Law Students' Corner
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Pages | 66 |
| Citation | Vol. 89 No. 6 Pg. 66 |
July, 2020
Traveling Down an Unpaved Road: My Experience as a First-Generation College Graduate
by John Goodyear
It was one of those conversations I never expected to have. Sitting in my boss's office discussing my future career plans, I opened up about something that I had been feeling since the beginning of my law school experience: imposter syndrome. That feeling that you don't belong and the fear that you will soon be exposed as a fraud. Of course, I am not unique in feeling this. Many law students do. It stems from any number of insecurities. For me, it was rooted in my status as a first-generation college graduate.
I come from a working-class family in southeast Kansas. While neither of my parents has a degree, I was raised in a household that valued and put an emphasis on education. My folks pushed me to do my best in school and told me that education was a password that could open almost any door. I was eight years old when my dad first talked to me about college. He made it abundantly clear that I would be going, and while he supported me with everything he had, I would have to figure out how to pay for it myself. For some, that may seem like a pretty young age to have that weighty of a conversation, but for many first-generation students, it's reality.
While the experiences of first-generation students vary from person to person and are colored by the circumstances unique to them, there are a number of central obstacles faced by many within the group, if not all. Perhaps the most common among those is a lack of resources—not just financial resources, although that is a major component. Notably, first-generation graduates often lack the social and professional connections possessed by their law school classmates and peers. The lack of connections often equates to a lack of exposure to the profession.
As I discussed my own doubts with my supervisor, I talked about feeling like I was somehow falling behind for this exact reason. It seemed as if I was the only one among my classmates at that point who had neither a parent nor close family friend in the field, helping to guide my steps. Of course, this was not the case, even though there were many within my class that were better connected. Rather, it was a symptom of my imposter syndrome. I needed to learn that the connections made after you decide to pursue a legal...
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