Another "depressed about 1L grades" Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi,

Sorry for those who had to put up with these similar posts. My situation may not be super dire (2H, 3P in HLS) but I was wondering what doors I've already closed myself shut - clerkship? academia? And how often do you see dramatic improvement next term? I'm feeling especially shitty because I'm pretty sure I did the worst out of all my friends, unless some of them are lying.. (e.g. good friend got straight H/DS)

[Mal Reynolds]

I'm so sorry youre median at Harvard. Your career is likely over.

[ballcaps]

yeah, sorry, this thread is unacceptable

[Johann]

welcome to law (ie welcome to feeling depressed). you prolly shouldnt have gone to law school. have fun getting crushed in biglaw now.

[cookiejar1]

you can't really let your grades define your sense of self worth

everything is going to be okay

[cron1834]

I'm so sorry youre median at Harvard. Your career is likely over.

Wtf is this thread

[sayan]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

[Anonymous User]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

OP here. Thanks!

[Tiago Splitter]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

a) it shouldn't be devastating for obvious reasons

b) one of the less obvious reasons is that nothing is lost yet. Elena Kagan got a B and a B- in her first semester and things worked out just fine.

[A. Nony Mouse]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

This is absolutely the case. But it's also an opportunity for someone to gain some perspective. Everyone loses sometimes, no matter how successful they've been in the past. Being median (after only one semester) among the cream of the crop at Harvard isn't a bad position to be in.

[sayan]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

a) it shouldn't be devastating for obvious reasons

b) one of the less obvious reasons is that nothing is lost yet. Elena Kagan got a B and a B- in her first semester and things worked out just fine.

and bill gates dropped out of college to become the world's richest man. anecdotal evidence isn't very comforting when your friends are still at the top and you're struggling to keep up. coupled with the mystery surrounding exam grading and the difficulty of figuring out exactly how to improve, OP's position is not something to joke about.

that said, here are a few more anecdotal datapoints: my good friend at HLS earned 3Hs, 2Ps his first semester then 4Hs and a DS in the second. he works at wachtell now. i had a similar path and had my choice of firms at EIP as well.

all is not lost, but figuring out exactly what went wrong -- whether it be nerves, misunderstanding the material, being a bad test taker, personal stress etc -- is essential to mitigating those factors the second time around.

[Kimikho]

op, PM me

[bjsesq]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

God forbid they get some perspective. Lifetime overachiever is only gonna get V50! HOLY SHIT WHAT NOW

[Mal Reynolds]

What is left in life if you're not top 10% at Harvard?

[bjsesq]

What is left in life if you're not top 10% at Harvard?

Killing yourself, imo.

[TetrisBlock]

What is left in life if you're not top 10% at Harvard?

Magna cum laude, I believe.

[delusional]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

God forbid they get some perspective. Lifetime overachiever is only gonna get V50! HOLY SHIT WHAT NOW

LOL 2H through one semester at Harvard is not going to slip past the V25 absent strange circumstances. Worst case, he gets Kirkland during 3L OCI.

[Anonymous User]

OP, I had those exact grades my first semester at HLS and things turned out well (ended up cum laude, got a clerkship, and ended up with a job at a firm on the west coast). You'll be fine.

[ballcaps]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

all i need is for you to agree that personal problems may vary in significance.

if that's true - which obviously it is - then my comments, along with everyone else's, are correct and appropriate.

being only slightly above median at harvard law school is some kinda problem, sure. but it's so insignificant relative to other problems that you can't expect others to empathize.

maybe that wasn't the point of this post, but it's hard to resist responding in this way.

[romothesavior]

Yeah OP, what was your purpose in making this thread? You really ought to gain some perspective.

[TheSpanishMain]

to those who are criticizing, please realize that some people have different expectations for themselves than others. yes, he's not SOL like a T1 student with average grades, but when you've climbed the ladder all your life and become accustomed to being the best, getting average grades is devastating and the loss of options is unnerving. have some empathy and understand his/her POV before lashing out.

Yeah, well, time to mature and gain some perspective on non-problems.

[Johann]

OP, i dont think you will ever be able to president anymore, which means you wont be able to bitch that your chef overcooked your filet mignon in public speeches. sucks to suck.

[kfischm1]

Assuming this is a serious question and you are having doubts/concerns, message me. I'm a 2L at HLS and had worse grades my 1L year.

[TheoO]

*Future person who's hardship will eventually be cited in these kinds of articles.*

[UnicornHunter]

Hi,

Sorry for those who had to put up with these similar posts. My situation may not be super dire (2H, 3P in HLS) but I was wondering what doors I've already closed myself shut - clerkship? academia? And how often do you see dramatic improvement next term? I'm feeling especially shitty because I'm pretty sure I did the worst out of all my friends, unless some of them are lying.. (e.g. good friend got straight H/DS)

Your friends are probably lying and even if they're not they all suck for talking about their grades. You should only be feeling devastated right now if you turned down big $$$ at a lower ranked t-14 thinking that you were going to book all your classes. Otherwise, you'll be fine- you're going to enter the legal field at a high enough level that what you do in the work world is going to matter much more than your distribution of Ps and Hs while you're at Harvard.