How to be an Alum

If you are in law school you already know this, but it may come as news to anyone thinking of applying.  From the day that people begin law school, they begin counting the days until graduation. In some cases, there is a human countdown clock in the class who can be relied upon to give you the firm number of days left at the drop of a hat. But, we all have some sense of how much more we have to endure of cases, dissents, and arcane rules of black letter law.  In my case, it's 4 days as of this writing. Not calendar days, but close enough - I have 4 more class sessions to sit through to be done with law school (not counting my one final).  Am I excited? I'd say I'm somewhere between "hell yeah!!!" and "meh."  I'm happy to be at the end of it all, but this economy has most graduates wondering what they will be doing after graduation--not a position we expected to be in when we began law school. But, overall it is a great time and I'm looking forward to some return to normalcy (after the bar exam, of course).

I'm going to be an alumna soon.  That's a strange feeling. It means I'm forever connected to the school, yet all I want to do right now is run from the building and get on with my life. But, I know that's not going to ever really happen (if I didn't run away screaming after taking Property, I'm not likely to do it now). I think we all have a responsibility to our schools that remains long after we graduate. That's not a popular position, but it's true. We should all help our schools succeed and stay on the right track, because our professional degree will always be attached to the school (you never hear about someone being a J.D. without knowing where they went to law school). It's especially important at Rutgers, where they can't be trusted with our reputation or our money. So, I hope and plan to be a useful alum and do what I can to ensure that the Rutgers name attached to my very expensive degree doesn't get besmirched (anymore).  I thought I'd provide some tips on how to be a good alum for any faithful readers out there that are in the same boat:

1. Stay on the Mailing List: If your school keeps up an e-newsletter, get it and read it. (If they provide a paper newsletter, drop out and go to a school that has heard of the internet). It's a good way to stay informed, and stay involved. Plus, it's free, which people love. 
2. Respond: When you get your newsletters and emails, feel free to drop a line to someone that has won an award or competition. Current students would love to get alumni encouragement, and it would show them that people really do read the newsletters! You may even get a mentee out of the deal, which is a reward in itself. 
3. Donate: I know we all gave blood, sweat, tears and tens of thousands of dollars to the school while we were students, but when you're an alum you get to choose where your money goes.  You can give to a particular fund or project, and know that your money isn't going to BS "printing fees." You can also donate your time, help a student group plan an event, coach students in a particular area, offer to tutor. It doesn't always have to be about money. 
4. Network: This doesn't mean show up to all the parties where they have free wine and cheese (you're going to do that without being told, anyway).  Join your school's social media sites, so that you can post opportunities as well as read updates. Need volunteers for a project? No better way to get them than by posting it on facebook. I'm amazed at how little this is done right now, but maybe that's because recent grads haven't been as "media-nuts" as the current crop of students.
5. Be Good: It shouldn't have to be said, but let's not assume anything. Stay out of the New Jersey Law Journal! Don't do anything that will get you reprimanded, censured, or disbarred. First of all, that would just be stupid but it also gives the school a bad rap. People do read those things - stay clean and don't embarrass the school. I paid good money for my degree. The last thing I need is some schmuck making Rutgers look bad because of (insert favorite ethical violation here). 

In my 4 years at Rutgers, I have not seen a lot of alumni involvement. I don't know why that is, but I'm sure it can and should be changed. I'm going to do my best to not be a hypocrite, and give back as much as I can, and I hope you do too, faithful reader. Otherwise next year's commencement speaker could be Heidi Montag (yes, that would be a bad thing).