UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[5ky]

Does J term count for GPA?

Yes. I don't think there are any law classes that don't count towards your GPA (other than pass/fail classes)

[Woods]

Does how many credits you have make a difference for anything? As in, is a 2L with a 4.0 (48 credits) any different from a 4.0 (45 credits) for things like LR, OCI, or other things that matter school wise?

(P.S. I made up the credit amounts, but assume both students are on track to graduate with the correct number of credits)

LR doesn't care how many credits you have. As such, I know some people in my 1L year who did particularly well in the fall, and then before add/drop ended in the spring, they adjusted their credit-load down to 13 (including LRW) to protect against grade drops.

I thought we were supposed to pick 5~7 for spring? Does 13 mean the J-term credit count toward spring elective credits?

[5ky]

Does how many credits you have make a difference for anything? As in, is a 2L with a 4.0 (48 credits) any different from a 4.0 (45 credits) for things like LR, OCI, or other things that matter school wise?

(P.S. I made up the credit amounts, but assume both students are on track to graduate with the correct number of credits)

LR doesn't care how many credits you have. As such, I know some people in my 1L year who did particularly well in the fall, and then before add/drop ended in the spring, they adjusted their credit-load down to 13 (including LRW) to protect against grade drops.

I thought we were supposed to pick 5~7 for spring? Does 13 mean the J-term credit count toward spring elective credits?

J term does not count toward Fall or Spring credit loads, and you have to have between 14 and 16 1L spring, so that above thing is not possible

[daleearnhardt123]

Does how many credits you have make a difference for anything? As in, is a 2L with a 4.0 (48 credits) any different from a 4.0 (45 credits) for things like LR, OCI, or other things that matter school wise?

(P.S. I made up the credit amounts, but assume both students are on track to graduate with the correct number of credits)

LR doesn't care how many credits you have. As such, I know some people in my 1L year who did particularly well in the fall, and then before add/drop ended in the spring, they adjusted their credit-load down to 13 (including LRW) to protect against grade drops.

I thought we were supposed to pick 5~7 for spring? Does 13 mean the J-term credit count toward spring elective credits?

J term does not count toward Fall or Spring credit loads, and you have to have between 14 and 16 1L spring, so that above thing is not possible

That's right. I should have said 13 sans LRW.

[PepperJack]

Does anyone have experience with law and business classes? Is the class or curve more challenging for a law and business class vs. just a regular law class?

[5ky]

Does anyone have experience with law and business classes? Is the class or curve more challenging for a law and business class vs. just a regular law class?

Zero difference. I took just about every core transactional class, about half regular and half law & business.

[sinclair]

Anybody know how likely it is to get a one year deferment from UVa? I think that I have a good reason, one that will help advance my specific professional goals as a lawyer as well as my personal development, but its not an extenuating circumstance. There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy on their website, one of the faqs appears to be relatively lenient and the other seems to be stricter about granting them...?

Also, I would appreciate any advice on getting a one year deferment from UVa from people who successfully deferred.

[albanach]

Anybody know how likely it is to get a one year deferment from UVa? I think that I have a good reason, one that will help advance my specific professional goals as a lawyer as well as my personal development, but its not an extenuating circumstance. There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy on their website, one of the faqs appears to be relatively lenient and the other seems to be stricter about granting them...?

Also, I would appreciate any advice on getting a one year deferment from UVa from people who successfully deferred.

I don't see much value in asking here, unless someone has deferred this cycle. Admissions is driven by the pile of applicants waiting to be processed and that changes week by week, year by year. If you're paying sticker or close to it, and have middling stats, they can probably drop someone in who looks very similar on paper. If you have good money because of strong stats, it might be a little harder to find someone similar to fit your spot.

Just call the office. They're friendly and should be able to tell you what you need to do and your likelihood of success.

[WahooLaw24]

Anybody know how likely it is to get a one year deferment from UVa? I think that I have a good reason, one that will help advance my specific professional goals as a lawyer as well as my personal development, but its not an extenuating circumstance. There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy on their website, one of the faqs appears to be relatively lenient and the other seems to be stricter about granting them...?

Also, I would appreciate any advice on getting a one year deferment from UVa from people who successfully deferred.

I deferred with no problems in 2012 and I didn't even have a huge reason other than I wanted to lol. Just contact admissions and inquire about it.

[anon sequitur]

deferment is pretty easy to get at UVA. Some schools want you to make a big deal out of it, but not here, at least not in the last few years. Bottom line is, if they accepted you, you can help fill up this class or help them get started filling up the next class. I almost deferred and told them it was just about saving up money and they were cool with it.

[playpowerball]

anyone know if the bookstore is open on sunday?

[chem]

anyone know if the bookstore is open on sunday?

It is. I think around noon?

[anon sequitur]

I saw the hours posted yesterday, Sunday they're open 11-5pm.

[wahoolaw16]

If anyone on here has taken a seminar with Johnston, I'd be interested in hearing about it. And if anyone has any info on his seminar grading curves I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

[Hspeaksfriend]

Anybody know how likely it is to get a one year deferment from UVa? I think that I have a good reason, one that will help advance my specific professional goals as a lawyer as well as my personal development, but its not an extenuating circumstance. There seems to be a bit of a discrepancy on their website, one of the faqs appears to be relatively lenient and the other seems to be stricter about granting them...?

Also, I would appreciate any advice on getting a one year deferment from UVa from people who successfully deferred.

Pretty much any reason other than "I want sit and play video games for a year" will be fine. Really easy to defer

[defdef]

Deferred from 2013 to 2014 with no problems. Just sent an email to them asking and they pretty much said no problem right away.

[BigLawer]

So trying to decide between taking classes I think will be relevant to what I want to practice and having a sweet schedule.

Do I just error on the side of sweet schedule since none of it will REALLY help when it comes time to practice?

[Br3v]

Can anyone direct me to the most recent data points as far as class rank?

Is it this?
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=186875

[5ky]

Can anyone direct me to the most recent data points as far as class rank?

Is it this?
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=186875

For 1Ls, that should be accurate still. I don't know if there has been any guidance on 2Ls and 3Ls, but I imagine the changes are so minor you should just use those and maybe just assume you are slightly under those percentiles

[firstimer]

Quick question: I get that classes like Fed Courts / Legislation / Conflict of Laws attract Law Review folks, and that makes the curve very difficult, which makes it harder for 1Ls to do well in the class. My question is whether the new policy about the ability of a professor to curve to an incoming class's mean GPA (rather than to a 3.3) will mitigate this effect, and make it "safe" for a 1L to take one of these classes.

Would you recommend a 1L take one of these classes (let's say that 1L had the same professor for CivPro and did better than average)?

Completely hypothetical of course

[sundance95]

You should not take fed courts before (or concurrently with) con law.

I haven't taken legislation or conflicts but I think you still shouldn't take them. Smart gunners take a couple of hard classes to bear down on each semester, i.e., Fed Courts & Remedies, Admin & Legislation, etc. You will have Property & Con Law plus at least one, probably two other classes that you will need to really take on. Avoid 'gunner' classes until 2L, there's very little upside for you in them in your 1L.

Btw, I'm a big proponent of 4 credit classes + some kind of short course for the 1L spring -- limiting yourself to three exams and no substantial paper in that semester is a smart play. Corps or Evidence are ideal for this; although I bet they are full now, you might be able to sneak in during add/drop. (Fun fact--you can cut in front of waitlists if you troll SIS every day. If someone drops a class the seat becomes open immediately, and waitlists aren't processed right away.) Crim Pro Survey is a lot of material and is super boring, but is also a possible candidate.

[sundance95]

Also is conflicts still an essential gunner class? It strikes me as a class that was once more important than it is today.

[5ky]

Crim Pro Survey is a lot of material and is super boring, but is also a possible candidate.

Crim Pro survey was one of my very favorite classes in law school. I actually thought it was the least boring of any of my classes because there was almost no theory, just facts

[sundance95]

Crim Pro Survey is a lot of material and is super boring, but is also a possible candidate.

Crim Pro survey was one of my very favorite classes in law school. I actually thought it was the least boring of any of my classes because there was almost no theory, just facts

Fair. Some folks loved the class, I was just never that interested (I have no interest in working in criminal law). I kind of wished that I had just taken investigation and had skipped adjudication entirely, as it ended up being a lot of material to study.

I can definitely see how some ppl would love it, I just wasn't one of them.

[firstimer]

You should not take fed courts before (or concurrently with) con law.

I haven't taken legislation or conflicts but I think you still shouldn't take them. Smart gunners take a couple of hard classes to bear down on each semester, i.e., Fed Courts & Remedies, Admin & Legislation, etc. You will have Property & Con Law plus at least one, probably two other classes that you will need to really take on. Avoid 'gunner' classes until 2L, there's very little upside for you in them in your 1L.

Btw, I'm a big proponent of 4 credit classes + some kind of short course for the 1L spring -- limiting yourself to three exams and no substantial paper in that semester is a smart play. Corps or Evidence are ideal for this; although I bet they are full now, you might be able to sneak in during add/drop. (Fun fact--you can cut in front of waitlists if you troll SIS every day. If someone drops a class the seat becomes open immediately, and waitlists aren't processed right away.) Crim Pro Survey is a lot of material and is super boring, but is also a possible candidate.

Thanks for the information! I'm guessing then that the new grading policy won't fully mitigate this effect (ie: 1L won't benefit from the heightened mean)?