As If You Really Needed a New Distraction, Please Say Hello to #WhenInLawSchool (Like You Haven't Already)
Today’s your lucky today, because this week, we spoke to the anonymous internet diva behind the latest law school craze, #wheninlawschool….
If you’re like most law students these days, your greatest accomplishment in law school has been the mastery of competing online distractions. Whether you’re checking Facebook, playing a game of Bloons, Gchatting with friends, buying a pair of shoes, or reading Above the Law, you can keep a straight face in class, and make believe like you were actually paying attention.
One law student out there saw this as an opening, and chose to use it to her advantage. She knew that everyone was going gaga over memes (we even had our own lawyer meme competition), so she combined the law school experience with animated gifs, and voilà, the Tumblr blog #wheninlawschool was born. With more than 400,000 page views in the last week alone, the site’s gone viral.
Countless readers have sent in tips along the lines of, “How has this not hit ATL yet?” Well, today’s your lucky today, because this week, we spoke to the anonymous internet diva behind the latest law school craze….
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So how did the voice behind #wheninlawschool react when we reached out to her for an interview? Like so:
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Excuse her beauty, indeed. Here’s the write-up of our interview with the new internet star, #wheninlawschool.
How did you come up with the idea for the site? Were you inspired by #WhatShouldWeCallMe? You know that site was started by law students, too, right?
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I love the #WhatShouldWeCallMe site. My friend and I spent hours going through the posts one night and we were like, “Who is this girl? She’s awesome. I want to party with her!” Anyway, it did give me the idea for #WhenInLawSchool. I especially enjoyed all of the #WhatShouldWeCallMe law-related memes and wanted more of those. So, I started searching around for gifs, captioning them, and sending them to my friends. They were a hit, so I decided to make a Tumblr blog where I could share them with a broader audience.
Do you plan on remaining anonymous?
I do plan on remaining anonymous. It’s more fun that way. I’ll walk through the halls of my law school and hear people talking about the site, or see people on it during class. Some of my close friends know it’s me, but I don’t plan on fully revealing myself anytime soon.
Since #WhenInLawSchool went viral, everyone is using it as a distraction from law school. What’s your new distraction?
My new distraction? Hmm… between studying for my own exams and taking breaks to create posts for the site, I have been pretty busy the past few weeks.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
As far as inspiration goes — everywhere! Like every minute of my law school experience could be turned into a meme. I’ve always felt that way ever since starting as a 1L. I remember thinking, “This is not real life!” Some of the posts are based on personal experience, some play on the stereotypical life of a law student, and a lot have been suggested to me from law students across the country. I think it’s great that law students can go to so many different schools, yet have these totally relatable moments.
Do you come up with all of the memes yourself, or do you collaborate with your friends?
I wanted the site to be relevant to every law student. For example, I personally have not taken federal income tax (and have no intention of doing so), but my friends are always talking about how insane it is. I found this great gif that depicted someone having no idea what was going on, and I asked my friend what subject he found the most difficult to understand in tax. His response? Capital gains. I personally don’t know what that is, but I incorporated it into that post for all of the law students out there trying to figure out capital gains for their tax final. I love the suggestions from other people! So, to my fans out there, keep them coming!
How do you have the time to work the site and still study for finals?
As far as finals go, I’ve been studying like a mad woman. Most of the posts I made before exam fever really got intense, and they’ve been automatically posting from a queue. However, as of right now, I’m two down, two to go. Halfway there until sweet, sweet summertime freedom!
Are you going to continue the site throughout your law school career?
As long as I have stuff to post about, I’ll keep the site going. That said, I’m pretty sure I won’t be running out of ideas anytime soon!
We here at Above the Law wish #wheninlawschool the best of luck in her journey through law school. Her Tumblr blog is very entertaining, and she updates the site regularly (there were ten new posts yesterday). You can follow her on Twitter @wheninlawschool.
On the following page, we’ve shared some of the most relatable and topical memes from your new favorite distraction, #wheninlawschool. Enjoy!
