Today, at 5PM, is perhaps the most important moment of my entire law school career.
It's the time the first-semester grades are announced.
The anxiousness flew in the air. Professors after professors gave their "prep talk" at the end of each class, emphasizing how unimportant the grades are and how students with unsatisfactory grades should not lose their faith in law school. They would share their little stories, about how worried they were before the grades were published, but how insignificant the grades became after they look back many years later.
But of course we all know, the more they play down the importance of grades, the more important the grades actually are.
Apparently not too long ago, the school used to publish the grades, at once, on the wall of records office, AKA "the whaling wall." Students would crowd in front of the whaling walls and stand tall and long to find their grades. Students would look for their grades as anticipated as wives and kids comparing the numbers of whales their husbands have killed.
Nowadays they send grades online, which greatly diminishes the excitement.
Because of my Taiwanese education, which focuses mostly on one big test and cares little on GPA, I'm usually not a grade-sensitive person. In fact, I almost care too little about my grades. But after all the professors gave us those "cheer up" talks, I'm starting to feel the stress.....
Now, in about six minutes, I'll be able to see the value of my semester-long effort, and the value of myself in the prospective legal market.
Five minutes.....
Four minutes.....
