Law school at times seems like no more than an overhyped trade school, with the constant talk of jobs, networking and career planning that serve as a frequent reminder that its fundamental purpose is to train and funnel us into a specific profession.

The means to that end can feel convoluted and nonsensical as a 1L, reading cases involving cattle and trains and lighted squibs, then taking exams testing our ability to spot the most obscure of legal issues and being graded relative to the scores of our fellow classmates. Without any practical legal experience, yet in a clinic or an internship, the idea of being a real-life lawyer seems distant.

Of course, we have no choice but to trust the process. Plus, there is a certain comfort to knowing (at least in theory) that the concrete career of “lawyer” lies at the end of the tunnel, offering a degree of clarity that I certainly lacked as a liberal arts major in undergrad. At the same time, though, I mourn my undergraduate freedom to study something solely because it might be interesting.