February 2015 Bar Results Waiting Room Forum

[reasonable troll]

What's everyone doing while they wait? How many weeks/months is your wait? How excruciating has it been so far? Are you formulating a back-up plan?

I'm in CA, and this is my second (and likely final) chance to pass and stay at the job I got through OCI. On the one hand, it's my best shot at escaping debtor's prison, but on the other hand, I daydream about moving to a tropical island that won't extradite me if I fail again.

Failing in July has also definitely made work less pleasant. Despite the assurances of my co-workers that they don't consider it a reflection of my ability/intelligence, every mistake I've made in the post-fail era seems to feel about 1,000,000 times as disastrous.

May 15 truly cannot get here soon enough.

[dallaseagle]

I'm in CA.

Your first mistake. Find a state where at least the majority of applicants pass the bar. Anything less is just masochism.

[46-and-2]

Waiting until April 14th.

[psteele99]

Waiting until April 10th. I have no job, but some prospects. I have a lot of bills though...

[TxBarTaker09]

After my second bar exam, I got a job back with the firm that hired me out of law school, but not in as good of a department as I was in. (I was back in the bullpen, no more office for me.) But I loved the firm and was willing to deal with it. I found out my results at work, boy that was rough. I signed out of everything, got up, loosened my tie, went down the street to a bar, had a stiff drink, walked back, told my wife what happened, and finally told my boss, but he already knew.

That was pretty much the end of my work relationship with the firm. Had a job lined up after my third bar exam. That was an awkward phone call to make after those results came out.

For those waiting on jobs, if you can't get anything without passing the bar, just do whatever for a few weeks, find some seasonal job somewhere, you might be glad for the brain-less work for a little while.

May 1st will more than likely be my "official release date" although I won't know for sure for a couple more weeks. It'll be around that day.

[Jimothy]

Did the 2.5 year plan and took NY for the first time. NY says that results will be early May, but recent history suggests that results will be out a little closer to April 25.

Waiting so far has been pretty miserable. I can't help but think about my answers and second guess pretty much everything, especially when it comes to the essays. I walked out feeling a very weird mix of horror/depression/desperate hope that I've genuinely never felt before. Many of my friends said they felt similarly and it actually took a couple days to return to a "normal" status. Thankfully, I'm starting to forget the MBE and whatever answers I put down for that. One less thing to keep obsessing over in my mind.

For now, I have no idea how to feel. I'm doing my best to ignore it, but that's a very tall order. I'm definitely holding on to all my Kaplan materials and foregoing getting the deposit back, at least until late April.

I didn't make the cut in OCIs a few years ago, so I don't have to worry about losing a job... the other side of that coin is that I have to worry about *getting* a job. A few attorneys I worked for as a law clerk during law school told me to give them a call when I'm licensed, but I don't have anything concrete lined up. I think that just being in limbo like we are right now is the thing that's absolutely driving me crazy.

[46-and-2]

I have a full time job doing compliance advisory work at a major bank in nyc; I hate the job. Passing is my ticket out of the job and the city.

[reasonable troll]

I'm in CA.

Your first mistake. Find a state where at least the majority of applicants pass the bar. Anything less is just masochism.

No arguments here. If I weren't CA born and raised I probably would not have bothered. I wonder what the Hawaii bar is like...

[reasonable troll]

I have a lot of bills though...

[reasonable troll]

May 1st will more than likely be my "official release date" although I won't know for sure for a couple more weeks. It'll be around that day.

Fingers crossed for you that it's good news this time!

I think that just being in limbo like we are right now is the thing that's absolutely driving me crazy.

+924839048203

I have a full time job doing compliance advisory work at a major bank in nyc; I hate the job. Passing is my ticket out of the job and the city.

I thought everyone was trying to get INTO the city, or at least trying to afford it. Where ya headed WHEN you get the good news?

[TxBarTaker09]

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=12 ... 0208135755

Here's a study that examined the stress levels of waiting on the bar exam, in case any is interested.

[46-and-2]

May 1st will more than likely be my "official release date" although I won't know for sure for a couple more weeks. It'll be around that day.

Fingers crossed for you that it's good news this time!

I think that just being in limbo like we are right now is the thing that's absolutely driving me crazy.

+924839048203

I have a full time job doing compliance advisory work at a major bank in nyc; I hate the job. Passing is my ticket out of the job and the city.

I thought everyone was trying to get INTO the city, or at least trying to afford it. Where ya headed WHEN you get the good news?

I'm from Boston. Hoping to my way back there, or back to the Midwest where I went to law school. Don't get me wrong - NYC is a playground. I'm just getting sick of playing. Plus, the money I spend on rent, booze, and food is obscene.

[waxecstatic]

I took the bar in Mass after an abysmal performance in July. I went into an awful depression after I got my results in October even though I knew I failed. Seeing all my friends and classmates call themselves esquire and post photos of their letter on Facebook was more than I could handle. I used Themis this time around and supplemented with some of my old BarBri materials. I only got to about 65% (supposedly you have a 98% chance of passing if you get to 75%) but still got a lot of the course. I also liked not having to go to the library or to any classroom to use it. Anyway, I think I did pretty well on the bar but I honestly have no idea. I think I did well on the essays but there's probably a shit-ton of stuff I missed. As for the MBE, who knows really? It's multiple choice and it could go one way or the other. I remember a couple weeks before the test being so worried I would have some disaster on test day. Maybe I'll freeze, maybe I won't sleep the night before, maybe I won't be able to concentrate. It's a miracle I got through it alive! I hope everyone on here passes and we can all move on with our lives.

[waxecstatic]

After my second bar exam, I got a job back with the firm that hired me out of law school, but not in as good of a department as I was in. (I was back in the bullpen, no more office for me.) But I loved the firm and was willing to deal with it. I found out my results at work, boy that was rough. I signed out of everything, got up, loosened my tie, went down the street to a bar, had a stiff drink, walked back, told my wife what happened, and finally told my boss, but he already knew.

That was pretty much the end of my work relationship with the firm. Had a job lined up after my third bar exam. That was an awkward phone call to make after those results came out.

For those waiting on jobs, if you can't get anything without passing the bar, just do whatever for a few weeks, find some seasonal job somewhere, you might be glad for the brain-less work for a little while.

May 1st will more than likely be my "official release date" although I won't know for sure for a couple more weeks. It'll be around that day.

That's rough, man. I was working for a firm shortly before I got my results and everyday they would ask me if I got my results yet. Even though I was only a temp who knows where I'd be if I had passed. But it's over now, and we just gotta move on and hope for the best!

[minnbills]

Checking in. MN. The bar examiners have told us April 20th and April 21st at other times for results

[underthirty]

.

[reasonable troll]

I'm from Boston. Hoping to my way back there, or back to the Midwest where I went to law school. Don't get me wrong - NYC is a playground. I'm just getting sick of playing. Plus, the money I spend on rent, booze, and food is obscene.

Makes sense. Went to LS in SF, so I hear ya on cost of living.

I hope everyone on here passes and we can all move on with our lives.

Checking in. MN. The bar examiners have told us April 20th and April 21st at other times for results

I guess I'm grateful that CA isn't 37 years later than every other state for the Feb administration. *positivity*

[s1m4]

re-taker checking in.

I feel that I did better in February than July, but fearing that February curve.

I mean 1/2 of the people pass in February. Why can't I be one of those people??

The mercy of the PT gods/graders will determine my fate.

[reasonable troll]

I feel that I did better in February than July, but fearing that February curve.

I mean 1/2 of the people pass in February. Why can't I be one of those people??

I mean, since July '14 in CA had the super fantastic passage rate of 49%, Feb can't be that much worse, right??

[reasonable troll]

Welp, nope. Just looked at the stats and saw that Feb is more like 40/45. GREAT.

[s1m4]

^ but don't look @ the # mentioning foreign applicants, and I think its around 50% or higher. All the LLMs from my school took in February for the first time - saw them all @ the exam

[reasonable troll]

Thank god. I think I just had a stroke.

Though I mean, statistically, I definitely should have passed in July, so maybe relying on them in either direction is a bad idea.

[Homiemomma]

I took the bar in Mass after an abysmal performance in July. I went into an awful depression after I got my results in October even though I knew I failed. Seeing all my friends and classmates call themselves esquire and post photos of their letter on Facebook was more than I could handle. I used Themis this time around and supplemented with some of my old BarBri materials. I only got to about 65% (supposedly you have a 98% chance of passing if you get to 75%) but still got a lot of the course. I also liked not having to go to the library or to any classroom to use it. Anyway, I think I did pretty well on the bar but I honestly have no idea. I think I did well on the essays but there's probably a shit-ton of stuff I missed. As for the MBE, who knows really? It's multiple choice and it could go one way or the other. I remember a couple weeks before the test being so worried I would have some disaster on test day. Maybe I'll freeze, maybe I won't sleep the night before, maybe I won't be able to concentrate. It's a miracle I got through it alive! I hope everyone on here passes and we can all move on with our lives.

Ditto... Except for Massachusetts...
I couldn't believe my score when I got it. I didn't have a job yet, but I had a ton of interviews lined up and they were all canceled when the list of new members of the state bar was published on the bar association's website, and my name wasn't on it. I deleted my Facebook account and avoided contact with all of my law school classmates until like a month after swearing in.

So then I actually had a prosecution job lined up midway through studying the second time around, and I got arrested. Obviously the state doesn't want it's prosecutors to also be defendants, so that's not happening now... So I'm making the most of the contacts that I made during my internships and hoping for a job with a firm. I ran into a friend who does criminal defense during an appearance as a defendant & he said his firm might be looking for someone, so who knows - maybe the arrest will result in a job...

But I feel the same way about the exam. I thought the essays were WAY easier than in July, but the MBE is such a damn crap shoot. I did Barbri again and was able to complete most of it, unlike the first time around. If it's any consolation though, every practicing attorney I know says they walked out of the exam with absolutely no idea how it went. So maybe that feeling is an indication of good things to come.

[waxecstatic]

I took the bar in Mass after an abysmal performance in July. I went into an awful depression after I got my results in October even though I knew I failed. Seeing all my friends and classmates call themselves esquire and post photos of their letter on Facebook was more than I could handle. I used Themis this time around and supplemented with some of my old BarBri materials. I only got to about 65% (supposedly you have a 98% chance of passing if you get to 75%) but still got a lot of the course. I also liked not having to go to the library or to any classroom to use it. Anyway, I think I did pretty well on the bar but I honestly have no idea. I think I did well on the essays but there's probably a shit-ton of stuff I missed. As for the MBE, who knows really? It's multiple choice and it could go one way or the other. I remember a couple weeks before the test being so worried I would have some disaster on test day. Maybe I'll freeze, maybe I won't sleep the night before, maybe I won't be able to concentrate. It's a miracle I got through it alive! I hope everyone on here passes and we can all move on with our lives.

Ditto... Except for Massachusetts...
I couldn't believe my score when I got it. I didn't have a job yet, but I had a ton of interviews lined up and they were all canceled when the list of new members of the state bar was published on the bar association's website, and my name wasn't on it. I deleted my Facebook account and avoided contact with all of my law school classmates until like a month after swearing in.

So then I actually had a prosecution job lined up midway through studying the second time around, and I got arrested. Obviously the state doesn't want it's prosecutors to also be defendants, so that's not happening now... So I'm making the most of the contacts that I made during my internships and hoping for a job with a firm. I ran into a friend who does criminal defense during an appearance as a defendant & he said his firm might be looking for someone, so who knows - maybe the arrest will result in a job...

But I feel the same way about the exam. I thought the essays were WAY easier than in July, but the MBE is such a damn crap shoot. I did Barbri again and was able to complete most of it, unlike the first time around. If it's any consolation though, every practicing attorney I know says they walked out of the exam with absolutely no idea how it went. So maybe that feeling is an indication of good things to come.

I'm sorry to hear all that...that must have been really rough. When I went into the bar the second time, I felt I had done basically everything I could, unlike the first time. I thought well I studied for three months, I went over the barbri mini reviews for each subject dozens of times, I did about 1,500 MBE questions (which I now think was not enough), and I did a few practice tests that went alright. And the test itself really wasn't bad. But I'm more certain about the essays than I am in the MBE and I just would hate to have to go through it all again. And this being in limbo is such a waste of life. It would be a lot easier to get through this phase in the summer/fall when everyone else had just taken it for the first time but it's a much smaller group now.

[psteele99]

I have days when I think re-taking wouldn't be so bad. Then I have days when I feel like there is no way I could do it again. The last day of the exam (mbe day for me) was horrific and I felt as though I truly did fail. April 10th and barreling at me and there is nothing I can do but wait for the onslaught of anticipated epic failure. Today is a 'down' day.