Thanks for sharing the tumblr site, Jessica.
I came to law school because after working for 3 years in a corporate immigration law firm, I realized I wanted to be my own boss and be able to do something more meaningful with my life and career. And because this career I have in mind has nothing to do with working at a law firm, and I would actually like to avoid that path like the plague, I don't have much of a problem not letting my grades consume my interest or affect me that much. I also didn't know before coming to law school that there was such a competitive grade culture - I guess that was lack of research on my part - and thought (and still think) of grad school as more of a personal learning experience, rather than a competition. Perhaps I'm lucky to have come in with that mindset from the start.
My personal views on this matter are:
1) It's not worth it to work for an employer that works you to your bone, with no expression of gratitude (unless you can consider a high salary as gratitude, which some people might), and where the job has no sense of meaning to you. It really isn't. But maybe that's something people can only understand after they've experienced it. And I don't see why people as bright as CLS graduates should be okay with that.
2) I always get slightly offended (perturbed?) when people say they will receive training at a big law firm, then move on to public interest work (this is more in reference to some of the stuff on that tumblr site). I think that's insulting to the public interest field. What exactly, that you learn at a big law firm, is transferable to the public interest field, which is so different? Work discipline? Ability to manage many cases? And people think public interest lawyers don't cultivate these skills in their work? Obviously, these people haven't observed a day in the life of over-worked public interest attorneys.
Sure, maybe keeping options open is important. But I think we need to think about what options are worth keeping, and I feel like many people should have gone through that decision process when they decided to apply to law school.
I for one, have no problem not going to EIP, because I really, really, don't want to go anyway.