Effects of One Bad Grade? Forum

[rsox5000]

I just received my spring grades today. I received five A's, two A-s, and one....B (this is for both semesters obviously). The class I received the B in had a ridiculous exam— it was an eight-hour exam with an eight-page limit, but you really needed at least 20 pages to adequately address all issues. I'm not worried about my overall GPA, but will having a B be a problem for some firms, even if the overall GPA is fine?

[4LTsPointingNorth]

What tier of school do you attend? Grades are curved, so however ridiculous that one exam may have seemed to you, you still performed below the average of your classmates taking the same exam. Making similar excuses in the future will do you no good. Since you have many good grades, just own up to your one bad grade. As an aside, thinking that you need 20 pages to answer an 8 page exam means that you didn't spend enough time deciding which issues were more important than others.

What is your overall GPA relative to the average in your school? What markets recruit from your school? These are all relevant things that we would need to know in order to give you advice on the effect of one bad grade.

[ExperssioUnius]

While we're asking OP questions, what course was it in? Or at least, was it a doctrinal, core course or an elective.

If it helps, I had one grade three steps below curve on the transcript but it has not seemed to hurt me. What the low grade will probably do is put a bit more pressure on you during 2L to perform well and avoid another grade of that nature.

[CiFULA]

Firms want to see students capable of excellence. Having mostly As is evidence of that - I don't think the one outlier will hurt you. But I agree with 4LT that you should just own up to it and not make excuses if asked. Stating that there was not enough space to write on all the issues is probably the biggest thing that would hurt you, not so much the grade itself.

As has already been said, your school rank/school tier is also important. If you're attending a t14 or whatever, those are excellent grades and should be fine. I can't imagine those grades not putting you in at least the top30%.

[gregfootball2001]

If I interviewed you, I'd see the great gpa first off. Then I'd see the one bad grade (maaaaybe, if I decided to turn past the resume), and I'd probably think oh, he/she shit the bed on that one! Then I'd probably never think about it again, and I certainly wouldn't waste time asking about it. If you get asked about it, own it, sure, but this isn't something that's going to come up in every interview.

[yyyuppp]

GPA is what matters. maybe if you got a C or D, but no one is going to balk at you being in the bottom third on one test if you have a good GPA

[Lawworld19]

Damn, the job I got they didn't even ask for my grades lol. Then again I work client facing.