How is law school? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I heard that question means "What is your GPA?" But firms have our resumes already, don't they?

[Anonymous User]

I just tell them that I really enjoy it.

Do you really not know how to answer that question?

[Anonymous User]

I always provide an awkward start when answering that question. It's just your run-of-the-mill, unspectacular: "I really enjoyed law school." But I answer it in such a way that prevents the interviewers from asking about any activities that I participated in law school. Just a lazy question, imo. I much prefer when they go through my extracurriculars, asking me questions about things they find interesting.

ETA: Not OP.

[Anonymous User]

I always provide an awkward start when answering that question. It's just your run-of-the-mill, unspectacular: "I really enjoyed law school." But I answer it in such a way that prevents the interviewers from asking about any activities that I participated in law school. Just a lazy question, imo. I much prefer when they go through my extracurriculars, asking me questions about things they find interesting.

ETA: Not OP.

I don't think its lazy at all. I think they're just legitimately asking how you are finding law school. It's kind of nice actually.

[Anonymous User]

I just tell them that I really enjoy it.

Do you really not know how to answer that question?

OP here. Typically I answered it like I enjoy it and rambled about how I love my professors and classmates. But my career counselor said it's not good; she said when firms ask this question, they mean to ask "what's your GPA?" I don't find this believable, so I asked. What's wrong with asking something you're unsure of?

[Anonymous User]

I've done OCI and callback interviews. Whenever I give someone a softball like this (or "how's the day been?," etc.) it's not meant to ask about GPA and it doesn't have any other hidden meaning. It's meant as an icebreaker and to give you an opportunity to try and have a normal conversation instead of a rigid question-answer session wherein a candidate gives the same canned answers that every candidate gives.

[mjb447]

I just tell them that I really enjoy it.

Do you really not know how to answer that question?

OP here. Typically I answered it like I enjoy it and rambled about how I love my professors and classmates. But my career counselor said it's not good; she said when firms ask this question, they mean to ask "what's your GPA?" I don't find this believable, so I asked. What's wrong with asking something you're unsure of?

I mean, it's probably not ideal to "ramble" in response to this question or talk about how much you love the people - there are answers that will better demonstrate that, or at least better segue into talking about why, you'd be a good associate (OTOH, trying to turn every get-to-know-you question into an opportunity to sell yourself could come off weird too depending on the interviewer). Anyway, I've never heard that an interviewer asking this question means to ask "what's your GPA?"; I think a majority of interviewers would actually think you were strange if you talked about your GPA in response to this question.

[jchiles]

I said "it sure beats working every day" and that got a few laughs but I wish I would have thought of a better answer looking back now

[A. Nony Mouse]

I don't think it means "what's your GPA," but even if it does, there's nothing that says you have to give that answer. Answer how you want to answer.

If you think your grades are an issue and you want to get in front of that you could talk about it being kind of a hard adjustment, now you've figured it out/taken steps to do better/are doing better. But I wouldn't really go there unless you have to - no point in bringing up a negative. If they really want to know about grades they can ask you directly.

[Pokemon]

I just tell them that I really enjoy it.

Do you really not know how to answer that question?

OP here. Typically I answered it like I enjoy it and rambled about how I love my professors and classmates. But my career counselor said it's not good; she said when firms ask this question, they mean to ask "what's your GPA?" I don't find this believable, so I asked. What's wrong with asking something you're unsure of?

Someone please fire that career counselor. I would find it very weird if when I ask someone how is law school they would provide me their gpa. Like weird enough that I would not recommend that person even if I liked their other characteristics.

[Anonymous User]

(using anon because some of my classmates know who I am, and I don't want to out myself)

To the above user's point (re: pointing out negatives), I also dislike the question because one of the reasons that I liked law school is that it broadened the people with whom I interact. I come from a low-income background, so I never got to interact with people who had high-profile gov't jobs (or internships), or whose parents were high-level employees at law firms or F500 companies. But when I mention this, it almost sounds as if I'm telling them, "Take them instead of me," which I hate because it feels like if I don't I'm being dishonest lol.

[JusticeHarlan]

I just tell them that I really enjoy it.

Do you really not know how to answer that question?

OP here. Typically I answered it like I enjoy it and rambled about how I love my professors and classmates. But my career counselor said it's not good; she said when firms ask this question, they mean to ask "what's your GPA?" I don't find this believable, so I asked. What's wrong with asking something you're unsure of?

You're answering it right; your career counselor is wrong.

What she might be getting at is that if someone has a low GPA and gets asked the question, it can be a little odd to go on about how great everything is at law school when your grades aren't great, but even so you always want to be positive in answering questions in the interview, and maybe throw in something about how you're looking forward to the classes you're taking this upcoming semester because they relate to what you want to practice and how that relates to the job you're interviewing for.