Why does law school feel so dire?

Law school is a culture shock. Having been to two other higher education institutions, law school was by far the biggest adjustment. Anecdotally, many of my peers have experienced similar feelings regardless of socioeconomic status, race, sexuality, etc. Many of us have echoed the phrase, “law school feels more like high school than high school.”

The high school-like quality of law school manifests in several ways. For example, everyone knows each other. Everyone is crammed into a space that is physically and mentally small. Cliques form the very first day of intro week. Rumors and gossip abound. I am curious about two aspects of this: one, what makes law school this way and two, what extra layers do students from first generation – or more generally any marginalized background ­– experience?

Are law school students inherently immature? I personally do not think so. However, a close friend and I have had several discussions in which we have expressed surprise at the high school-like quality of law school. In fact, we also agree that being in this space has negatively impacted our personal growth and maturity. While I doubt anyone can come up with an exhaustive list of reasons that law school tends to be cliquey and brimming with gossip, I wonder how much of it is a survival tactic. In my opinion, the legal field obfuscates itself. When aspiring law students tell attorneys that they are intending to go to law school they are often met with a common response: “why?” or “don’t do it.” Are lawyers just bitter? If so, why? Questions like these cast doubt on our decision to pursue law school at all. On top of this, the application process and LSAT are brutal. 0L’s obsess over the /lawschool Reddit thread.

 

It is important in any space to “find your people.” I believe this is especially true in law school. Perhaps all the mysticism surrounding law school instills in us the need to survive at any cost. Additionally, law school traditionally is a competitive environment. While I am thankful that UC-Davis does not have a reputation for students ripping pages out of books or giving classmates false information, this does not mean that the competitive spirit of law school does not exist here. This is wholly unlike any other educational experience I have had.

 

The competitive nature of law school makes it crucial that we “find our people.” Perhaps we are subconsciously less willing to branch out either due to fear, viewing others as competition, or maybe we project these feelings onto others.

 

Being from a working-class socioeconomic background added an extra layer of stress for me. Once I got a sense of what the legal job market was like and the pay gap between “BigLaw” and public interest, I felt like my financial health was very much at stake. In addition to worrying about the intra-law school politics, I became obsessive about grades and OCI. While many students feel the same pressures, I felt that the investment of law school would not be worth it unless I ended up at a big firm. Looking back, I feel that this was only partly pragmatic. It was also influenced by the overall negative environment. I truly thought that I would be doomed if I struck out at OCI. I would not have family connections to fall back on or afford to take a job with significantly less salary. Based on my own experience, I wonder whether other people feel the same way and, additionally, whether the pressures of law school bring about similar anxieties for other marginalized identities.