Orientation begins on Wednesday, August 12. You’ll start with registration and a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in the Law School Lobby. After meeting Dean Wilcox and the faculty, you’ll jump right into this new and challenging discipline of law study. For the first day of Orientation, please read pages 11–59 in A Weekly Guide to Being a Model Law Student by Alex Ruskell, West Academic, 2015, which you can purchase online at Amazon. Dress for Orientation daytime programs is business casual. On Wednesday, students will have pictures taken for the Law School Directory, so plan to look good at least from the shoulders up.

Over the four days of Orientation, you will continue to learn how to study law, develop academic success skills, become familiar with the professional culture of the Law School, the School of Law Honor Code and the requirements for admission to law practice, and be introduced to the law school’s library and technology resources. By the end of the day on Monday you will have had three days of the 1L in-class experience and have written your first law school exam answer. 

You’ll have the weekend free to explore and enjoy the University and Columbia, and we’ll have some suggestions for activities to meet a wide variety of interests. On Monday, August 17 you will return to campus at 5:00 p.m. for your first meeting with your attorney mentors and to participate in the Professionalism Oath ceremony. Faculty and alumni will be present to welcome you formally to the legal profession, as Chief Justice Donald Beatty of the South Carolina Supreme Court administers the Student Professionalism Oath. A reception with attorney mentors and faculty follows the ceremony. Dress for the ceremony and reception is professional attire. Seating at the Oath Ceremony is limited for space reasons to students and attorney mentors. Family members and friends of new students are cordially invited to attend the reception that follows.

Don’t forget that you can find important information about getting your University of South Carolina ID card (Carolina Card), buying a parking permit, finding housing, buying books, and other details on the Admitted Law Students page on Blackboard!

Classes begin on Wednesday, August 19. Check the First Readings website in August for assignments for your first class.

A detailed schedule for the 2019 first-year orientation follows. A 2020 first-year orientation schedule will be posted soon. Questions? Call the Student Affairs Office at 803.777.8768 or Admissions at 803.777.6605. Welcome to the Carolina Law community!

View the First Year New Student Orientation Schedule.