Law Schools

Someone Wants New Students At Harvard Law School To Take Mental Health Seriously

Keeping it 100.

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Students admitted to Harvard Law School for the fall of 2019 descended on campus last week in the first of two admitted students weekends. As you might imagine — or recall from your own admitted students weekend — the programming consists of sessions with faculty, admin, and current students and is geared toward pumping up students and giving them a glimpse of law school life.

One person or persons unknown decided to keep it 100 at the event. Tipsters have reported the below flyer, which touts statistics about mental health at Harvard Law, kept appearing in restrooms throughout the weekend… put back up nearly as quickly as they were taken down:

Mental health issues in the legal profession are a huge deal, and it’s no different at Harvard Law. Indeed, in a lot of ways Harvard should be complimented for leading the way in documenting the extent of mental health issues in law school. Last year, the Law School began an annual mental health survey, detailing how law students were dealing with the pressures of school. As the Harvard Crimson reported, the numbers don’t look great:

The results presented a grisly reality. Among 886 respondents, 25 percent reported suffering from depression. For context, according to the CDC, 7.7 percent of individuals aged 20 to 39 from the general population suffer from depression. 24.2 percent of Law School survey respondents reported suffering from anxiety, and 20.5 percent said they were at heightened risk of suicide. 66 percent of respondents said that they experienced new mental health challenges during law school. Nearly 61.8 percent said they had frequent or intense imposter syndrome experiences at school and in measuring social connectedness, 8.2 percent stated they had zero people they could open up to about their most private feelings without having to hold back.

Startling numbers to be sure, and something that benefits new members of the profession to keep at the top of their minds.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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