Seminars to boost GPA? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I want to go into plaintiff’s side employment litigation. I can picture being happy in other areas, but it is what I am shooting for and I have no interest in big law. My school has a “suggested” curve after 1L, but looking at historical trends I noticed they essentially follow the “suggested” curve to a T besides seminars where it seems almost everyone gets an “A.”

Should I go for classes that’d make sense for me such as evidence, employment law, employment discrimination, etc……. or should I try to load up on seminars to boost gpa?

[LawIdiot86]

There are no seminars remotely related to employment law? If not, I would do the seminars and then intern at something that screams employment law.

[Anonymous User]

There are no seminars remotely related to employment law?

This. Are there no seminars that cover broad topics that are applicable to nearly all areas of law?

Also, I've never had an interviewer say "oh you took this class, that's good because that's what we do," but I have had an interviewer say "wow you did really well in this class" even though the class wasn't really what the firm did. My opinion is that employers generally care less about what courses you took and more about the gpa you got in those classes.

[Myself]

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[LawIdiot86]

It's also worth noting that any sort of graduation honors (latin or otherwise) are always worth more than specific courses. A high GPA is good, but latin honors are the kind of thing that gets listed in your bio for years.

[09042014]

Take employment and employment discriination, but then load up on easy a's.

[Anonymous User]

There are no seminars remotely related to employment law?

This. Are there no seminars that cover broad topics that are applicable to nearly all areas of law?

Also, I've never had an interviewer say "oh you took this class, that's good because that's what we do," but I have had an interviewer say "wow you did really well in this class" even though the class wasn't really what the firm did. My opinion is that employers generally care less about what courses you took and more about the gpa you got in those classes.

Really? I made this huge mistake during undergrad were I didn't research professors and I just enrolled in any course I found interesting or convenient. In LS I'll chose courses that maximizes the probability of attaining a decent GPA.

[nevdash]

It's also worth noting that any sort of graduation honors (latin or otherwise) are always worth more than specific courses. A high GPA is good, but latin honors are the kind of thing that gets listed in your bio for years.

So if you're on the cutoff between magna/cum laude and you fall just on the cum laude side, does it make a huge difference to employers? Like if magna = 3.72 and you're at a 3.70 compared to another candidate from the same school who has a 3.72, do they see you as merely 0.02 worse than the other candidate, or does the fact that the other candidate is magna add any more value on top of the raw 0.02 GPA difference?

[Myself]

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[Green Crayons]

If you want to clerk for a judge, they will scrutinize your transcript -- including what classes you take. If you take too many fluff classes, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Employers generally vary in terms of what degree of scrutiny they give your classes taken. Balancing fluff seminars with practical experience -- think externships and clinics -- can certainly help smooth things over.

Finally, be wary of seminars. Ask other students, those who took that class with that professor, what the grading was like. I got burned a few times by seminars that everyone understood to be easy As. Everyone but the professor, that is.

[Anonymous User]

Take employment and employment discriination, but then load up on easy a's.

OP here

What about evidence? Its my understand that its pretty much needed for a litigator

[Anonymous User]

If you want to clerk for a judge, they will scrutinize your transcript -- including what classes you take. If you take too many fluff classes, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Employers generally vary in terms of what degree of scrutiny they give your classes taken. Balancing fluff seminars with practical experience -- think externships and clinics -- can certainly help smooth things over.

Finally, be wary of seminars. Ask other students, those who took that class with that professor, what the grading was like. I got burned a few times by seminars that everyone understood to be easy As. Everyone but the professor, that is.

OP here again, I'm going by published curves of a professor for that class / I signed up for seminars that SOUND legitimate (no Women's space law history) but have nice curves...

[09042014]

Take employment and employment discriination, but then load up on easy a's.

OP here

What about evidence? Its my understand that its pretty much needed for a litigator

You'll learn it for the bar anyway. Take it if you want. Maybe wait a bit. You want a mix of junk and real each semester.

[Anonymous User]

Take employment and employment discriination, but then load up on easy a's.

OP here

What about evidence? Its my understand that its pretty much needed for a litigator

You'll learn it for the bar anyway. Take it if you want. Maybe wait a bit. You want a mix of junk and real each semester.

Thanks... TENTATIVE plan:
4 semesters left, 2 required classes, employment / employment discrimination

Do journal or moot court / clinic and balance rest with seminars... insert 1 of 4 "Traditional" classes into each semester. Only having 1 final a semester sounds awesome. Take seminars that relate to litigation / employment