Talk:List of law school GPA curves
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Please add information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lightbulb1 (talk • contribs) 17:58, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
Also, please add references to this article (and phenomenon) to the article pages of the schools listed.
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[edit] different things being compared
Some schools only curve certain classes. For example, Stanford curves to a 3.4, but only in examination classes. The average graduating GPA is a good chunk higher than 3.4, since most paper classes average higher than a 3.4 (sometimes much higher). Some of the GPA's listed are average graduating GPA's. I don't know if there's a way of equalizing this comparison, but it's making some schools seem like they inflate more than they do, and vice-versa.
[edit] unranked
Unranked doesn't mean you don't grade on a curve, however. Boalt, for instance, has a pretty harsh curve -- they give 10% "HH" (high honors), 30% "H" (honors), and the balance are "P" (pass) or not pass. But they don't compute individual rankings for students; just 10% rankings and the top position in the class. And there's no "GPA" per se. --lquilter 15:44, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
W&L Rank YOu can't really put that curve up- the curve is something that is constantly in flux and there is no exact number- in fact it changes with each class
Uhh.. All I can say is that my school's curve places me in the top 3rd of my class with barely a 3.1 GPA. Each individual class is seperately curved, and different professors will place their median in different locations (e.g. one section of property last year had a C+/2.3 median and the other had a B-/2.7 median). I find it hard to believe any information posted in this article could be credible.
At my law school, a 3.1 places you in the top 10%. Top third is somewhere around a 2.7. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.57.249.142 (talk) 02:06, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] correct
I think this information should be viewed as some guideline. It's not going to be perfect without cooperation from the schools. Schools usually curve in required courses, courses that have a large number of students, and the curve sometimes even changes by class year. I've seen curves at some schools shift towards higher grades by class year. Generally, the smaller courses or "paper" courses have less stringent curves. The curve may not be representative of an actual student's GPA or even the class median because there's a lot of variables. Moreoever, the curve is not representative of a particular student. It's just the distribution of grades within a particular class. An individual can perform differently in different classes with the same curve in effect, which can make the curve not necessarily representative of GPA. Although, I'm not sure what's the absolute effect of this. Perhaps, there isn't a large deviation from the curve for the class median. However, in a relative sense it can explain why the general GPAs from different schools are different when you look at a large number of students from each school.
[edit] Grade Inflation
I don't know why the article suggests that a curve would be responsible for grade inflation. There is nothing inherent to a curve that would cause grade inflation. Some schools may set the median grade too high, but most law schools place the median grade around a 'B'. When compared with other graduate program grades, I believe law school grades tend to be lower (some programs require at least a 'B' average - which means that the median grade must be higher).
