Are Harvard Law Students ruthlessly competitive?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>Does anyone know if Harvard law students are as competitive and/or as snooty as they made out to be on TV and movies? How much or little truth is there to this myth? Has the level of snobbery and competitiveness declined over the years? Any thoughts?</p>

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<p>Remember Jennifer Massey? Harvard Law School alum, ruthless Apprentice Competitior.</p>

<p>BUMP–I want to know what everyone else thinks.</p>

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<p>Ever watch Legally Blonde? hehe</p>

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<p>or The Paper Chase?</p>

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<p>never seen the Paper Chase, but I did catch Legally Blond - once or twice…fine, I may own it - is that representative though?</p>

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<p>Given that the year I applied, the applications those admitted were deemed more “competitive” than mine, I didn’t have the opportunity to find out the answer to the OP’s question.</p>

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<p>greybeard, where did you go to law school?</p>

<p>Honestly, I don’t think legally blonde is a good example of harvard law school (though it would be cool if it was).</p>

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<p>I think he attended BOALT.</p>

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<p>There will always be snooty competitive people at every top law school, since that personality type arguably contributed to their admission. But everyone from Harvard is pretty much guaranteed a job paying $125,000, so in that sense there’s not as much competition compared to a school where only the top 10% to 20% would get such jobs.</p>

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<p>Nspeds is correct.</p>

<p>Boalt had an exchange program with Harvard when I was there (and may be still does): Harvard students paid five-figured Harvard tuition to swap places for a year with Boalt students who paid three-figured Boalt tuition to go to Harvard. (Yes, Boalt tuition was under $1,000 a year in those days. I understand I’m dating myself here.) Theoretically, it was limited to five students, but it was actually hard to find five Boalt students who wanted to spend the winter in Cambridge, so the number participating was usually smaller.</p>

<p>One of my best friends took the plunge, and went to Harvard as a 3L. He didn’t find it cut-throat at all. (If Harvard’s anything like Boalt, a lot of the air has leaked out of the intensity balloon by the third year, anyway.)</p>

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<p>You were dating yourself the time you came up with your username of “Greybeard.”</p>

<p>The new Supreme Court nominee went to HLS</p>

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<p>In most terms, the Supreme Court could have its own chapter of the HLS alumni association.</p>

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<p>Is not the majority of competition at Top Tier schools a consequence of students vying for supreme court clerkships and a position on the law review?</p>

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<p>At Boalt, there was a writing competition for law review; grades didn’t enter into it.</p>

<p>There were two Supreme Court clerks among my classmates. Grades enter into that equation, but they’re not the whole story. Supreme Court clerks have generally (always?) clerked lower courts before they make it to the Supremes. I believe the recommendation of the lower court judge or justice carries a lot of weight.</p>

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<p>Legally Blonde, the book, actually tends to be fairly representative of law school - then again, it was written by a Stanford Law grad. </p>

<p>Best quote… “Larry, my mom’s Volvo is too sexy for law school.”</p>

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<p>Wait, there is a legally blonde book? is it the same as the movie?</p>

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<p>the obvious answer…nay</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>The program is still there.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/registrar/berkeleyharvard.html[/url]”>http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/registrar/berkeleyharvard.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But the days of 3-figure tuition are long gone.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/financial_aid/[/url]”>http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/financial_aid/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>curious to know, what’s the point of the boalt/harvard exchange? the website doesn’t seem too informative.</p>