Should I drop out now? Forum

[qwoo]

Serious question

I'm a 1L at a low T14, and exams were a complete disaster. I know I missed major issues, and on a 4 hour exam I wrote a total of 1400 words and was unable to even start one of the four problems on the test (equally weighted). Other exams went almost as badly.

Long story short, I worked pretty hard but ended up choking each time. No excuses really. I don't know what to do. I feel like I should cut my losses now instead of sticking around, paying another term of tuition and subjecting myself to more failure. (I am on a ~1/2 scholly fwiw.)

The problem is that I don't have other options. I was an economics major which I suppose is a marginally useful degree, but any utility I could have squeezed from it is gone by this point. I spent two years unemployed and one year working retail after graduating from college, so not exactly the most stellar resume. To be honest, I went to law school because I've always been a good standardized test taker and did well on the LSAT. Unfortunately that didn't carry over to law school exams.

Tl;dr definitely bottom-5%-ed finals, terrible resume, no other options, please advise.

[fats provolone]

well don't drop out before you get grades that's silly. even if you have to start the semester w/o grades you can usually get a prorated refund

[rwhyAn]

well don't drop out before you get grades that's silly. even if you have to start the semester w/o grades you can usually get a prorated refund

Qwoo, I second fats. Don't drop out before you at least have your grades back. In case you don't get your grades back until after the start of next semester, look at the refund policy at your school.

If you do decide to drop out, don't think that your UG degree will pigeonhole you. I studied political science and ended up in accounting. I left college at 22 and worked retail for 5 years before finally graduating at 27. I started at my current employer three years ago making $52k and now make $65k. I have an 8-4 government job with excellent benefits, 5 weeks off per year (plus holidays), and no weekends. It's by no means a models and bottles lifestyle, and it might not be a job that a lot of people on here would aspire to, but it pays the bills and affords me certain luxuries and a decent standard of living. Even if law school happens not to be your thing, it's not the end of the world, and all's not lost. For now, you need to relax and enjoy your break. Seriously. What's done is done, and there's no use getting worked up over something you can't fix.

[AReasonableMan]

You may have to put down $ before you get all your grades back. Idk if it's planned or just coincidental but it's possible you won't be able to see all your grades till you can only get back half or less of the spring tuition. 2 good or bad grades aren't really so big and 1L fall is very hard to predict because of the curve.

I don't know how one can choke on a 3 hr test multiple times. Even if you're overwhelmed at first isn't there a part of you that wants to step outside for a smoke or walk a little? It's not ideal but not necc a game killer. Was it how you studied didn't prepare you to apply law to fact or were you nervous for 3 hours?

If you have any q's on how to improve, I'd be happy to help. It sounds like poor preparation more than anything else. Once choking becomes habitual you really have to work on changing. Most people who do poorly just work harder using the same stuff that failed them the first time.

If you know you bombed from choking you aren't hopeless. The hopeless person thinks they did really well, and gets back all sub-median grades.

[qwoo]

Thanks for the input everyone. The grading deadline is some time after second semester starts so depending on when my profs turn grades in and when all grades are updated/viewable I may have to put down a hefty un-enrollment fee and part of spring tuition. I'll just hope that at least a few of my grades come out before the payment policy kicks in.

rwhyAn: thanks for the input. I'll try not to worry about my (lack of) options until I get a grade or two in.

AReasonableMan: I think I didn't take enough practice exams under proper conditions. I also made the mistake of flipping back and forth between questions whenever I got stuck. I felt like I read really slowly (everyone else was typing away by the time I finished going through the question) and just couldn't find/touch upon all the issues within the time limit. It's weird, because speed-reading usually isn't an issue for me. I've always done very well on standardized tests. If you have any suggestions and tips I would be grateful.

[Johann]

You need to chill. If you think you may reasonably like a law career, you probably need to ride it out. 1/2 scholly and T14 isnt all bad. Plus based on your previous lack of work it sounds like you dont have much else going for you. You are basically pot committed at this point.

[sd5289]

Do you have any idea how everyone else in your section felt? If the general vibe is "yeah, that sucked," then you may have just gone through a slew of tough exams. Not sure how likely it is that that's the case here. However, first thing to learn about law school is that you can never predict how exams went.

Also,

I felt like I read really slowly (everyone else was typing away by the time I finished going through the question) and just couldn't find/touch upon all the issues within the time limit.

If you stick it out, remember this: do NOT take your cue from other people in the room. If the exam is a dense 8-page issue spotter and people have started typing right away, they're doing an outline dump. They're not actually reading and/or answering the question(s).

[withoutapaddle]

Most employers look a economics degrees the same as finance.

I have an economics degree and I'm in finance for Merrill

[AreJay711]

Tl;dr definitely bottom-5%-ed finals, terrible resume, no other options, please advise.

Sheeeet, son. I medianed the fuck out of exams with word counts less than that. If you're lucky you'll eek out a B- and run median the rest of the way. Plus, I know people in the bottom 10% who got jobs out of law school (they were minorities and hot girls, but w/e).

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

Wait for grades. Also you will have another semester to improve your gpa before OCI. An absolute must is to figure out how to improve your exam performance. How are you able up rock the LSAT but no law school exams?

[NYCFAN1]

Wait for grades. Also you will have another semester to improve your gpa before OCI. An absolute must is to figure out how to improve your exam performance. How are you able up rock the LSAT but no law school exams?

figuring out the lsat is a breeze compared to law school exams...especially at a t14 where everyone has good lsat scores

[AReasonableMan]

Wait for grades. Also you will have another semester to improve your gpa before OCI. An absolute must is to figure out how to improve your exam performance. How are you able up rock the LSAT but no law school exams?

figuring out the lsat is a breeze compared to law school exams...especially at a t14 where everyone has good lsat scores

You could also make the vice versa argument. If you are naturally good at law school tests it's less work than grade school unless you're trying to hit your max potential. Of course, everyone wants to do their best. It's hard to gauge how much hard work is worth unless someone blew off 2 exams and gunned 2 others.

[fats provolone]

yea but if you're naturally good at law school exams you're probably a terrible person

[AReasonableMan]

yea but if you're naturally good at law school exams you're probably a terrible person

Makes sense

[cabeaches]

spam

[fats provolone]

lol wut

[Cogburn87]

[businessofshow]

I'm a 1L at a top 25 school. I was convinced that I did very poorly on my exams as well. I didn't choke, but I felt ike I didn't properly make all the points that I wanted to. I was positive that I was going to get a bunch of C's and lose my scholarship. However, I just got my last grade back. Nothing worse than a B+ and mostly better. I'm probably going to be in the top 15%. Law school can be intimidating and it can get you down. You probably did much better than you think you did. I would wait until your grades are released before I considered dropping out.

[qwoo]

Thanks all. I got my grades back. Nothing below a B, but nothing above a B+. Obviously not great grades, but considering my complete lack of any fall-back plans, I think I'll stick it out and just try to work better this semester.

[AReasonableMan]

Thanks all. I got my grades back. Nothing below a B, but nothing above a B+. Obviously not great grades, but considering my complete lack of any fall-back plans, I think I'll stick it out and just try to work better this semester.

you may want to go easier on yourself till around finals time, and make avoid sick people durig this time when you go at it hard. it sounds like you may have overworked up front, and burned out at the end. it happens to the best of us, but whatever you can do to minimize distractions a month out is time well spent.