Great Expectations

Everytime I come to a new school, I wonder if I have what it takes to shine and be top of the class. I've never been #1 in my class, but I'm usually up there and I always had my extracurrics to stand out. This week, it hit me that this might not be the case. Whether it was not placing in the top of our little class competition (silly I know) or getting back the draft of my memo with a lot of markups, this week just felt a little defeating. Not in a "I'm horribly upset" kind of way, but more in a "this just feels like a long week" kind of way.

But as I met with my legal writing professor (one of the people who marked up that memo), he told me that he really liked my writing style. I needed do a lot of rearranging, but I was off to a good start. He also said that there were a lot of comments on my paper because he almost expects a little more out of me because I do write well.

Although I was very flattered by these comments, one of the first thoughts that ran through my head was, "why can't he just hold me to the average standard?" But really, when have I ever wanted to be average. As someone, who I can't remember at the moment, once said "It's better to be challenged at a higher standard than be at the top of the mediocrity."

So while I'll still work my best to get good grades, I'm going to try to compare myself less to others. Our Dean pointed out that only 10% can be in the top 10%. So maybe I'll be in it, or maybe I won't. But either way, it is kind of cool to be at this level of education with so many other smart people.