De Minimis
  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Podcast
  • Your Learned Friend
  • Anonymous Feedback
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • Constitution
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12

Stress Less: Embrace Mediocrity

23/5/2016

 
KATY HAMPSON
Volume 9, Issue 12
I don’t intend in this article to rehash tips and tricks you can learn from a quick google on how to reduce stress. Beyond simple behavioural changes or developing more effective study techniques, the attitude students bring to studying law in general (and to exams in particular) can be a huge barrier for ensuring student wellbeing. ​
Picture
I describe myself as a mediocre student in the JD, but this is neither false modesty nor an under-estimation of my intelligence and abilities. If you look at my academic transcript it’s there in plain, cold, indisputable numbers. I’m middle of the road: average- no failures, a few close calls and my GPA is nothing to write home about. My resume isn’t much better - I haven’t had any of those highly coveted unpaid internships either.

By our very being in this program together we all share certain qualities; we are hardworking high achievers, have similar personality traits and still have nightmares about the LSAT. To make a wild generalisation: the average JD student is a person who, early(?) on in their schooling, was already at a much higher grade of reading than the other students. They are used to being the top of the class for all of their childhood, and then at university, got H1s and H2As (or Ds and HDs for non-unimelb folk) with relatively little effort. They also have an ability to motivate themselves – an intrinsic motivation that requires neither immediate carrot nor stick, but rather, a discipline and desire to succeed. They jumped through the hoops to get into law school. Then they are surrounded by people exactly like themselves.

We then get spread out like the butter churned off the top of the pail, and most of us are going to be more in the middle than at the top, which is such an unfamiliar place. We think, if only I motivated myself more, if only I tried harder, if only I spent all waking hours in the library, I could be at the top again. This is just another hoop I have to jump through in order to make it to the next stage - but it isn’t. It should be a relief to know that you can now just do your best, take your place in the order of things, and get your qualification.

There is the unfortunate fact that external forces still try to ‘motivate’ us to do better and better. Implying if we don’t try hard enough we’ll never get a clerkship and then a traineeship. We’ll never get the chance to have a job and  everything will be ruined. This sort of motivational attempt is really insulting to our student population. Of course we are doing our best already- we didn’t come to Melbourne Law School for the affordability of the degree or to enjoy the occasional free food.

You might be thinking that perhaps the reason I have mediocre grades is precisely because I do not try hard enough to change that fact. But university doesn’t work like that. It’s not as simple as Time + Effort + Passion = Grade.

Some subjects I have loved and put the most time into, doing my own research and asking extra questions of the lecturers, I have gotten the worst grades in. Then I took Corporations Law, fell asleep in pretty much every single lecture, struggled to revise for it  for more than 15 minutes straight and got a great mark.  You can stress and struggle, but University is just not fair.

Once I focused on just doing my best and getting through, I realised that law school is about so much more than dedicated studying and final marks. In 5 years I am not going to remember what mark I got in Obligations. But I will probably remember bunking off class to go play beer soccer in the rain. I will remember going to The Corkman after class and having conversations about whether bestiality or necrophilia was more heinous. I’ll remember posting stupid gifs during all nighter take-homes, and crying on the phone to my dad after not finishing the torts exam, only to be told that you didn’t have to finish an exam to pass - and passing is all that counts.

The worst thing is that my dad was actually right – do your best, pass, anything else is a bonus.

Katy Hampson is a third-year JD student

The rest of this week's *bumper* issue:
  • Practitioners and Students Rally Against Further Cuts to Legal Aid Funding
  • The Mask
  • Where Can Legal Training Take You? Interview with Nicholas Reece
  • Jessup: This is a Joke, Right?
  • Response to ‘Jessup: This is a Joke, Right?’ 
  • When You Can’t Cedar Wood for the Trees
  • I’m With Crazy
  • The Erasure of Authenticity
  • Sushi is Just a Rice Salad Rolled in Seaweed & Other Obvious Things
  • Blame Glynn Davis
  • EOX Ticket Price: ‘Can’t I Just Dance?’
  • The Clerkship Diaries: I’m Not Mad, I’m Just Disappointed
  • Equity Uncle on De Minimis’ Unprofessionalism
 
More articles like this:
  • Mental Health in Law School: Speak Up
  • Practicing Mindfulness at Law School
  • Kate Van Hooft Says Goodbye
Jay
23/5/2016 11:32:18 pm

I really liked this article. I'm a 2nd year, and I've found it really difficult to talk about having average grades to some of my classmates without setting off some immediate polite response like 'No, I'm *sure* you must be doing well'. Maybe looming applications are making people tighten up on that point. The student debt also seems to turn each disappointment in the degree into a bitter illustration of the gamble of enrolling in law, at least for some students I spoke to.

And I agree with you. Stating that you're mediocre shouldn't be taken as a way to fish for compliments or an indicator of depression. Based solely on the numbers, we're a class of about 300 a year, about 10% of us fail a given subject. So, so many of us have a weighted average of 66-74 (so a variation of only 5-10 percent) and we're literally ranked by that number for academic and hiring purposes. It's pretty likely that, frequently, one JD student will get a good mark and one will get a bad mark despite near-equal talent and effort. While the lecturer could likely give reasons for distinguishing the two, wouldn't those reasons sometimes be more the result of needing to spreading grades out for the benefit of hiring firms and academics--as opposed to significant differences in quality of work?

For some professionals and academics, that average is a good enough indicator of if we're worth their time and money. Honestly I think we hear a little too much from those people, they get more than their share of the time in law school seminars. But, of course, for other people the fact that we're studying postgrad is great by itself.

Call it unambitious, but I don't think it's wrong for some of us to think we're doing well in life but middling in law school.


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Archives

    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Podcast
  • Your Learned Friend
  • Anonymous Feedback
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • Constitution
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12