<p>As an aside, I do think this illustrates one of the lessons that’s so hard for me to learn: one negative comment can REALLY spoil somebody’s day. In second grade, I was taught that it takes something like twenty compliments to outweigh a single insult – and it’s a lesson that’s really important for folks like us to carry with us.</p>
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<p>While I don’t know your school, your major, or your courses in detail, I will tell you three reasons why I think your professor is wrong.</p>
<p>(1) Grades in law school are often not predictable going in. They’ll seem that way in RETROSPECT, of course, but there’s a high degree of arbitrariness and luck involved in law school exams – and while there’s a few kids who are markedly better or markedly worse, by and large the middle is determined pretty randomly.</p>
<p>The LSAT is not a reliable of law school grades, but if memory serves it is stronger than any other single factor, and certainly stronger than undergraduate grades. And 179 is pretty freaking awesome.</p>
<p>(2) It’s better to be at the top of, say, a T28 than the bottom 10% of a T14 class. But that’s not a useful question, because the difference in difficulty is not nearly THAT marked. It’s just not the case that you could take a bottom-5 student from Georgetown, move him to UCLA, and instantly get a valedictorian. Your class rank will likely be a little lower at a top school than at a bottom one, but recruiting also goes deeper. That trade-off is worth it. If finances and admissions are equal, go to the best-ranked school you get into.</p>
<p>(3) There’s no one personality type to be a lawyer. It’s true that you seem a little shy and insecure, at least from this forum posting, and that’s okay. Insecurity, if used right, can be a fabulous driver for success. And I had several classmates at an excellent program who were sort of that way. It’s not the “classic” lawyer archetype, but who cares?</p>
<p>The questions to ask are: (a) Will you be able to obtain a job as a practicing lawyer? (b) Will you be happy in that job? (c) Will you be content during law school itself? From what I can see of your post here, we don’t have enough information to really answer those questions well – but, of course, that means the answer might well be “Yes” to all three.</p>