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So, what's the impact of USF's new, unnecessary, inflated curve?
Obviously, it has greatly increased GPAs, which stands to reason. However, it should also be clear how much the altered curve will disadvantage those who have less opportunity to make use of it.
This year's 2nd-year part-timers had an entire first year under the harsher curve, but their class ranking will be negatively impacted during recruiting because, for ranking purposes, they'll be bunched in with students who have had an entire, full-time first-year under the new curve.
This year's 4th-year part-timers like me entered this year, with the gentler curve, with fewer units to take (and one semester entirely scheduled, even if we wanted to do something about it) before graduation.
All told, slipstreaming such a massive change in on everyone else with no method of correcting for the changes is wildly unfair. Next spring, when this year's 2nd-year part-timers are in the same pool as this year's first-year full-timers for rank, what are they going to tell employers who couldn't care less about GPAs (most of them) when their rank is lower, because they had a tougher curve?
The administration claimed they did this immediately because it was the best solution. I think it's pretty clear that they actually did it because it was the expedient solution. Well, they got what they wanted. People have higher GPAs. Yay.
Bar/Bri released the report on my simulated MBE. Based on my practice, no surprises. I saw down with both the Mini-Review (our short outline book) and the monster outline book and reviewed those areas I felt I was most deficient in. On Monday, I did a set of 40 random questions using the StudySmart software and got 29 right (72%.) Today, after a little more review, I did 41 questions from some of my problem areas (Duty of Care, Strict Liability, Deed recording, Character Evidence, Impeachment, but no Convenants and Easements) and got 33 right (80%.) That makes me feel better about that. Now I need to get back to memorizing and being ready to crank out essays. Yay.
For those who have been looking for them, I've posted them. I expect this to be the last time that I'll post this information. It's a funny time of year, because my page view counts go through the ceiling, and search keywords give away the worries and curiosities of people.
As for the Spring 2008 numbers, you may note that they've gone from 3 decimal places to 2. You probably already noticed this on your transcript or grade report, anyway. I asked the registrar's office if that's permanent, and I was told that it's not clear.
Next, for those on the cusp of graduation honors: there's not necessarily a direct correlation between these numbers and graduation honors. Not everyone in the grade band graduates; most everyone must, however. The breakdown lists 217 people in the class, and I thought that 218 graduated. The honors, perhaps, are an issue because of people who transfer in. I don't really know. I know that I'm right on one of the boundaries, within an upward rounding range; I only know my exact GPA because I track it to 3 places on my own.
Anyhow, that's it. After this semester, I expect things to migrate to Citizen Kendrick, unless they've changed their minds (or come to their senses.)
This table shows the breakdown of percentile ranks by GPA for the University of San Francisco School of Law as of the Spring 2008 semester, i.e., as of the end of the 2007-2008 school year.
| 5% |
10% |
15% |
20% |
25% |
33 1/3% |
40% |
50% |
60% |
80% |
|
| 1FT & 1PT = 236 |
3.63 & above |
3.46 - 3.62 |
3.38 - 3.45 |
3.31 - 3.37 |
3.20 - 3.30 |
3.09 - 3.19 |
3.02 - 3.08 |
2.87 - 3.01 |
2.71 - 2.86 |
2.38 - 2.70 |
|
|
||||||||||
| 2FT, 2PT & 3PT = 228 |
3.55 & above |
3.42 - 3.54 |
3.33 - 3.41 |
3.21 - 3.32 |
3.16 - 3.20 |
3.06 - 3.15 |
2.99 - 3.05 |
2.84 - 2.98 |
2.75 - 2.83 |
2.55 - 2.74 |
|
|
||||||||||
| 3FT, 4FT & 4PT = 217 |
3.54 & above |
3.43 - 3.53 |
3.38 - 3.42 |
3.29 - 3.37 |
3.23 - 3.28 |
3.15 - 3.22 |
3.07 - 3.14 |
3.01 - 3.06 |
2.93 - 3.00 |
2.72 - 2.92 |
He wasn't a psychic from the island of St. Croix, but he must have seemed to have almost psychic powers.
Police Impersonator's Arrest Stuns Missouri Town - NYTimes.com:
They said the agent, a man some had come to know as "Sergeant Bill," boasted that he did not need search warrants to enter their homes because he worked for the federal government.
But after a reporter for the local weekly newspaper made a few calls about that claim, Gerald’s antidrug campaign abruptly fell apart after less than five months. Sergeant Bill, it turned out, was no federal agent, but Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop from 23 miles down the road.
...
Mr. Jakob even asked Chief McCrary to call what he said was his supervisor's telephone number to confirm Gerald's need for his help, the mayor said.When the call was placed, a woman -- whose identity is unknown -- answered with the words "multijurisdictional task force," and said that the city's request for federal services was under review, the mayor said. Mr. Schulte said he now suspects that Mr. Jakob adapted the nonexistent task force name from the "Beverly Hills Cop" movies starring Eddie Murphy.
It would be funny if wasn't so scary. What a massive social engineering attack.
The bar exam is in one month from today. *shudder*
I went over my lackluster MBE simulation. I redid each question and read each explanation. In a handful of cases, I didn't read the question properly. In one case I can't figure out why I gave the answer I did (it was clearly wrong and I even had it marked out in the exam.) Otherwise, a lot of nitpicky points that I need to learn, largely in the areas of mortgages, transfers of property, and sales. We can take care of those. I've started to miss a frightening number of easy evidence questions, and I have to figure out why that's happening.
Last week, we started in on the essay-only topics. Professional Responsibility was the first. Tomorrow is Civil Procedure.
It seems like an awful lot of stuff to learn in the next 29 days. I just keep telling myself that lots of other people have managed this before me.
Today was our simulated Multistate Bar Exam ("MBE"). The MBE is a 6-hour multiple choice test with 200 questions. It was... grueling.
By the end of the second session -- it's split into two 3-hour chunks -- I really just wanted the whole thing to end. In addition, I'm a bit disappointed with my performance. I'm missing a lot of the same question types over and over it seems, so something I'm doing is not working. I scored 120/200, which is not great. I was hoping for a minimum of 130. From rumblings I've been hearing, the average of Bar/Bri students is somewhere around 110. I'll get my score report in a week.
Next up: figure out where I went wrong and determine what to rectify. I've been needing to do that, anyway. I've been utilizing the StudySmart software Bar/Bri offers, which keeps track of the types of questions you miss, and there are clear patterns. I need to get the MBE licked so I can concentrate on essays.
Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty Is 'Totally Badass'
I am the law!
The countdown on the right says there are 35.5 days until the bar exam as I write this. I feel like I should be able to get this stuff crammed in by then, but right now, I feel like I'm swimming in a lot of stupid little rules. It's very irritating. The stupidity of this test becomes clearer all the time, especially every lecture, when the talking head says, "this will definitely be on your exam."
My biggest problem right now is fighting the urge to rapidly flip between topics as new questions pop into my head. I haven't been very productive the last several days.
So, that's it. I'm done waiting for grades from law school classes to be posted. No more law school grades.
In 8 semesters, not once did I pull off straight As. Despite the fact that I am opposed to our grading system's inclusion of the last grade I received, I will be unprincipled and accept it.
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