My cost-benefit analysis says: DO NOT WANT.

So let's talk about this journal thing. That is, the whole idea of "you need to be on Law Review (or some secondary, way-less-prestigious journal that also publishes articles and notes about law and requires the same amount of slavery work for such little reward) in order to succeed at life, I mean, law school!"

If it weren't already obvious, I think the entire thing is a load of crap. Like most of the advice we get about sending 500 letters out on December 1 and perfecting your ability to eat and chat charmingly when you're at your callback lunch, it's all geared towards the stereotypical "how to work in a huge law firm with a six-figure starting salary" path that, hey, a very small percentage of law students actually take. Especially in this craptacular excuse for a job market where you'd probably be lucky to even get hired in retail.

Write-on was hell, especially after finishing your 1L year in a triumphant blaze of I-no-longer-care-how-well-I-did-because-it's-over. But once you're on journal, it's all fun and games! Oh wait, no it's not. Instead it's hours upon hours of work - more than you'll probably ever do for most of your substantive classes where you're actually learning (ostensibly) the law - that will give you fame and fortune and also two whole credits once the year is over! You'll have an excellent gazillion-page Note about a topic you clearly adore and have researched to your maximum capacity, forfeiting sleep and hygiene and social interactions, and you are guaranteed to get published, get the attention of the leading experts in the field you've written about, and you're totally going to get offered that amazing job you've always wanted doing the work you've always wanted for 600 hours a week for the rest of your life!

Except most of that (save the forfeit of sleep, hygiene, and social interaction) is absolutely not true. Most Notes are utter crap because everyone procrastinates and most are aiming only to meet minimum good faith requirements, because as law students we don't have the luxury of enough time to research and polish our writing to the teeth - we're too busy drowning in all our other ongoing obligations: class, class, not reading for class, drinking every night, marathoning our favorite TV, and not calling our parents because we're just "so busy, Mom!"

And with the deadline to pick our topics so early? Everyone chooses arbitrarily something that sounds interesting or at least something they think they can write about - only to be proven wrong later, when it's too late to change your topic to something else.

My rant is losing steam because I'm losing interest, but suffice to say that journals, especially if you're not on Law Review (and also if you don't get published in Law Review), according to the most basic cost-benefit analysis are really Not Worth It.

Not that I may at all be biased or bitter due to the shelf-check I am currently not doing.