UVA Law Students Taking Questions Forum

[sundance95]

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

Who knows? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. Being at the bottom of a boosted curve would be little consolation.

IMO hard-gunning 2Ls are likely to just be better than you at law school right now. You've taken Torts/Ks/CivPro/Crim. I promise you that by the time you are in your 2L spring you will look back on those classes and realize that they were much, much easier than you thought when you were taking them. Maybe you're the 1L who can hang, but I think it's a bad percentage play.

[North]

Anybody have Schragger for Property before?

[5ky]

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

Who knows? Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't. Being at the bottom of a boosted curve would be little consolation.

IMO hard-gunning 2Ls are likely to just be better than you at law school right now. You've taken Torts/Ks/CivPro/Crim. I promise you that by the time you are in your 2L spring you will look back on those classes and realize that they were much, much easier than you thought when you were taking them. Maybe you're the 1L who can hang, but I think it's a bad percentage play.

I agree. Taking a gunner class as a 1L is one of the dumbest things you could do

[anon sequitur]

Anybody have Schragger for Property before?

Yep. Hated that class, loved the prof.

[envisciguy]

Anybody have Schragger for Property before?

Yep. He definitely made the class more bearable with his comedic style. Most of class is normative though - not what the rules are, but rather what they should be. I consider him somewhat of the Ken Abraham of property in that regard.

[Br3v]

As far as summer employment and sending grades. How did you guys do it? Can I say that we have B+ average at UVA or something?

[Gooner91]

Does anybody know a good real estate agent in the area?

[North]

Gonna re-ask sans exam talk.

[Madmen321]

Can anyone offer any insights on the relative noise level and atmosphere at the Pavilion? Some people seem to have described it as "dorm like…" Would you agree with this description? Is it loud? Can you study from your apartment without having to worry about noise level?

[Stringer Bell]

As far as summer employment and sending grades. How did you guys do it? Can I say that we have B+ average at UVA or something?

The transcripts you can download through symplicity used to say something along the lines of "Historically, 3.3 would be around median and 3.48 would be around top 1/4." You may want to run it by OCS, but I would not include anything about the scale. Whoever reviews your transcript will likely either have an idea that our curve is around a 3.3 or assume it is lower.

[cfr1225]

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

If your first semester grades put you in a position where you look set to grade on to law review, I don't think the risk is all that terrible. (For purposes of this advice, I'm assuming a GPA of at least 3.8.) I would not recommend doing Fed Courts, but I think Conflicts and (to a lesser extent) Legislation would both be doable for a 1L coming out of a strong first semester showing. Obviously there is a risk - and there is absolutely much to be said in favor of being protective of a strong first semester GPA - but a 1L in roughly the top 5% of the class who felt that he or she could easily manage the first semester work load can probably handle a gunner class in 1L spring.

[olive16]

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

Don't do it -- protect your GPA. Those classes are stacked this semester with high GPA people who are still motivated to do well (i.e., they're still gunning). The new curve policy might help you a little, but not nearly enough.

[sprezz]

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)?

i wouldn't account for the new grading policy at all if i were doing this calculus for these classes. there's nothing requiring the professors to curve it up to the max allowed, and especially with professors that have been teaching (a) for so long in general, and (b) for several years at UVA specifically, i just seriously doubt collins or nelson will give substantially different grades than they used to...especially in an 80 or 60 person lecture class. there's no student pressure check now that the distribution books are gone, and the books disappearing simultaneously with the curve policy change suggests that someone on the faculty had this concern or one like it.

it was one thing to try to game curves based on past distributions. to try to game curves based on hypothetical reactions to a policy change without any evidence at all that the reaction exists... well, like i said, i wouldn't factor that into the decision making for my last semester before OGI.

as cfr suggests, though, gun if you wanna gun. just don't tell yourself you're doing it for a 3.5 median

[shibby]

do small seminars attract gunners? what if they're about some fancy constitution stuff (heard fancy constitutional law classes attract gunners?)? safe to take if 1L? research papers hard?

[sundance95]

You cant fulfill the upper level writing requirement as a 1L, and therefore should not take a seminar as a 1L.

[shibby]

what if you just want a paper over exam class? if it's something i end up preferring, having to take another later on won't matter.

[North]

Anybody had Cannon for Land Use before?

[5ky]

what if you just want a paper over exam class? if it's something i end up preferring, having to take another later on won't matter.

you shouldn't unless you also prefer a b+ over the potential for an above median grade

[daleearnhardt123]

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)?

i wouldn't account for the new grading policy at all if i were doing this calculus for these classes. there's nothing requiring the professors to curve it up to the max allowed, and especially with professors that have been teaching (a) for so long in general, and (b) for several years at UVA specifically, i just seriously doubt collins or nelson will give substantially different grades than they used to...especially in an 80 or 60 person lecture class. there's no student pressure check now that the distribution books are gone, and the books disappearing simultaneously with the curve policy change suggests that someone on the faculty had this concern or one like it.

it was one thing to try to game curves based on past distributions. to try to game curves based on hypothetical reactions to a policy change without any evidence at all that the reaction exists... well, like i said, i wouldn't factor that into the decision making for my last semester before OGI.

as cfr suggests, though, gun if you wanna gun. just don't tell yourself you're doing it for a 3.5 median

This seems to be the best response. I think that any 1L who is above a 3.8 and is in Legislation or Conflicts is doing themselves no favors. 1L Spring is where you protect that GPA to make sure you make Law Review. You can take those classes in 2L and 3L if you are interested in them. While a 1L who broke a 3.8 can *probably* handle those classes, he or she has no intelligent reason to be in either one with Law Review students who are more familiar with A. the topics, B. the professors, and C. the intricacies of exam-taking.

Also, isn't ConLaw a pre-req for Fed Cts? If any of the "gunner" classes are a remotely decent idea for 1Ls, it's probably Duffy's AdLaw.

[sundance95]

Duffy's admin has a conlaw prereq, or at least it did last spring

Shit practically the whole course was structural constitutionalism

[First Offense]

How do exams work for short courses? At the moment I have a paper short course, but I'm thinking of switching to one that does an exam. Is it during the exam period at the end of the semester or is it done before?

[danitt]

How do exams work for short courses? At the moment I have a paper short course, but I'm thinking of switching to one that does an exam. Is it during the exam period at the end of the semester or is it done before?

I know for that Accounting/Finance it's done at the weekend before Spring Break, so maybe others are around then as well.

[20170322]

Any tips on how to avoid getting YP'ed? I feel like it's a bigger risk here than at any other t14,

[olive16]

Any tips on how to avoid getting YP'ed? I feel like it's a bigger risk here than at any other t14,

You probably don't need to worry about that. If you do worry, just write a solid "Why UVa" essay.

[LadyMary]

Any tips on how to avoid getting YP'ed? I feel like it's a bigger risk here than at any other t14,

You probably do need to worry about that. If you're serious about UVA, write a really good Why UVA response.