Good for you. Just remember that you must go to law school with the right motivation, and lots of it. Otherwise you'll end up like me, or even just dropping out. Law school is hard, very hard. Academically, it's not so bad, but mentally and spiritually, you've never seen anything quite like it before.
I totally agree with that statement as do most of my friends in school who are 1Ls and 2Ls. I have seen some people who were A students in undergrad drop out very soon while some who did not excel thrive. The emotional part is hard for most due to lack of support from each other (especially for schools that grade on the curve).
What I find hardest is that my school, and these schools really keep it low key, teach to the bar so students are graded on the same scale as the bar. Basically, if any given student graduates with an 80 that is exceptional, as an 80 is very rare on the bar. Last year's average passing score in California was 63.9 and one starts with 55 by just showing up for the test. Theoretically, one can get 45 points for each essay question to gain 100 points from the starting point of 55 but very few get over 20 points from that level. If someone does get at 80 on the bar, they are asked to become a bar grader. So the grading, to be set to the bar standards, falls between high 60s to high 70s for most of the law students. Sentence structure, legalese, citing cases, and spelling account for no points, whatsoever, on the bar. It's getting the issues and analysis dead on with what that bar grader is thinking subjectively.
Schools that do grade on the curve don't teach to the bar and one can theoretically graduate with a 90 from law school. What is the downside of that is one can fall into the trap thinking that they can get an "A" on the bar, or a 90 which has never been done from what any bar grader, or California bar employee has seen.
Either way is hard, psychologically, where you either get slammed up front, or you get rudely awakened at the end. If your school teaches to the bar, you come into the test having seen only Cs throughout law school, and if your school grades on a curve then you come in with perhaps a good graduating gpa but have a large body of legal theory but very little correlation of what is actually on the bar exam.
I like that I got into a school that teaches to the bar and there is no curve so students don't compete against each other. But since most of us were A students in undergraduate school, or at the very least B students, seeing all Cs, and some Ds, wears down on the ego that was built up with grade inflation. And grade inflation is the way in most schools and programs outside of law school.
The only good thing about most law schools, at least from the perspective of an older student that usually has kids in law school, is that if you get a "C" in most things in life, you are actually doing really well. Life rarely gives out "As" after high school or college, depending on when you hit the work force.
In the end, if you get a C, you graduate from law school, and if you get a "C" or 70 on the bar, you will pass with flying colors, and then some.
