Ten days after law school started, I began to check off all the things that I needed to do in the first two weeks. Allow me to go through my checklist.

Settled in my new home, check. Made friends, check. Bought all required textbooks, check. Know where the washrooms are on the third floor, nope. Applied for summer jobs … WHAT! Who wrote that on this list?!?

Yes, we are less than two weeks into the first semester and there are emails, student service sessions, and peers buzzing loudly in my ear about 1L summer job applications that have deadlines on the horizon. Needless to say, this unexpected news startled me for a couple of reasons.

First, the time required for my alma mater to process my undergraduate transcript is four to five days – that does not include the number of business days needed for the transcript to be shipped to me. Unfortunately, many of those 1L summer jobs have deadlines that would have expired by then.

Second, the time needed for just one reference to whip up a stellar letter about me, albeit they could easily look up the numerous synonyms of outstanding – and copy and paste, is approximately one week, and that does not include the time necessary for them to reply to my “urgent” emails. Now some 1L summer job applications require three references. Can you sense my excitement about 1L summer job applications in the second week of law school yet?

Third, I’m not alone here as many of my peers have raised a similar yet pertinent comment: “Applying for summer jobs in the second week of law school is awesome CRAZY!”

But they (summer job applications) are not holding me by the wrists and dragging me to apply. Maybe we (law students in Canada) should accept the idea that this is a professional degree, where before you know what date all your exams are in December, you must know what date the deadline is to apply for summer jobs, which most students will miss if your alma mater’s printer can only crank out a transcript once every four to five days. Maybe we as first-years should make peace with the fact that many things in law school are on an expedited time frame; perhaps the best example I can construe is that we will apply for jobs well in advance of graduation.

To those 0Ls who will one day go through or are currently going though the OLSAS cocoon and will transform into 1Ls, this is what I wish someone told me before entering 1L:

1. Before you take your first step through the doors of law school, make sure you have an updated resume.

2. Before you take your second step through the doors of law school, make sure you have two or three individuals from your pre-law school era who can be on standby if a reference letter is needed or whose names can be used on your resume.

3. Before you even think about taking your first or second step through the doors of law school, radio your alma mater and ask them (way in advance) for your undergraduate transcript.

4. Last but not least, ask the administrative staff in your first week of law school whether they have any information about which organizations, government agencies, and law firms will require 1L summer job applications in September, so you can apply and put a neat check mark next to applying for 1L summer jobs: check!