{"id":7746,"date":"2009-11-01T16:24:33","date_gmt":"2009-11-01T21:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=7746"},"modified":"2009-11-01T16:24:33","modified_gmt":"2009-11-01T21:24:33","slug":"hope-and-optimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/11\/hope-and-optimism\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope and Optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1345598329_3dd58320f2\"<\/a>Every year, about this time, the stress level here at the law school starts to rise.\u00a0 First-year students seem particularly susceptible.\u00a0 I hear the word \u201coutline\u201d a lot in the halls.\u00a0 Students talk about how much they studied over the weekend instead of how much fun they had.\u00a0 Everyone gets a little bit more serious.<\/p>\n

Serious is fine.<\/p>\n

Frantic is counter-productive.<\/p>\n

I recently read a paper entitled The Future\u2019s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades:\u00a0 Law School Through the Lens of Hope. <\/em>In this paper, law school professor Allison Martin and psychology professor Kevin Rand share results of their empirical study of first-semester law students\u2019 levels of hope and optimism and how those levels correlate with law school grades and life satisfaction.\u00a0 The professors differentiate between hope and optimism in this way:\u00a0 \u201cHope is more strongly related to expectations for outcomes within a person\u2019s control, whereas optimism is more strongly related to expectations outside of a person\u2019s control.\u201d\u00a0 So I can hope that I will finish grading papers in a timely fashion. \u00a0I can only be optimistic about students submitting their papers on time.<\/p>\n

Martin and Rand tested the following possible predictors for academic success:\u00a0 LSAT scores, undergraduate GPAs, hope, and optimism.\u00a0\u00a0 They found that undergraduate GPA was the strongest predictor of first-semester law school GPA and that hope was the second strongest predictor of first-semester law school GPA.\u00a0 Optimism and LSAT score were not significant predictors of first-semester law school GPA (though optimism was a strong predictor of life satisfaction for first-semester law students).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m predisposed to be skeptical of statistical analysis, and the authors note limitations in their study, but I think there are some good, practical insights in the article.\u00a0 First, students who had measurably high levels of hope reported that they knew their grade was somewhat out of their control, but their performance on a test or paper was not.\u00a0 They tackled writing and studying in methodical ways and often had a pattern or practice for studying.\u00a0 Second, \u201chigh-hope students\u201d did not set impossible goals like writing a whole paper the night before it was due or preparing an outline for a semester-long course a few hours before an exam. Third, \u201chigh hope students\u201d did not worry much about how other students were studying.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In contrast, \u201clow-hope students\u201d saw their grade as well as their level of performance as out of their control.\u00a0 They often focused more on earning specific grades than learning; they often did not have a plan for studying.<\/p>\n

Things are getting more serious, but there\u2019s still time for a plan.\u00a0 Every student is different, and student plans should differ, but I\u2019d like to offer a few suggestions.<\/p>\n

*Set smaller goals working toward the larger goal.<\/p>\n

*Get into a steady habit of studying.<\/p>\n

*Remember that frustration is part of learning.<\/p>\n

*Teach what you know to others in a study group composed of students you trust.<\/p>\n

*Take care of yourself.\u00a0 Sleep, eat well, exercise, laugh, commiserate, thank your loved ones for putting up with you.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t lose hope. \u00a0I\u2019m very optimistic that in a few years from now you will all be well-trained Marquette lawyers using your skills to help others.<\/p>\n

\n

(Editor’s note: \u00a0The image above was found on flickr, http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/kwerfeldein\/1345598329\/<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, about this time, the stress level here at the law school starts to rise.\u00a0 First-year students seem particularly susceptible.\u00a0 I hear the word \u201coutline\u201d a lot in the halls.\u00a0 Students talk about how much they studied over the weekend instead of how much fun they had.\u00a0 Everyone gets a little bit more serious. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-education","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}