Stanford Law School Class of 2018 Forum

[sneakyleo]

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[ballcaps]

CHECKING IN

I also have a question for you lovely people. I'm trying to do some H vs. S research, and I keep seeing in past TLS "H vs. S" threads that Stanford's no-grade policy is something to compare with Harvard's more competitive environment. Some quick google searches, however, seem to indicate that H and S use essentially the same grading system.

Harvard: Honors, Pass, Low Pass, Fail
Stanford: Honors, Pass, Restricted Credit, Fail

Where, then, is the difference in grades? Am I missing something? Has the system changed?

Congrats!

Stanford changed its grading system to the current one in the fall of 2008, a year before Harvard's reform. I can see at least one "H vs S" thread that was posted in the fall of 2008, at which point only Stanford had adopted the four-level grading system.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, almost no student at Stanford receives an RC, while some classes at Harvard do give out LPs to a small number of students. But I think Harvard is also moving toward giving increasingly fewer LPs.

But all in all, I think that the grading systems of the two schools have little difference.

(Edited to add some more comments)

to build on this a little:

recently had this talk with a stanford 2L, and he said, to his knowledge, no one has received an RC in a decade.

that may or may not be accurate, but it certainly gives insight into the difference.

the structures are almost identical, but they're implemented a little differently. since virtually no one receives the RC, there's even less differentiation among transcripts, and an even narrower curve.

to me, this is actually very significant. i'd be more than happy to continue the H/S conversation here, or over pm, as i'm pretty sure this is the choice i'll be making.

[koalacity]

CHECKING IN

I also have a question for you lovely people. I'm trying to do some H vs. S research, and I keep seeing in past TLS "H vs. S" threads that Stanford's no-grade policy is something to compare with Harvard's more competitive environment. Some quick google searches, however, seem to indicate that H and S use essentially the same grading system.

Harvard: Honors, Pass, Low Pass, Fail
Stanford: Honors, Pass, Restricted Credit, Fail

Where, then, is the difference in grades? Am I missing something? Has the system changed?

Congrats!

Stanford changed its grading system to the current one in the fall of 2008, a year before Harvard's reform. I can see at least one "H vs S" thread that was posted in the fall of 2008, at which point only Stanford had adopted the four-level grading system.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, almost no student at Stanford receives an RC, while some classes at Harvard do give out LPs to a small number of students. But I think Harvard is also moving toward giving increasingly fewer LPs.

But all in all, I think that the grading systems of the two schools have little difference.

(Edited to add some more comments)

It's unclear how many students receive RCs. I've heard everything from "never" to 10-15 students per year. I do think that LPs are slightly more prevalent at H, though.

Note that the grading scale also includes book prizes (for Stanford) and DS (for Harvard), which are basically the same thing (awarded to the top handful of people per class).

Note also that Harvard's grading scale is a bit more generous (~38% H/rest P) than Stanford's (hard 30% H/rest P) AND that Harvard's curve is discretionary for seminars, which is not true at Stanford. The bolded isn't something I was aware of before coming here, but it's something to seriously consider-having curved seminars sucks.

eta: the source I have for there being something like 10-15 RCs given per year is a pretty reliable one. I don't know of anyone who got one, but it's also true that getting an RC isn't something that people would be likely to share with others (especially given that most people don't talk about grades much anyway).

[radio1nowhere]

I recommend reading through the Stanford/Harvard "Students Taking Questions" threads. They give insight into a lot of topics, of course, but I found them particularly useful for getting a feel for how the different student bodies think about grades.

Started reading through a few of these this evening - very helpful as far as putting the bigger student experience picture together. Thanks!

[psychmusic]

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[jemthey17]

Does anyone know the timeline for financial aid awards from SLS?

Looks like middle of this month, from last year's thread. Wish the threads from other years were more active so I could tell if this is typical or not.

[jemthey17]

Anyone else get their award letter?

[LoganCouture]

Anyone else get their award letter?

Not me...they contacted me to ask questions about NeedAccess stuff yesterday so I guess my award is delayed.

[psychmusic]

.

[RSN]

I also got a question about my NeedAccess stuff last week

[radio1nowhere]

Anyone else get their award letter?

Did you really get an offer?! No one else on LSN or TLS has reported money yet. Was it snail mail? If so, do you live close to Palo Alto?

[zaetoroftheprotoss]

I sent my FAFSA / need access several weeks ago but need to send in my newest tax returns X_X...the delay is awful :/

[IPmaybe]

I also got the financial aid letter, but mine apparently was easy for them. ($0.00 in aid). Oh well, won't be going to gorgeous beautiful spectacular Palo Alto..

[radio1nowhere]

I sent my FAFSA / need access several weeks ago but need to send in my newest tax returns X_X...the delay is awful :/

Stanford doesn't need tax returns to make a provisional finaid offer, right?

[LoganCouture]

Anyone else get their award letter?

Did you really get an offer?! No one else on LSN or TLS has reported money yet. Was it snail mail? If so, do you live close to Palo Alto?

Not Jem, but presumably you will access the financial aid award letter through axess, which means you should create a SUNet ID if you haven't already. I think instructions for creating the ID are on the admitted students' site.

[gold33]

Got my offer yesterday. Not mad at it

[Fred Norris]

Are award notices given via e-mail, snail mail?

[Fred Norris]

I sent my FAFSA / need access several weeks ago but need to send in my newest tax returns X_X...the delay is awful :/

Stanford doesn't need tax returns to make a provisional finaid offer, right?

That's what I was told when I called - they don't need one.

[radio1nowhere]

I got an envelope today from "Stanford Office of Admissions and Financial Aid" and I irrationally thought it would be scholarship notification.. it was just housing info.

[gold33]

Are award notices given via e-mail, snail mail?

You get an email telling you that it's posted on Axess.

Was quite excited about the housing brochure...until I saw the prices for rooms in Munger

[LoganCouture]

Are award notices given via e-mail, snail mail?

You get an email telling you that it's posted on Axess.

Was quite excited about the housing brochure...until I saw the prices for rooms in Munger

And yet Munger is far cheaper than the off campus housing around Stanford...welcome to Palo Alto.

[Fred Norris]

How far away from Stanford do you need to be in order for housing prices to become more reasonable? 15 min drive? 20? 45?!?!?

[LoganCouture]

How far away from Stanford do you need to be in order for housing prices to become more reasonable? 15 min drive? 20? 45?!?!?

Depends what you think of as reasonable and what kind of accommodations you want. If you're fine renting a room in a house (with roommates/sometimes a family will rent a room out) you can get closer/cheaper than if you want an apartment to yourself.

[Fred Norris]

I'm being completely arbitrary. 1 br for 1200.

[LoganCouture]

I'm being completely arbitrary. 1 br for 1200.

I've never seen anything that inexpensive for an apartment. Maybe out in Fremont(?) but that commute would be unpleasant. I encourage you to check out craigslist to get a feel for prices out here. The Ask a Law Student thread could also be helpful.