Apologies if this is on another thread, my curiosity is leading me to just fire this question out.

From my limited time on TLS it seems like the prevailing theory is that law school will make you miserable and hate your life, no current law school student would ever repeat their seemingly unfortunate mistake of undertaking LS, and that many would rather drop out if they hadn't already invested so much time and money.

Now this may just be the small sample of posts that I have been exposed to, but I am really wondering where all the positive experiences are. I'm not under the illusion that people are loving school and thinking it is the greatest thing in the world, but is anyone out there satisfied with their choice? Is anyone out there intellectually stimulated and, despite being stressed to the max with the workload, looking forward to a career practicing law? Where are the people that WOULD do it all over again?

This is a serious question posed with hopes of eliciting a serious response, please do not post here if you have nothing to add beyond "law school sucks", etc. It is common knowledge that the job market sucks, massive debt is bad, and the stress is commonplace at law school - posting about that will not be telling anything new. But I'm just beginning to wonder - Where are all the non-miserable law students?

I honestly like law school, and am really happy with the decision to go to it. Most of my friends are certainly not miserable, although many may not enjoy it as much as me.

I loved law school (not a student anymore). It probably helped that I was good at it.

I don't regret it. I'm not miserable. I just wish I had more time to get to know people in this new city and be in touch with family and friends, had more time to go to church, and felt less pressure about grades. But you know, it's all about what you prioritize. If you prioritize grades number 1, you'll be less happy. You also have to know yourself well... you have to make sure you like law and know why you are in law school. I think taking time off before law school is good for that reason.

I'm not miserable at all, and am actually mostly enjoying my time here. 1L has not been even close to the hell people describe it as. The workload is manageable if you work smart (you don't need to read 3 supplements and do 20 practice exams in every class to do well). It only sucks if you majored in basketweaving in college and have never had to do any type of real academic work. It has been a unique experience in that I feel challenged for the first time (both in the subject matter and the competition among the students). However, my experience may be different from most in that I am fortunate enough to be on full scholarship so knowing that I will have no debt definitely helps reduce the level of stress and as a result, makes me less miserable.

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I like law school. I think it can be boring, but I find what I'm learning (generally) interesting. I think a lot of people are bitching right now, myself included, but finals are coming up so we're all stressing. I'm happy with choosing to go to law school, happy with my choice of school, and I think I'll like it more after 1L is over.

I find it interesting that the positive people in this thread are all 1Ls.

For starters, this is not the time of year to find happy law students.

As others have said, I honestly can't wait to get to work. I loved my 2L summer job - it was the first time in my life where I really felt like I was doing something engaging that I could do long-term.

Law school has, for a decent majority of it, been merely a series of hoops I've had to jump through to get there. I do not care for the large amount of intellectual circle-jerking. Many, many times I have been sitting in a lecture and thought "How will this ever, ever matter to me beyond this class period and the five points it might mean on the exam?"

But that's how the game is played, so I do it.

The non-miserable ones are either at the top of the curve or at the bottom. The ones in the middle who are uneasy/unhappy about their job prospects are the miserable ones, no one likes being in limbo.

People at the top like the courses and are good at them. The people who are at the bottom are usually not going to class and having fun instead.

You are confusing cause and effect. It's TLS that makes people miserable

I will come be a positive 3L in this thread.

OP, I think you are dealing with a few things here. First, I think most people get more fired up about things that go wrong and this leads to more bitching about things that suck than talking about things that are going well. Second, even those of us who like law school and have had a good experience are often grumpy while right in the middle of it. If you had asked me last week about law school, I would have been cranky because I was in the middle of several stressful law school things. Finally, TLSers seem to be (mostly) high-stakes, high stress people who aren't going to be happy with anything less than the best, and the way law school is structured makes it impossible for everyone to get the best.

I'm happy with my decision to come to law school. I enjoyed it for the most part, I did pretty well, and I have a job waiting for me. I found the workload manageable, I had great professors, and I enjoyed studying the law. I still find the "one exam to rule them all" structure an odd system, but it worked out okay for me. But I'm also aware that I am one of the lucky ones.

I will caution you that in some cases the negativity is warranted. I have many classmates who did decently at a good law school and are now facing a lot of debt and no job.

This. Fucking This. Also, remember that much of what is on TLS is so hyperbolic it's obnoxious. Everything on this site needs to be taken with a grain of salt, especially the posts from regulars who rarely give serious answers. If you haven't been here long enough to see their body of work, you may get the the wrong impression that the shit they say is sincere. It's not. It's loaded with sarcasm.

^^ Agree x 1000%.

Overall, law school is a lot of work. But if you prepare for it and work smart, it's not so bad. It isn't nearly as bad as everyone prepares you for when you start. Most of it is pretty interesting.

OP here.

I appreciate the responses, thanks for taking the time. I actually just wanted to appease my curiosity due to the handful of threads lately entitled "Fuck Law School", "Just out of morbid curiosity...", etc., that contained a large amount of sincere and warranted negative feelings towards law school. I'm certainly not under the illusion that TLSers represent the typical law student. You all seem like wonderful people, but for all I know every single one of you is a sweaty, overweight 40 year old man-child living in his mother's basement. Ah, the anonymity of the internet.

And just to be fair, I wasn't searching for happiness, just an alternate perspective to the recent prevailing negativity. I was just curious about those who felt they made the right decision. I'm glad that there are some of you out there.

Thank you, my positive, sweaty, overweight man-children living at home.

Also agree. However, I find some of the fear mongering useful. It can be a great motivator once you have matriculated. Keeps you from being idle or getting in a "comfort zone"

The general complaining gets on my nerves though. I hate that kind of stuff, law school or anything else.

LOL! I can definitely see this. Well played.

I really enjoy law school. I think people just like to piss and moan on the internet because if they did it in real life they wouldn't have friends. I thought law school was going to suck based on the accounts here but now I realize that most of it is just to scare off 0L's from wasting a bunch of money.

That's not to say that law school doesn't have it's problems. I've dealt with more drama here than since middle school but that is just what happens when you put a bunch of aspiring lawyers together, give them lots of free time and alcohol, and make them compete with each other.

Also, the pain of exams is way overdone too. Yeah, it is high pressure and I'd be surprised if issue spotters really test anything with the precision for letter grades, and yeah, you spend a lot of lime studying, but if the rest of my life is no more stressful or hard than law school, I will consider myself a lucky S.O.B.

This last part is just wrong. haha

Also, law school is both amazing and miserable. If it weren't for the sociopaths, I would love it even more, but even as is, it's pretty enjoyable.

sup

Law schools are full of immature martyrs with shitty attitudes, but the people at my school are pretty cool (for the most part). Law school can be tedious and may feel like a circle jerk at times, but I have actually enjoyed it overall and look forward to practicing. It's a shame that so many people go to law school for the wrong reasons and without doing sufficient research. The fact that law is the default fallback career for people who don't know what else to do sort of contributes to the unhappy nature of many law students and dilutes the profession in my opinion.

You kidding me? Have you not talked to a law student outside of TLS?

Lol... Anyway, this is kinda the wrong time to ask where the happy students are.

I'll add to the voices saying law school really isn't that bad. It's a lot of work, but not nearly as much as many on here would lead you to believe. And you get used to it. The drama and personalities can get a little grating at times, but if you find a good group of friends and stay out of the bullshit, you'll be fine.

I enjoy LS and am very happy I decided to go. I have 12 years of experience in a stressful field (enterprise sales), so LS to me is a 'break' from the real world. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to go back to school and based on my experience so far, I 100% made the right decision to change careers. LS is a lot of work -- no doubt. But, if you enjoy analytic reading, writing, making an argument, seeing all sides of a dispute; it is challenging and fulfilling. Also, I think if you're realistic coming in about the time commitment and the fact that you'll have to fore-go some things you might prefer to be doing on nights and weekends, you'll be less bitter and unhappy than many TLSers seem to be.

ED UVa