All but one of my grades has been posted. The grade that hasn't been posted is the one I'm most curious about because I thought it was my best exam. Grades are interesting. I kinda know where I sit amongst my classmates now and it bothers me. When I was a graduate student all I had to do was maintain a 3.00 GPA which was simple, even when you're taking all math courses and grades weren't really taken into consideration by employers either. Now, I'm "competing" with 60 others and I'm starting to feel like maybe I don't know how to do this well enough. Don't get me wrong, I am content with my grades. There is always room for improvement...yada, yada, yada. BUT this is where the what ifs start appearing. What if I study more! What if I did more practice exams! And the thing is I may just always be in the spot I'm at, regardless of what I try. I just have to be appreciative that I'm not the last in my class.
What bums me out is that there are law students in my class that will be eager to discuss grades on facebook and in class when we start next week and I can honestly say that I don't want to know how others did.
So, if you are talking about grades around me beware! My formula response will be, "Do you want to share your sex life too? Because that's pretty personal."
I just have to remember that grades can't necessarily network for you. And if there is one thing I can do it's network and talk to strangers. Sometimes a pleasant personality can open a lot of doors for you. At least let's hope it does.
Well, I received my final grade on my first memo. I should be very happy with myself however the grade is just confusing. Let's say I got a K+ on the first draft and the same for the final. While I should be happy I feel like I didn't improve because I have the same grade.
In other realms of my legal life, I had a breakdown with my legal writing professor today. Our final memo is due next week and it seems like everyone around me has their drafts nearly done. I am far, far from that reality. In fact, I have a skeleton memo and I can't even make a Halloween reference.
The pressure is really starting to hit me. I don't think I've ever had to juggle so many things at once. And they ain't easy tasks! Yesterday I went to bed a 9pm because I was just done. Kaput! Finito! And I felt guilty that I couldn't even review my measly little outlines.
I'm also trying to reconcile a "friendship" here in law school land. And I think this is a big reason why I've felt so drained. I'll save that one for another time... maybe I'll IRAC it for ya!
Labels: 1L, grades, legal writing
We recently got back our memos, which means that I have an inkling of where I stand in my legal research and writing class. I'm not going to discuss my grade with you but I will discuss how odd it was to wait for the paper to be returned. My classmates were practically in tears waiting for their papers. Our professor actually brought tissue and for the third time, he went over the dreaded law school curve, how legal writing is a learning process, how we aren't going to be in the top of our class anymore, etc. I couldn't believe this! Really?
There was so much stress in the room I couldn't take it. I'm one of those people who inadvertently takes on other people's stress and just sitting there was making me ill. The one thing I was happy about was that I was ok about getting a bad grade. Law school is a learning process and I was prepared to maturely accept my grade. And I did just that.
Grades can be a very humbling experience. I just wish my fellow classmates would realize this rather than getting upset. Oh! But we did have that one person who gloated about their grade!
And yesterday, this same person "worked" on her paper before class, so her paper just sat there for the whole world to see. Really? I felt like asking her if she was planning on announcing her other grades as well. In some ways I'm surprised by her ego, however in other ways I'm really not surprised. In many ways I think she is our class gunner, as best defined by the urban dictionary of course!
