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AdmittedStudentSalesDay 12 - 30 Mar 2009 - Main.YoungKim
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| | For the last few days, I have found myself cheerleading for Columbia at various admitted student events. Young recently commented in class that he found himself robotically spouting pro-law school sales pitches to admitted students at the last of these programs, and he had to stop himself from perpetuating “the con.” I don’t know if I’ve just completely guzzled the law school Kool-Aid, but I find myself very happy to be here at this point in my life. It doesn’t FEEL like I’m conning anyone, but Young’s point has been running through my head all day, and one girl mentioned to me this morning that my happiness made her want to come here.
Our discussions on this wiki and in class have made me curious to know whether being happy in law school puts me in the minority, and whether any of us are having internal conflicts when interacting with admits for this admitted students program. | | | Sidenote - I have created a new topic for discussing Eben's quote of on Reality and Image, as my comments would be off-topic here.
-- TheodorBruening - 28 Mar 2009 | |
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The thread seems to be fracturing into different topics but I'll leave the re-org to someone else more wiki-competent than I.
As I understand Eben's message, he's cautioning us against complacency and adopting career goals that have been enticingly laid out before us (prestigious firm job, SCOTUS clerkship), as opposed to those borne out of serious introspection and innovation. In some sense, I believe Eben's asking us to drown out the 'job-recruiting noise' and think seriously about who we want to be (an image that is personal to us) and pursue it with passion, as opposed to embracing the blueprint that law school imposes on us. Doing otherwise will only lead to conformity and disappointment:
You will become something you can envision as opposed to something you want to be.
Responding to Melissa's original post, I certainly am happy to be at Columbia Law, but the comment I made a few weeks ago arose from a specific instance at a reception event in which I observed a fellow 1L glorifying Columbia's public interest focus to an admit. Hyperbole and pandering aside, what bothered me most about the whole sequence was that the admit knew exactly what answer to expect and the student knew exactly what answer to give - the whole thing reeked of a con. Realizing that I myself, first as an admit and later as a student, was perpetuating the same script made me feel a bit disturbed, so I generally try to avoid such inquiries when talking to admits. Instead of telling the admits about things (in other words, PUBLIC INTEREST) they probably can't understand or be interested in until they actually interface with the law, I generally try to let my happiness with Columbia shine through. If anything, the approach makes me feel less like a conman.
-- YoungKim - 30 Mar 2009 | | | |
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