Higher gpa's required at a lower tiered school than at T14? Forum

[lillawyer2]

Matter of opinion, but do the majority here feel that at a HYS and CCN law students are not required to have stellar gpa's to retain a good internship/job, however, there school's name will carry them?

At an institution like Fordham, Loyola, second tiered schools and such, students must have an awesome gpa to be competitive int he current and near future market.


Does my thought process have some basis in reality or am I assuming incorrectly?

[Auxilio]

The easiest way to prove it that a lot of firms have (sometimes soft) GPA cut-offs that vary by schools. So to get firm A SA you need to be top 80% at H, 60 at C, and say 20 at M.

In short, yes.

[UpandDown97]

The easiest way to prove it that a lot of firms have (sometimes soft) GPA cut-offs that vary by schools. So to get firm A SA you need to be top 80% at H, 60 at C, and say 20 at M.

In short, yes.

This doesn't make a lot of sense.

It's generally accepted that you should look at school's big law + fed clerkship numbers. That will give you a rough estimate of where in the class you need to be in your class to land a big law SA. I argue too that depending on the school, you can probably factor in government/public interest/business jobs, but that's an aside and requires much greater explanation.

[Auxilio]

Yeah, Sort of the same thing I was trying to say, firms will only go so deep into a school, and as things like GPA cutoffs for individual firms and BL/FC show that it scales (generally) as you go lower down through the rankings.

[chuckbass]

Yes, the better school you go to, the less well you need to do to land a good job.

[lillawyer2]

Thanks for the responses. I will work harder to earn a better score to maximize my options.

[White Dwarf]

It's MUCH easier to improve your LSAT than your class rank. So I wouldn't even consider applying until you think you've maxed out.

[03152016]

Matter of opinion, but do the majority here feel that at a HYS and CCN law students are not required to have stellar gpa's to retain a good internship/job, however, there school's name will carry them?

At an institution like Fordham, Loyola, second tiered schools and such, students must have an awesome gpa to be competitive int he current and near future market.


Does my thought process have some basis in reality or am I assuming incorrectly?

i'd be nervous at fordham unless i was above median by a healthy margin. bl+fc was only 37% for c/o 2014
risky if that's what you're after

yes, ccn name does goes a long way. at n, we have 3.3 curve. success rate at oci for sub 3.0 was almost 70% last year (which excludes offers from mass mail, networking, referrals, etc)

[ndirish2010]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

[chuckbass]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

No, I think you've got it. Fwiw I don't think OP is trolling.

[ndirish2010]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

No, I think you've got it. Fwiw I don't think OP is trolling.

For OP's sake, I hope this is a flame.

[lillawyer2]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

yes, i was, but asking it in a weird way. I was more focused on grades, but it makes sense either way that a better school would have better chances. However, I was concerned. I wanted to know that despite getting into a top school like Harvard, if my grades were not top, would my job prospects still be great?

[UpandDown97]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

yes, i was, but asking it in a weird way. I was more focused on grades, but it makes sense either way that a better school would have better chances. However, I was concerned. I wanted to know that despite getting into a top school like Harvard, if my grades were not top, would my job prospects still be great?

Yeah, just use Big Law + Fed Clerkship to figure out job prospects. Like I said, for a T10 school, especially ones with strong MBA programs, you can bet that most of the business jobs taken by grads are good jobs too. Same is true of PI and government jobs; out of a T10, it's probably a pretty safe bet that at least some of the government/PI jobs people get are desirable too.

[03152016]

what does t10 mean

[ndirish2010]

Am I missing something or is the OP asking whether you have a better chance at getting a good job from a better school?

yes, i was, but asking it in a weird way. I was more focused on grades, but it makes sense either way that a better school would have better chances. However, I was concerned. I wanted to know that despite getting into a top school like Harvard, if my grades were not top, would my job prospects still be great?

Let's see: if school A has 70% get good outcomes and school B has 20%, will I have a better chance of getting a good outcome from school A or school B?

Shockingly, the answer is pretty obvious.