Throughout my Orientation week, the faculty, staff, and upper-year students went on and on about how we – the class of 2019 – belonged in these hallowed halls of judicial wisdom, had come here to fulfill our dreams of becoming advocates, and were just waiting to claw our way to the top of the food chain and to save the world from injustice. It seemed to ring true for my peers: geniuses who had whizzed through their undergrad and came straight to law school, brilliant scholars with advanced degrees, and over-achievers with thrilling resumes. Meanwhile, it had taken me six and a half years to complete my psych degree, and my LSAT was nothing special. I was admitted to Allard through the discretionary category, and sitting amongst my extraordinary peers, I felt like I had snuck in the back door of one of the top law schools in the country.
It didn’t matter that I had spent the majority of the time I was in university wrapped up in a drawn out criminal trial against the man who had sexually abused me throughout childhood; that I wrote my LSAT in a state of semi-consciousness two days after I had (finally) finished giving my testimony; that I had managed to do all of this while maintaining my All-Canadian status as a varsity athlete, an A average, and a full-ride athletic scholarship; or that I had won a hefty entrance scholarship to attend Allard Law. I was sure that the soothing words repeated to us in the first weeks that “admissions doesn’t make mistakes” and “no one fails law school” didn’t apply to me.
I was convinced that I had nothing to contribute to my class, and was terrified of being found out. I was silent in group discussions, certain that my ideas would never measure up to those of my peers. I panicked when we had to read a case extract in class, not wanting to be the last one to finish reading. I even took my classmate’s ability to find a page in the Criminal Code faster than me as a sign I didn’t belong. It wasn’t until we wrote our December exams that I finally clued in that no one had any idea what they were doing!
While I had a bit of a rough ride in the first few weeks of law school, I eventually hit my stride and was able to make meaningful connections with my peers and began to really engage with the course material. Admissions wanted me and believed in me. It just took me a bit longer to have some confidence that I belonged here. And guess what? I did more than fine in 1L.
So maybe you are a discretionary applicant like me, or you were waitlisted before you were accepted, or you took some time off to work before starting law school, or you otherwise don’t fit into the perceived “perfect law student” mold. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be successful at Allard! Our stories are not all the same, but I am confident that you have the experience, smarts, and grit to be successful here. And if you ever need a reminder, feel free to reach out. Just drop a line to Maddy and Martin at orientation@allard.ubc.ca – they know where to find me 🙂
-Written by a 2L who believes in you
