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Everyone knows how hard law school is, and it is. But it’s not something that can’t be beat. Every year thousands of people graduate from law schools and go on to long, prosperous careers (or long, extended unemployment, depending on who you ask), and you can too. You just have to know what you want to get out of law school.

There are generally two tracks you can take in law school. The first you can do no matter what you want to do after school – absolutely kill all of your classes. There is always a job waiting out there for the guy or girl that finishes at the top of their law school class. But to do that takes some real work (or some real genius). There’s probably no surprise that if you want to finish at the top of your law school class you’ve got to work your butt off and study like a mad man.

But who really wants to do that?

The second course of action is the one that, I think, if people would really stop and think about it, they would take most of the time. That path is relatively straightforward – think about what you want to be and devote your time to becoming that. For example, if you want to become a trucking accident lawyer, learn all there is to know about personal injury law, civil litigation, civil rules of procedure, and trial advocacy. If you want to be a federal criminal defense lawyer, do all you can to learn about criminal law and how the feds work. Get an internship. That way when you get of school you can hit the ground running.

The last piece of advice for surviving law school is this – enjoy it while it lasts. Make good friends, drink a lot of booze, get in some great discussions, and don’t let anyone take themselves too seriously. There is plenty of time to be serious and not fun. Don’t start doing that too soon.