Law School Discussion

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Topics - hellhounds88

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General Board / Law school girlfriend will probably be dismissed
« on: June 11, 2012, 10:01:00 PM »
Just thought I would share something.

My girlfriend and I met in law school as 1Ls last year, and we've grown extremely close. We support each other and are best friends as well as lovers. I love and value her more than I can convey on an internet discussion board. We generally didn't study together because our study methods and learning styles are rather different, and we both study most efficiently within our own study groups. Despite her incredible intelligence, she struggles in this environment. I don't really know the reason why, and I did try to help her in tangible ways. However, even though she has put immense effort into her studies, she hasn't been able to turn her grades around. As a result, should she fail to earn high enough grades in her summer courses, she will be dismissed from law school.

She truly wants to be a lawyer. Law school has been her ambition for a long time, but it looks as though she may for the time being admit defeat and go back to her previous career. This would take her out of the United States for the foreseeable future. We both understand that if this happens, we have to break up and move on with our lives, as it seems to us foolish to continue our relationship when there is no foreseeable hope of seeing one another again.

I know that I may lose her at the end of the summer, as she departs and I remain. I am becoming very emotional over this, and although I haven't yet figured out how this situation has affected me, I can say now only that I feel deeply sad and terribly disappointed for her. As I imagine how she must feel and how her family will shame her (she has a very harsh and ambitious family), I feel myself falling almost into the same malaise that must have afflicted her when she learned that she will likely be dismissed.

I write this only to share a law school experience with prospective and current students alike, and to ask whether something similar has happened to anyone else. I absolutely do not regret our relationship, and may come to remember it as one of the best experiences of my life.

EDIT: I would also like to add that despite my sadness over this, my studies have not been affected in any way that I can now notice. Perhaps some of you will say that it is unwise to enter a relationship with another law student. From a career perspective, this is probably empirically true. Remember, however, that we may not all share the same ambitions, and I would absolutely choose to have this experience again. In life some painful things are necessary for one to truly enjoy the pleasurable things, and for one to experience all of what life has to offer.

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General Board / Do lackluster first semester grades close all doors?
« on: January 23, 2012, 01:21:51 AM »
I'm a 1L, and ever since I got my grades back a week ago I've been worried sick. See, I've been scouring the interwebs for advice, and most of it is cynical, pessimistic, and harsh. For a person in my situation - that is, with a 2.9 GPA - the internet consensus seems to be that I'm stupid; that no matter what kind of "experience" I get in the legal world during my time in law school, my first semester 1L grades have burned a mark of inferiority into my forehead. Firms will see someone like me as a person who "doesn't get the law" or "can't spot issues" or "lacks intelligence." Thing is, I know I'm pretty darn smart. I went to an extremely rigorous college, studied a very hard major which forced me to learn two dead languages - Ancient Greek and Latin - and pass a comprehensive translation exam that tested me on everything I'd ever read in them. I studied abroad in Greece, and learned to speak Modern Greek while I was there. I learned how to analyze and memorize incredibly efficiently. Yet, for some reason the other people in my class who don't seem as smart (sorry to be conceited) are doing way better than me. I know I shouldn't feel this way, but I'm incredibly envious of these people and the attention they receive, from professors and students as well as prospective employers. I fear that I've been "sorted out" of the group of employable and, more importantly, respectable students. Permanently.

I want to be a lawyer. Truly I do. And I always thought I would make a good one. The only thing keeping me from dropping out at this point is my love for the intellectual work of studying the law. Apparently though I'm just not smart enough to become a good lawyer. This is very hard to accept, given that I KNOW I can handle the intellectual workload of most attorneys.

My question to you all is this: Is the conventional wisdom correct? Do grades effectively determine your destiny? Do they tell everyone in hi-res letters just how good at the law you are? Do they predict what kind of attorney you'll be?

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