You probably got into law school because there weren’t numbers. People with the intellectual tools for law school that are good with numbers end up in MBA programs. If you like biology and chemistry, you probably end up in medical school. One of the reasons you’re in law school is because you have a way with words. You like dealing with words, especially to explain, argue, and persuade.
But the big challenges in law school come from numbers. The first numbers that trip people up have to do with the curve. The problems is shoehorning the sheer number of bright, successful people in the average law school into the pigeonholes of top 10%, median, and bottom 25%. Coming to grips with that reality and how to work within it is one thing that separates people who are truly happy and successful in law school from people who are just spinning their wheels.
The second numbers have to do with the incredible volume of tasks you have to do in law school. As a 1L, you typically have at least four classes per semester. Each of those classes will meet on average about three times per week. That’s 12 reading assignments per week, sometimes of 50+ pages. Times a 13-week semester, and you have 156 reading assignments per semester. Throw in a few legal writing assignments, a couple student groups, and just the day-to-day things you need to do to stay clothed, fed, and housed, and it can be overwhelming.
People sweat the words in law school. But it’s the numbers that are the problem. The numbers game of law school make someone who is comfortable with the words turn into a nervous wreck. By handling the numbers, you can show just how good you are with the words.
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