Penn Law Honors Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any data points for cum laude?

[Anonymous User]

As I look over the honors lists, it's mind-boggling to me how many magnas struck out on clerkships thanks to our clerkship office. So glad to be done with this place.

[Anonymous User]

Any data points for cum laude?

What happened to collegiality :/

[Anonymous User]

3.67, not cum

[Anonymous User]

Oh man I was late to the TLS Wax discussion. Still laughing my *** off to this article: https://reason.com/volokh/2022/01/18/a- ... f-amy-wax/

[Anonymous User]

Any cutoff data points that anyone would like to share?

3.83 was enough for cum but not magna.

[Anonymous User]

Have we ever hypothesized about whether Penn accounts for LPS Honors in their GPA cutoffs? I'm wondering how someone with 3.83 could not make magna but someone with 3.85 could make magna and coif. That would be an extraordinary amount of 3.84s in the middle...

[Anonymous User]

3.83 student - did you have substantial number of ungraded credits?

[Anonymous User]

3.83 student - did you have substantial number of ungraded credits?

Not the poster you responded to, but I had right around a 3.83 as well and also only got cum. I took almost entirely graded credits, and the majority of my classes were black letter law classes. Pretty wild that 3.83 was only cum 3.85 was enough for coif.

[Anonymous User]

3.83 student - did you have substantial number of ungraded credits?

Not the poster you responded to, but I had right around a 3.83 as well and also only got cum. I took almost entirely graded credits, and the majority of my classes were black letter law classes. Pretty wild that 3.83 was only cum 3.85 was enough for coif.

Did you get LPS honors?

[Anonymous User]

3.83 student - did you have substantial number of ungraded credits?

Not the poster you responded to, but I had right around a 3.83 as well and also only got cum. I took almost entirely graded credits, and the majority of my classes were black letter law classes. Pretty wild that 3.83 was only cum 3.85 was enough for coif.

Did you get LPS honors?

Yes, doubt it mattered. Pretty sure it’s a straight GPA calculation across the board. The fact that we don’t know how it’s calculated is pretty silly. But my guess is just straight gpa with no qualifiers at all. I also would like to know just to make sure the school doesn’t ever make a mistake. I don’t think they ever do but it’s not exactly a crazy concern. I know multiple people who were given the wrong grade before for a class and it was only corrected because they found out when they reached out to talk with the professors about their performance. And our clerkship office has made similar mistakes when mailing clerkship apps.

[Anonymous User]

3.87 was sufficient for magna and Coif. Relatively few ungraded credits and way over the credit minimum, with a mix of doctrinal/doctrinal adjacent classes (think Antitrust, Corps, M&A, etc.) and seminars that weren’t stupid. Not a litigator, so I avoided the notorious GPA bombs (Fed Courts, Crim Pro, etc.). I’ll be the first to say it: this system is far from fair.

[Anonymous User]

3.97 was not enough for summa

[Anonymous User]

3.87 was sufficient for magna and Coif. Relatively few ungraded credits and way over the credit minimum, with a mix of doctrinal/doctrinal adjacent classes (think Antitrust, Corps, M&A, etc.) and seminars that weren’t stupid. Not a litigator, so I avoided the notorious GPA bombs (Fed Courts, Crim Pro, etc.). I’ll be the first to say it: this system is far from fair.

3.867 (no LPS honors and no A+s) was enough for me to get magna, but not Order of the Coif. So I think the cutoff between magna and coif is right between us.

[Anonymous User]

How does the school calculate for honors when half the doctrinals haven’t released grades yet?

[Anonymous User]

How does the school calculate for honors when half the doctrinals haven’t released grades yet?

3L grades are due the Monday following final exams. Professors are told which exam #s need to be graded by then.

[Anonymous User]

If we got Order of the Coif, does anyone know what actually happens with that? Is it just a line on our resume/transcript forever or is there an actual order to join lol?

[Anonymous User]

How are transfers calculated? Surely not on upper levels and seminars alone....

[Anonymous User]

Still wondering why this is in the employment forum...

Mods?

[Anonymous User]

4.1 not enough for cum

[Anonymous User]

If we got Order of the Coif, does anyone know what actually happens with that? Is it just a line on our resume/transcript forever or is there an actual order to join lol?

In theory, you're inducted into the national order. Should come with a certificate etc. But since Penn is allergic to anything that might suggest that one student is better than another, I don't think we'll ever see any of the Coif-related stuff that students at other schools get.

[Anonymous User]

I am glad I found this forum. I often feel like I am the odd one out in regretting coming to Penn over peer schools, and none of my friends take a critical eye to how this school operates (beyond Amy Wax, perhaps).

I don't regret it for a moment. We're way better off—in my opinion—than most of our peer schools on a day-to-day basis when it comes to most things. Poke around this forum a bit more and you'll see what I mean.

I'm very critical of the school's approach to blackbox everything, and OCS sucks. No institution is perfect. But I'm damn glad I came to school here over, say, NYU or something.

I agree that Penn is better run on a day-to-day basis but ultimately I care about career and academic issues more than a "collegial environment."

I tend to think that the frustrations experienced at Penn are likely similar to varying degrees to those experienced at other similar “elite” institutions (notwithstanding variations in policy that make NYU, CLS, etc better/worse in certain regards). Bottom line, these institutions are wholly unimpressive once you peel back the very flimsy veneer of prestige. They’re filled with sad and incompetent administrators who, generally speaking, add zero value. They exist solely to collect a bloated paycheck in exchange for the bare minimum of work, and extracting value out of any of them feels like pulling teeth. Try calling the registrar and asking the most basic of questions. They answer the phone as though their dog just died and their tone throughout the conversation gets progressively worse, seemingly unaware that they effectively work for the students whose tuition checks support their cushy little “jobs”.

This perfectly describes Felicia Lin

Yikes that she was promoted