Updated July 11, 2007 (see end of post)*

I am sure you have heard some comments like the ones that I heard during pre-law school visits to campus: "Our law school isn't that competitive. I don't know anyone who failed out. Not to mention, our students and faculty are so friendly!"

These comments are generally correct in my experience. I have made a lot of friends and met a lot of great people in law school. I'm in no danger of failing out. So why is there so much fuss about competition in law school?

These sort of statements by law schools miss the mark because competition is inherent in almost every aspect of law school. See more below...

No matter how many friends you make, no matter how nice or friendly the student body/faculty is, you are still competing against every person in your class.

The Mandatory Curve
The main source of this competition is the mandatory curve you will likely encounter once you enter law school. The curve affects the class rank, affects the chances of making law review, affects the chances of scoring that big job/externship.

As an example, my school's curve for all first year classes looks like this:

When the grades start coming in, a person can really start to feel the effects of competition. Most of us who attend law school are probably not used to getting C's. Some of you are probably not even used to getting B's. But that chart shows the ugly truth.

At least 20 percent (5% minimum get a C+ and 15% minimum get a C or lower) at my school must receive a C+ or lower. At most, 1 out of every 10 students can get an A in a given curved class at my school.

The effects of competition do not come from the actions by students against other students, nor from the amount of people who did or did not leave the law school last year. Competition comes from the competitive grading system in law school where there always has to be a bottom percentile and a top percentile.

With law school grades it's not just what you know, it's what you know relative to the rest of your peers. This is a sharp contrast to what I became accustomed to in previous educational experiences. In undergraduate, if a student knew what he/she needed to know and performed well enough to show that, the professor gave an A (no matter how many people got A's).

Competition may not be overt or talked about among students, but it is definitely existent because of emphasis put on class rankings by many employers.

Advice
You probably won't experience the tangible effects of competition that you may have heard rumors about before law school...example: hiding library books or withholding information from study groups for the test.

Most students are sensible about the experience of law school knowing that treating other classmates poorly will only increase the stress levels of everyone. But obviously if you do experience this sort of mean-spirited competitiveness, do not get caught up in it.

There is not much more advice to give about dealing with the competition besides be ready for the effects of the mandatory curve if you are attending a school that has such.

A's are much harder to come by than in undergraduate. Being judged against so many smart people may mean that you are not the most talented or best student anymore so you may need to make up for that with hard work.

The biggest piece of advice is to do as well as you can on exams, but do not panic if you get grades you may not have been used to in the past. Compare your law school performance to your school's curve, not what you have become accustomed to in undergraduate school. This is a different world that is filled with overachievers, probably not unlike yourself, all of whom are being graded against one another

LINKS:

Here is a study that includes all of the "tier 1" schools' curves

*(Update: July 11, 2007...I just noticed that someone linked this post in a wikipedia page. I am as surprised as you. Anyway, I went over it and cleaned up a couple of typos and errors since being linked from the biggest reference tool on the planet and all. I also added a pretty picture!)