I admit it. I’m a sucker for day-in-the-life (DITL) reels (on Insta obviously…I’ve arbitrarily decided I’m too old for TikTok).
At AALS this year, I found myself in repeated conversations with academic success professionals about workload and work-life balance. Those conversations crystallized something I’ve sensed for a while: many people – students, faculty, and administrators alike – don’t fully understand what academic success and bar support professionals actually do all day. The scope of our work is often misunderstood, and the volume of it is frequently underestimated.
I briefly wondered whether a DITL video might help illustrate reality. Spoiler alert: I did not make a video. Instead, I went with what I know – a blog.
I chose a fairly typical workday and tracked how I spent my time, from morning routines to bedtime. For context, I am the Director of the Academic Success Program and an Associate Professor of Law. Our ASP currently consists of two people: me and our Assistant Director. We normally have three team members (a relatively large ASP department), so this year has been a bit busier than usual. I intentionally selected a day that was not pure chaos to provide a more representative picture of a “normal” workload.
My role includes both academic and bar support. Early in the spring semester, the balance tends to tip toward academic support, as students come in motivated to improve on fall performance. This semester, I’m teaching two in‑person courses and administering one online course. I chose a day without in‑person teaching obligations to track, though teaching‑related tasks still made appearances. Like many in ASP, I’m also an enthusiastic over‑committer, with external professional obligations layered on top of a full service load at my institution.
Before walking you through the day, I’ll note that this exercise was surprisingly valuable. Each afternoon, I preview the next day’s calendar and do some light hyperventilating (kidding…mostly), so none of what follows was a surprise. But seeing it all laid out reinforced just how much happens even on a day I would describe as “calm.”
So here it is:
6:00–7:30 a.m.: Get myself and my 3‑year‑old ready for the day
7:30–8:00 a.m.: Pre‑K drop‑off
8:00–8:30 a.m.: Commute to campus
8:30–8:45 a.m.: Morning check‑in with Assistant Director to plan the day
8:45–9:15 a.m.: Respond to emails
9:15–10:30 a.m.: Review submissions for The Learning Curve
10:30–10:45 a.m.: Respond to emails
10:45–10:57 a.m.: Final prep for 1L workshop presentation
10:57–11:00 a.m.: Psych myself up to make a phone call at 11 (peak millennial energy)
11:00–11:30 a.m.: Phone call with alum regarding bar application questions
11:30–11:55 a.m.: Respond to emails
11:55 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Meet with a 1L about academic performance
12:35–2:00 p.m.: Attend and present at 1L Spring Reorientation Workshop
2:00–3:00 p.m.: Meet with Law Review leadership (faculty advisor role)
3:00–3:45 p.m.: Meet with a 1L about academic performance
3:45–4:00 p.m.: Respond to emails and complete class administration tasks
4:00–4:30 p.m.: Meet with a student to review their final exam from my fall class
4:30–5:00 p.m.: Final emails and organizing for the next morning
5:00–5:30 p.m.: Commute home
5:30–7:00 p.m.: Family time
7:00–9:00 p.m.: Review draft of internal report and submit feedback
9:00 p.m.–bedtime: Read a novel and doomscroll
That’s the entire day.
This post isn’t meant to spark an “I can do more than you” competition. Instead, it’s meant to document the breadth of tasks academic success and bar support professionals balance on a daily basis – often invisibly. Our work touches teaching, advising, assessment, compliance, student support, faculty service, and institutional priorities, frequently all in the same day.
I invite others in this community to try a similar exercise and share a snapshot of their own workdays. With greater transparency, perhaps we can dismantle lingering misconceptions about our roles, and, in the process, better advocate for the value of academic and bar support within our institutions.
(Dayna Smith)
