Sad Week

Well, last blog I hinted I would write about something specific.  This blog is not it.  Instead, I am going to write about a phenomenon which happens the week after grades are released.

Two weeks ago grades were released.  Some first year students were happy, some were indifferent, some were sad.  But student reflected on the prior semester to determine what he or she did correctly and what he or she did incorrectly.  Unfortunately for a small percentage, the reflection led to a difficult choice:  to leave law school.

The school policy sets the refund amount for students who withdraw in the middle of a semester.  Usually, the school refunds 75% of the tuition for the current semester after 4 weeks.  The school tends to release grades in the fourth week of the next semester (remember the school is on a trimester schedule but I use the word semester for ease of the discussion). 

The school does allow an exception to the refund policy.  For those students who did not perform well at all on finals, the Associate Deans Office will write a letter to these students offering the student a chance to withdraw and receive 100% of the current semester tuition back.  This offer remains open for 10 business days. 

I do not know when these letters are given to those students; but, I do know this past week several seats remained empty which should have held a classmate.  Some students never returned after grades were released on January 28th.  Others left this week.

This was a tough choice for those students.  The school allows students with a 74 or higher to remain in the school.  This means any first year student who performed poorly on the first semester tests had a chance to raise his or her overall average above a 74 with the second semester grades.  Of course, the likelihood of this is small; but not zero.

Two of my classmates did not necessarily leave because of grades alone.  Both evaluated their desires, their grades, and the effort required of them and decided to withdraw to pursue other plans.  One said to regroup the brain.  He/she might return to law school later, he/she just wasn't sure.

But, this week my section lost 9 students.  Some I knew more personally than others.  Didn't matter which category the student fell into as their empty seat brought sadness.  Sad they left.  Sad for them personally. 

This past week was a sad week.  Time to put the week behind me and move forward, just like those classmates who moved onto other career paths in their lives.