People You Meet at Law School #1: The Desperate Girl

"She learned the truth at seventeen.
That love was meant for beauty queens."
-Janice Ian "Seventeen"

What happened to the lonely girl Janis Ian sang about? Some happened to find the man of their dreams in college and happily settled into a comfortable life in the suburbs. Others moved to the city in hopes of emulating the Sex and the City lifestyle. And the rest went to law school.

But not all her time is spent on studying. No, she is still hoping that some Price Charming will walk out of the law review office and into her heart. However, time is running out. Desperate Girl is no fool; she realizes that she is in her mid-20's and knows that the older a women gets, the more likely it is that she will never find that special someone. So she is looking for someone, anyone, to call her own.

Although a woman will date a man who is uglier/fatter than her, she will not date a man lower down the career totem pole until she gets really desperate (usually in her late 30s). So a girl's success in getting into law school is a double-edged sword. By attending law school, she makes the calculated risk that she will have to settle for a ‘lesser’ man later on in life, verses the hope that she’ll land a doctor or lawyer, or perhaps and investment banker, in the next few years. Her situation is made all the worse by the fact that other women aren't fools. If they found a good guy who's going to law school, they're going to hold onto him like the last chopper out of Saigon.

Spotting the Desperate Girl isn’t always easy. They can range drastically in looks, style, intelligence, and personality. But all Desperate Girls share one trait: they treat any interaction with a male classmate, no matter how innocent, as if he is a potential husband. A simple question, like "What was the assignment?" is met with a detailed description of the assigned reading, along with a smile, and an assurance that if he needs anything to “just let her know”. You might think she’s just being nice, but have no doubt that she is applying full effort to completing her JD/MRS degree.