how to play off getting a C in one of your classes? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Blanked on one of my exams and got a C (the other classes were either As or B+s). Anyway to address this bad grade with employers?

[Aberzombie1892]

Blanked on one of my exams and got a C (the other classes were either As or B+s). Anyway to address this bad grade with employers?

I'm sure that there are ways to address it. However I would consider not drawing attention to it.

They will know you have a C. There are no magic words to make it better.

[imchuckbass58]

They will know you have a C. There are no magic words to make it better.

I agree with this. Trying to explain it away is bad because 1) it makes you sound defensive and arouses suspicion, and 2) I'm assuming you don't actually have a good reason for why you got a C.

If your other grades are good, let them speak for themselves. Most employers will assume you are generally smart and just blew an exam.

[Mal]

On what curve? I wouldn't worry too much if its on a low curve (since there is nothing you can do), and just say you had a bad day.

[fwaam]

I would never bring that up. If the employer asks you about it, be honest. The truth is, it's one class, it could have been a bad professor or any number of things, and I'd be surprised if an employer did bring it up with you. Besides, as was mentioned above, you don't have any mitigating circumstances (along the lines of breaking your arm the day before or something), so explaining that you blanked on an exam isn't going to help you.

[d34d9823]

I would never bring that up. If the employer asks you about it, be honest. The truth is, it's one class, it could have been a bad professor or any number of things, and I'd be surprised if an employer did bring it up with you. Besides, as was mentioned above, you don't have any mitigating circumstances (along the lines of breaking your arm the day before or something), so explaining that you blanked on an exam isn't going to help you.

TITCR. Attempting to say "well, I blanked" or something similar is immediately going to raise the question "is there a possibility of you 'blanking' on critical work for us?"

[mnewboldc]

Make no mistake: depending on what your class curve is, a single C can destroy you at OCI. Or at least it really hurt the kids at my school who had one.

Whether you want to "avoid" the grade or not, any decision to invite you for a callback from OCI typically comes down to a handful of people in a room looking at your credentials cold. One of them has conducted your screening interview, the rest of them have not. Typically the screener's recommendation is weighted heavily but if you don't give your screener a reason to ignore that grade, well, why should they hire you over someone with otherwise identical credentials who didn't completely screw up one exam?

One way around this is to try to do work in the area of law that that "C" grade covers. Then at interviews, you can demonstrate your comprehension of the subject matter in a more complex, meaningful, and practical way. If you do that, employers will be more willing to write off your performance as a bad hair day.

[Posner]

...

[IzziesGal]

Rule 1 - If they don't bring it up, you shouldn't either.

Rule 2 - Don't say anything like "I blanked," "I had a bad professor," etc. Don't say anything that sounds like you shifting the blame or passing it off on someone else or something else. Not even if you learned from it. Spin it into a positive. Say something like "I learned a lot in that class and my grade is not reflective of my ability. I am very well versed in the topic and really enjoyed my class this semester."

Done and done.

[mikehoe]

i have a million C's. what do i do?

[mnewboldc]

Posner you misunderstood my post.

There's a difference between volunteering information about your aptitude vis a vis a certain course in a vaccuum, and bringing it up in the context of the invariable "how did you like your your summer job at x," "tell me about the work you did at your summer job," etc. Questions like that serve as open invitations to talk about your ability to apply your knowledge of the law to the practical arena, and if you're able to integrate an explanation of the work you performed with a more complex discussion of the law in a subject that you did poorly in, you're setting yourself up to be able to say something like "I felt more at home in the practice of discipline x, instead of the theory of discipline x."

If you do it this way, you've implicitly answered their question about your low grade and won't get asked about it later in the interview, whether they were planning on asking about it or not.

[Posner]

...

[Rocky Estoppel]

Tell them you had diarrhea during the exam and you just wanted to get out of there before you pooped your pants. When they stare at you, stare back intensely and say "Seriously. It happened."

[Voyager]

Rule 1 - If they don't bring it up, you shouldn't either.

Rule 2 - Don't say anything like "I blanked," "I had a bad professor," etc. Don't say anything that sounds like you shifting the blame or passing it off on someone else or something else. Not even if you learned from it. Spin it into a positive. Say something like "I learned a lot in that class and my grade is not reflective of my ability. I am very well versed in the topic and really enjoyed my class this semester."

Done and done.

Agree with all of that. You want the interview to spend as little time as possible on this subject (hopefully zero). If they weren't going to hire you because of a C, nothing you say will change their minds... on the other hand you can certainly talk yourself out of a job if they are on the fence.