Law School

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

I wish you could get Dean's List that easily here - I think the cutoff for 2Ls is around a 3.7.

Well, the GPAs here are weighted down. At one time, I was #5 in my class with my average being somewhere between a B and a B+. After my grades this semester, I'll have a B- or so and probably be somewhere in the top 25%. To give you some idea, out of a class of 50, usually, not more than 7 people will make a B or higher. They do this at a lot of private schools to discourage transfers because when the top guy in our class (who has a B+ average) transfers to a school like yours, his GPA from here will kill his rank over there.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Well, the GPAs here are weighted down. At one time, I was #5 in my class with my average being somewhere between a B and a B+. After my grades this semester, I'll have a B- or so and probably be somewhere in the top 25%. To give you some idea, out of a class of 50, usually, not more than 7 people will make a B or higher. They do this at a lot of private schools to discourage transfers because when the top guy in our class (who has a B+ average) transfers to a school like yours, his GPA from here will kill his rank over there.

Weird...my school is private too but our 1L GPA is roughly a B- and our 2L and 3L is generally a B. I got B+s or better in all but one class last semester and I'm towards the middle of the class.

[shinerbock]

Yeah, the curve here mandates that the average fall between a 2.9 and a 3.1 I think.

[deadbear80]

My private law school ranks on a 100 point scale which I still don't get b/c the other private law school in town and EVERY OTHER grad program at my school but social work seem to be on a 4.0 scale with letter grades (social work gives letter grades but does it out of a 3.0 instead of a 4.0).

We can 'convert' our grades into letter grades...but the curve is ridiculous. The 1L 'forced mean' is an 87. An 87 is a B. There are A+, A, A-, B+, B, B- grades...but then after B- there is only C and D (no pluses or minuses)...and a C is anything between a 79-81....meaning if you get below a 79 it's a D!

Basically...you need a 79 average to remain in good standing without academic probation. A 74 or higher is passing (a D).

We only rank the top 33 1/3 (and only the top 5% know their actual 'number rank' in the class). They give us the cutoff grades for 1%, 5%,, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 33 1/3%....and depending on the year in order to be in the top 33 1/3 you need like an 88.89 average--usually it's over an 89 and usually for 1st semester 1Ls it's a 90. That's a B+ average or better (a 90 is still a B+)...but that means that about 2/3 of a class has below a B+ average.

I was just excited to have my first law school grade that started with a 9 this past semester (and I'm now a 2nd semester 3L). I knew early on that the top of the class was not in my future (but hey, I'm at a Top 20 law school) but it was really nice to get a grade that was well above the mean for once!

[lyrelyre]

When I was in law school we had a 12 point scale. I think 100 or 4.0 makes much more sense. At least people are more accustomed to that.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Yeah, the curve here mandates that the average fall between a 2.9 and a 3.1 I think.

I think that's the same as my school - I believe it has to be a B (3.0) curve for all classes over 35 students.

[_Opi_]

I'm so jealous that you guys have your grades out already. It's week 3 and I'm still waiting for 3 more grades to come out. It's driving me crazy, and it's definately getting in the way of finished this memo.

[Kevin]

My percentile dropped a bit.. top third though. Could be worse.

[Proverbs31]

So, last year I got accepted to lawschool and decided not to attend that particular one and wait to reapply for fall '07. Well...I just got a call from the Dean of Admissions from one of my top choices notifying me of my acceptance!!!!!