Wanted: enthusiastic, motivated student body Forum

[rinkrat19]

Wow. Please don't go to Northwestern.

+1000

[FeelTheHeat]

Way too many serious responses ITT

[lawgod]

My question is, does a law school like this even exist outside of maybe Harvard and Yale? I've heard Yale is "special" and "like magic" and so on. But the chances of getting in are so slim. Can someone recommend other law schools they've visited where the community is vibrant, students are proud to attend, and slackers actually fail out instead of getting their grades curved?

Oh yes. Slackers fail out of Yale all the time.
If you want a law school where the slackers fail out, go for a TTTT

[ahduth]

Come to NYU. From what I understand, we're all just going to sit around in our berets, chain smoking and reading Baudelaire in the original French.

[firemed]

Come to NYU. From what I understand, we're all just going to sit around in our berets, chain smoking and reading Baudelaire in the original French.

See, and now I am glad I had such a low GPA.

[ahduth]

Come to NYU. From what I understand, we're all just going to sit around in our berets, chain smoking and reading Baudelaire in the original French.

See, and now I am glad I had such a low GPA.

Damn straight. If the ennui doesn't kill me, the emphysema surely will.

[thedive]

If it is really that easy and not challenging, then I assume that you have a 4.0 in the hardest major at your school? Honestly, who gives a shit if they're whining kids, that has no impact on your performance whatsoever. Wait til you get to the real world and face real problems. As for grade inflation, that unfortunately, is the norm for many schools all over the country. Like one poster said, college is the new high school for most of America. Sorry, but I used to hear this same type of talk from trust fund kids at my UG when they complained about athletes. They were usually history or philosophy majors that where pulling a 3.2 and were used to having everything sugar coated for them.

[cinephile]

What kind of school is it where no one is allowed to fail out, no matter how badly they perform?? Trust me... NO ONE wants to be in that school! I think that's why college has become the new high school as America's educational standards just fall and fall... but that's an issue for another discussion, I guess.

Sorry for sounding arrogant... not what I meant... I am so tired of being constantly surrounded by people who don't give a flip, you know? It's so demoralizing (and makes me grumpy, as everyone has noticed). I just want a school where I am not one of the only ones in the library! You learn so much more when the people around you are interested in what they're doing! How can you learn much if you're not surrounded by people who are smarter than you? Also, everyone knows it's hard to stay motivated without a little competition. It can be a friendly, co-operative, sportsmanlike thing. That's what I meant by competitive, not the cut-your-throat kind which I've never experienced, probably will, but certainly don't want to. Sorry you all haven't had experience with that kind of competition.

Getting a job is probably what I'll do eventually, and I hope to get good at what I do. (Thanks for the "encouragement" there... lol.) But acadmic excellence and excelling in a career are two totally different things. You can be terrible at one and awesome at the other. But before I get a job, I'd like to get a really good education.

The reason I've added that P.S. in the original post was because I've seen people on here get razed to the ground and talked out of law school for no good reason besides just snarkiness.

So back to the original question - are Duke's people actually that unmotivated? : )

I'm going to assume that you're being sincere here. Why don't you look into other undergraduate institutions if you're unhappy where you are? Some small LACs can be very competitive, some large state schools have honors programs -- there are options out there.

As far as law school goes, others in this thread have already stated that there's a different level of maturity and competitiveness in graduate school than in undergrad. They've also mentioned that you don't have to fail out to be screwed. Being in the bottom of the class, whether you're failing or not, means you'll have limited-to-no employment opportunities. If you do have slackers in section, you should be grateful because of the nature of the curve.

The reason people go to law school is to become a lawyer. Being at the top of your class will increase your likelihood of actually getting a job. And that's all that matters, right? Who cares if others in your class are unmotivated? All you focus on is your own success. Of course, this will never happen because all your classmates will be equally motivated to find a job and pay off their massive debt. Perhaps this is something that comes about when you're the one taking out loans instead of your parents, knowing that you're responsible for your future and no one is taking care of you anymore, basically just a part of growing up. If you're worried about motivated students in law school, you have nothing to worry about.