Law school grade inflation and economy

[elizabeth]

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22law.html?scp=2&sq=law%20school&st=cse This is not a good sign after last years article where they are cutting class sizes as well. Just a heads up to those who want to become attorneys bank on working in the public sector for lower pay if you are fortunate enough to get a job. Yikes. This old lawyer is glad not to be competing in this abysmal market.

[cathmom]

Wow. I'm glad oldest dc is no longer talking about law school, but instead is concentrating on the things he loves. Imagine if you went to law school because of pressure to choose a high-paying career and graduated, unable to get a job, with $100K+ in debt.

[Nicole M]

Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate — and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings.

 

At the university where I work, not a law school, I definitely see this all the time in countless subtle ways, the rescuing and protecting.

 

One line after another struck me as just sickening in this article. Education, the economy... what a mess!

[TravelingChris]

I am trying to find my daughter a college that is academically rigorous but still gives A;s to as many students as actually work hard and do what is needed. I am so not into seeing the average grade of hard-working, intelligent students be dinged by arbitrary maximum numbers of A's or something like that. I know first hand how stingy grading hurts in a recession. I went from having a 3.2 GPA at my harder grading college to a 4.0 in grad school. I ddin't change how I was working; I was a student who worked really hard and is a natural good test taker. The federal government, which does employ many, many people. had GPAs as one of the requirements for many jobs. A GPA of 3.5 was needed. Hardly anyone at my very well regarded college had a 3.5. but that didn't get you a job. I am looking out for that kind of grading problem at the schools my dd is applying to since she wants a career as a prosecutor.

[Maryalice]

My son just graduated from law school. Not all law schools grade the way that the article speaks. All of his grades were curved on a point scale. All of the students competed and a distribution of scores were applied. So only one student got an A in a class/course. Then upon graduation, the awards are strictly by % - top 2%, top10%, etc. This prevents "grade inflation".