Top Law Schools

I'm a 1L and just got back my grades - A, B+, B+, B-. This puts me at top 30%.

Being at a T30-40 school, how much has this limited my options? I wanted to work at a big firm job after 2L, but obviously that's impossible with my current grades. I guess I was wondering how much do I need to improve for that to be a realistic possibility by next year.

I feel really shell-shocked at the moment because I didn't know where I went wrong. Looking at my distribution makes me think that it was related to the test experience - I was really panicky - as opposed to my actual studying. I plan to talk to the professor, but I don't know what else I should do. For all my classes, I did the same amount of studying - I outlined and re-wrote my outline, I took practice exams, I didn't read supplements, I looked at my notes.

What's your GPA?

3.33

You'll score a job somewhere but if you don't do a lot better in spring biglaw is out.

MrAnon wrote:You'll score a job somewhere but if you don't do a lot better in spring biglaw is out.

Yup. You have to do a lot better in spring hands down. But it can be done. I had a LOWER GPA than you in my 1st semester, banged out the 2nd semester, and was able to get my 2L SA.

PS - don't feel shell shocked, Top 30% is far from a bad place to start off your law school career.

For the record that was my exact GPA after the first semester of 1L and I ended up with a firm job. (I go to a peer school of OP's.) The thing about grades is that they can improve if you learn from your mistakes.

OP, double down on studying, figure out what went wrong, write practice exams, and report back after the spring. You're not in drop-out territory, but if you don't pull the grades up you're looking at small firms or govt. work.

Any tips you guys care to share about improving?

Not to hijack OP's thread, but hearing from some that were in OP's (and my) position would be helpful for both of us I think.

Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

terpbrah wrote:Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

I think it has less to do with scale and more to do with how many credits each grade was worth.

I finished my first semester with median grades, improved for the second semester (ended up around top 30% overall), and still got several offers at some decent-paying mid-sized firms. Do as well as you can during the second semester, develop some solid references over the summer, and work on interviewing skills for OCI.

terpbrah wrote:Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

Sounds like you really got screwed, or are omitting some important info.

You are above median and shocked? After my first semester of law school I expected to be below median. I was happily shocked when I ended up at the top of my class. Still, I think people need to be more realistic with their expectations when they enter law school. You really can't expect anything higher than top 30%. Placing higher should make you happy, but placing lower should not be shocking. After all, 90% of the class won't be in the top 10%.

kiwilime wrote: I didn't read supplements . . .

That's where you went wrong right there. Hitting the top 1/3rd by only reading the casebook means you're pretty smart, and can be in the top 5% or better if you read the appropriate materials.

You should definitely read supplements. Read the relevant section of the supplement (E&E for civ pro/torts for ex) and then do your case reading. If you do the same exact thing you did last semester, and add that little bit of extra work i bet you jump into the top 20% at least. When you read the supplement as well as the case, you get a lot more out of class time. Class is then used to just know what your professor thinks is important (aka what he wants on the test).

BeaverHunter wrote:

terpbrah wrote:Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

Sounds like you really got screwed, or are omitting some important info.

Assuming all credits are equal he averages out to a B+, which is a 3.33.

NYC Law wrote:

BeaverHunter wrote:

terpbrah wrote:Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

Sounds like you really got screwed, or are omitting some important info.

Assuming all credits are equal he averages out to a B+, which is a 3.33.

an A and a B don't average out to a B+...

dabomb75 wrote:

NYC Law wrote:

BeaverHunter wrote:

terpbrah wrote:Your upset that you ended up with a 3.33 yet got A-'s and a B-?

My schools gpa scale
A: 4
A-: 3.67
B+: 3.33
B: 3
B-: 2.67

Be happy bro, I got A, A, B+, B, B and yet only have a 3.4

Sounds like you really got screwed, or are omitting some important info.

Assuming all credits are equal he averages out to a B+, which is a 3.33.

an A and a B don't average out to a B+...

Fine, it all averages to 3.46. Still not 'really screwed' considering the classes probably aren't all the exact same number of credits.

Meh, I got a median GPA, and it's all because I did badly in ONE class. Dammit.

apl6783 wrote:

kiwilime wrote: I didn't read supplements . . .

That's where you went wrong right there. Hitting the top 1/3rd by only reading the casebook means you're pretty smart, and can be in the top 5% or better if you read the appropriate materials.

Disagree. Supplements are a waste of time as long as you understand the course material.

SBL wrote:

apl6783 wrote:

kiwilime wrote: I didn't read supplements . . .

That's where you went wrong right there. Hitting the top 1/3rd by only reading the casebook means you're pretty smart, and can be in the top 5% or better if you read the appropriate materials.

Disagree. Supplements are a waste of time as long as you understand the course material.

Totally agree with this. All of my classmates were using supplements and I really didn't get what the big deal was because I thought I understood the material with just the casebook...tried out CivPro E&E and after like 25 pages still considered it a waste of time. I feel like supplements can just bog you down unnecessarily.

bosox777 wrote:

SBL wrote:

apl6783 wrote:

kiwilime wrote: I didn't read supplements . . .

That's where you went wrong right there. Hitting the top 1/3rd by only reading the casebook means you're pretty smart, and can be in the top 5% or better if you read the appropriate materials.

Disagree. Supplements are a waste of time as long as you understand the course material.

Totally agree with this. All of my classmates were using supplements and I really didn't get what the big deal was because I thought I understood the material with just the casebook...tried out CivPro E&E and after like 25 pages still considered it a waste of time. I feel like supplements can just bog you down unnecessarily.

Then you're smarter than me, and I don't mean that in a defensive or argumentative way.

bosox777 wrote:

SBL wrote:

apl6783 wrote:

kiwilime wrote: I didn't read supplements . . .

That's where you went wrong right there. Hitting the top 1/3rd by only reading the casebook means you're pretty smart, and can be in the top 5% or better if you read the appropriate materials.

Disagree. Supplements are a waste of time as long as you understand the course material.

Totally agree with this. All of my classmates were using supplements and I really didn't get what the big deal was because I thought I understood the material with just the casebook...tried out CivPro E&E and after like 25 pages still considered it a waste of time. I feel like supplements can just bog you down unnecessarily.

Agree. 2L at Fordham, ended up around top 5%. Never read any supplements because I felt like I "got it." Got my grades back and I was right.

With that said, I think certain classes require it, like Con Law. We didn't have a real casebook (we had the Con Law for a short course book, which only had excerpts from cases), so Chimerinsky was a must. Also, I took a Contracts class where the professor's mentors wrote a black letter outline that she basically framed the class around - that was the sole thing I studied from.

Disclaimer - everyone is different and I'm sure plenty of top 5%ers at good schools read supplements. Do what it takes to feel confident that you know it cold. I may not have read E&Es or anything like that, but I always made sure I knew the material cold before test time.

This is one of those silly "there's only one way to study for law school" arguments. Supplements may not help for some, but depending on the class/casebook/student they can be a necessity.

For my first semester, I ended up with a 4.0 at a similarly ranked school and I honestly doubt I EVER would've accomplished that without Dressler, Freer, Glannon, etc. If OP hasn't seriously given them a shot, I think he absolutely should.

You are retarded if you don't buy supplements. Law school is a huge investment and supplements are a drop in the bucket.

I ended up not using any of my supplements after the first 3 weeks of class but I still don't regret purchasing them. Better safe than sorry. Top 10% at DNCG also.

johansantana21 wrote:You are retarded if you don't buy supplements. Law school is a huge investment and supplements are a drop in the bucket.

I ended up not using any of my supplements after the first 3 weeks of class but I still don't regret purchasing them. Better safe than sorry. Top 10% at DNCG also.

"If you don't buy these things that I found completely useless you're a retard." OK.