Any jitters, second thoughts?

[skeeball]

I'm totally psyched for law school. I small part of me was kinda wondering if it was a bad idea to pass up some of the higher ranked schools I got into, but I'm over that.

I'm more nervous about things like how I'm going to balance LS with some volunteer work I took on a few months ago, finding time to spend with my family, possibly having to travel over Thanksgiving, things like that.

[S.A.]

um... 

For real, I thought I would be immune to this. I was not prepared for the jitters, and now they are getting the best of me.

I think you and I are the same -- I have the same issue, and obviously neither of us will have problems finding a job out of the T14.  It makes me sort of nauseated whenever I think about it.  I honestly think it's a personality type and there's not much you can do to fix it, but you can mitigate it.

Maybe remind yourself it's three years, and if you don't like it the worst case scenario is dropping out (not the end of the world, you'd have debt equivalent to a new car) and the second worst case scenario is graduating, working for a firm, and not liking it.  In this case you can either stick around for another year or two and pay off all your debt, or switch to something more suited to you.  Either way, if you're a traditional student you can be debt free by ~30 with a prestigious degree that's certainly not going to hurt you if you decide to do something else later.  At most you're signing away 5-6 years, not the rest of your life.

Aw, thanks! I have been struggling with this for a couple of weeks but I'm really starting to feel better.

[Chippewa to Torero]

I think these are normal, and warranted worries and anxiety over this big step that we are taking.  No matter how much research you've done, or how sure you are, there's some degree of a "leap of faith" in play here. 

Also, the type of anxiety we're displaying is actually a positive evolutionary trait.  This anxiety is productive and self-preserving in the manner that it forces us to be aware of possible downsides, not turn a blind eye to them, address them, and maximize the potential for our long-term success.

This obviously played out more dramatically with regards to the potato famine, the plague, etc, but you get the point; it was the "mehhh, we'll see what happens"-people who were unprepared for extreme circumstances and were Darwin's D students.

[tacojohn]

In my experience and opinion, if you don't have doubts about this, you probably need to think long and hard about it.  A lot of people who are really really really sure about law school are the ones with unrealistic expectations about how prepared they are for it, or what exactly they are supposed to get out of it.  They, not the nervous ones, are most likely to take the biggest fall.

[michelle d]

um... 

For real, I thought I would be immune to this. I was not prepared for the jitters, and now they are getting the best of me.

I think you and I are the same -- I have the same issue, and obviously neither of us will have problems finding a job out of the T14.  It makes me sort of nauseated whenever I think about it.  I honestly think it's a personality type and there's not much you can do to fix it, but you can mitigate it.

Maybe remind yourself it's three years, and if you don't like it the worst case scenario is dropping out (not the end of the world, you'd have debt equivalent to a new car) and the second worst case scenario is graduating, working for a firm, and not liking it.  In this case you can either stick around for another year or two and pay off all your debt, or switch to something more suited to you.  Either way, if you're a traditional student you can be debt free by ~30 with a prestigious degree that's certainly not going to hurt you if you decide to do something else later.  At most you're signing away 5-6 years, not the rest of your life.

Aw, thanks! I have been struggling with this for a couple of weeks but I'm really starting to feel better.

I have to talk myself through the same thing every so often.  (Actually I usually call my mom and have her do it for me )

Now help me figure out if I should go to UVA or Chicago!

[pinkisthenewlawschool]

I'm a little nervous, but I'd have to agree that it's a good and normal thing to be nervous before a big life change! It's even caused me to make sure I have everything in order before I start school, (personal life, finances, etc) just so that I feel like I'm really ready.

I do have second thoughts about withdrawing from the waitlists of much better ranked schools (than Loyola LA) such as Boston University and Boston College, but then I think about how happy I am to have a scholarship, and how excited I am to move across the country. 

We may end up may end up second-guessing our decisions, especially those that have turned down actual acceptances from better schools, but I feel like once you make your decision, it's best to just run with it and make the best of it!

Michelle-I vote for UVA, I'm sick of junky weather!!

[pinkisthenewlawschool]

I think I'm just really impatient!  But yeah, making plans in August is not for me!

[skeeball]

It'll be wierd not getting a paycheck anymore.

[Captain]

It'll be wierd not getting a paycheck anymore.

Meh, I dunno... I BARELY get one now...

[OingoBoingo]

et voila: http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,64018.0.html

Last year's jitters.

Thank you for posting this

Oingo