Another bar cycle is behind us. The post-bar adrenaline drop is real.
The weeks leading up to the exam are always intense—strategy meetings, one-on-ones, workshops, essay feedback, data tracking, encouragement emails sent late at night. Academic support professionals carry a unique kind of responsibility during bar season. You are coaches, accountability partners, and steady voices in the middle of it all.
Now that the exam has passed, this is your reminder to pause.
Catch your breath.
Academic Success work, specifically supporting bar preparations, often operates in sustained urgency. Students are stressed. Outcomes matter deeply. The calendar compresses. Always, everywhere, all at once, you show up. You are calm, prepared, and relentlessly focused on student success. It is meaningful work, but it is also extremely demanding work.
Take a moment to acknowledge all that you are.
You helped students who doubted themselves sit for a professional licensing exam. You translated doctrine into strategy. You turned panic into actionable plans. Above all, you modeled discipline, resilience, and professionalism.
Not every impact is visible immediately. Some will show up in passing results. Others will show up years later when a former student remembers the person who believed in them when they struggled to believe in themselves.
This period after the exam can feel oddly quiet. The adrenaline fades. The urgency disappears. The inbox slows down. That quiet is not emptiness—it is earned space. Use it.
Reflect on what worked. Release what didn’t. Rest where you can.
Academic success work is long-game work. The relationships you build and the confidence you help students develop extend far beyond a single exam administration. Even when outcomes vary, the effort, care, and professionalism you bring to this role matter profoundly.
It is easy, in this profession, to immediately pivot to the next project. For now, give yourself permission to decompress before ramping up to full speed.
This is just a simple reminder for you.
Your work changes trajectories.
Students often measure success in scores. Institutions measure it in pass rates. Your influence is measured in persistence, self-efficacy, and professional identity formation. It is these outcomes that are harder to quantify but no less significant.
I echo all the voices that have come before mine. Thank you for the care you invest, the rigor you maintain, and most of all, continuing to show up for students during one of the most high-stakes periods of their academic lives.
Take a breath. Hydrate. Sleep. Take a walk that does not involve mentally grading an essay.
Academic support work changes lives. Your worth is reflected in every student who feels seen, supported, and capable because of you. After you take that well-earned rest break, keep going. Your contributions matter more than you know.
Guest Blogger: Lindsay S. Harrington, Director of Bar Support, Associate Professor of Law, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
