Surviving Law School Competitiveness

When I first started law school I was very scared about the competition regarding grades.  I was never the type A, perfectionist student so I was even more worried about being around those types of people.  I had read the books and heard stories about what law school was like (i.e. mean and cut-throat), but didn’t know if that was still realistic.  I went in holding my breath hoping it wouldn’t be so bad.   Thankfully, the majority of my time was chill, until around the time the semesters were ending when everyone realized they had competitions to prepare for, papers to write, jobs to apply for, and exams to ace.  It led to some angry and frustrating experiences.  Instead of ignoring that bad behavior I rewarded it with my time instead of staying focused on what mattered (grades).

Today, while you don’t have to worry about people hiding books (because who uses books?); the suspicion and feelings of competitiveness still rear their ugly head (especially if your school has mandatory attrition).   It’s natural because you are competing against each other if you’re being graded on a curve–or trying out for moot court, journal, etc.  Some will make it and others won’t.  But you can refuse to participate and refuse to let it negatively affect you.

You may find yourself, at some point in your law school career, in a situation that leaves you feeling anxious, devalued, and beyond stressed.   When that happens you owe it to yourself to get out of those situations as soon as possible.

Your mental health is very important during these times.  If you find yourself  constantly feeling anxious, angry, or frustrated-take a second to try to figure out what’s going on.  Some of those feelings are normal reactions to high stress situations (feeling overwhelmed during finals is putting it lightly).  Or  you may find yourself feeling AllTheBadFeelings when you’re around certain people or situation.  Whatever the case, regain your power by trying some of the following:

1) Attempt different ways to relieve stress–in a healthy way!  Healthy is the key component.   Exercise, eat clean, decrease your caffeine, sleep(!). Bodies can react physically to stress and can cause you to react in a different manner than you normally would, so nurture your body and mind during these times.

2) Go to your support system.  Maybe it’s your family, your college girlfriends, your spouse, your pet.  Do anything that will make you realize that there is life outside of law school (there is!) and that there is a benefit to rising above any pettiness you may encounter during these stressful times. And for their sake, please, try to talk about anything other than law school!

3) Most importantly, but maybe the most difficult to do, remove yourself from the situation that’s adding stress to your studies.  Maybe you quit your study group or take a break from them.  Find a new location to study if your current one isn’t conducive anymore.  Maybe your family isn’t your support system–maybe they add to your work load instead of helping.  It’s ok to limit contact during these times.  Seriously!   It’s only fair that you remove all distractions so that you can excel in your exams and try-outs.

4) Finally, if there’s a situation serious enough to require the attention of the school admins then I would really push for you to wait until after finals for any meetings or important decisions.  Your time should be dedicated to your exams because grades matter.  Don’t let distractions leave you wondering with “what if?” for the rest of your law school life.

Trust me on the last one.  I had a serious allegation thrown at me spring semester of my 1L year just one week before my exam.  It was completely false.  Perhaps, at best, just a bad misunderstanding, but the way the person who made the allegations went about it, infuriated me.  Instead of waiting to resolve it after my exam I wanted to fix it immediately because I was so angry and upset (emotions, I’m positive, were heightened by the stress of exams).  This took away my time, focus, and energy.  Don’t let that happen.  Instead, take a deep breath and focus on what matters–your overall success.