Top Law Schools

Hi,

I've seen alot of posts on this, so I'm starting a thread to see if there is a general consensus on the matter.

How many transfer hopefuls did well first semester but feel like they totally bombed spring semester finals and will spiral down 20-30 percent or so?

Do you guys think its just an anxiety thing, or is this actually what happened?

Please speculate.

I feel pretty confident that I did quite well this semester, but that might not be a good thing - first semester, I was horrified (expecting about a 3.1, below median) and ended up doing much better. So, I'm trying damn hard not to think about it until grades come out in a little over 2 weeks. By posting in this thread, I guess I've failed at that...

JoeFish wrote:I feel pretty confident that I did quite well this semester, but that might not be a good thing - first semester, I was horrified (expecting about a 3.1, below median) and ended up doing much better. So, I'm trying damn hard not to think about it until grades come out in a little over 2 weeks. By posting in this thread, I guess I've failed at that...

Only 2 weeks? I'm not expecting my grades to be posted for another 4-5 weeks.

I thought I was ganna drop as well...I got my first grade back and got the highest grade in Con Law. So far so good!!!
Keep spirits high. We did well first semester. No reason we cant repeat the performance.

lnllnl wrote:
Only 2 weeks? I'm not expecting my grades to be posted for another 4-5 weeks.

Yeah, I was surprised myself. Last semester, I think the last final was sometime around Dec. 18, grades were scheduled for Jan 9th (22 days) and they posted them on the 5th. My last final of the Spring was yesterday, and they've said that grades will be available on May 29th. Even if they don't release them early, that's a relatively quick turnaround, which is nice.

The only problem is that May 29th is my first day of my internship this summer too so I feel like the waiting for both will be compounded

Finals were intense and mentally draining to say the least I feel like I did worse than first semester, but it is all relative to how others did compared to me.

So who knows.

Why do you guys care about transfering. You should be worried you bombed finals and won't get a job.

i did worse, no doubt about it.

arigoldwannabe wrote:I thought I was ganna drop as well...I got my first grade back and got the highest grade in Con Law. So far so good!!!
Keep spirits high. We did well first semester. No reason we cant repeat the performance.

This is definitely encouraging!

And as to why people care about transferring: For many T2/T3 students, transferring is the route to a decent job, so we are worried about transferring to get a job...

Your first job depends not on the school you transfer to, but on your grades at your home school. A Seton Hall student who transfers to GULC early but who has B's on his 2nd semester transcript is screwed, for example.

wiglaf1228 wrote:Your first job depends not on the school you transfer to, but on your grades at your home school. A Seton Hall student who transfers to GULC early but who has B's on his 2nd semester transcript is screwed, for example.

One B or B+ doesn't hurt as long as the rest of the grades are high enough. I had a B+ from a school ranked similarly to SHU, then transferred (not to GULC) and I still got a biglaw job. When I got the B+, I legit cried for 2 minutes in the bathroom at work because I thought my life was over since it dropped my GPA just below 3.8. Looking back that was really really stupid .

keg411 wrote:

wiglaf1228 wrote:Your first job depends not on the school you transfer to, but on your grades at your home school. A Seton Hall student who transfers to GULC early but who has B's on his 2nd semester transcript is screwed, for example.

One B or B+ doesn't hurt as long as the rest of the grades are high enough. I had a B+ from a school ranked similarly to SHU, then transferred (not to GULC) and I still got a biglaw job. When I got the B+, I legit cried for 2 minutes in the bathroom at work because I thought my life was over since it dropped my GPA just below 3.8. Looking back that was really really stupid .

I am terrified of straight B's.

Finals is a horrible experience. I always hear people say "I thought I did so well in this class and it turned out to be my worse," and vice versa. Therefore I have made it a policy to feel terrible about every final. I am just kidding. I do not know how I did, but I gave it my all. I have already been accepted to a school EA in the top 20 and just need to keep a 3.0(50% mark), so now it is just a matter of where else I can get in.

A race horse exam is never perfect, but I think the difference this year is that I am more aware of the mistakes I make on the exam when I am done. This may be because I understand the material a lot better and I can realize now that I may have misapplied when I was in a rush.

I am going to spend the next three weeks worrying about abbreviating cg for congress on my con law exam because I had a character count....so fun....

keg411 wrote:I legit cried for 2 minutes...I thought my life was over...Looking back that was really really stupid...

TITCR, this is how I felt when I got back to the FOB after an IED hit my vehicle in Basrah...

I feel oddly confident about my performance this semester, I'm not sure if it's well-founded confidence or misplaced hubris though. I studied a lot more for finals and feel like I had a really firm grasp on all of the subject matter, that said I could just as easily be median owned, so here's to hoping for straight A's.

crossarmant wrote:I feel oddly confident about my performance this semester, I'm not sure if it's well-founded confidence or misplaced hubris though. I studied a lot more for finals and feel like I had a really firm grasp on all of the subject matter, that said I could just as easily be median owned, so here's to hoping for straight A's.

I do kind of feel the same way, which really scares me.

I was super worried I didn't do as well. And I was right, but not really (went from a 4.0 first semester to ~3.75 second semester because of one B (on a 3.0 curve)). Thought that might have killed me, but then I went 3/3 with T10 transfer apps.

hds2388 wrote:I was super worried I didn't do as well. And I was right, but not really (went from a 4.0 first semester to ~3.75 second semester because of one B (on a 3.0 curve)). Thought that might have killed me, but then I went 3/3 with T10 transfer apps.

Curious what class that was in?

Can I ask what T10s were ok with a 3.75?

TFR wrote:

hds2388 wrote:I was super worried I didn't do as well. And I was right, but not really (went from a 4.0 first semester to ~3.75 second semester because of one B (on a 3.0 curve)). Thought that might have killed me, but then I went 3/3 with T10 transfer apps.

Curious what class that was in?

Can I ask what T10s were ok with a 3.75?

It was in con law. I had a 3.84 cum, not a 3.75. On a 3.0 curve, I was top 2% in my class. Columbia, NYU, Penn.

wiglaf1228 wrote:Your first job depends not on the school you transfer to, but on your grades at your home school. A Seton Hall student who transfers to GULC early but who has B's on his 2nd semester transcript is screwed, for example.

I agree with this statement 100 percent, but for example a 3.8 at Seton Hall could strike out at OCI there (at least for NYC Biglaw), but get into T10's where that student's chance at such a job increases dramatically.

So a good transfer school without good grades won't cut it, but good grades without transferring might be just as bad...

hds2388 wrote:

TFR wrote:

hds2388 wrote:I was super worried I didn't do as well. And I was right, but not really (went from a 4.0 first semester to ~3.75 second semester because of one B (on a 3.0 curve)). Thought that might have killed me, but then I went 3/3 with T10 transfer apps.

Curious what class that was in?

Can I ask what T10s were ok with a 3.75?

It was in con law. I had a 3.84 cum, not a 3.75. On a 3.0 curve, I was top 2% in my class. Columbia, NYU, Penn.

Thanks, worried about conlaw too... The final was a complete curveball, didn't have to know (hardly) any cases, we were asked our thoughts and opinions on matters, which we are graded on... So this was the one class all the preparation didn't mean much...

TFR wrote:

hds2388 wrote:

TFR wrote:

hds2388 wrote:I was super worried I didn't do as well. And I was right, but not really (went from a 4.0 first semester to ~3.75 second semester because of one B (on a 3.0 curve)). Thought that might have killed me, but then I went 3/3 with T10 transfer apps.

Curious what class that was in?

Can I ask what T10s were ok with a 3.75?

It was in con law. I had a 3.84 cum, not a 3.75. On a 3.0 curve, I was top 2% in my class. Columbia, NYU, Penn.

Thanks, worried about conlaw too... The final was a complete curveball, didn't have to know (hardly) any cases, we were asked our thoughts and opinions on matters, which we are graded on... So this was the one class all the preparation didn't mean much...

I think everyone has a grade or two on their transcript that is an outlier. I think in transferring they would rather see a bunch of very high grades and an outlier (i.e. my transcript: 8 A's and a B) than lower, but consistent, pretty good grades. Not that either forecloses transferring (many of my transfer friends are the second animal). Just saying that an outlier low grade isn't that big a deal (unless it's a C+ or something).

where did you transfer from - or what rank range of the school at least

AZN MegaPoaster wrote:where did you transfer from - or what rank range of the school at least

me?

These last finals were all too easy such that it is impossible to know if I distinguished myself. I am in a perpetual state of anxiety (kind of) until grades come out.

hds2388 wrote:

AZN MegaPoaster wrote:where did you transfer from - or what rank range of the school at least

me?

Yes