Congratulations and Consolations

27
40735

 Aha. Aaj CLAT rejults waala day hai. With the very first online format and a rather difficult paper, this is where the suspense ends.

For those of you who’ve made the mark, congratulations! Our job is done now. We’re glad to have seen you to this juncture. We hope we’ve helped you. Not merely by bumming up your CLAT scores, but also by giving you a tiny taste of law school life and the legal world, something we had set out to do at the very beginning. Now you’re going to be in our place. Don’t hesitate to do the same for your juniors.

Yeah, that’s all you get to read. Go gloat about how intelligent you are for the next five years.

For those of you who haven’t cracked it, I have a lot more to say.

I had the privilege of being taught by Diwakar Kishore, who was once one of Bangalore’s favourite CLAT trainers, apart from being an alumni of NLSIU. On what I believe was my 7th day of CLAT coaching, he changed my perspective on the exam with a half-minute speech. No, he didn’t try to encourage us, not in the slightest. He said something like – “So here’s the deal. 25,000 students will be writing the CLAT this year. If you want a rank in the top 100, you’ll be competing with 250 people per seat. Let’s say a hundred of these aren’t interested in studying for the exam. That still leaves you with 150 people per seat. Assume two-thirds of them don’t deserve to get through. You will still be competing with 50 people for every seat. Your chances of getting in are very, very remote.”

And that was it. Bare  fact. There’s no guarantee that you make it anywhere. Brilliance doesn’t give you a sure shot. Hard work doesn’t give you a sure shot. It’s simple logic, the kind you use in syllogisms. The fact that the people in the best universities often deserve to be there does not indicate that everyone who deserves to be in a good university is in one.

It does not matter if you don’t make it. Your failure in one exam is indicative of nothing. Keep these in mind:

Getting in is, indeed, a tough thing. Of Diwakar’s hypothetical 50 people, you need to make the 1st rank to get into a tier one college. Come 2nd and you may be down by a tier. Come sixth, and you’ve barely made a decent college. Come tenth, and you haven’t made it anywhere. At this juncture, you are still in the top 20% of whom we had considered the deserving candidates.

But don’t let this be the test of your intelligence. There is practically no way that the quarter of a lakh people can be accurately be ranked on their ability to be lawyers through just 200 questions. There will always be some who lose out. This time you have. That does not prove your stupidity.

Shit happens. It’s a bad time for shit to happen, but it does for everyone some time or the other. Yes, you have been unlucky. But this is not the end of your world. Good things and bad things will continue to happen to you. Keep calm and carry on.

A great NLU isn’t everything. No, I’m not saying that being in a place like NALSAR isn’t a truckload of fun. It is. But there is a world beyond colleges like this. There are billions who have lives just as brilliant, if not more so, than ours; and they may not have been educated in a conventionally ‘prestigious’ university.

You can do well wherever you want. There was never a rule, and especially not in the legal sphere, that one needs a top-college tag to make it big in your careers. Yes, I don’t deny that Amarchand and AZB will possibly prefer to mine the top tier colleges for their newest minions every year for the near future. But what does that prove? The lives of those who join those glorious sweatshops is no better than those of the rest of us. In fact, most people who make it there only end up leaving in a few years, looking for greener, less stressful pastures. And then that is where the division ends. Don’t let your college be an excuse for you to not do well. This is not the end of your shot at success, this is only the beginning

There are always alternatives. Monga is possibly the brightest guy in our batch. He was an NTSE scholar who showed considerable academic potential from the very beginning. And like all people of that ilk, he was dumped into the IITian making machines of the country. After three unfruitful years in Kota, he decided to write the CLAT with no preparation, simply as a side-option. He still didn’t make an IIT, but he got to NALSAR. There are more like him. Aditya Vikram, our batch topper with near-perfect scores was studying to be an engineer. Debarpan Ghosh, an engineering aspirant before he came to us, was All-India Rank 62 in the CLAT and All-India Rank 1 for a prestigious nationwide English (Hons.) entrance despite not making any major engineering college. You might just be like any of them. Maybe law isn’t your thing. Maybe you’ll find your love someplace else. If there is something else you’d like to pursue, go for it.

You can always give yourself another chance. If you’re still unsatisfied with how your results have been, go change them. Take a drop. Study like there’s no tomorrow. Remember what your distractions were the last time, and weed them out.  There is never any shame in skipping a year, as long as you make the best of the time you’ve lent yourself. The ‘dropper’ tag wears off as soon as you crack the exam. And while taking a drop’s a tough thing to do, it’s not impossible. Scores of people making the top colleges do so after dropping. Many of the smartest people from my batch, and that’s not a term I use lightly, took a year off before coming to Hyderabad. All you need to do is focus.

But whatever you decide, remember:

Do not do something drastic. Like killing yourself. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. And there’s a lot of blood and crying people and stuff. Avoid. But if you must, why don’t you mention us somewhere in your will? Please?

Pranav Agarwal,
Batch of 2016 – NALSAR

27 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you so much!
    that’s the best part about CG, they always know what to say, whether it’s at times of loss or at encouraging you!

  2. Thanks CG…!! Thank You so much guys for inspiring me and instilling confidence in me! See you all soon at NALSAR..!! ( with an AIR 63 I can NALSAR for sure. )!!

  3. Thanks CG…!! Thank You so much guys for inspiring me and instilling confidence in me! See you all soon at NALSAR..!! ( with an AIR 63 I can get NALSAR for sure. )!!

  4. the best of you guys.well a dropper i am, have got 1546 rank.. planning to join a college and then again prepare for CLAT 2014.:)

    • well i too am planning to drop a year without joining any college …so best of luck …hope to crack NLSIU next year :)…any suggestions would be welcum

  5. Thank you soooo much CG!!! i got AIR 2, so bangalore it is for me 😀 i couldn’t have done it without the materials i got from this site…i am indebted to you guys 🙂

  6. AIR 59. I used to come here whenever I needed the inspiration and would never return disappointed. Thanks for all the prep material, the mock tests, the personal mentor and all the motivation. Couldn’t have done it without you guys. :’D I owe you people big time!
    Nagarbhavi, here I come 😀

  7. i got AIR 103….151.75 marks….
    thank u soooo much CG for all the mocks and GK compendiums and quizzes…
    i owe you guys a lot!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Got AIR 212 🙂 Thank you CG for the support and inspiration.
    Can I get nujs with this rank ? And is nujs better or nliu ?? 

  9. hei… CG… i really need help from you guys.. in making decision for my future. if you guys can suggest me with something i would really be indebted to you.. cuz you guys are really awesome.. believe me.. i am fond of your website… and visit it often… 🙂 would wait for ur reply.. i really need a suggestion regarding CLAT nd my love for law.. 🙁 which arose a little late..

  10. HI, I AM ANKITA I AM IN NEED OF YOUR HELP I SCORED 82 MARKS AND I AM VERY MUCH DISSAPOINTED  I TRIED MY BEST BUT ….THEN TOO I FAILED. SO I AM PLANING NOT TO GIVE UP AND TRY FOR THE NEXT . SO PLEASE HELP ME BY GIVING SUGGESTION FOR THE NEXT ATTEMPT…..I HOPE THIS WILL REALLY WORK OUT FOR NEXT …I LOVE LAW SOO MUCH AND I READ SOME ARTICLES IN THIS WEBSITE . I THINK I WILL GET BETTER HELP FROM YOU ALL 🙁

  11. CG had helped me in every section and in every problem I faced in CLAT preparations. I thank you for your articles which helped us to increase our confidence and the GK compendiums which are the best thing of CG. CG for me is a coaching institute which I attend regularly till now. Thank you very much for every thing. 🙂

  12. I devoted 1.5 years for getting into an IIT , I did not get through .I did prepare for CLAT but it was just 27 days,, my AIR was 4008 . Now I m dropping and I hope You guys will help me throughout!!
    ~Love <3
    Shivangi

    • Hello shivangi, 

      First let me congratulate you on your clarity of thought. I was in the exact same position last year, my JEE was a disaster,  i gave CLAT side by side and studied for four days scoring an 88 (AIR 6k) so i dropped a year for clat and fast forward to today i got AIR 280!!! 

      You’re already ahead of where i was (AIR 4k) a drop is a depressing time, its damn boring, but study hard for the next year, i promise you wont regret it!!

  13. AIR 433…… I could have done better.. a LOT better.. anyways if you guys weren’t present I’d not have even qualified. By the with this rank I can get into GNLU right?

  14. Hello Team CG!
    Thanks for all that you’ve done throughout the year for us aspirants. Thanks for all those compendiums and tests and inspirational posts. I dont know how I could have done it without this site. 
    Because youve helped us throughout our journey, I want to request you guys to help us with the last step too.. Please please upload a post about how to fill in the preferences. I have secured a rank of 1094 (All India Women’s Rank- 441) Do you guys think if I can somehow manage RGNUL?
    Please reply ASAP
    Thanks and Regards (SO MANY OF THEM)

  15. Hi,

    I wrote the CLAT in 2011 and am presently studying in NLSIU. I completely disagree with one of Pranav’s suggestions regarding taking a drop year. I joined an engg college after 12th, realized I didn’t like it and wrote CLAT a year after graduating from school. That one year, my drop year, was the worst and most traumatic year of my life. Taking a drop year is a very bad idea for many many reasons.  All the uncertainties that Pranav pointed out for this years exam are going to exist for next year also.  There are many more eventualities like health problems etc they could possibly ( God forbid!) happen in your life.  You may take a drop, work super hard and realize that it didn’t work out in next year’s CLAT as well. So for heaven sakes, be smart and have a backup. Join whichever college you have gotten admission in (NLU/ otherwise) and then prepare for CLAT. It’s very doable. There are many students in NLS who were studying in ILS and other law colleges, prepared for CLAT and made it here. I have friends who are studying for the UPSC along with college curriculum  and I think we can all agree that the UPSC is a lot more difficult an exam than CLAT.  So I must reiterate that from my experience and in my opinion taking a drop year  would be an extremely risky, unnecessary and bad decision. 
    Clatgyan, I understand that you might honestly think that taking a drop year is not a bad option but since there are many CLAT aspirants who take your advice very very seriously ( including yours truly in 2011) , I think you have a duty to be a bit more responsible about your advice.

  16. I know that would sound to be a pretty weird question but is there any chance for me at gnlu at state rank 81 through gujarat domicile category?

  17. First things first, a heartiest thanks and congrats for the stupendous hard work and subsequent results. You people have really inspired aspirants.
    I got AIR 188, is there any remote chance of me making it to nalsar?

Leave a Reply to Gopika Cancel reply