Over the past two and a half years of law school, I've realized that this sentiment is the reason I don't alway love my school environment. Law school is set up as a competition- everything is graded, curved, ranked, and directly impacts your future. For every A the person next to you receives, that's one less that you could get. At times, it seems like everyone is your enemy - at finals it can seem like you don't want to be around anyone in your class. People get possessive about their notes or weird about where they sit in the library. Horror stories abound about hidden books and people not returning supplements so that classmates can't check them out.
Even without intending to, it feels like people are always psyching each other out. Whether it's nonchalantly complaining about their journal note topic (so everyone knows they're on journal) or talking about balancing studying for finals and multiple job interviews (so everyone knows they have multiple interviews), it's tough to know the difference between legitimate concerns and those who are trying to make you feel inferior. It's hard not to be reminded that with how the system is set up, someone else's success truly can mean your failure.
One of the most important things to keep in mind is to try to be above this sort of rivalry. I'm not always great at it, but I do try to congratulate people when they are genuinely excited about something that has gone well for them. And I try not to beat myself up too much when that means I missed out on an opportunity. It's not always easy, but that's life. There will always be someone smarter, faster, stronger, or more accomplished than you are. The important thing is that we're all successful in our own way, by our own definition. I won't be graduating at the top of our class by any means, I don't know if I'll have a solid job, but I do know that I hope we all make it to walk across the stage together in May.
