I finished law school and passed the bar, so I guess I am now qualified to answer the question I posed when I named this blog three years ago: Is law school really that big a deal?
Nah. The workload does seem to be heavier than the average graduate program, and certain aspects of law school culture do seem calculated to stress students out (the Socratic method, the obsession with class rank, the all-importance of final exams), but one gets inured to these things. I certainly don't think I had it as tough as my acquaintances who went to medical school.
At bottom, law school is like any other academic program. The teachers tell the students what to do. The students who do those things make good grades. The students who cut corners make poor grades. If one doesn't care about one's grades, it is even possible to coast through law school on a bare minimum of effort.
The bar exam, on the other hand, is a very big deal. The bar exam is the reason you shouldn't coast through law school, even if you can. I don't think the risk of failure is significantly higher on the bar exam than it is on the average law school test (about 84% of my graduating class passed the Arkansas bar), but the stakes are terribly high. Failure on a semester test ruins your GPA, but failure on the bar exam practically negates your law degree. The eight weeks prior to the bar exam and the five weeks after were the worst period of sustained stress I have ever experienced.
The conclusion I draw from the last three years is that law school probably doesn't deserve its scary reputation, but the bar exam most assuredly does.
1 comment:
Nowadays 98% law schools want you to clear LSAT and rest accept GRE. I also had taken this exam in last year and it was quite tough but still I was able to get high score as I had done a lot of hard work.
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