Poll: Lowest class rank with which you'd be satisfied? Forum

[sperry]

Is it realistic to automatically assume that I'm not capable of being top10% at whatever T14 I end up at?

wrong question. you're clearly capable of being top 10%. the thing is most everyone in your law school is likely capable of that. being capable and getting there are two very different things.

I'm with him on that though. This whole idea of going into law school expecting to do average and thinking you will only do average sounds like a great way to do average. FWIW I am getting mixed comments on this subject from people. Someone on here was saying that they were at NYU and that they treated it like a 40 hour a week job, and that that was enough to get into the top 10 percent. Alexandria said that most of her and her group of lsd people who went into Michigan with the mindset of succeeding and working hard all came out at worst top 20 percent (many she said were in the top 10 percent). I'm just against this whole going into law school expecting to fail, that just seems like about the worst thing you can do.

I know I'll be going to a school with incredibly smart and accomplished people but I'm not too worried about it.

Care to share this master plan of how you're going to beat people who are just as smart/ smarter than you, and work just as hard/ harder than you?

[vanwinkle]

Care to share this master plan of how you're going to beat people who are just as smart/ smarter than you, and work just as hard/ harder than you?

I don't think he means he knows how to beat them, I think he just means he'll do his best and accept where it gets him.

[kurama20]

I'm with him on that though. This whole idea of going into law school expecting to do average and thinking you will only do average sounds like a great way to do average. FWIW I am getting mixed comments on this subject from people. Someone on here was saying that they were at NYU and that they treated it like a 40 hour a week job, and that that was enough to get into the top 10 percent. Alexandria said that most of her and her group of lsd people who went into Michigan with the mindset of succeeding and working hard all came out at worst top 20 percent (many she said were in the top 10 percent). I'm just against this whole going into law school expecting to fail, that just seems like about the worst thing you can do.

I know I'll be going to a school with incredibly smart and accomplished people but I'm not too worried about it.

Tarded 0Ls, you don't yet realize how hard it is to predict law school grades. This isn't a game of raw intelligence + how hard/smart you work = your grade. This isn't undergrad. And even if it were, chances are your level of intelligence and work ethic will not be anything special relative to the populace of top law schools.

You really talk way too much for someone who just got their first semester of grades. What's worse is that your reading comp of both of our posts is pretty awful. Alexandria is far more experienced at law school than you are. She has already landed a job at a very elite firm and she has completely finished both her 1L and 2L years, she managed to land at the top of her class. Her opinion on the subject holds a lot more weight than yours does. If anything the most "tarded' thing you can do is to be giving out absolute claims with not even a full year of law school under your belt, and then discredit the opinion of someone with far more experience than you have. I think I'm going to go with Alexandria on this one.

The other thing is that you totally missed both of our points. It's not that we are going into school expecting to be the top whatever percent, but that we are going in attempting to do our best and are not going in with the attitude of "OMG everyone is so much smarter than me, there's no way I can succeed."

[RVP11]

How does anything I've said in this thread run contrary to what Alexandria has said? I actually agree with her in like 99% of threads. We share a few of the same opinions regarding law school placement. Remember that stupid point about school placement you vehemently argued with me? Some of what I mentioned was me repeating what I'd heard from her in a different thread, mate.

My point was that it takes a lot more than just the "mindset of succeeding and working hard" to do well in law school. You may be cavalier now, but I guarantee you that halfway through your first semester you will be humbled. You will feel average.

I'm not saying you shouldn't do everything possible to do well, that you shouldn't pump yourself up, that you shouldn't be confident. I'm saying that you will eventually submit yourself to the Gods of Law School Exams in December and January and the letters they spit out may or may not have much correlation with how hard you worked, how well you issue-spot, how good a writer you are, how much law you knew, how well you did on practice exams, how proud your Grandma is, or your Myers-Briggs personality type.

So to take any real meaning from Alexandria's experience with her LSD friends who mostly did well in law school is really grasping.

Again, I'm not saying to go into law school expecting to fail. I'm saying to set a goal (top 10%, LR, top quarter, whatever), and go into law school and try to achieve it. Just accept that you may be humbled, you may adjust your goals and realize you can be happy with less than your original goal, and don't ever say something like Hopefulundergrad's "I know everyone is accomplished and smart but I'm not too worried about it" in person, in front of other law students if you don't want to sound like a bit of a douche.

edit: no, I don't have any grades, yet.

[Lawl Shcool]

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[dresden doll]

Care to share this master plan of how you're going to beat people who are just as smart/ smarter than you, and work just as hard/ harder than you?

I don't think he means he knows how to beat them, I think he just means he'll do his best and accept where it gets him.

+1. I don't get how some people can misread shit so well...

It just doesn't seem like the disappointment is the appropriate word to convey such feelings.

[02082010]

Hopefulundergrad's "I know everyone is accomplished and smart but I'm not too worried about it" in person, in front of other law students if you don't want to sound like a bit of a douche.

While you may have taken that as me thinking that I'm smarter and more accomplished than everyone else, I meant that I'm not worried about what my classmates will be doing, rather I'll focus my energies on what I will be doing to making myself succeed. I just don't see much point in being all like "OMG she went to Yale UG and is here w/ a full scholarship there's no way I can do better than she will." Just seems pointless to me.

Furthermore, you original post was ridiculous in your attempt to chastise me, and although you tried to compensate for it with you subsequent post by saying "it's good to go into school w/ goals, confidence, etc." that is the point I was making the entire time.


Don't know why I'm wasting my time here... need to be doing more interview prep...

[YCrevolution]

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[sperry]

Care to share this master plan of how you're going to beat people who are just as smart/ smarter than you, and work just as hard/ harder than you?

I don't think he means he knows how to beat them, I think he just means he'll do his best and accept where it gets him.

+1. I don't get how some people can misread shit so well...

It just doesn't seem like the disappointment is the appropriate word to convey such feelings.

Agreed. To me, when someone says they will be disappointed not to reach a goal, it's because they expected to meet that goal.

[kittenmittons]

Top 10%

[vanwinkle]

Care to share this master plan of how you're going to beat people who are just as smart/ smarter than you, and work just as hard/ harder than you?

I don't think he means he knows how to beat them, I think he just means he'll do his best and accept where it gets him.

+1. I don't get how some people can misread shit so well...

It just doesn't seem like the disappointment is the appropriate word to convey such feelings.

I don't see anything where hopefulundergrad said anything about disappointment. He just said something that indicated he'll accept where he ends up at the end of the semester.

[rbgrocio]

My goal when I started law school was top 10 and law review. We will see which one, if any, I accomplish.... So far, I'm happy with my first semester grades.

[lishi]

I just want to keep my scholarship. Go median!

QFT!!!

[joesrevenge]

Top 50%. Which is pretty much where I am currently at with the grades I have gotten so far (3 out of 4 classes). Woooo dead center of curve (at least until the last grade is out)

[savetheturtles]

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[dresden doll]

I don't see anything where hopefulundergrad said anything about disappointment. He just said something that indicated he'll accept where he ends up at the end of the semester.

No.

Top 10% would still give me a shoot at the COA. Anything lower than that and I'd be pretty disappointed. But I'm an 0L, so who knows.

[Connelly]

I have always had tiered goals, each with different levels of satisfaction.

Just graduating - This is the first goal, and, when I started, I was okay if this is all that happened in law school. I would have a tough time going to a school where this was not acceptable to me.

Top 50% - Next goal, and I would be very happy with this. "I did better than most people that graduated from my school," is not a horrible thing to have to say.

Cum laude/top 25% - These are usually the same thing or at least very close. Top 25% is a cutoff for a lot of interviews, and so this would be very helpful. Any kind of graduation honor would thrill me.

Magna and/or top 10% - I would be extremely happy. For someone with a 2.9 UGPA, it would mean a lot to actually do well.

Anything higher - F'n gravy.

[02082010]

I don't see anything where hopefulundergrad said anything about disappointment. He just said something that indicated he'll accept where he ends up at the end of the semester.

No.

Top 10% would still give me a shoot at the COA. Anything lower than that and I'd be pretty disappointed. But I'm an 0L, so who knows.

You're right, disappointed isn't the right word.

[YCrevolution]

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[dresden doll]

I don't see anything where hopefulundergrad said anything about disappointment. He just said something that indicated he'll accept where he ends up at the end of the semester.

No.

Top 10% would still give me a shoot at the COA. Anything lower than that and I'd be pretty disappointed. But I'm an 0L, so who knows.

You're right, disappointed isn't the right word.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that you really want to be at the top. Shit, I'd love to graduate first in my class. I just think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment if you go in telling yourself than anything short of top 10 percent will disappoint you since there's a 90 percent chance it won't work out the way you'd like it to. That's all.

[pehaigllleises]

I'll be satisfied with bottom 10% at University of Chicago if and only if I get to see at least one person cry who did not understand the fact that a whopping 50% of people are at or below median.

I'll take bottom 1% if it's one of the people who vocally asserted that he/she finds it unfathomable that he/she could have done below median.

[jay115]

You're right, disappointed isn't the right word.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that you really want to be at the top. Shit, I'd love to graduate first in my class. I just think you might be setting yourself up for disappointment if you go in telling yourself than anything short of top 10 percent will disappoint you since there's a 90 percent chance it won't work out the way you'd like it to. That's all.

I think the main reason people are jumping on JSUVA2012's condescending response to hopefulUG is that we all know hopefulUG won't actually drop out of law school if he doesn't make the top 10%. Just like I wanted harvard when I began the law school application process and ended up with UCLA. No, UCLA isn't in the T14 or even the best school in the state, but based on the work I put in and other circumstances, I'm somewhat satisfied. I'll probably work harder at UCLA because I know it's not the best school.

Who actually goes into a test or turns in an essay thinking, "Well, I'm not hoping to score well, and I'll be satisfied with whatever grade I get," lol? Aim for an A and if you get lower revise your tactics to get an A the next time around.

[Carnival1860]

I have always had tiered goals, each with different levels of satisfaction.

Just graduating - This is the first goal, and, when I started, I was okay if this is all that happened in law school. I would have a tough time going to a school where this was not acceptable to me.

Top 50% - Next goal, and I would be very happy with this. "I did better than most people that graduated from my school," is not a horrible thing to have to say.

Cum laude/top 25% - These are usually the same thing or at least very close. Top 25% is a cutoff for a lot of interviews, and so this would be very helpful. Any kind of graduation honor would thrill me.

Magna and/or top 10% - I would be extremely happy. For someone with a 2.9 UGPA, it would mean a lot to actually do well.

Anything higher - F'n gravy.

I like your style.

+100

[Cavalier]

I only have one grade, but unfortunately that grade makes it impossible for me to graduate with a 4.3 GPA. I will now be dropping out of law school and contemplating suicide.

[YCrevolution]

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