Graduating in the bottom 1/4 at UChicago... Forum

[yeaaaah]

What happens? Anyone have personal experience with this?

Starting to look like a real possibility to this person with no "connections."

[JollyGreenGiant]

Starting to look like a real possibility to this person with no "connections."

Spend less time worrying about it and more time studying for your exam on Tuesday.

Also, you only have a miniscule amount of your grades back (and you have no idea how you did on today's exam). Slow down. Even if you did poorly both quarters, you still have 50% of your 1L grades left for Spring quarter. Buckle up... you'll be fine.

And I don't really know the answer to your question, but I do know that some of those people have NLJ 250 jobs.

[Flash]

Starting to look like a real possibility to this person with no "connections."

Spend less time worrying about it and more time studying for your exam on Tuesday.

Also, you only have a miniscule amount of your grades back (and you have no idea how you did on today's exam). Slow down. Even if you did poorly both quarters, you still have 50% of your 1L grades left for Spring quarter. Buckle up... you'll be fine.

And I don't really know the answer to your question, but I do know that some of those people have NLJ 250 jobs.

Regardless of how much he studies 25% of our class is still destined for the bottom 25% so it's still a valid question.

[CanadianWolf]

Although it is a valid question, it (hopefully) is a bit premature.

[CanadianWolf]

The good news, however, is that it's better to graduate in the bottom quarter from Chicago, than the top quarter at most law schools.

[0L Hoping for 1]

What grade do you think is the bottom 1/4?

[JollyGreenGiant]

Starting to look like a real possibility to this person with no "connections."

Spend less time worrying about it and more time studying for your exam on Tuesday.

Also, you only have a miniscule amount of your grades back (and you have no idea how you did on today's exam). Slow down. Even if you did poorly both quarters, you still have 50% of your 1L grades left for Spring quarter. Buckle up... you'll be fine.

And I don't really know the answer to your question, but I do know that some of those people have NLJ 250 jobs.

Regardless of how much he studies 25% of our class is still destined for the bottom 25% so it's still a valid question.

A valid question that likely no one can answer and one that isn't worth worrying about right now for the reasons I stated above. Also, saying "25% of our class is still destined for the bottom 25%" is very misleading because of the way Chicago's grading scale works. The only known lines of demarcation are at 177, 179, 180.5, and 182. If 179 = top 20% and 177 = 50%, you could argue that somewhere around 175 is bottom 20%, but I sincerely doubt that is how it actually works out.

I know it's finals and anxiety is high, but questions like this can't really be answered on an ad hoc basis. Over 75% of the school will get a job in what they wanted (whether clerkship, government, biglaw), so obviously some people in the bottom 25% are included in that. Obviously some people in the bottom 25% didn't get the line of work they wanted. It's a mixed bag.

tldr: It depends.

If you want me to be more blunt, PM me. I'll answer after finals.

[r6_philly]

I know it's finals and anxiety is high, but questions like this can't really be answered on an ad hoc basis. Over 75% of the school will get a job in what they wanted (whether clerkship, government, biglaw), so obviously some people in the bottom 25% are included in that. Obviously some people in the bottom 25% didn't get the line of work they wanted. It's a mixed bag.

Some people in the top 25% don't get a job that they wanted. As long as there are less than 25% grades without jobs/income for each class, there is still plenty of hope of getting a decent job. If you can't excel at your job, grades become less important. Most people leave their first jobs within 3-5 years and their destination depends on their work history, so you are still in control of your future with that Chicago degree.

[Gail]

How are you as far as debt? If a lot of debt. I feel really bad and I really do hope that you an at least pull to median. If not, I think you're fine.