Recently Graduated UT Law Student taking questions Forum

[Magnifique1908]

Hey upperclass and graduated bros- when can we start expecting grades to come in? After the new year? And do we just check the UT law website or do we get an email when a grade is posted?

Totally depends on the prof. No emails, you'll just have to keep checking. I'd say just try not to look until after the new year; if any come out early, you'll probably hear about it from your classmates or on TLS. Some profs are nice and send emails with lots of info when they post grades, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

Thanks man

Ok, I'll be that guy. Anybody have thoughts on:

Kull (Contracts)
Dix (Crim)
Meyer (LRW)
Johanson (Property)

I think one of them is a visiting professor, can't remember who (not Dix or Meyer I know that)

You're in for a treat with Johanson. He taught my section Property last year for the first time in 35 years. He is amazing though. He is thee Probate scholar so he included more principles from his Wills & Estates class than he did from the Property casebook, but it was by far the best class of my 1L year. Buy Understanding Property to get a good working knowledge of basic property doctrine (sometimes he gets confused and you may come away from some topics feeling like he didn't elaborate enough). Besides that, go to class and get an idea of what he finds important. Supplement isn't enough given that he tested the Texas Community Property statute and Federal Gift Tax on our exam, all of which was discussed in class.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Hey upperclass and graduated bros- when can we start expecting grades to come in? After the new year? And do we just check the UT law website or do we get an email when a grade is posted?

Don't be surprised to get some (or all) back on the very last day (which was a week into second semester classes for me during 1L).

[BigZuck]

Hey upperclass and graduated bros- when can we start expecting grades to come in? After the new year? And do we just check the UT law website or do we get an email when a grade is posted?

Don't be surprised to get some (or all) back on the very last day (which was a week into second semester classes for me during 1L).

Lame. But kind of what I'm expecting. Thanks.

[StylinNProfilin]

Just had Kull for property this past semester, hes visiting from BU. He's incredibly enertaining, brilliant (he was cited in our Contracts casebook a few times), but didnt think he was the best at explaining the material. No idea how he teaches Contracts but he did mention in his class how much he hates the UCC and how common sense it is, so consider yourself lucky that you probably wont to be intensively citing UCC code sections. Oh and hopefully he does "Get drunk with Kull at Posse" on Fridays for your class too.

[Longhorn88]

well I guess i'll chime in with any thoughts on these profs

Torts-Wellborn, ive talked to him a few times seems like a really cool guy
Con Law- Steiker
Civ Pro- Woolley

Woolley is a very smart guy but make sure you take some coffee into class because he can put you to sleep.

On the other extreme, if you don't find Wellborn's class entertaining then you're doing law school wrong. One of my favorite professors at UT.

[Longhorn88]

Ok, I'll be that guy. Anybody have thoughts on:

Kull (Contracts)
Dix (Crim)
Meyer (LRW)
Johanson (Property)

I think one of them is a visiting professor, can't remember who (not Dix or Meyer I know that)

Dix is pretty good, knows a lot and has written a lot. Meyer is good as well, LRW sucks in general but she's your best bet.

Stanley Johanson is the FUCKING MAN. I hated both property and wills&estates but he's an amazing professor. You guys are lucky that you were able to get him before he retires.

[ajclark1992]

Dammann for Contracts.
Jinks for Criminal Law.
Schiess for LRW.
Looking forward to Johanson for Property.

Any thoughts?

[shifty_eyed]

Is there a table of estimated class rank anywhere? I guess median is 3.3, but not sure of the distribution other than that.

[timmyd]

To the above poster. If you search for highest grade on UTs website it will link you to a grade report which shows the cutoff for top half and quarter for the past two years. Based on that, I would assume top 10 is around a 3.9. Does anyone know how the dean achievement award works? I got an a+ in a class and am curious as to whether it would indicate I received that award on my unofficial transcript.

[BigZuck]

To the above poster. If you search for highest grade on UTs website it will link you to a grade report which shows the cutoff for top half and quarter for the past two years. Based on that, I would assume top 10 is around a 3.9. Does anyone know how the dean achievement award works? I got an a+ in a class and am curious as to whether it would indicate I received that award on my unofficial transcript.

Isn't that award for the single top grade in a class? If there's multiple A+'s I'm not sure what they would do

[timmyd]

Bigzuck: yea that's what it is. The class was large, upwards of 70 so there are quite possibly multiple a+s so I'm not sure how one is awarded. It's not a big deal, I'm just a transfer student and would like to have highest grade awards from multiple schools on my résumé . Not to mention, I need all the help with resume bolstering that I can get.

[Magnifique1908]

Grade reports are posted on CSO's website. Last year (I'm a 2L), our25% and median cutoffs for the Fall were posted in February prior to Spring OCI. The cutoffs for each class at the end of the academic year is posted in June/July.

There can be several A+ grades in one class, only one of those gets the Dean's Achievement Award. If you get it, you will receive an email from SAO around the time the grade is posted.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Grade reports are posted on CSO's website. Last year (I'm a 2L), our25% and median cutoffs for the Fall were posted in February prior to Spring OCI. The cutoffs for each class at the end of the academic year is posted in June/July.

There can be several A+ grades in one class, only one of those gets the Dean's Achievement Award. If you get it, you will receive an email from SAO around the time the grade is posted.

It usually takes a few weeks to get notified about Deans awards. They should come out in early february.

[Magnifique1908]

Grade reports are posted on CSO's website. Last year (I'm a 2L), our25% and median cutoffs for the Fall were posted in February prior to Spring OCI. The cutoffs for each class at the end of the academic year is posted in June/July.

There can be several A+ grades in one class, only one of those gets the Dean's Achievement Award. If you get it, you will receive an email from SAO around the time the grade is posted.

It usually takes a few weeks to get notified about Deans awards. They should come out in early february.

Really? I heard back a little faster, but it could have been a one-time thing....who knows, nature of UT SAO. Completely arbitrary lol

[Dr. Filth]

Are there any 2L's or 3L's that have had Rountree for crim? Any outlines, advice, etc. is appreciated.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Grade reports are posted on CSO's website. Last year (I'm a 2L), our25% and median cutoffs for the Fall were posted in February prior to Spring OCI. The cutoffs for each class at the end of the academic year is posted in June/July.

There can be several A+ grades in one class, only one of those gets the Dean's Achievement Award. If you get it, you will receive an email from SAO around the time the grade is posted.

It usually takes a few weeks to get notified about Deans awards. They should come out in early february.

Really? I heard back a little faster, but it could have been a one-time thing....who knows, nature of UT SAO. Completely arbitrary lol

Congrats on snagging a deans (and all your success)!

[Magnifique1908]

Grade reports are posted on CSO's website. Last year (I'm a 2L), our25% and median cutoffs for the Fall were posted in February prior to Spring OCI. The cutoffs for each class at the end of the academic year is posted in June/July.

There can be several A+ grades in one class, only one of those gets the Dean's Achievement Award. If you get it, you will receive an email from SAO around the time the grade is posted.

It usually takes a few weeks to get notified about Deans awards. They should come out in early february.

Really? I heard back a little faster, but it could have been a one-time thing....who knows, nature of UT SAO. Completely arbitrary lol

Congrats on snagging a deans (and all your success)!

Completely arbitrary....lmao. Thanks!! You know how much I appreciate all of your help! I'm super jealous that you're leaving in a few short months!

[timmyd]

Does anyone know what the top third GPA cut off usually is? I also realize the median tends to rise the farther along into law school one gets so I should add I just finished first semester of 2l.

[nonprofit-prophet]

Does anyone know what the top third GPA cut off usually is? I also realize the median tends to rise the farther along into law school one gets so I should add I just finished first semester of 2l.

Last year, honors at graduation (top 30%) was a 3.57. Obviously that's for 3Ls and not 33%, but it's probably close to that.
http://www.nalplawschoolsonline.org/ndl ... 06&yr=2013

[BigZuck]

Does anyone know what the top third GPA cut off usually is? I also realize the median tends to rise the farther along into law school one gets so I should add I just finished first semester of 2l.

Last year, honors at graduation (top 30%) was a 3.57. Obviously that's for 3Ls and not 33%, but it's probably close to that.
http://www.nalplawschoolsonline.org/ndl ... 06&yr=2013

Is the curve any tighter for 1Ls? That link says median for the graduating class is a 3.39 but the median in 1L classes is supposed to be a 3.3. So are the cutoffs lower for 1Ls?

I don't know from math, so apologies if I'm misinterpreting or if this is basic stuff.

[Magnifique1908]

Does anyone know what the top third GPA cut off usually is? I also realize the median tends to rise the farther along into law school one gets so I should add I just finished first semester of 2l.

Last year, honors at graduation (top 30%) was a 3.57. Obviously that's for 3Ls and not 33%, but it's probably close to that.
http://www.nalplawschoolsonline.org/ndl ... 06&yr=2013

Is the curve any tighter for 1Ls? That link says median for the graduating class is a 3.39 but the median in 1L classes is supposed to be a 3.3. So are the cutoffs lower for 1Ls?

I don't know from math, so apologies if I'm misinterpreting or if this is basic stuff.

The median is different for every class and changes each year. You can find the medians for my class (2015) at the end of our 1L year and the nonprofit-prophet's class (2014) at the end of their 2L year here: https://www.utexas.edu/law/career/hando ... Ls_3Ls.pdf.

If you look at CSO's grade reports website, you'll notice that the cutoffs are pretty predictable for each graduating year (somewhere around a 3.6 for top 25% and somewhere around 3.4 for top 50%)

[BigZuck]

Does anyone know what the top third GPA cut off usually is? I also realize the median tends to rise the farther along into law school one gets so I should add I just finished first semester of 2l.

Last year, honors at graduation (top 30%) was a 3.57. Obviously that's for 3Ls and not 33%, but it's probably close to that.
http://www.nalplawschoolsonline.org/ndl ... 06&yr=2013

Is the curve any tighter for 1Ls? That link says median for the graduating class is a 3.39 but the median in 1L classes is supposed to be a 3.3. So are the cutoffs lower for 1Ls?

I don't know from math, so apologies if I'm misinterpreting or if this is basic stuff.

The median is different for every class and changes each year. You can find the medians for my class (2015) at the end of our 1L year and the nonprofit-prophet's class (2014) at the end of their 2L year here: https://www.utexas.edu/law/career/hando ... Ls_3Ls.pdf.

If you look at CSO's grade reports website, you'll notice that the cutoffs are pretty predictable for each graduating year (somewhere around a 3.6 for top 25% and somewhere around 3.4 for top 50%)

Yeah, I noticed that the top 25% tends to be pretty consistent. I was just wondering if the threshold was any lower for 1Ls (for Spring OCI purposes).

Thanks.

[Magnifique1908]

I'm pretty sure ours was about the same (top 50% was exactly 3.3 if I recall correctly) when they released the grade report in February as it is in that end of the year document. Top 25% was still above 3.6 so only the median changed by .01 at the end of spring semester. I think that's about the lowest it gets before the upward trend in subsequent years.

[shifty_eyed]

I'm pretty sure ours was about the same (top 50% was exactly 3.3 if I recall correctly) when they released the grade report in February as it is in that end of the year document. Top 25% was still above 3.6 so only the median changed by .01 at the end of spring semester. I think that's about the lowest it gets before the upward trend in subsequent years.

So we'll find out this February what median and top 25% is for our 1L class after fall grades? .01 can be all the difference!

[Magnifique1908]

I'm pretty sure ours was about the same (top 50% was exactly 3.3 if I recall correctly) when they released the grade report in February as it is in that end of the year document. Top 25% was still above 3.6 so only the median changed by .01 at the end of spring semester. I think that's about the lowest it gets before the upward trend in subsequent years.

So we'll find out this February what median and top 25% is for our 1L class after fall grades? .01 can be all the difference!

Yep. Last year it was definitely before Spring OCI but I can't remember if it was early February or the week before interviews. Should be soon though.