Scrambled Egg(heads)

eggheads

Law school is an interesting place in that it forces otherwise highly intelligent, capable, academic rock stars to become overly self-conscious, timid workaholics who melt under the sheer weight of the experience and the intimidatingly obvious intellect of their professors.

Of course this proverbial scrambling of the egg heads is all par for the course in the sort of inconceivably brutal game of cat and mouse mixed with intellectual hazing that comes with being a first year law student.

It is perhaps a myth that the first year of law school is terrible, scary and all the other fear inducing adjectives that are used to describe the experience, but it is definitely true that the experience is not one that is easily described to those who have not been through it.

For many of us it is, it is probably the only time in our academic lives where it is possible that we can do all that is asked of us, study hard, follow the discussion, participate in class and still not perform to our expectations.

Indeed, there really is no other experience in life where you get no feedback until the end by way of the one grade you receive in the course.

And there has never been a time where so much could depend on so little.

I think that it is this that strikes fear in the hearts of the men and women of the 1L class.

It’s not really the experience itself but rather the implications of the experience in terms of one’s career goals and ambitions that scrambles the egg heads.

In a time where we are consistently reading stories both from reputable sources and some that are intensely anecdotal about the state of the legal market, it is not surprising that so many of us are freaking out.

Still I wonder if this scrambling is necessary????

I often times ask myself if the experience is presented to us in the best way possible to make us great attorneys or if we are simply going through an archaic system that equates to “we are doing it to you because it was done to us”.

I won’t lie and say that I haven’t thought about the implications of not doing as well as I want to, but I also feel like I have faced tougher things.

And I believe that most of my classmates have to.

We are here.

We were accepted to one of the top schools in the country in a year that saw law school applications reach unparalleled numbers.

In the midst of the “Great Reccession” and against the odds of not making it into law school in the most competitive year ever…

We are here.

While it is unfortunate that we have to compete against each other to try to reach the apex of the disturbingly vague “curve”, we should take note, that in many ways we have been doing that our whole lives.

We have always had to compete in one way or another and we have thus far made it to the other side somewhat unscathed.

So as the November 1st warning light flickers as the indicator for Defcon 5 and the precursor to the insanity that will take us the final destination, let’s remember the old adage “you can’t make an omelet without cracking a couple of eggs,” with the understanding that we may crack but we will not be broken.

Toast to the egg heads!

Fried Egg Head

3 Comments

Sophia posted on November 1, 2010 at 11:36 pm

I like the optimism in this blog. As someone that has been through this already, trust me when I say you can all do this! Regardless of whether the process is fitting or mere tradition I would try and keep in mind my #1 piece of advice for all 1Ls: Balance your happiness with your 1L struggles, because if you give over so much of yourself to get through this year, emerge unscathed but a totally different self, none of this is really worth it.

Renee posted on November 14, 2010 at 12:43 pm

Nice piece Brandon. Hang in there, and work actively to keep connected to the support that helped you get to this point in your life (whether that be parents, siblings, friends, girl (boy)friend, working out..). Take it in strides. The cracks are overrated. As you noted, the struggle guarantees nothing.

Slade posted on February 28, 2011 at 2:02 pm

Great post Brandon. I hope you can stick it out and it sounds like you will. As you said, this is not the toughest thing you have ever done so keep grinding away and you will be done before you know it.

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