Kathryne M. Young's How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School provides steadfast advice on surviving and thriving in law school. Young encourages the reader to think critically about themselves and their approach to law school. Young draws on over 1000 interviews with current law students and alumni. How to Be Sort of Happy, while intended for law students, could serve a range of students in higher education.
How to Be Sort of Happy has nineteen chapters, divided into five parts. The first part analyzes the challenges of law school, such as the workload, imposter syndrome, and unmet expectations. Part Two centers on maintaining an identity in law school, encouraging readers to pursue their passions and desires amid the pressures of law school. Next, in Part Three, Young delves into the important issue of student wellbeing, emphasizing finances, sleep, suicide, and drugs. The fourth part focuses on developing and maintaining relationships despite the unique strains law school will have. Chapters 15 through 19 make up the final section of the book, presenting strategies and techniques aimed at providing success in law school.
A key strength of How to be Happy is the consistent theme of balance. At the outset, Young acknowledges the difficulty of law school. A constant point of reference is how law school can often make a student feel separated from everyday life. People outside of law school cannot really empathize with the feelings, frustrations, and experiences of law students. Similarly, those outside of law school will not understand the constant need to study, read, and write. For these reasons and more, law school can be a divisive barrier between students and the people around them. Young encourages readers to keep these relationships despite the difficulties. Family and friends are a system of support and love that can be crucial for a law student. The potential relationships within law school are another balance point for students. Young recognizes that law school can create tension, competition, and a general rude atmosphere. Nonetheless, readers are advised to develop relationships to counter the potential of isolation. Feelings of social isolation was a repeated issue in the mixed methods survey (173). Young understands the potential difficulties that these friendships can present. As such, chapter 12 offers strategies for limiting the potential harms of these relationships.
How to be Happy does not limit the theme of balance to the discussion of relationships. The desire to stay true to yourself is another consistent concept throughout the book. On its own, law school can seemingly force a student down a particular path. Young acknowledges that in law school, there is a herd mentality where students feel that they need to do certain things to succeed (65). How to be Happy brings the readers focus away from perpetuating this mentality. Readers are urged to embrace their interests, desires, and identities. The rigors, and somewhat homogenizing nature, of law school can overshadow a student's experience. Throughout law school, there will be certain courses that the student will have to take. However, How to be Happy focuses on aspects that students will have control over. Young compounds this advice by counseling readers to prioritize certain things when picking classes. Strategies include picking professors over topics, focusing on areas of interests, and courses that will teach a skill are all focal points. Additionally, Young suggests that the best choice could be to take a class that is completely outside of law school.
Young's accessible writing style is another strength of the book, including the use of anecdotes, humor, and rhetorical questions that pull the reader in by making the book feel like a conversation between friends. Young's impressive mixed method study serves as the basis for all the advice provided, connecting research to practice in a welcomed approach. Combined, these strengths illuminate that the experiences, challenges, and struggles of law school are not isolated to any one person, engulfing the reader in a larger collective of people who share similar experiences. This in turn disrupts the loneliness Young finds in her research participants. Young's maintenance of the easy, almost jovial, tone underscores the books intention of offering help where so many people have previously struggled.
How to be Happy is a compilation of questions, advice, and information built from the experiences of others, which readers can use to better navigate the potentials of law school. Young recognizes the uniqueness of people and the diversity of their experiences. The inclusion of anecdotes and information from the survey underscore that diversity is not detrimental to law school success. How to be Happy encourages students to work, sometimes creatively, within the law school education system while preserving their connections and identity to the world outside the bounds of constitutional law, and the rigorous courses in a legal education. How to Be Sort of Happy in Law School is a masterpiece for law students, a book that any graduate or professional student should consider reading and a resource for professors of higher education.
