Duke Class of 2013 Forum

[quakeroats]

Small piece of advice for you 1Ls: when you are picking your classes for fall semester of 2L year, pay close attention to the finals schedule. Back to back to back to back finals are not fun.

What are your thoughts on balancing class difficulty?

I'm thinking of doing Fed Courts, Administrative Law, Evidence, and Business Associations in the Fall if they're all available.

HAHAHAHAHAhahahahaHAHAHAHAhahahahAHAHAAAA....

Yah, that plan is naive at best. You might be able to get in to all of those (although you better be quick on the refresh if you want Evidence), but there is no way I can suggest taking all of those in one semester. Especially not THAT semester. Fed courts is a 5 hour class, Evidence and BA are both 4 hours, and Administrative law is 3. That adds up to 16 hours. That hour total alone should tell you something about the feasibility of your plan. You planning on doing a journal if you get on, trying out for moot court, participating in the Jessup or Deans cups, being in any student groups next year or, I don't know, trying like mad to get a job? Not with that schedule you aren't.

I guess the feasibility of this also depends on who is teaching. I hear the Benjamin is tough for admin, and that is the low hour class. Griffin is great apparently, but according to my friend in evidence this semester, the end of the exam had more people throwing their hands up to show they had stopped typing once time had expired than he had ever seen in any other exam. So a lot of material there. I have heard BA has been a slogfest, and fed courts... well, let me just say, there is a reason it is a 5 hour class. You are just lucky Young usually teaches it in the spring. His class is 5 hours too, but he works you like it is a 8 or 9 hour class.

Although I wouldn't worry too much. The classes are bound to conflict and/or they will all fill up with me and my fellow 2Ls before you guys get a stab at them.

One other question, I know we don't release class rank, but how does one compare their GPA to median? 3.3 is the median 1st year grade, but I'd assume grades aren't evenly distributed so 3.3 probably isn't the median GPA. Do we release any GPA info at all? Latin honors? Order of the Coif? Anything?

You don't. And if employers ask, you don't. And if you are really worried about latin honors at this stage in the game, you are doing it wrong.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was only halfway serious about that schedule, but I've had a lot of fun so far this year, and I think I might be up for getting some of the more rigorous classes out of the way my 2L year.

BTW, from xoxo:

"for class of 2006:

high honors - 3.724

honors - 3.592

for class of 2008:

high honors - 3.746

honors - 3.598"

For those keeping score at home, everything short of summa ignores your 1L GPA.

[los blancos]

I'll be ecstatic to break median. Could care less about honors or any of that stuff

[quakeroats]

Small piece of advice for you 1Ls: when you are picking your classes for fall semester of 2L year, pay close attention to the finals schedule. Back to back to back to back finals are not fun.

1Ls - your job is to concentrate on 1L, part 2. Then, write a great case note. You'll figure the rest out as it comes.

Bosque is just cranky because he didn't drop products liability. The trick is to prioritize your doctrinal classes and spread them out fairly evenly over 2L and 3L so you don't have four finals in a semester. I did 3 doctrinal classes (only 10 hours) plus DLJ note (2 hours). Let's just say it was as bad as 1L, plus I'll be spending my break writing my 30-45 page student note. Professors in doctrinal classes tend to ignore the number of credits associated with their class.

Part of what made this semester so time consuming was getting used to the case method and planning out a realistic strategy to properly write an exam. I suspect that if I did it over again it would take a great deal less time, and I suspect next semester will be much less difficult, unless of course, late January provides a rude awakening.

[quakeroats]

I'll be ecstatic to break median. Could care less about honors or any of that stuff

I honestly don't know how to feel. I'm satisfied with the amount of work I've put in and what I've learned, to the point that whatever grades come out of it are less significant. However, grades do matter to me, if only as part of the struggle to succeed at something. They remind me of how much time and effort I put in, or how much time and effort I should have put in, or how unfair things are. It's unfortunate that there's a curve in play, and that by doing well--or not so well--I influence peers I care about, but such is life. When all is done, I'd like to look back and say I put all I could into law school. Grades go a long way towards providing something tangible to prove the struggle, but if my best efforts really do merit a sub-median GPA, then that's fine with me.

[los blancos]

I think that's the right way to approach it.

The only thing that kind of bothers me is that I didn't really do my best this semester. Some of it was due to circumstances outside of my control; some of it was also due to basically having to learn how it try in school because I was a slacker in high school and then just kind of cruised through undergrad. But the bottom line is that I did come to law school to learn how to think like a lawyer and learn the law and there is no doubt in my mind that has happened so far. I feel grade pressure because my circumstances dictate that I have maximum geographic flexibility and I might even need to do 3L OCI, but I don't let it bother me too much; I'm still essentially a PI person and that relies on other factors too.

Hopefully I'll put it all together next semester and if the grades come, that'll be nice. If they don't, who cares.

[eldiabloazul]

definitely going to pretend i didn't read anything related to 2L year (i thought it was supposed to get easier?!?).

as for grades this year, a few years in the working world has cured me of my former grade anxiety (i think...we'll see how i feel over break).

i know that i've put in the time and work to create some sense of satisfaction with my efforts -- so i can rest assured that whatever numbers come back, they should reflect that, for better or worse.

[DallasCowboy]

Contracts: TL;DR

[prezidentv8]

Contracts: TL;DR

I once considered, for just a brief moment, writing nothing on my Contracts final with the exception of:

"See Restatement (Second) of Contracts. See also UCC."

[Bosque]

Bosque is just cranky because he didn't drop products liability.

That was true then. Now I am cranky I chose to take Intellectual Property. Yes, even though it is kind of necessary for my chosen career. It is the last final standing between me and freedom though, so I am going to resent the hell out of it for the next 24 hours.

I am just glad I already had copyright. That is 1/3rd of the class I don't really need to study for anymore.

[quakeroats]

And that's the semester. Good work everybody, and congratulations on finishing our first semester!!

[Jericwithers]

Someone want to buy my books? Property, civ pro, and torts casebooks and numerous supplements. PM me for a list of prices, ISBNs and names.

[los blancos]

^Same as j-dub

Torts [Christie]
CivPro [Yeazell]
ConLaw [Chemerinsky]

I bought all of em new. ConLaw and CivPro are in pretty good condition, mainly just highlighting. Torts got tea spilled on it and there are around 20 pages in the middle of the book that are wrinkled but it's fully functional. I'll prolly let em go cheap as long as whoever buys em promises to let em go cheap too.

[prezidentv8]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

[thickfreakness]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

His casebook, however, is deplorable.

[quakeroats]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

His casebook, however, is deplorable.

To be fair, there's a limited selection out there. A lot of the others spend a great deal of time on alternative methods of torts analysis, i.e., Law and Economics in Epstein's casebook, that we didn't cover beyond one of Posner's cases.

[quakeroats]

BTW, books are up for spring: http://dukebooks.collegestoreonline.com ... _textbooks

[prezidentv8]

BTW, books are up for spring: http://dukebooks.collegestoreonline.com ... _textbooks

I'm still on Fall, fool! Don't be sayin that!

[Jericwithers]

BTW, books are up for spring: http://dukebooks.collegestoreonline.com ... _textbooks

Only 1 of my classes are listed. I assume that Young uses the red book for con Law, but what author does Coleman use for crim law?

[quakeroats]

BTW, books are up for spring: http://dukebooks.collegestoreonline.com ... _textbooks

Only 1 of my classes are listed. I assume that Young uses the red book for con Law, but what author does Coleman use for crim law?

Chemerinsky's casebook and supplement are about the best available, so probably.

Edit: Speaking of which, get the supplement. It's fantastic. It's the king of supplements as far as I'm concerned.

[quakeroats]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

Can you or Bosque go over how we get grades back? When? Do they drop the whole graded thing in our folders or do you just see the grade on the website? If the latter do you ever see the graded exam, is it professor specific, etc.?

[los blancos]

Edit: Speaking of which, get the supplement. It's fantastic. It's the king of supplements as far as I'm concerned.

Funny, I didn't really think it was very useful but I might've been using it wrong then.

[Bosque]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

Can you or Bosque go over how we get grades back? When? Do they drop the whole graded thing in our folders or do you just see the grade on the website? If the latter do you ever see the graded exam, is it professor specific, etc.?

Unless you go into the professor's office hours and ask to go over it, you will never again see your exams again. They upload the grades onto Aces about midway through next semester. They are supposed to email you when it happens, but if I remember correctly the grades were up for a few days before they did so last year. Trust me, though, you will find out when grades are posted.

I think most professors will go over the grades with you, but don't expect to be able to argue points. Your grade is your grade.

It's the king of supplements as far as I'm concerned.

Also, LIES AND SLANDER good sir! The king of supplements is of course the boat book. No pretenders to the throne tolerated.

[quakeroats]

[Christie]

That guy is freaking awesome.

Can you or Bosque go over how we get grades back? When? Do they drop the whole graded thing in our folders or do you just see the grade on the website? If the latter do you ever see the graded exam, is it professor specific, etc.?

Unless you go into the professor's office hours and ask to go over it, you will never again see your exams again. They upload the grades onto Aces about midway through next semester. They are supposed to email you when it happens, but if I remember correctly the grades were up for a few days before they did so last year. Trust me, though, you will find out when grades are posted.

I think most professors will go over the grades with you, but don't expect to be able to argue points. Your grade is your grade.

It's the king of supplements as far as I'm concerned.

Also, LIES AND SLANDER good sir! The king of supplements is of course the boat book. No pretenders to the throne tolerated.

I hope they let us have a copy.

[Bosque]

I hope they let us have a copy.

A copy? Of your exam? Highly unlikely.

[quakeroats]

I hope they let us have a copy.

A copy? Of your exam? Highly unlikely.

The archivist in me is very sad.