Advantage Education, in cooperation with the University of Michigan, is giving pre-law students a leg up on their future classmates with a Pre-Law Boot Camp being held at U-M.
The reason behind the weeklong seminar is to prepare future law students for a new type of learning.
“Law school is fundamentally different from undergraduate school,” said Steve Dulan, president and founder of Advantage Education. “(There are) no quizzes or midterms, only essay tests and then there is the sheer volume of information a student has to go through.”
The course runs July 15-20. Room and board will be provided for the students along with books and materials. The total cost is $1,395 per student, with a $50 discount for members of the Phi Alpha Delta fraternity, which endorses Advantage Education, a test preparation and tutoring organization.
Dulan, who has degrees from MSU and Cooley Law School, said the course will provide students with examples of some of the material they can expect in their first year of law school. The typical law professor, he said, asks questions assuming students have done the reading prior to class. This can be mentally draining because the professor will continue to ask questions until the student doesn’t know the answer.
This method is known as the Socratic method. There are no lectures, just questions.
Dulan said the seminars will be providing students with a real advantage.
“There won’t be as much shock,” the Cooley Law School teacher said. “Instead of trying to learn the style, they will be able to hit the floor running and concentrate on learning the law.”
Randall Behrmann of Grewal & Associates PC, 4572 S. Hagadorn Road, said he supports the idea of a pre-law boot camp.
“It is completely different when you’re an undergrad, sometimes you go to class and sometimes you buy your books,” he said. “When you go through the Socratic method, the whole process is trying to get you to think on your feet.”
Behrmann said while he was in law school, there were students who left and never came back.
“It is not an easy process, but it is not impossible and I think the shock is to get people to do what they are supposed to do,” Behrmann said.
Pre-law and political science sophomore Meredith Smith said she doesn’t think she would be interested.
“I don’t think that I would (attend) just from the cost,” she said.
However, pre-law junior Robert Adamkiewicz said the camp sounded interesting.
“(It might) give me a chance to get experience that I might not have,” he said.
For more information, visit www.study-smart.com or call (888) 737-6010.
