jiefo Blog

Why not me?

In my first year of law school at Berkeley, I remember watching the annual internal moot court McBaine competition, where two student competitors argued a mock Supreme Court case in front of real Judges from the District and Appellate levels. These were some of the most esteemed legal minds in the world, listening to arguments from law students. Justice Sotomayor has once judged this competition at Berkeley. 

Despite these students being only 1 or 2 years ahead of me, I thought to myself: I am so, so incredibly far from them. There was no way I could even do something remotely close to this for my own moot court argument in our first-year class. I wrote myself off before I even tried. I didn’t feel like I belonged in law school; I had been rejected twice by my dream law school, NYU (once as an ED applicant). I have dealt with imposter syndrome since I was 14, but I am choosing not to let it deter me and instead fuel my growth.

Why not me? Why can’t I be among the top? Why can’t I attend Stanford?

Until I can.

I am afraid I won’t belong at Stanford. I am nervous to move across the Bay to form a new community. But I am excited for the personal and professional growth that I will be able to pursue at Stanford. I will use the discomfort to fuel my desire to learn and prove that I do belong, to continue my goal of why I came to law school in the first place and grow as an advocate.

2 years from now I will have graduated from law school and taken the bar.

I will have taken some amazing courses at Stanford, such as Federal Courts, Evidence, and Civil Trial Procedure, and many IP classes.

I will have been able to participate in the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and/or the Julesgaard Intellectual Property Clinic.

I am so unbelievably excited for this next chapter.