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smizmar wrote:My school does cutoffs at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 33.3%. I fall in the middle of these. For the sake of my explanation, say my gpa is very close to top 15%, but not. My issue is whether or not I write my rank as:

" GPA (This GPA is top 15%)"

or

" GPA (Top 20%)"

Obviously neither of them are a lie, but I am not sure how this will be seen by employers. I want to get across that I am closer to the top 15% than the top 20%, but I am not sure how to accomplish that without sounding disingenuous. What say you?

(This is mostly for clerkships)

smizmar wrote:When I write "This GPA" in the first one, I am going to write the cutoff GPA, not my own.

Also, I know I am near one cutoff and not the other because I know my GPA and I know the requisite GPAs for both cutoffs.

For example... if 3.56 is top 15% and 3.40 is top 20% and you have a 3.54... you know you are very close to the top 15%.

G. T. L. Rev. wrote:I am currently clerking for a federal appellate judge and have been looking on and off at applications. We won't be hiring until the plan, however, so I haven't been paying close attention.

From what I have seen, people handle your situation both ways, and I think both are fine. Personally, I would choose the "top 20%" approach, since it looks like less of a stretch and thus leaves you with more overall credibility in the reader's eyes. As a third option, you could say: "GPA X.XX (top 20% cutoff: X.YY)."

Regardless of what you do, definitely make it easy to identif your approximate rank. It is beyond annoying to have to search through an app for an indication of class standing. If you are at a school that doesn't give out class standing info, try to at least include the grading scale/curve with your transcript. And for the love, if you attend Chicago, Boalt, or one of the other schools with a non-traditional grading scheme, try to convince your recommenders to comment on where you stand in their letters of recommendation. Otherwise, you are at risk of being passed over simply because nobody can tell how good your grades are.

G. T. L. Rev. wrote:I am currently clerking for a federal appellate judge and have been looking on and off at applications. We won't be hiring until the plan, however, so I haven't been paying close attention.

From what I have seen, people handle your situation both ways, and I think both are fine. Personally, I would choose the "top 20%" approach, since it looks like less of a stretch and thus leaves you with more overall credibility in the reader's eyes. As a third option, you could say: "GPA X.XX (top 20% cutoff: X.YY)."

Regardless of what you do, definitely make it easy to identif your approximate rank. It is beyond annoying to have to search through an app for an indication of class standing. If you are at a school that doesn't give out class standing info, try to at least include the grading scale/curve with your transcript. And for the love, if you attend Chicago, Boalt, or one of the other schools with a non-traditional grading scheme, try to convince your recommenders to comment on where you stand in their letters of recommendation. Otherwise, you are at risk of being passed over simply because nobody can tell how good your grades are.

G. T. L. Rev. wrote: smoosh! GTL, Grenade launchers....

G. T. L. Rev. wrote: Regardless of what you do, definitely make it easy to identif your approximate rank. It is beyond annoying to have to search through an app for an indication of class standing. If you are at a school that doesn't give out class standing info, try to at least include the grading scale/curve with your transcript. And for the love, if you attend Chicago, Boalt, or one of the other schools with a non-traditional grading scheme, try to convince your recommenders to comment on where you stand in their letters of recommendation. Otherwise, you are at risk of being passed over simply because nobody can tell how good your grades are.

Bosque wrote:

G. T. L. Rev. wrote: Regardless of what you do, definitely make it easy to identif your approximate rank. It is beyond annoying to have to search through an app for an indication of class standing. If you are at a school that doesn't give out class standing info, try to at least include the grading scale/curve with your transcript. And for the love, if you attend Chicago, Boalt, or one of the other schools with a non-traditional grading scheme, try to convince your recommenders to comment on where you stand in their letters of recommendation. Otherwise, you are at risk of being passed over simply because nobody can tell how good your grades are.

Do not, I repeat, do NOT do the bolded with out talking to your CSO first. At a lot of schools that do not rank, it is an honor code violation to speculate as to what your rank might be. Honor Code violations are serious buisness, and you do not want to get one.