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I have a 3.9 gpa in sciences and i got an A in 1st year economics, but i am afraid of taking writing intensive courses and getting low Bs or even high Cs. Should i take an english course to see if i have the writing skills to excel in Law school or just worry about keeping my gpa high. I do well on science related writing assignments (lab reports, proposals, etc.) but haven't tried any english course yet. How do Law schools look at a cr/ no credit course without a percentage? Thanks in advance.

uoft9919 wrote:I have a 3.9 gpa in sciences and i got an A in 1st year economics, but i am afraid of taking writing intensive courses and getting low Bs or even high Cs. Should i take an english course to see if i have the writing skills to excel in Law school or just worry about keeping my gpa high. I do well on science related writing assignments (lab reports, proposals, etc.) but haven't tried any english course yet. How do Law schools look at a cr/ no credit course without a percentage? Thanks in advance.

Keep the GPA high. CR/NCR an English course to meet girls and for a little writing practice. I CR/NCR'd a number of rhetoric/writing courses with no adverse effects on my cycle.

Do you think that if I get a C or low B is a sign that i can not be competitive during law school.

uoft9919 wrote:I have a 3.9 gpa in sciences and i got an A in 1st year economics, but i am afraid of taking writing intensive courses and getting low Bs or even high Cs. Should i take an english course to see if i have the writing skills to excel in Law school or just worry about keeping my gpa high. I do well on science related writing assignments (lab reports, proposals, etc.) but haven't tried any english course yet. How do Law schools look at a cr/ no credit course without a percentage? Thanks in advance.

You might want to take a few writing courses. Being a lawyer, after all, requires a lot of writing. Taking these courses will let the adcomms knows that you have both critical thinking and written communication skills. Also, the courses will improve your written communication skills, which is, needless to say, a great thing. Even if you do get a B or C (although hopefully you will not, because you should be able to write well) it is unlikely to be significantly detrimental to your GPA. Have alittle faith in yourself.

And no, I do not think getting a B or C is a sign that you will not, or cannot, be competitive during law school. BTW, great job on the 3.9 science GPA. OChem was my lowest grade in college (C in class, A in lab) Damn you OChem!

uoft9919 wrote:Do you think that if I get a C or low B is a sign that i can not be competitive during law school.

Not to mention, if you do well on your written assignments in science courses, it is unlikely that you will do that poorly in non-science writing classes. Yes, I realize the two types of writing are very different from one another (have experience in both science and non-science writing classes), but science professors tend to grade rather harshly on writing assignments, because they realize the importance of written communication. No one will publish a terribly written study on anything in the science community, even if the research is groundbreaking (it will have to be re-written ).

uoft9919 wrote:Do you think that if I get a C or low B is a sign that i can not be competitive during law school.

Pass/fail it if you are worried about it. Or see how your first assignment turns out and then P/F, if you perform poorly

Please take at least a couple of writing-intensive courses. It really shocks me to see how poorly a lot of supposedly intelligent and well-educated people write. No matter how complex and sophisticated the goings-on in your head are they're ultimately useless if you fail to express them effectively. Writing well takes practice like any other skill. I don't care if you take the classes for credit or not, but don't deprive yourself of that valuable practice.

Great advice thanks. I might take a cr/ncr first and depending on how i do this summer i may take another next year with an actual mark.

Take at least on argument and persuasion class. I am so glad a took this class freshman year; it did wonders for classes that required research papers (at least so far).

I actually think scientific writing is just as good if not better than english writing for lawyers. Real legal writing is more about precision and clarity than creativity and rhetorical devices. Science writing is all about precision. If you want a nice middle ground take some upper-level econ courses. Most of those classes involve a few minor and at least one major paper. Econ writing is a much closer approximation to legal writing that what you will likely be doing in an English class.

tkgrrett wrote:I actually think scientific writing is just as good if not better than english writing for lawyers. Real legal writing is more about precision and clarity than creativity and rhetorical devices. Science writing is all about precision. If you want a nice middle ground take some upper-level econ courses. Most of those classes involve a few minor and at least one major paper. Econ writing is a much closer approximation to legal writing that what you will likely be doing in an English class.

I am going to have to disagree, to a point. The legal writing that I have encountered has been pretty rhetorical.

uoft9919 wrote:Do you think that if I get a C or low B is a sign that i can not be competitive during law school.

I think you have to be retarded to get a C in an undergrad writing class.

Seriously they aren't that hard. Stay away from creative type of courses.

Try a business writing course. Getting an A in that was like stealing candy from Sarah Palin's Baby.

Which would you think is most beneficial?

http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/o ... m#INI103H1

uoft9919 wrote:Which would you think is most beneficial?

http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/o ... m#INI103H1

"Foundations of Written Discourse" FTW

uoft9919 wrote:Which would you think is most beneficial?

http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/o ... m#INI103H1

In my experience, the best courses I got to take were "Special Topics" courses. In those the professor usually selects the curriculum based upon their own interests and expertise which translates to a much better experience. However, if you're going to take a special-topics course in department you are not familiar with, make it a point to visit the professor of the course you think you're interested in beforehand and ask them about it. You don't want it to be the middle of the semester before you realize that you've gotten yourself into something which wasn't at all what you wanted or expected.

As Chef would say, "17."

eudaimondaimon wrote:

uoft9919 wrote:Which would you think is most beneficial?

http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/o ... m#INI103H1

In my experience, the best courses I got to take were "Special Topics" courses. In those the professor usually selects the curriculum based upon their own interests and expertise which translates to a much better experience. However, if you're going to take a special-topics course in department you are not familiar with, make it a point to visit the professor of the course you think you're interested in beforehand and ask them about it. You don't want it to be the middle of the semester before you realize that you've gotten yourself into something which wasn't at all what you wanted or expected.

Aren't special topics courses usually more directed towards students with experience in said subject though? It may be a mistake for the OP to sign up for a special topic in English course without taking any introductory courses.

Clever_User_Name wrote:

eudaimondaimon wrote:

uoft9919 wrote:Which would you think is most beneficial?

http://www.artsandscience.utoronto.ca/o ... m#INI103H1

In my experience, the best courses I got to take were "Special Topics" courses. In those the professor usually selects the curriculum based upon their own interests and expertise which translates to a much better experience. However, if you're going to take a special-topics course in department you are not familiar with, make it a point to visit the professor of the course you think you're interested in beforehand and ask them about it. You don't want it to be the middle of the semester before you realize that you've gotten yourself into something which wasn't at all what you wanted or expected.

Aren't special topics courses usually more directed towards students with experience in said subject though? It may be a mistake for the OP to sign up for a special topic in English course without taking any introductory courses.

A greater portion of them may be, but that's part of the reason why I advised the OP to discuss it with the relevant professor before registering for it.

Thanks guys! I will definitely ask the course coordinator what her advice is. But, i'm not sure that these courses are too advanced since they are second year (2XX) and don't have require any prerequisites. But these are the kind of writing courses that would prepare me/ are closest to the law school writing style.

uoft9919 wrote:Do you think that if I get a C or low B is a sign that i can not be competitive during law school.

If the C or B is in a writing intensive course, yes. Absolutely yes.

How many hot women do you want to meet in class? For every hot chick you want to meet you need to take 1 to .25 writing classes depending on your game. Since you are a science guy, it will probably be 1.

TCR is to not take any non-science courses, and to go to grad school for something other than law.

...or do this:

kittenmittons wrote:Keep the GPA high. CR/NCR an English course to meet girls and for a little writing practice.

What did successful science UG law students do?

uoft9919 wrote:What did successful science UG law students do?

Why can't you write? I was an engineering student and I got A's in my writing courses. The stereotype of the engineer as a poor writer holds, but if you put effort into it you can get an A.

Take business writing.

Desert Fox wrote:

uoft9919 wrote:What did successful science UG law students do?

Why can't you write? I was an engineering student and I got A's in my writing courses. The stereotype of the engineer as a poor writer holds, but if you put effort into it you can get an A.

Take business writing.

It's not that I can't write, its that I'm afraid of writing and getting a bad mark. So the reason I posted here was two-fold: 1. to ask what mark in a writing course is a sign that i lack the skills to succeed in law school and in the real word and 2. Does it look bad electing for the credit/ no credit option when doing the writing course. If i take 5 courses including a cr/ncr do the law schools view it 4 courses b/c they assume i didn't work hard in it or something along those lines.