Duke Class of 2013 Forum

[Bosque]

I am pretty sure they don't know your grades, but then again I didn't participate in 1L OCI. From what I have heard, it is a big waste of time. No one gets a job out of it. I worked at a firm 1L summer, but I found that job through Simplicity. Other people I know who worked at firms mostly got it through mailing. Both are generally more fruitful options.

[beantowngunnahh]

This is torture.

I GOTS TO KNOW!!

[quakeroats]

This is torture.

I GOTS TO KNOW!!

Perhaps if we sacrifice a 2L the registrar will be appeased.

[Jericwithers]

Shits real now. *F5*

[Bosque]

This is torture.

I GOTS TO KNOW!!

Perhaps if we sacrifice a 2L the registrar will be appeased.

No, we are jaded and scarred. Damaged goods. Not a suitable sacrifice for the almighty registrar.

Now a 0L...

[Bosque]

I wonder if they will post the winter session grades too.

[Bosque]

Damn it, I was happier not knowing for sure when they would be out. Now I am all anxious, even though I know there is no logical reason to be. It ain't helping me.

Grrrrrr......

[prezidentv8]

Damn it, I was happier not knowing for sure when they would be out. Now I am all anxious, even though I know there is no logical reason to be. It ain't helping me.

Grrrrrr......

I had a prof walk by me in the hall and say (paraphrased) "nice job on the exam." I am hoping he remembered who I was, because if he didn't, that's going to be some serious disappointment in a couple hours.

[Bosque]

They are up. Gaze upon your works, ye cocky, and despair.

[quakeroats]

They are up. Gaze upon your works, ye cocky, and despair.

A 1.0 means I'm number 1, right?

[Reedie]

Grades are out. Lol, this feels all awkward now because I'm not interested in comparing grades, but I want to make sure everyone is ok. I'm ok. No thoughts of suicide, dropping out, etc...

I hope everyone is fine, and if you didn't do as well as you hoped, please don't freak out. Take it from someone older than most of you, nothing is as important as it seems.

[Jericwithers]

Grades are out. Lol, this feels all awkward now because I'm not interested in comparing grades, but I want to make sure everyone is ok. I'm ok. No thoughts of suicide, dropping out, etc...

I hope everyone is fine, and if you didn't do as well as you hoped, please don't freak out. Take it from someone older than most of you, nothing is as important as it seems.

So that means living isn't that important? Seems important, but I guess if you say otherwise.....

Hope everyone did well

[Chairman]

Grades suck (in general...which is not to say that my own don't suck too...)

[poprox]

So the exam I was sure I nailed I totally bombed, and teh one I thought I bombed I aced. huh.

[prezidentv8]

So the exam I was sure I nailed I totally bombed, and teh one I thought I bombed I aced. huh.

This semester, that was me.

[quakeroats]

So the exam I was sure I nailed I totally bombed, and teh one I thought I bombed I aced. huh.

This semester, that was me.

+1

[los blancos]

So the exam I was sure I nailed I totally bombed, and teh one I thought I bombed I aced. huh.

I got totally pwnt on an exam I thought I did ok on (but really I'm not surprised). But I was right about what my highest grade would be.


I think I can do better but I'm satisfied. And there are far more important things in life... like Mock Trial.



I know it varies a lot, but anyone have any idea what kind of grades would set the floor for a serious shot at DOJ Honors from Duke? What's top third here?

[thickfreakness]

I wish we knew, or could even speculate, as to the grade levels that correspond to particular class ranks.

[Flanker1067]

Well they tell us median, which is all I need to know.

[someones alt]

Are the honors cutoffs from prior years not good enough to get a sense of where you stand? I really don't understand curves.

[quakeroats]

Are the honors cutoffs from prior years not good enough to get a sense of where you stand? I really don't understand curves.

Probably not, as they're only supposed to account for 2L and 3L grades and the median for many classes increases after 1L.

[thickfreakness]

Are the honors cutoffs from prior years not good enough to get a sense of where you stand? I really don't understand curves.

Not sure that they're instructive for 1L grades since the curve gets looser for 2L and 3L years. But where is that information, anyway?

[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.

Here are the cutoffs according to someone on xoxo.

[someones alt]

Are the honors cutoffs from prior years not good enough to get a sense of where you stand? I really don't understand curves.

Not sure that they're instructive for 1L grades since the curve gets looser for 2L and 3L years. But where is that information, anyway?

quaker posted it a few pages back:

edited out since i got beaten to the punch


So there is no way to extrapolate? I mean, I guess we can reason that a 3.6 1L year is slightly better than top 1/3

[poprox]

so if the median only holds within each course, we have no way to know the overall gpa median then? In other words, each professor curves to 3.3 median, but in the aggregate 1L gpas could have a higher or lower overall median