I’ve stopped worrying about it at this point because a) as a 2nd semester 3L there isn’t much I can do to pull up my GPA at this point (and hasn’t been for over a year if we’re honest about it), and b) as one commenter on my blog rightfully indicated – GPA ceases its death grip on your life once you have a bit of experience under your belt.

But given my experiences, and those of the other blogger, and commenters here, and thousands upon thousands of students just like us, it’s probably not hard for professors to connect the dots and understand that a lot of law students outside the consistent top 10-20% feel disenfranchised by the system of legal education. This becomes even more pronounced when, in a school with an artificially low curve to begin with, you end up in the bottom-half of the class with an astoundingly awful raw GPA number.

(I do realize the above rant is not entirely on point with your topic, but it’s corrolary to grading and GPA in the fact that at some point you will have students who drop out of the race, figuratively, and pursue their legal education by other means while putting in the face time to get the JD.)

I’m curious, Prof. Hoffman, what do you honestly recommend for current students? I would be tempted to counsel 1L’s to find out from 2L’s and 3L’s what the easier classes (and professors) are, and avoid the difficult ones. My finding a job was not easy, although fortunately something opened up that has worked out well. My GPA and rank could have been much higher, and my job seeking much easier, if I had been shrewd rather than naive about scheduling. And as one commenter already said, once you have experience with a real legal job (as an intern or whatever) while you are still a student, then law school becomes a very cynical enterprise. My motivation suffered in my 3L year because I could no longer take it seriously after working at the real thing.

1. I am heartened to see you agree that GPA is not a meaningful scale. understanding that current grading policies leave students in the middle is admirable, but the lack of a better solution is troubling. I have noticed a sharp discrepancy in my grades between the massive lecture courses and the smaller writing seminars. Perhaps I’m a student who responds better to smaller groups, and learning material in that forum, but it has left me believing that the basic way you teach and test the law in school is unrelated to real life. It does not encourage creative thinking. It does not encourage understanding the nuances of the material.

Had I known about this discrepancy earlier, I would have taken as many writing courses as possible after first year, and seen a significant spike in my GPA as a result.

I should note two things here, before I get written off as just another disgruntled student. First, my work product both summers was exemplary, got a lot of praise and notice, and was used verbatim. This indicated to me that at least in terms of research and writing, that I could function at least as well as currently practicing lawyers. This was heartening. It has been less heartening to be struck out of the running for certain jobs because my overall GPA did not fit a certain number. One other thing I should note. Up until this point I went to very very selective institutions, and thrived at them. I went to Temple because of the cost. I was used to working my ass off and doing well. I am not saying this to be snotty. The current discrepancy between real life lawyering and my law school experience has me very disillusioned.

My disillusionment is amplified because I am facing graduating with a significant debt burden. Also because for the first time in my educational career, I know how students who are not doing so well in a class are treated by professors. Some professors, who are geniune teachers, take time and patience with these students. With other professors, it becomes very apparent, once your end of term grade comes out and you go to them, that they are less interested in you now that you are, in their eyes, no longer the student who contributes consistently in class and has a good grasp of the material, but now are reduced to the student who got a B minus on their exam. It is a form of intellectual snobbery that is new to me, and more infuriating because I have been able to produce good work in a real setting.

2. The stories about grading mishaps are not “fun stories.” Perhaps they are fun to law professors who generally went to elite institutions and did well. The stories about students getting their grades bumped up due to errors make other students wonder if they should have gone in and asked the professor to go over the exam closely with an eye to changing the grade. I have gone over my exams with professors, and never has the question of regrading the exam come up. Perhaps because I was not as pushy as some of my compatriots. I didn’t realise you were allowed to question grades. At my prior schools, it was seen as extremely poor form to whinge about grades. Reviewing exams was fine, but pressuring a professor to change the grade was not.

1. I am heartened to see you agree that GPA is not a meaningful scale. understanding that current grading policies leave students in the middle is admirable, but the lack of a better solution is troubling. I have noticed a sharp discrepancy in my grades between the massive lecture courses and the smaller writing seminars. Perhaps I’m a student who responds better to smaller groups, and learning material in that forum, but it has left me believing that the basic way you teach and test the law in school is unrelated to real life. It does not encourage creative thinking. It does not encourage understanding the nuances of the material.

Had I known about this discrepancy earlier, I would have taken as many writing courses as possible after first year, and seen a significant spike in my GPA as a result.

I should note two things here, before I get written off as just another disgruntled student. First, my work product both summers was exemplary, got a lot of praise and notice, and was used verbatim. This indicated to me that at least in terms of research and writing, that I could function at least as well as currently practicing lawyers. This was heartening. It has been less heartening to be struck out of the running for certain jobs because my overall GPA did not fit a certain number. One other thing I should note. Up until this point I went to very very selective institutions, and thrived at them. I went to Temple because of the cost. I was used to working my ass off and doing well. I am not saying this to be snotty. The current discrepancy between real life lawyering and my law school experience has me very disillusioned.

My disillusionment is amplified because I am facing graduating with a significant debt burden. Also because for the first time in my educational career, I know how students who are not doing so well in a class are treated by professors. Some professors, who are geniune teachers, take time and patience with these students. With other professors, it becomes very apparent, once your end of term grade comes out and you go to them, that they are less interested in you now that you are, in their eyes, no longer the student who contributes consistently in class and has a good grasp of the material, but now are reduced to the student who got a B minus on their exam. It is a form of intellectual snobbery that is new to me, and more infuriating because I have been able to produce good work in a real setting.

2. The stories about grading mishaps are not “fun stories”. The stories about students getting their grades bumped up due to errors make other students wonder if they should have gone in and asked the professor to go over the exam closely with an eye to changing the grade. I have gone over my exams with professors, and never has the question of regrading the exam come up. Perhaps because I was not as pushy as some of my compatriots. I didn’t realise you were allowed to question grades. At my prior schools, it was seen as extremely poor form to whinge about grades. Reviewing exams was fine, but pressuring a professor to change the grade was not.