Two and a half years into my experience, I can say emphatically they are not. Chicago students are certainly driven, but that motivation comes from within, not out of a desire to get a higher grade than a classmate. Far from the cut-throat atmosphere that competition can create, the intensity of students at the Law School makes it an exciting place to get a legal education.

Competition isn't prominent at the Law School because the Law School has a small student body, a fair grading system and an excellent job placement record. With such a small number of people in your law school class, it is pretty hard to have a cut-throat attitude. We all know each other, or at least recognize one another, and in such an intimate environment we have all come to realize that our classmates are not just nameless faces to be overcome on the way to the top of the class.

The school's grading system also minimizes competition. While grades are theoretically distributed on a curved scale, the bulk of the class seems to fall close to the median so that most of us have similar averages. While it is not quite a "pass/fail" system, our grading system does take a lot of the pressure off. Students do not talk about their grades, and there is no public list of class rankings. Although each class has a collective general sense about four or five people whose grades must be really good, there is no real "grade elite." Rather, there is a feeling that we're all a pretty interesting group of people, and that each one of us has a thing or two to teach everyone else. Moreover, student job prospects depend very little on grades. Some of the "top" firms do tend to take those with the highest grades, but because of the school's outstanding reputation and the small size of the student body, we have one of the best placement records of any law school. Almost everyone ends up with a job they are pleased with.

Now, this does not mean that Chicago students don't work hard; we do. One of the Law School's greatest strengths is the zeal and rigor with which students approach their studies. But students are not driven by the idea of being better than their classmates; students drive themselves. This enthusiasm goes beyond the classroom to include clinic and journal work, music, sports or other activities. Whether it is in intramural sports, in challenging a professor's interpretation of a case, or in a discussion in the student lounge, this intensity creates an environment that encourages exciting classes and engaged students.