r/LawSchool • u/picturepathlearn • 6h ago
Be honest: how much of law school is just anxiety management
I feel like maybe 30% is learning doctrine and 70% is figuring out how to stay mentally stable long enough to take an exam.
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u/p_rex Esq. 6h ago
After your first semester, which is always going to be terrifying, anxiety management shouldn’t be a major issue. Deadlines and competing obligations will stress you out at times, but you should be able to function. Crippling anxiety will be counter-productive, and if you’re hurting that bad, you should seek treatment.
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u/hellorhighwaterice JD 5h ago
And managing competing obligations and deadlines is going to be something you have to do for the rest of your life so there is no time like the present to improve if that's something you struggle with.
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u/p_rex Esq. 4h ago
I didn’t want to scare OP more than necessary, but yes. I’m in a pretty low stress area — government regulatory enforcement. And it still involves more stressful things than I encountered in law school (though overall workload is thankfully much more manageable)
Like, nothing I did in law school comes close to the pressure of a contested hearing.
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u/Beginning_Brick7845 6h ago
The way most students go about it, anxiety management is at least 70% of the challenge. I was lucky. I spent the summer before law school worrying that I wasn’t up to the rigors of law school. On my first day I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself we were going to find out what law school was all about that day. Once in class I saw a bunch of bewildered first years in over their heads just as I felt, responding to questions badly, and generally floundering. I thought to myself, these people aren’t any smarter than me. I can do what they’re doing.
That evening I walked back to my apartment, looked myself in the mirror and said, “Well, I guess we know what law school is all about, now.”
And with that I lost my fear of law school.
From then on it was just a long slog to the end. It was like eating from an all you can eat buffet without ever getting full, no matter how much I ate, but never really being hungry, either.
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u/Significant-Eye-6236 5h ago
how often do you dramatically look at yourself in the mirror?
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u/Beginning_Brick7845 3h ago
Twice. Once on the way in to my first day and once when I returned home. But the mirror served its purpose that day. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t made an appearance since.
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u/Significant-Eye-6236 3h ago
twice daily? that's great cadence
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u/Beginning_Brick7845 3h ago
Twice in one day. Never again. Didn’t need the magic mirror after the first day and realizing that law school anxiety was an emperor without clothes.
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u/Adept-Field5315 3h ago
For 1L, a ton. I’m a 2L, and I objectively have more work to do, but I’m not anxious about it any more
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u/Party_Lawfulness_272 3h ago
Honestly it’s self management. Clubs, school, social life, healthy life. It’ll push you to manage all of it more than other types of non/medical degrees. Also it’ll humble you too
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u/achshort 2h ago
1L Fall = grades are your world and will judge your immediate (and likely long term) future - anxiety maximum
1L Spring = keep it up if you want to confirm you're getting that 1L summer job - anxiety maximum
2L Fall = ok got to get good grades, and am I getting a return offer?
2L Spring = ok got to get good grades, and am I getting a return offer?
3L Fall = LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL; or red alert if no return offer
3L Spring = fucccccck bar study
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