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I'm sort of at a loss of what to take my 2L year. Anyone have a good resource that can describe what classes are like and what classes are recommended for different career paths? The little blurbs that my school provides aren't very helpful.

Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

Holly Golightly wrote:Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

Fucking schools that aren't UVA. Technically I think we even curve like 7 person seminars. And our curve is to a 3.3 on a realistic distribution, not to a 4.5 with the median grade being an A+ like NU.

* mutter mutter mutter *

Holly Golightly wrote:Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

I see what you're getting at, but lets assume I have already signed up for the few of these that my school actually offers and still need units.

Hadlendale wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

I see what you're getting at, but lets assume I have already signed up for the few of these that my school actually offers and still need units.

then supplement w/ non-gpa classes

Every time a professor says "You'll learn about this in X class", make a note, and think about whether you care enough to take this class, especially if it's mentioned multiple times.

thesealocust wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

Fucking schools that aren't UVA. Technically I think we even curve like 7 person seminars. And our curve is to a 3.3 on a realistic distribution, not to a 4.5 with the median grade being an A+ like NU.

* mutter mutter mutter *

I had a few friends in a...6? person class, and I was told that the professor has the option of curving to either 3.3 or the mean of all their GPAs. What probably ends up happening is the prof goes to whichever is higher unless they're heartless, so technically we can engage in the lightest of grade inflation.

dailygrind wrote:

thesealocust wrote:

Holly Golightly wrote:Uncurved classes with profs who are known to be easy graders.

Fucking schools that aren't UVA. Technically I think we even curve like 7 person seminars. And our curve is to a 3.3 on a realistic distribution, not to a 4.5 with the median grade being an A+ like NU.
* mutter mutter mutter *

I had a few friends in a...6? person class, and I was told that the professor has the option of curving to either 3.3 or the mean of all their GPAs. What probably ends up happening is the prof goes to whichever is higher unless they're heartless, so technically we can engage in the lightest of grade inflation.

That's true--professors in seminars can curve to the average GPA of the students. But they can't do it for larger lecture classes, so Fed Courts will still have a 3.3 curve. I can't think of many classes that have significantly higher curves though. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is generally curved to around a 3.7, and I'm guessing any Howard, Schwartzman, or Prakash seminar will also have a high curve.

I was wondering about this myself. I know there are a few curved classes I need to take. But just how strategically advantageous is it to take courses that are not curved to just continue boosting the gpa? (I go T2, top 1/3, only had a passing interest in jobs that could be had through OCI and really don't now...as I won't be getting any of them - lol).

search tls, there was a good thread, maybe a couple. largely depends what kind of law u want to go into. talk with 3Ls in ur area of law.

Cavalier wrote: That's true--professors in seminars can curve to the average GPA of the students. But they can't do it for larger lecture classes, so Fed Courts will still have a 3.3 curve. I can't think of many classes that have significantly higher curves though. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is generally curved to around a 3.7, and I'm guessing any Howard, Schwartzman, or Prakash seminar will also have a high curve.

Lol talk about the rich getting richer; isn't that worth 8 credits?!

BruceWayne wrote:

Cavalier wrote: That's true--professors in seminars can curve to the average GPA of the students. But they can't do it for larger lecture classes, so Fed Courts will still have a 3.3 curve. I can't think of many classes that have significantly higher curves though. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is generally curved to around a 3.7, and I'm guessing any Howard, Schwartzman, or Prakash seminar will also have a high curve.

Lol talk about the rich getting richer; isn't that worth 8 credits?!

Half of it is pass/fail, and based on the people who got in I think the average GPA of the class is probably higher than a 3.7. Freaking gunners.

thesealocust wrote:

BruceWayne wrote:

Cavalier wrote: That's true--professors in seminars can curve to the average GPA of the students. But they can't do it for larger lecture classes, so Fed Courts will still have a 3.3 curve. I can't think of many classes that have significantly higher curves though. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is generally curved to around a 3.7, and I'm guessing any Howard, Schwartzman, or Prakash seminar will also have a high curve.

Lol talk about the rich getting richer; isn't that worth 8 credits?!

Half of it is pass/fail, and based on the people who got in I think the average GPA of the class is probably higher than a 3.7. Freaking gunners.

Yes, only four credits are graded. And the nearly guaranteed A- hurts most participants' GPAs. Of course, the one or two As that are awarded are likely given to the students who have a shot at SCOTUS, so in a sense, the extremely rich do get richer.

BruceWayne wrote:

Cavalier wrote: That's true--professors in seminars can curve to the average GPA of the students. But they can't do it for larger lecture classes, so Fed Courts will still have a 3.3 curve. I can't think of many classes that have significantly higher curves though. The Supreme Court Litigation Clinic is generally curved to around a 3.7, and I'm guessing any Howard, Schwartzman, or Prakash seminar will also have a high curve.

Lol talk about the rich getting richer; isn't that worth 8 credits?!

Looks more like the rich are staying just as rich as they were.

Take some classes over at the B-school. Those are pretty fun and extremely easy. Probably graded pass/fail at your school as well (it was at mine). Really any class graded pass/fail is extremely easy - I'm pretty confident that it is literally impossible to fail a law school class at a t14. Or you could take some law and ___ classes.

Just make sure you take some real classes as well (e.g. corporations, secured transactions, evidence, fed courts, etc.), if you want to do work in fed government, clerk, etc.

Every professor I've talked to says the only two classes you absolutely need to take are evidence and criminal procedure, the latter primarily just to pass the bar if you're going into civil.

Take whatever you're interested, but take Evidence as soon as possible because it's the one class countless jobs require as a prereq to apply.

Also, don't bet on uncurved seminars. They can be very, very hard and/or require much more time than you'd expect. My 2 unit, non-GPA seminar last semester took up probably 60% of my time.

jawsome wrote:Take whatever you're interested, but take Evidence as soon as possible because it's the one class countless jobs require as a prereq to apply.

What jobs require you to take evidence to apply? ... I applied to a lot of jobs while I was in law school, and I don't recall a single one requiring your to take evidence to apply. Personally, I think taking evidence your last semester of law school is a pretty good game plan, since that way it'll be fresh in your head going into barprep (although I didn't do that)

The only jobs that require evidence are in Crim prosecution/defense

crim pro and evidence are always good to take--they are on the bar exam

Oban wrote:The only jobs that require evidence are in Crim prosecution/defense

That sounds accurate. Neither of those require evidence to apply for internships while still in law school, though, so I'm not sure that it's necessary to "take Evidence as soon as possible."

billbrasky wrote:crim pro and evidence are always good to take--they are on the bar exam

Lol... a lot of stuff is on the bar exam. Not sure that alone is a good reason to take the class though. (Although I'd recommend taking evidence)

Wait. Other schools seriously have non-curved classes?

That's fucked up.

Kronk wrote:Wait. Other schools seriously have non-curved classes?

That's fucked up.

Does your school even have grades?

Holly Golightly wrote:

Kronk wrote:Wait. Other schools seriously have non-curved classes?

That's fucked up.

Does your school even have grades?

Sadly our faux-grades actually matter, so yes. All our classes are curved, too. I didn't realize some schools didn't curve.

Corporations and Securities Regulation are really good for big firm summer jobs