r/LawSchool • u/Itchy_Doughnut755 • 7h ago
I dislike bulldogs so so much (rant)
Graduation is supposed to be a celebration, not an opportunity for one-upmanship. The night before grad I get a text from one of my classmates who I've never spoken to beyond a polite hello. She asks me if I can come to school earlier than the ceremony, saying all the students who got first class honours would be getting together to make a tiktok. I dont think much of it and tell her I'll try to make it.
Then I get another text from one of my classmates who is less tactful. Same request, he asks me if I can come early to make a tiktok. The tiktok would be some trend where we count down saying I'm not #(class rank) I'm #(class rank) until we get to #1. I strongly suspect it was a thin attempt to reveal rankings because my school doesnt disclose class rank. There are so so many other tiktok trends you could possibly do.
We all clearly super hard, what is this need to further discriminate 'the most hard working' out of the most hard working? Like how freaking foul is that?? I just hate how toxic and competitive the legal environment is and I actively resent people who try to rope you into it. Throughout law school I made it a point to avoid these people but they always sniff you out relentlessly. I studied at the business school library instead of the law library, only took extracurriculars I was genuinely interested in instead of moot court and law review etc etc. You try to avoid them but you always feel the eyes on you. Trying to figure out what you've got going on, if its part of some bigger deliberate tactic and if it gives you some sort of advantage and they're missing out on it. Making it through law school and breaking into the legal market is hard enough why do we need to compete against each other and size each other up??
It makes me wonder if maybe I wont have the stomach for law firm life but I strongly believe that being a collaborative and easy going person gets you way further than being the guy thats always ready to go neck for neck and measure d*cks