List of law school GPA curves
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Many, or perhaps most, law schools in the United States grade on a curve. The process generally works within each class, where the instructor grades the work, and then ranks the initial grades, adding to and subtracting from the initial grades so that the overall pattern of grades matches the school's specified curve (usually a bell curve).
Grading on a curve contributes to the notoriously competitive atmosphere within law schools.[1]
The following list shows where law schools set the 50% mark.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] The List
[edit] Not ranked
The following law schools have adopted a grading system which does not allow for the calculation of a comparable median GPA, if any GPA is recorded at all:
- Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Law School — pass/no pass system with 40% of first-year students receiving pass with honors in each class.[34]
- Columbia Law School — no reported GPA, but 30-33% of class qualifies for a distinction awarded to those with "an academic average significantly better than B+".[35]
- Harvard Law School — not reported.[36]
- University of Chicago Law School — uses unusual numeric grade with median of 177.[37]
- Yale Law School — pass/no pass system with honors distinctions with no fixed curve.[38]
- New York University School of Law — not reported.[39]
- University of Pennsylvania Law School — not reported.[40]
- Northeastern University School of Law — written evaluations given for each course with "buzz words" used.
- University of Notre Dame Law School — No mandated curve, no class rank.[41]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Barbara Glesner Fines, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, "Competition and the Curve," 65 UMKC L. Rev. (1997); see also "Competition and the Mandatory Curve in Law School," Apr. 18, 2006, CALI's Pre-Law Blog ("The main source of this competition is the mandatory curve you will likely encounter once you enter law school. The curve affects the class rank, affects the chances of making law review, affects the chances of scoring that big job/externship.").
- ^ Moritz Law 2006 rankings Moritz Law Registrar
- ^ UT OCS
- ^ Stanford OCS
- ^ Cornell OCS
- ^ W&L Admissions
- ^ Northwestern Acadmics
- ^ BYU Policies and Procedures
- ^ Duke OCS
- ^ Georgetown Faculty
- ^ Virginia website
- ^ Minnesota Quartiles
- ^ USC Handbook
- ^ Illinois Academic Policy Handbook
- ^ Michigan Registrar
- ^ Cardozo OCS
- ^ SMU OCS
- ^ Grading
- ^ Penn State Dickinson School of Law - www.dsl.psu.edu
- ^ Wisconsin Students
- ^ Temple University Class Rank Report
- ^[citation needed]
- ^ SLU First Year Rankings
- ^ SLU Second Year Rankings
- ^ SLU Third Year Rankings
- ^ Texas Wesleyan University - Home
- ^ Southern Illinois University School of Law Rules
- ^ http://www.asl.edu/documents/standards.pdf
- ^ The University of Tulsa College of Law
- ^ [http://www.law.widener.edu/departments/career_development/statistics/
- ^ [http://http://www.wmitchell.edu/publications/handbook/0708/Student-Handbook-2007-08.pdf
- ^ No Grade Inflation at Idaho
- ^ NCCU
- ^ Grading Policy, law.berkeley.edu, access March 22, 2007
- ^ Columbia Law School: Grading, accessed March 22,2007
- ^ HLS Grading System, accessed March 22, 2007
- ^ Memorandum to the faculty, September 2006, accessed March 22, 2007
- ^ Yale Law School | Grades, accessed March 22, 2007
- ^ New York University School of Law | Grades & Academic Standards (J.D. & LL.M.), accessed August 19, 2007
- ^ New York University School of Law | Grades & Academic Standards (J.D. & LL.M.), accessed August 19, 2007
- ^ [http://law.nd.edu/careers/for-employers/grading-policy | Notre Dame Law School Grading Policy, accessed June 2, 2008