Sufferings of the Bar

I am firmly convinced that sometime a long time ago the bar exam was something that was fun and frivolous. It was something that people didn't stress over, lose sleep over, or wake up in cold sweats over. It has become the monster that it is because someone broke what any high school or undergrad students knows to be the cardinal rule...they cared too much.

I remember that back in undergrad it was the ultimate in cool points to not care about what you are doing. Just like it was also cool to be dead broke (something which argueably continues into law school) or to drive the most beat-up old car (in my case a 82 Ford Grenada Station Wagon). The person in undergrad who did the least, drank the most and still made Cs in class was the guy or girl that you wanted to hang out with.

Then, all-of-a-sudden, we decided that life post-LSAT was totally different. People started caring about their grades. They started studying really really hard for finals and actually prepared for class. I know that this threw me completely when I started law school. I have always been of the opinion that if we just all agreed to not try then law school and the bar exam would be easier. But everyone knows that there would be that one person out there who would violate this rule. That one jerk who wants to try hard would study and study and study and make the rest of us all look bad. I really feel that the first bar exam offer was the loss of our innocence. Maybe it was the second bar exam, you know the one after the first person failed the first exam.

Whenever it occurred it has really caused us all a lot of problems and issues. I wish I could say that I don't care and that I am going to continue along like I was in undergrad. But that is not the case at all. Now that I'm approaching the umpteenth millionth hour of studying for this exam I just wish it didn't have to happen at all. This might be the only time in my life that I wish I lived in Wisconsin.