Top Law Schools

I know you can't make any assumptions about your class rank, but I've been wondering about this. For example, between FSU and UF, would either be easier? Probably not, right, since they all teach the same curriculum? I know the curve has some effect on this, but I don't really 100% understand how it works.

If there is a guy who went to all the law schools, he would know.

You don't understand how a curve works?

I have been wondering the same thing.

For example, Baylor is ranked by the Princeton Review as the "Most Competitive" law school. Does this mean it is harder to be top of your class at Baylor than at similarly ranked law schools? If so, by how much?

Nestico87 wrote:I have been wondering the same thing.

For example, Baylor is ranked by the Princeton Review as the "Most Competitive" law school. Does this mean it is harder to be top of your class at Baylor than at similarly ranked law schools? If so, by how much?

Google will tell you how they come up with those rankings (hint: it's an exceedingly stupid and pointless ranking method).

I've heard Cooley is super rigorous and difficult.

Two comments before I weigh in on your question:

1. Do NOT choose a law school with worse job placement because you think that it will be easier to place better on their curve than it would be at a more selective school. Period.

2. If you start law school looking to cut corners, you will fail miserably.

No one is qualified to answer this question because no one has gone through 1L year (i.e. the only year that matters) at more than one school. And even if someone had, they'd have repeated material so of course it would've been easier the second time.

Transfer students like myself are probably the most qualified to answer, but keep in mind that most people consider 2L year substantially easier than 1L year, because after 1L OCI, the marginal benefit of good grades is minimal for most students.

With all of this said, I transferred from a tier 2 to a top 25 school after 1L. I have taken only curved courses during both 1L (pre-transfer) and 2L (post-transfer), and have given substantially less effort during 2L at my new school than I did last year at my old school. Despite this, I have identical GPAs at each school. Therefore, 1L at my old school was harder than 2L at my new school. Take from that what you will.

The mandatory curve means that very few people will get the grades they need. It limits the number of As in each class. If everyone handed in the exact same exam, the professor would still have to figure out a way to give some people A's and the rest can't get them. When you go into a classroom, look around and know that only a small percentage of the students are going to be getting As.

It is the opposite of undergrad where a class might be curved up if everyone does badly on an exam; and, in undergrad, there is not a cap on how many people can get As.

I think very few 0Ls understand the mandatory curve.

curiousnole wrote:I know you can't make any assumptions about your class rank, but I've been wondering about this. For example, between FSU and UF, would either be easier? Probably not, right, since they all teach the same curriculum? I know the curve has some effect on this, but I don't really 100% understand how it works.

No. It's all about probability regardless of where you go. However, I guess there might be some truth to the general notion that it gets harder and harder to get into the very top of the class as the quality of the school increases.

I figured some one here may be a law school professor or know a law school professor well enough to be able to compare schools, there would be some transfers (thank you especially BCeagles182), or law students from different schools had compared their general experiences.

Yes, it's this mandatory curve that I don't understand. The curve in undergrad takes many different forms. So law schools are more like a bell curve then? What does the gpa have to do with the curve? for example, when they say it's curved to 3.0 or w/e? How does this actually affect grades. Does this actually mean that if the average grade on a test was really really low, they curve up to make the median a 3.0? Yes right? Am I completely off base? This is what I've gleaned from the talk of the curve so far.

No, not even close.

For example, a school may have a curve with the following requirements:
10% A
15% B+
50% B
...
...

So, in a class of 100 individuals, the 10 best tests will get an A, the next 15 will get a B+, so on and so forth.

This is the case even if each test is of the same or similar quality (high or low).

Yeah, the curve just means a set % of each class will get a certain grade, regardless of the overall quality. If everyone in the class is a genius, 10% get A's. If everyone is a moron, 10% get A's.

The curves are much harsher or more lenient at different schools. Generally at lower-ranked schools the curves are designed to try to differentiate as much as possible--C's and B- are given out. Curves are much gentler at higher-ranked schools, I think because they're trying to just create a mess of people at median so employers can't sift out people easily through GPA.

sunynp wrote:
I think very few 0Ls understand the mandatory curve.

They understand. They just don't believe it applies to them.

A country full of special snowflakes, that's what we have. I think part of the reason we have the mandatory curve in 1L is to force all of us to realize 1) we can work super hard and still lose, and 2) to bust away a lot of that special snowflake mentality from us to make us better attorneys in the long run. Of course the downside of this is those special snowflakes who end up top 10%. Ugh- they get so insufferable. I prefer the people in the top 10% who didn't come in feeling all entitled already. So much easier to deal with.

Yale is easier than all the others.

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

Actually this is almost certainly correct.

spleenworship wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

Actually this is almost certainly correct.

Sure it is. Even the dumbest Yalies are pretty well set for life.

must be nice

spleenworship wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

Actually this is almost certainly correct.

Hell yeah I'd be content coasting on straight LPs if I were a Yalie. Although, if I were the type of person who could get into Yale, I probably wouldn't settle for LPs....

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reformed calvinist wrote:

spleenworship wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

Actually this is almost certainly correct.

Hell yeah I'd be content coasting on straight LPs if I were a Yalie. Although, if I were the type of person who could get into Yale, I probably wouldn't settle for LPs....

--ImageRemoved--

i wouldn't open the casebook. i'd write exam answers in french. french haikus.


all of my exams. they would be in french haikus. i'd draw flowers too.

beachbum wrote:http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... rev-2.html

Most current list he made (I think--I don't he's kept on doing this for most recent PR rankings): http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... iew-1.html

Gail wrote:

reformed calvinist wrote:

spleenworship wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

Actually this is almost certainly correct.

Hell yeah I'd be content coasting on straight LPs if I were a Yalie. Although, if I were the type of person who could get into Yale, I probably wouldn't settle for LPs....

--ImageRemoved--

i wouldn't open the casebook. i'd write exam answers in french. french haikus.


all of my exams. they would be in french haikus. i'd draw flowers too.

Bravo......... now THAT is comedy!

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

I think Stanford can be just as easy as Yale.


After that all the other schools are about the same.

Flash wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

I think Stanford can be just as easy as Yale.


After that all the other schools are about the same.

Stanford's LRAP does not cover non-legal work. So Yale is easier.

Flash wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

I think Stanford can be just as easy as Yale.


After that all the other schools are about the same.

Cream of the crop school with no letter grades? Can't imagine what else they could do to curb the pressure. Maybe add pictures to the casebooks?

reformed calvinist wrote:

Flash wrote:

r6_philly wrote:Yale is easier than all the others.

I think Stanford can be just as easy as Yale.


After that all the other schools are about the same.

Cream of the crop school with no letter grades? Can't imagine what else they could do to curb the pressure. Maybe add pictures to the casebooks?

Close:

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/12/the-evid ... e-to-pass/