Now That The Bar Exam Is Over, It’s Important To Keep Your Head Up

Bar exam results are hardly a matter of life and death.

Stop worrying about the bar exam!

Can I please get a little bit of knowledge? / Somebody tell Roth that I don’t love college / Because the real world’s kind of like Real World / And it’s drama, so you are Svetlana.”Chiddy Bang

Earlier this week, ATL Columnist Jill Switzer penned the article, When The Bar Exam Is Over, STFU About It And Move On With Your Life.

Both Switzer and I agree, no matter how well you actually did — you are going to think you failed. As Switzer writes, “You’ll be anxious and have trouble sleeping, rehashing what you did and did not do.”

We may not talk about it often enough, but mental health is a very important issue in our profession, in any profession. My fellow columnists Brian Cuban and Jeena Cho have both written extensively about mental health for ATL.

Last July, I wrote about the suicide of a well-known patent attorney. ATL senior editor Staci Zaretsky has covered suicide in pieces such as Recent Law School Graduate Commits Suicide After Failing Bar Exam, and Bar Exam Suicides Are Disturbingly Common Among Recent Law School Graduates.

In the past article Congratulations On Completing The Bar Exam — Now, The Waiting Begins…, I covered one’s potential post-bar-exam feelings in more depth. In this piece, I implored ATL readers to put the bar exam in the back of their minds and stated: “Don’t beat yourself up over questions you could’ve answered better. You have one last hoop to jump through to become a lawyer. Having to retake an exam isn’t the end of the world.”

Sponsored

Regardless of your results, it’s important to keep this potential milestone in perspective. When law students express their anxieties about the bar, I’m often reminded of the auteur Marc Pagnol’s famous quip: “The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”

As law students and attorneys, we live a pretty privileged life. We should be sure to count our blessings and thank the people who helped us get to where we are today. Many people would fight tooth and nail for our first-world problems. Bar exam results are hardly a matter of life and death. As the legendary coach Dean Smith once pointed out: “If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.”


Most colleges and universities have counseling and psychological services resources that students and graduates can turn to if they are in crisis or would like counseling, even after hours. If these services are not available at your school, and if you’re depressed and in need help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) or a lawyer assistance program in your state. Remember that you are loved, so please reach out if you need assistance, before it’s too late. Don’t become a statistic — seek help.


Sponsored

Renwei Chung is the Diversity Columnist at Above the Law. You can contact Renwei by email at projectrenwei@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter (@renweichung), or connect with him on LinkedIn