morning by reading a few more pages of One L. Scott Turow mentions that he's impressed by his classmates; they all seem incredibly accomplished, even those right out of undergrad, and at least half have advanced degrees. So far, pretty accurate: the first three people I meet at Harvard are a philosophy professor, an MBA fleeing the world of management consulting, and a woman who recently returned from a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Africa. We chat for a while and go on a campus tour with a few other admits, then retire to Austin Hall for the afternoon events.
From one to five o'clock, we sit in a classroom and listen to various people talk. I can't imagine why they would do this other than to test our stamina; there's no time in between, even for a bathroom break. First it's a panel on student life (moral: everyone is happy); then a Q&A with the dean, who is very popular among both students and faculty; and finally, faculty speakers. I go see Alan Dershowitz, who gives a fascinating talk about preemption and torture (which I didn't think I cared about), and Elizabeth Bartholet, a family law professor who mostly talks about adoption.
Five to six-thirty is the student activities fair. I run into a girl I went to undergrad with -- she's a 2L staffing one of the tables. I also get invited to a SALSA dinner, which I go to even though I'm a little uneasy about identity groups. But they actually asked me to come along, which is nice. (Already, I feel like there's some segregation here: there's a large crowd around the BALSA table, but nobody even makes eye contact with me when I walk over there. And here I am spending my first night at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of other Indian people.)
After dinner we go to Lincoln's Inn, which has been billed as a social club for law students. I stopped by their table at the activities fair earlier and asked what it was all about. "We have free beer and a big-screen TV, and we play video games," said the guy at the table. I asked him how many students are members. "Lots of people," he said. "Anybody who wants to be social and have fun. Pretty much anyone, unless they're married or something." Um. I start to walk away and he says, "Wait! If you sign up now you can get discounted membership of only $350." Three hundred fifty dollars to drink cheap beer in what turns out to be a smelly frat house? No thanks. The pre-party there is okay, but I don't really meet anybody new -- a weird side effect of being short is that it's hard to start conversations in loud places where everyone is standing up, because everybody else is a foot above your head and you can't really hear each other.
The real party is at the Hong Kong. I stop by, but I don't give it much of a chance; it's getting late, and it's loud and dark and crowded. And I'm one of those old married types who don't like to have fun. I leave after about ten minutes without really talking to anybody. JW picks me up at Toscanini's -- a nice perk of living nearby. The day was pretty good, but after the parties I'm feeling a little isolated and I'm not looking forward to going back on Monday.
Day 2: Monday
8:30 a.m. I'm waiting at the bus stop for the #71. I'm used to taking this bus to Harvard Square on weekends and evenings; it takes ten minutes. But it's rush hour and Mount Auburn Street is clogged. I arrive at the law school around 9:15. Mental note: leave an hour for commuting.
After an interesting session on clinical programs, it's time for class visits. I didn't know we had to get passes in advance, so by the time I get there most of the options are gone. I end up in Copyright with two other admits. The class is on fair use doctrine -- a familiar subject for me, since I'm a computer person -- and the material is fairly interesting, but the professor might be a zombie. He repeats the same phrases over and over, with looong pauses in between. He writes illegible phrases on the board and asks questions that no one can hear the answers to. (And he is very pale, as if his blood has been drained and he must eat brains to maintain some semblance of life.) I start to fade during the last half hour, but manage to stay awake by reading the case for our mock class. I also amuse myself by looking at the screen of the girl in front of me: "Ugh, lunch at the Hark is going to be so crowded with all the admitted students!" (No, it won't! We're having lunch somewhere else.) "There are admits sitting behind me. I feel so bad for them. I would NEVER have come to Harvard if I sat in on this class." There is also some discussion of a would-be boyfriend who has overstepped his bounds, which I will not repeat here.
Lunch with faculty: our faculty member never shows up, the guy and the girl on either side of me act like they would be boffing each other right at the table if I weren't sitting in between, there's another speech from the dean about how Harvard is so great and we are all so very special.
Then it's off to the mock class. I meet up with Josh on the way. We run into another girl who claims she hasn't read the case (a common theme at lunch: "I just skimmed the case this morning!" "I just read the first paragraph!" "I don't even know what the case is!"). The class is great. It's taught by Heather Gerken, who encourages us all to take election law ("unless you decide to go to Yale, where they don't offer it") and asks us all sorts of questions about the case that hadn't even crossed my mind.
I go to one more panel on constitutional law, bid Josh farewell, and head home. (But first I stop at Burdick's to get chocolate, because it's my birthday and I can eat whatever I want. I think about also getting ice cream on the way home -- mmm, burnt sugar ice cream -- but decide against it because I know I'm having cake later.)
Overall: I'm excited about classes and clinics -- could it be that deep down, I am actually intellectual? I never thought so, but maybe I've just been thinking about the wrong things all this time. I didn't find too many people I clicked with right away, but maybe I'll try harder to be social once school starts.
My main concern about Harvard was that most of the law school students I met during grad school seemed pretty miserable. But I think student satisfaction has improved a lot since then, and continues to improve. (Other admits also said they were pleasantly surprised.) So I'm optimistic: I think I'll like it here.
