Grades in Law School and Grad School

Another difference in grad school and law school is that in grad school, we would have our grades by now. I'm not sure if the grades would have been mailed to us by now. What I do know is that we would have known them by now.




In the old days, our professors would post a list of the student's grades with their respective social security numbers beside those grades, but the actual names were not listed. Our professors would have these things out fairly quick, probably within week after the exam was given.



For some students or in some situations, the student could go the professor's office and ask the professor his/herself directly how he/she did if the grade list had not been posted. Normally, the professor was cordial about things and may even joke around with you. They may even show you your exam.



Compare this to law school where our grades don't come out till the second week in January. And forget about contacting the professor about how you did. I haven't tried it but I'm sure it would be frowned upon to contact the professor before the grades are posted.



Another big difference in grades between grad school and law school is the class average. Most law schools shoot for a class average of a B, some even shoot for a C. I couldn't imagine trying to stay above water in that kind of environment. With a class average of a C, it is almost built into the system that a quarter of the students per class will be academically ineligible after the first year.



In grad school, a student needs a 3.0 average or better to remain academically eligible. And believe me, the schools don't play. I saw about a quarter of my class in grad school get washed out in the first year. Most of those students were hurt by physical organic chemistry or inorganic chemistry.