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Law_School
If you look at the glass as half-empty, there's no surprise when you run out of Diet Coke.
I allowed myself to get lulled into believing I'd graduated magna cum laude, which at USF is the top 5% of the graduating class. I allowed this to happen because the percentile charts put me in the top 5% at the end of the semester. I tried to remind myself (and others) of how the glass was half-empty. Because not everyone who is a 3FT, 4FT, or 4PT graduated, not everyone would be calculated in the numbers. In addition, I wasn't sure if December 2007 grads were included in the spring numbers.
At this point, I'm pretty sure they weren't. Peters and Alexander, I'm holding you two responsible for my current malaise. I imagine that neither of you were included in the 3.54 cutoff, so when you two were added back in, I got bumped out with my 3.54 (the final cutoff was 3.55.)
Part of the problem is that I kept raising my standards. When I started law school, I declared I'd be thrilled to graduate cum laude. Now I have, and I'm disappointed, which is somewhat pathetic. So be it.
Let me just conclude by mentioning how heartily I wish to congratulate my friend Tarek Sorensen, who made not only my recent bar studying, but all of law school more bearable. Having not raised his expectations, he was completely confused when I called him and started shouting "Summa!" into the phone.
A year ago, I wrote a post on a then-proposed alteration to one of the ABA's accreditation standards. The effect of the interpretation change has since been moderated by the ABA after much complaint, and the actual impact is likely to be much less pronounced. Nonetheless, the post continues to be the single most popular on the site.
I only mention this because of an interesting comment posted today:
yea, the whittie law schools make it -- while the others that give minorities a chance like WSU fail.
Racist pig!
Now, I assume "whittie" is "whitey." I first read it to be Whittier, which was, of course, heavily impacted. I'll suggest the poster probably doesn't belong in law school anywhere. Others will have more choices, and the actual interpretation was nowhere near as harsh.
Outside the registrar's office, if you're interested. As usual, I'm not going to post them. They'll be online in due course.
(My last semester of waiting only to be disappointed. It's one thing when you get an A and don't get one -- a handful of people get As every semester -- but you really get your hopes up when you get an A+. Yes, I know this will result in a huge pity party for me...)
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.
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 |
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.
From a Craigslist ad:
[[[ 2008 LAW GRAD from First Teer Law School Sought ]]] (financial district)
Reply to: see below
Date: 2008-06-18, 12:18PM PDT. . .
If I can spell "tier," can I get past my school's ranking?
The National Institute for Trial Advocacy is holding a course at the University of San Francisco this week. Due to the lack of group workspace in the main law school building, they kept sending folks to the library yesterday.
It was, shall we say, obnoxious. They were very loud. Seeing as all of the participants were attorneys, they should recognize our BarBri materials. The most annoying spoke at full volume while walking through the library's lower level, which has always been a quiet study area (though the introduction of wireless has functioned to bring more people down here -- it was never wired -- and scuttled the very quiet nature of it.) Other stood in line for their videotaping sessions, talking to each other about their practices, their shoes, or catching up on their phone calls. All, it seems, were oblivious to the students who kept asking them to shut up.
Another common pastime appeared to be speaking at full volume in the group study rooms with the doors open. I went to one group and asked if I could close the door. "It's very hot in here," was the retort. Mine back was, "But it's very loud out here." And I slammed the door shut.
There's a sign outside one of the doors today: "Please limit your conversation while waiting outside this door -- law students will get VERY ANGRY."
Indeed.
Did I actually take and pass Contracts during law school?
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