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Hi all,

Recently finished strongly this past semester. At a T-2 at a school that dominates the small market with ties to other nearby cities. 3.4 GPA, Highest grade award, top 10-15%, Law review, etc (Median is a 2.8 here). One issue is that I received a C+ in my legal writing class. I've spoken with the professor in the hopes of getting the grade bumped up as I'm very, very close to a B-, but she won't budge.

Does this effectively torpedo my OCI chances because of that grade, regardless of all my other A's? I am currently working this summer and getting paid decently for my market, but I'd like to summer at a larger firm next summer in, of course, the hopes of getting hired, but now I feel like my chances are completely obliterated. I'm not going to drop out, nor am I trying to make $160k. Really just trying to keep a 1:1 salary/debt ratio upon graduation, i.e. $70-80k. I'm prepping cover letters and will be attempting to mass mail some areas I have no ties, i.e. NY and Chicago. I am aware Chicago is a tough nut to crack, but it is close and I'd rather work in those two markets if I had to, though i have no problem staying in my current market. I'm also going to networking events and trying to set up meetings with folks to build some connections. Any advice or stories of success?

Thank you all for being a huge help.

Why would one bad grade kill your chances? Do you ever see ads posted that say "only top 10% that did well in Legal Writing"? No. It's all about your actual rank, and not really how you got there.

I would guess it won't hurt too badly since it's just a below-median grade at your school. I agree with kalvano that it won't detract from your overall GPA, except obviously to the extent that it's lower as a result. If you were at a school with a B-to-B+ median and C+'s were discretionary, then I'd think a grade like that might raise some eyebrows in its own right.

Anyway, nothing you can do about it now. Don't make excuses for it or bring it up preemptively, but have something prepared to say in case anyone asks "what happened?" in interviews, since it's a notable outlier on your transcript, despite not being an objectively terrible grade.