Law school is almost universally more difficult than college, but this is good. It's designed to prepare you for the rigors of your legal career. And remember, we're all in the same boat. First of all, law school is difficult because you're expected to do a lot of work.
This work consists mainly of reading dense law cases loaded with unknown legal jargon and exotic nomenclature. And unlike what happened at university, where you could flip through the text before class, go back to class and do everything before an exam, in law school you'll have to do most of your assigned reading on time, as scheduled in the curriculum, or you'll risk falling too far behind to have no chance of catching up. Once again, the effect is greater when the LSAT score and GPA are similar to school medians. If your LSAT score and GPA are much higher or weaker than average, being a URM offers less of a boost.
Simple English for lawyers: Lawyers (and law students) have a terrible habit of writing “like lawyers”. At most law schools accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), classes are taught differently than they are taught in an undergraduate university program. Second, law schools are concerned about their ranking in the US News and World Report, and the USNWR attaches great importance to numbers. This means that your grade depends on the grades of the other members of your class, making it even more difficult to get good grades in law school.
You might find that the grading system in law school is very different from that of your undergraduate school. Although I say that law school isn't all bad, it's certainly not something you can get through without a lot of effort on your part. In fact, some law schools eliminate letter grades entirely and instead rate students on a scale that may include terms such as honors, approval, low approval, and failure. Because of the different ways in which law courses are taught, studying also requires a different approach than what might have been used in undergraduate school.
Law school is likely to be a much more difficult course of study than the one you experienced when earning your university degree. It doesn't matter if you ended up with the LSAT; if you can't work hours and hours with books, you might feel miserable in law school (not to mention law school). It's understandable that the anxiety you feel as a law student is greater than what you experienced in undergraduate school. However, there's a big difference between reaching a school's median and not reaching it, even if you only lose by one point.
You entered law school because you're smart and because you've succeeded in your undergraduate degree and probably in just about everything else you've done. Most of the people I met in law school were pretty happy overall, and I don't think that's just because well-adjusted students tend to go to good law schools, although that's part of it. You never know who might apply to one of your classes at law school, for example, a potential employer looking for new talent. First-year law school classes tend to be the most difficult of all those you'll encounter in your three years of law school, as you get used to new topics and heavier reading.
Leave Message