Post-Grad Plans
I turned in my LAST PAPER EVER on Friday, May 6 at 5pm. Law school is officially ✨over✨.
So you’re probably wondering - uh…what comes next?
TLDR: I start studying for the bar now; graduate on May 26 with my Juris Doctor (not a lawyer yet, just a Doctor of Laws, but JDs don’t go by “Dr.”); stay in Boston to study for the bar; take the bar on July 26 + 27 in Minneapolis (don’t get results til October); then move to my first duty assignment as an Air Force JAG at…drum roll pleeease…
Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma!
NOW – BAR PREP + PRE-GRAD CELEBRATIONS
What’s that saying? “No rest for the wicked?” Yep, I feel that. I turned in my last paper on Friday and today, I start studying. Let’s…let’s go…
I’ll take the MN bar in July and will use a study program called BARBRI to prepare for it. The vast majority of students use some kind of prep course to study for the bar; it’s kind of a gamble to DIY, for obvious reasons. To be honest, I don’t have much to say on this front because I’ve barely started! But BARBRI is one of the most popular courses and I have complete confidence it’ll get me through.
I’ve also got a healthy mix of pre-grad celebrations mixed into the studying, so I’m not going full hermit just yet. These are the ‘official’ events on the docket so far:
· TODAY – Celebration with the Admissions Fellows and the HLS Admissions staff
· NEXT WEEKEND – A nice long weekend trip with section mates to Maine – kind of a last hurrah for us all together. Plus, I couldn’t turn down a chance to revisit Acadia…
· MAY 14 – 3L Boat Cruise with all my friends (AND Ben! Yay!!!)
· MAY 26 – Open House with the Criminal Justice Institute
Plus, the one-off “let’s get ice cream” or “one last round of drinks” are quickly filling up my calendar. And I am the opposite of mad about it.
MAY 25 – CLASS DAY
This is a Class of 2022 celebration before graduation, involving a bunch of class awards and recognitions, speeches, and a keynote address from the Honorable Loretta Lynch (HLS Class of 1984). It’s an all-afternoon thing, so hopefully involves food??
MAY 26 – GRADUATION CEREMONY
Commencement begins with “Morning Exercises,” an all-Harvard ceremony – that’s right. Something for every 2022 Harvard grad. The guest speaker is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (!) and I’m just now learning this is a whole big, historical thing. We’re each allowed to bring two guests but I don’t even know where they cram us all in.
Who are my two people, you ask? Great question. We may have a tourney to select the winners because choosing between parents/husband/in-laws/friends is just too much for this frail Victorian child.
The law school diploma ceremony follows immediately after, around noon, and is traditionally held on Holmes Field outside the HLS library. It’s so odd – I’ve never seen a graduation because we haven’t had one during my time here! During this ceremony I’ll officially get my Juris Doctor degree. It IS a doctorate, but JDs aren’t called “doctors” because (a) I’m not out here saving lives and (b) there’s no research/publication element like a traditional PhD. I’ll just be Riley Vann, JD. But it’s a mandatory part 1 to becoming a barred attorney (in most states), part 2 being passing the actual bar exam and part 3 being acceptance into the actual bar association. So I get a doctorate on May 26 but not a lawyer-ate yet!
MAY 27 – BAR PREP, FULL THROTTLE
This summer I won’t work on an Air Force base like I did for the past two. Instead, I’m left to study in (relative) peace. This is pretty common, as most employers give new grads the summer off to study for the bar. People who work AND study, or do school and study, are the real superheroes - I could never.
There are many theories about what you ‘need’ to do to pass the bar. It’s definitely a “breadth of knowledge” and “do you know how to test for this” kind of exam, so I have to put in a solid couple hundred hours of prep time. I’ve heard everything from 350 to 600 so…who knows. I tentatively plan to put in a solid 8 hours of work per weekday and then 5-6 on weekend days, with a full day off every once and a while, but more on that later!
JULY 26 & 27 – BAR EXAM IN MINNEAPOLIS
Exactly two months after graduation, funnily enough. The bar exam is a two-day test, split into four 3-hour sessions. I think I’ll use another post to break this down, but I do know I’ll fly to the Twin Cities a few days before the bar and stay with my wonderful in-laws. I’m so thankful for them – it’ll be nice to be in a familiar, comfortable place right before the (literal) biggest test of my life!
Unfortunately, I won’t find out if I’ve passed until mid-October. Boooooo. I’m manifesting a W but if not, the bar exam is offered again in February.
AUGUST 1(ish) – MOVE TO OKLAHOMA CITY, OK
Right after the bar I’ll pack up all my things in Cambridge and move to my first duty assignment as a JAG. I’m headed to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, OK, which is both good and bad. Bad because I won’t live with my significant other; he’s headed to Texas for pilot training and we’ll be about two hours apart for two years. But good because I’ve heard great things about OKC and I should get tons of great experience at Tinker! I’m genuinely excited to get down there and get started.
Unfortunately though, this transition to The Next Phase of life brings me to an unhappy announcement: Legally Blonde AF is officially coming to a close 😭😭😭. I started the blog with the specific intent of covering my law school experience and it seems right to wrap it when I graduate. So May 29(ish) will be my last, regularly-scheduled post ever! I do plan to leave the site up and will likely go through and update a few things, but I don’t plan to post anything new.
That said, we’ll keep in touch - and I won’t leave you hanging on the grad photos!!!
