I almost forgotââ�¬â��GW’s graduation ceremony is today! I was reminded of this when I went to update the daily image and found the photo of the commencement ticket I had put in the queue weeks ago.

Happy Graduation, GW law students! I hope you all have healthy and happy careers!¹ [tags]graduation[/tags]

1. Except for those of you who end up simply working to further enrich those who are already wealthy, in which case, I hope you end up being spectacular failures!↩

I decided long ago I wouldn’t be participating in law school graduation festivities, but then I get this email about something called a “Dean’s Reception”:

The Dean�s Reception will be held at the National Air and Space Museum. . . This looks to be a fantastic event, with live music on both upper and lower levels, the entire museum open for viewing, IMAX movies showing free of charge, and the flight simulator open all evening. Food and drink will be available at multiple locations throughout the museum.

It sounds kind of cool, doesn’t it? Too bad I gave all my tickets away. But then I see this at the end of the email and I don’t feel so bad:

Professional business attire is suggested for all attendees (coat and tie for gentlemen, business or cocktail attire suitable for a professional event for ladies).

Yeah. No thanks.[tags]graduation, gw[/tags]

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m done with law school, but I just found out that I can say that with even more certainty than I previously thought. See, there was the tiniest chance that maybe I didn’t get a good enough grade in one class for it to count toward graduation. I admit it: I slacked a lot in that class, found it hard to pay attention, was disappointed in the class generally, and barely studied, all of which made me less than confident about how the grade would turn out. However, all of my grades are now in and all of them will definitely count! GW’s J.D. graduation requirements say that a student must complete “84 credit hours, 63 of which must have been taken for a letter grade.” My final (although still unofficial) transcript says:

And with that, it’s hard for me to think of anything that will make this graduation thing not happen.¹ I guess it’s not officially official until I have a diploma in my hand, but that should just be a matter of time.²

Of course, as Audacity so kindly points out, graduation “doesn’t mean shit until you’ve passed the bar exam.” Don’t I know it! That’s one of the main reasons I’m not participating in or attending any graduation hooplaââ�¬â��it all seems a little premature and pointless when a J.D. is next to worthless w/out admission to the bar.³

With that in mind, Audacity offers some tips for preparing for the bar, and there are a few more on Blawg Wisdom. I imagine it seems a little early for most people to get started on bar study in earnest,⁴ but those links will definitely come in handy in a couple of weeks when noses get seriously down to the bar prep grindstone. [tags]graduation, advice[/tags]

1. (”GPA Hours” in that table mean hours taken for a letter gradeââ�¬â��I needed 63 and ended up w/64 so I’m golden.↩
2. Even with diploma in hand my mind keeps coming up w/tiny nightmares in which somehow I haven’t really finished and will be dragged back to D.C. for some final hoop jumping. It’s like Agent Smith’s lecture to Morpheus about the tendency for humans to require problems:

   Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from.

   I’m sure I could string out the comparison, but I’ll leave it that.↩
3. Unless, of course, you want to teach or otherwise never intended to practice law. But besides teaching, what other things can you do w/a J.D. w/out being admitted to the bar?↩
4. Sadly, some people (like Energy Spatula) still aren’t finished with law school yet.↩