u/Acrobatic_Truth_5091

I’m an incoming Criminology freshman for Fall 2026 with goals for law school. To those currently in the program: what is one thing you wish you knew before your first semester?
Is the workload mostly heavy reading and essays, or is there any room for practical application early on? I've also heard the first year involves a lot of Sociology and Psychology. How relevant do these feel to the legal side of things, and are they 'GPA killers' I should be worried about?
I’m pretty new to this, so how does the first year of university actually work? Like, how many electives would I usually have, and what’s the balance between required classes and the ones I get to choose?