Is Law School right for me?

[oldseed]

Originally Posted by Pelikan2

It's pretty exhilarating to work alongside such brilliant, tenacious, and sometime neurotic people.

um, no. this is not your big law application. it's cool, or nice, maybe. exhilarating, no. exhilarating is boinking while on a roller coaster ride on LSD.

seed

 

[oldseed]

Originally Posted by Modern Gatsby

I want to be in an environment where the person next to me wants it just as bad as I do. I want to say I had to stay study 15 hours a day, or read through countless books in the library. I want to compete and be challenged. I'm not really getting this in undergrad, and I am wondering if Law School could satisfy these needs. I basically want to work ****** off.

i have a name for this. i call it grad school at a top flight program toward a PHD. it's for losers who have no idea what to do with life but want to compete and be challenged. sounds like you.

p.s. i know so cuz i've been there

 

[Pelikan2]

Originally Posted by oldseed

um, no. this is not your big law application. it's cool, or nice, maybe. exhilarating, no. exhilarating is boinking while on a roller coaster ride on LSD.

seed

Listen, I come from a small town in corn country, where most of my high school friends still live. For me, to be in NYC and in a room with some of the best lawyers in the country, working alongside them and actually making a contribution they appreciate and are willing to pay for, it's pretty damn exhilarating. Sure, that'll probably wear off - but I'm learning that my abilities are sufficient to hack it at this echelon of the practice, and it's fun as hell.

 

[randomkoreandude]

Originally Posted by Pelikan2

Listen, I come from a small town in corn country, where most of my high school friends still live. For me, to be in NYC and in a room with some of the best lawyers in the country, working alongside them and actually making a contribution they appreciate and are willing to pay for, it's pretty damn exhilarating. Sure, that'll probably wear off - but I'm learning that my abilities are sufficient to hack it at this echelon of the practice, and it's fun as hell.

i hope that doesnt wear off because thats what im aiming for

 

[IUtoSLU]

What is right for you is to be self-motivating. All your talk is bullshit if you aren't currently studying 12 hours a day.

Take more credit hours, study things apart from class that interest you. Read fiction.

From my law school experience, there are always people who slack and people who work hard. Self-motivators always do the best.

 

[JonHecht]

Originally Posted by DLester

Do you want to be a lawyer?

Originally Posted by Modern Gatsby

Not sure.

Originally Posted by Pelikan2

res ipsa loquitur

+1 for noting the key feature here, and +1 for using a Latin deponent.

 

[DLester]

Originally Posted by Pelikan2

You cannot, however, be an idiot and get a good firm job in this economy, as many of my classmates are finding.

Worst economy for lawyers I have ever seen. No one can remember anything like it. It will take some time to clear out the backlog of people seeking employment.

 

[Huntsman]

Originally Posted by pokey07

Can I be an idiot and still make it to a T14 school? Possibly study for the LSAT for 2 years?
What you can do is have a very narrow range of skills (called exercise the necessary reasoning to do very, very well on the LSAT), which is 2/3 of getting into law school. Another 2/3 is your GPA which, depending on your major, may or may not be easy to have as high since it presumes at least a limited level of breadth. The last 1/3 is what they call 'softs' -- your resume and personal statement. So it is possible to get into a T14 while knowing very little and having a limited amount of that common sense that is informed by broad understanding and experience. ~ H

 

[Pelikan2]

Originally Posted by Huntsman

What you can do is have a very narrow range of skills (called exercise the necessary reasoning to do very, very well on the LSAT), which is 2/3 of getting into law school. Another 2/3 is your GPA which, depending on your major, may or may not be easy to have as high since it presumes at least a limited level of breadth. The last 1/3 is what they call 'softs' -- your resume and personal statement.

So it is possible to get into a T14 while knowing very little and having a limited amount of that common sense that is informed by broad understanding and experience.

~ H

5/3?

 

[lawyerdad]

Originally Posted by randomkoreandude

maybe its because of the T14's caliber of students but everyone is a "gunner"

Not really.
Can't speak to Gtown, though.

 

[DLester]

Originally Posted by Pelikan2

5/3?

ha! lol

 

[randomkoreandude]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

Not really.
Can't speak to Gtown, though.

not really as in not everyone is as good or bright as they seem? or not everyone is a gunner?

 

[DLester]

You don't need to go to a "T14" school to have a top-level legal career. Your school and class rank gets you your first job (one hopes) but after that people don't generally care about it, unless you want to be a law professor. If you are good (and have clients), you will be successful.

A lot of people would be better off going to a non-"T14" school and finishing at the top of their class. I wouldn't advise someone to avoid T14 schools for that reason, but that is the reality.

 

[dfagdfsh]

yes you do. whats the point of living if you dont go to t14?

 

[Flambeur]

Originally Posted by Teger

yes you do. whats the point of living if you dont go to t14?

QFT