2nd Year Reflection #4

Three weeks ago on Thursday, January 16th, I spent an hour in Hagerty Hall Room 180 attending the academic/ professional development event: A Day in the Life of a Harvard Law Student. At this event, we gathered around Lindsey’s laptop for a FaceTime call with Sam Harris, Ohio State and IA Alum (’19), to hear about her experiences as a 1L at Harvard Law School. I was very excited for this event and the opportunity to hear from Sam because just last year we were living on the same floor, and I looked forward to catching up a little with the life of the best Resident Advisor ever.

After a bout of technical difficulties, we were able to secure a connection with Sam, and she started to tell us all about her experience during her first semester as well as what it took from her time at OSU to get there. While this event did not particularly relate to the topic of International Affairs, I did gain a lot personally from Sam’s advice and the sharing of her experiences at Harvard thus far. In the hour-long discussion, I would say that I took away three major pieces advice imparted upon us by Sam.

The first piece of advice that I found to be extremely relevant and applicable to my current situation was from Sam’s explanation that in applying to the top schools that she did, no one cared about what positions she held in clubs or how many honors societies she was in; they were more interested in what she put into and got out of her involvements. She encouraged us to actually participate and get involved in things on campus that interest us and not to do something just so we can add it to our resume; in doing so, she said that we would have at least as much if not more to talk about from taking part in something that we were actually passionate about, which I found to be very reassuring.

Secondly, she advised us, in typical Sam fashion, to exploit Ohio State for all that we could, whether it be through STEP or applying for as many study abroad and academic scholarships as possible. She explained that she didn’t pay a penny for any of her experiences abroad, and she suggested that we do the same. Finally, she gave us insight to the application process for Top 14 law schools, as Harvard, and she dispelled common myths and misconceptions for us while giving useful pointers and advice. I was very surprised to hear about how typical and behaviorally based her interviews were. And I was most surprised to hear that not a lot of schools even required them.

I found the call to be extremely helpful and informative in regards to how I should spend the rest of my time here at Ohio State and how best to prepare for the next chapter of my life. I very much enjoyed hearing from Sam and how she has been while also learning from her experiences and the successes that got her to where she is today. I am really happy that I decided to attend this event, and I look forward to taking what I learned from Sam and applying it myself (and, of course, to the next time we hear from THE Samantha Harris again).