How do you explain not so strong grades? Forum

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:12 pm

Any thoughts/feedback as to the best way to convey this?

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:20 pm

Unless you have a phenomenally good excuse (such as, "My mom was murdered the night before my exams, and I had to stay up all night to identify the body."), don't bother. It is unlikely that anyone will actually ask you to explain poor grades (certainly I would never ask the question in an interview), and in the rare circumstance that they do, you can say something relatively standard about speaking with professors and working out what went wrong and pivot to your strengths. If you do actually have poor grades, the last thing you want to do is spend any time at all in an interview discussing them unless forced. Talk about something positive--work experience, an internship, your legal writing class, a shared love of cats, whatever.

smiles123 · Post by **smiles123** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:23 pm

You don't.

You try and make up for them with an incredibly high LSAT.

encore1101 · Post by **encore1101** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:25 pm

Anonymous User wrote:You don't.

You try and make up for them with an incredibly high LSAT.

Law School Admissions Forum =/= Legal Employment Forum

jbagelboy · Post by **jbagelboy** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:27 pm

For what type of job

BenJ · Post by **BenJ** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:27 pm

encore1101 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You don't.

You try and make up for them with an incredibly high LSAT.

Law School Admissions Forum =/= Legal Employment Forum

I'd like to see someone try that in a job interview, though. "You know, I was bottom 10% after 1L year, but I was above my law school's 75th percentile LSAT score!"

Spoiler alert: It wouldn't work.

84651846190 · Post by **84651846190** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:28 pm

I assume you're talking about law school grades.

Don't bring your grades up at all. If your grades are brought up by an interviewer, and if you went to a good law school, you could indirectly convey the fact that your classmates weren't a bunch of retards. For example, you could talk about how much you enjoyed your clinic regarding [fill in the blank] because you got to work with fellow students who are now doing [something prestigious]. Or you could talk about how great certain classes were that you took from high-profile professors (and hopefully get a recommendation from one of your professors in spite of a bad grade). I definitely wouldn't come out and say "BUT I WENT TO A GOOD LAW SCHOOL WHERE IT'S HARD TO GET TOP GRADES!" However, I think subtle reminders that you didn't go to Santa Clara for law school are okay.

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:30 pm

A Firm.

encore1101 · Post by **encore1101** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:43 pm

BenJ wrote:
encore1101 wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:You don't.

You try and make up for them with an incredibly high LSAT.

Law School Admissions Forum =/= Legal Employment Forum
I'd like to see someone try that in a job interview, though. "You know, I was bottom 10% after 1L year, but I was above my law school's 75th percentile LSAT score!"

Spoiler alert: It wouldn't work.

"Yeah, I may have gotten a cumulative 2.6, but I took the LSAT again after 3L, and I got 178!"

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:56 pm

The issue here is not about gaining admission into law school. It is for legal employment.

What if the employer have brought it up?

Anonymous User · Post by **Anonymous User** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 3:02 pm

Anonymous User wrote:The issue here is not about gaining admission into law school. It is for legal employment.

What if the employer have brought it up?

Don't try to explain the grades. Try to explain what you did afterwards to correct the problem. ("I spoke with my professors and discussed what went wrong, and I'm working on correcting the issue this semester.")

If you've already graduated and just have bad grades overall, there's still no "explanation". If you're asked, say you think your other qualifications for the job (whatever they are) better reflect your abilities for X/Y/Z reasons, which will depend on what those other qualifications are.

minnbills · Post by **minnbills** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 3:10 pm

Do better, then say it took you a while to figure law school out. Also, if the question comes up, that is a good time to highlight your qualifications for the particular job.

mephistopheles · Post by **mephistopheles** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:08 pm

blame it on your classmates and their incessant abuse of adderall and vyvance, etc

GOATlawman · Post by **GOATlawman** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:40 pm

mephistopheles wrote:blame it on your classmates and their incessant abuse of adderall and vyvance, etc

adderall supply ran out just before finals would be more credible

Pikappraider · Post by **Pikappraider** » Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:21 am

just focus on your work experience or whatever else you bring to the table. If you are k-jd kinda fucked i guess

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