Four Common Misperceptions in Law School:

1. You Are The Dumbest In Your Class/ You Are The Smartest In Your Class

You can never really know where your peers are intellectually. In law school, people use their perceptions to the judge of the level of intellect of their peers and themselves. Who raises their hand and participates more? Who goes to office hours the most? Who is in the library the most? Who has joined the most clubs? While being proactive, interactive, and involved are all important, these are not the sole determinative factors of someone’s level of promise or intellect. Although, the law school system judges you based upon your performance in comparison with your peers, DO NOT CONSISTENTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO YOUR PEERS. Consistently comparing yourself can be counterproductive and destructive. In addition, many of the people amongst you do not care if you fail. Do not let their actions determine how you should act. Moreover, the quietest person in the class may actually be very smart, whether they purposely don’t want to be perceived as someone who is very intelligent or they simply don’t want to speak up. Note: Oftentimes, students like to give off the impression that they’re not doing much or not studying very much even when they really are. DO NOT CONSISTENTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO YOUR PEERS.

2. You’re “Behind”

You are only behind if you are behind the teacher’s schedule, not your peers’ schedule. Just because people look like they are doing work does not mean they are doing work. Also, most people who procrastinate don’t go to law school and just stop procrastinating. You are not the only one, but that is why you DO NOT CONSISTENTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO YOUR PEERS, because oftentimes your perceptions deceive you.

3. You Are Not Studying “Correctly”

Comparing yourself to your peers will make you think that you absolutely need to read a bunch of supplements, you must use a traditional outline, or you must start outlining early on in the semester. What you have been doing up until your acceptance into law school has clearly worked. Do not change because your peers do things differently. Only change if what you’re doing isn’t working. Study the way that you know how to study. Do what works for you. DO NOT CONSISTENTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO YOUR PEERS.

4. You Are Your Grade/Rank

Your grade does not determine how smart you are and your rank does not necessarily determine how smart you are in comparison to your peers. Law school does not just test your intellect. When you are tested on your exams, you are expected to know how to apply what you’ve learned using deductive reasoning and logic to come to a strong conclusion. Oftentimes, not doing well on an exam can result from lack of practice. Using practice exams as preparation for class exams is highly recommended and beneficial. Staying along these lines, the grades you receive may merely be a reflection of the way you studied—not your level of intellect.

Above all, DO NOT CONSISTENTLY COMPARE YOURSELF TO YOUR PEERS, and do not allow law school to cause you to think you are lesser than you are.