List of pass fail LRW @ T14 Forum

[bauerahl]

I would work 80% less if it was pass fail.

And this is the other argument for LRW being graded. Thank you for presenting it in a clear and concise manner; A-.

That is essentially my point as well.

[stratocophic]

I would work 80% less if it was pass fail.

And this is the other argument for LRW being graded bauerahl's argument presented in 11 words. Thank you for presenting it in a clear and concise manner; A-.

That is essentially my point as well.

Fixed!

[facetious]

What about CCN?

nyu is p/f and ends typically a few weeks before finals.

[vamedic03]

I think there is an underlying point in this discussion that has gone unstated. One of the major problems for LRW, graded or ungraded, is that a fair number of students come into law school lacking basic, effective communicative (for lack of better terms) writing ability. Outside of effort as to research, I'd wager that for many of the students who write well (or perform well in LRW) don't spend any more time working on their projects. I think that one of the things that becomes apparent is that students have not learned to write effectively. Honestly, for some percentage of students, I'm not sure how much LRW can help them. Rather, what some students really need is an intensive remedial writing program.

[irishman86]

I would work 80% less if it was pass fail.

And this is the other argument for LRW being graded. Thank you for presenting it in a clear and concise manner; A-.

I learned far more as a judicial intern during 1L summer than I did all year in LRW. Considering you will probably learn far more during your 1L job, graded LRW seems to cause unnecessary stress during the academic year.

Although some may argue that graded LRW works as a better signal to employers about writing ability, the schools that have pass/fail LRW usually have "honors" cut-offs or at least certain prizes that differentiate good writers anyway.

[IAFG]

I would work 80% less if it was pass fail.

And this is the other argument for LRW being graded. Thank you for presenting it in a clear and concise manner; A-.

No points off for his subjunctive fail?

[whymeohgodno]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

[stratocophic]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

IMO it's not nearly as bad as people make it sound, at least not where I am. Go to class and surf the web, follow some relatively simple rules, make what you write tie up neatly into coherent points, follow the rules again because that's basically all you do, and turn stuff in on time. Other than citations I dunno what's so awful about it.

[irishman86]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

There has to be, or else people wouldn't become biglaw litigators. Still though, much, much less useful than interning at a federal courthouse.

[vanwinkle]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

There has to be, or else people wouldn't become biglaw litigators.

Come on, people don't become litigators because they like brief writing. They do it because they want to be Tom Cruise:



(Pre-Scientology/breakdown, of course.)

[Kretzy]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

I really liked LRW. Liking the work made it easier to space out the workload, and I never felt stressed about a deadline in the class. I'd say 6-8 people out of 30 legitimately liked LRW in my section, an most others were "meh" toward it. A couple of folks really couldn't stand it, though, but they seemed to be in the minority.

[Exeter]

Mine is P/F and I could not be more happy.

[stratocophic]

Is there anyone that actually enjoys LRW?

IMO it's not nearly as bad as people make it sound, at least not where I am. Go to class and surf the web, follow some relatively simple rules, make what you write tie up neatly into coherent points, follow the rules again because that's basically all you do, and turn stuff in on time. Other than citations I dunno what's so awful about it.

UPDATE: And then we started writing briefs instead of memos. Eff. That. Noise.

[ahduth]

What about CCN?

nyu is p/f and ends typically a few weeks before finals.

Yeah, I think CLS is HP/P/F or something... either way, I remember graded LRW being a strike against them. Dunno about Chicago.

[lawgod]

I thought graded LRW was kind of dumb. It sometimes seemed as though the professor was unwilling to tell us things our of fear of messing up the grades.
But how the blazes are you supposed to learn?
Seems to me you learn writing by writing multiple drafts, having them corrected, doing it over, etc.
I just felt the grades were really distracting the professor.

[Glock]

A graded writing class just makes you work harder. My class was graded and I got the top grade. That has been helping me on my resume. I love it, but I am sure that people who did not do as well hate it.

In general I support GPA and rank calculations to have a larger, rather than smaller, sample of information.

[lawgod]

Also, I think the complaints about LRW messing up your GPA come from the occurrences of people with really good grades getting a really bad LRW grade, and the opposite.

So the students with the bad LRW grades complain it must be random, and that since the regular courses are the main part of 1L, their GPA shouldn't be brought down by LRW.
And the ones with good LRW grades laugh to the bank.

[ahduth]

A graded writing class just makes you work harder. My class was graded and I got the top grade. That has been helping me on my resume. I love it, but I am sure that people who did not do as well hate it.

In general I support GPA and rank calculations to have a larger, rather than smaller, sample of information.

I guess the question would be whether or not it's helping relative to applicants who attended schools lacking graded writing. I don't doubt that it helps in some degree, but I don't know that it will outweigh the firms' perception of school quality and such.

[BackToTheOldHouse]

I would work 80% less if it was pass fail.

And this is the other argument for LRW being graded. Thank you for presenting it in a clear and concise manner; A-.

No points off for his subjunctive fail?

Definitely points off.

[BackToTheOldHouse]

Northwestern's is graded, but not curved. The school claims that they've talked to firms and they want it, so they won't change it no matter how much the students hate it.

This graded-but-not-curved option seems like a reasonable set up. It does away with the brutality of the curve, yet retains the reward/punishment characteristic inherent in most grading schemes. Now if we could just get law schools to use this method for grading all of their 1L classes . . .