If you are in law school, is the studying journey of getting a JD degree a heart attack?

Webby_Songdo

It's frustrating when we don't get grades we want no matter how hard we try. I am wondering if any of those in law school is under a consistent threat of getting a heart attack because they do not get the grade they want or just have a stupidly difficult time even trying to pass a course. Is it like riding an endless roller coaster pursuing a JD degree? Do you feel like it is an endless rat race? Please share....

canihazJD

Depends on the school, but generally (and somewhat counterintuitively) the better the school, the harder it is to "fail" and the smaller the impact poor performance will have on your career outcomes.

A lower ranked school will have conditional scholarships, stacked sections, broader grading curves centered on lower medians, and much more disparity in outcomes where sometimes single digit percentages (or even raw number of students) get into big law or clerkships, if any at all. A T14 will be the opposite, where everyone that doesn't shoot themselves in the foot goes to the type of job they want, and you have to basically not show up to the exam (exaggeration, but I mean actively decide to put zero effort in) to get less than a B-.

So while school will be stressful no matter what, invest the time now to get into the best possible school. That way the stress will be more about quality of outcomes rather than whether you'll be able to achieve them at all. Also, your classmates will be less competitive, making for better relationships and an overall more pleasant experience.

Webby_Songdo

@canihazJD said:
Depends on the school, but generally (and somewhat counterintuitively) the better the school, the harder it is to "fail" and the smaller the impact poor performance will have on your career outcomes.

A lower ranked school will have conditional scholarships, stacked sections, broader grading curves centered on lower medians, and much more disparity in outcomes where sometimes single digit percentages (or even raw number of students) get into big law or clerkships, if any at all. A T14 will be the opposite, where everyone that doesn't shoot themselves in the foot goes to the type of job they want, and you have to basically not show up to the exam (exaggeration, but I mean actively decide to put zero effort in) to get less than a B-.

So while school will be stressful no matter what, invest the time now to get into the best possible school. That way the stress will be more about quality of outcomes rather than whether you'll be able to achieve them at all. Also, your classmates will be less competitive, making for better relationships and an overall more pleasant experience.

Awesome. Thank you. I hope everything went well at Cornell!