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After finishing finals and the writing competition, I had just begun to enjoy my summer and my new job when I got that dreaded email: “Grade has been posted for LAW 501.” Oh crap. I had almost forgotten that we still have to get grades. That one little email has triggered this perpetual state of paranoia and fear. Every time I look down at my phone and see that I have unread emails, I cringe and press the email icon. It’s just my 4 daily Groupon emails, phew.
Before coming to law school everyone tells you that your grades your first year make or break you. No pressure or anything, right? For me, I’m way more concerned waiting for grades this semester than last semester. Last semester, there was no bar, there were no expectations. I took my exams, headed home for Christmas break, and pretty much forgot about them until the week that they were distributed.
This semester though, the stress is three-fold. First, after doing semi-decently last semester, I would hate to see my grades go down. Secondly, with On Campus Interviews right around the corner and emails every day from the Career Planning office, you can’t help but think about your grades and interviews even if you don’t want to. And finally, grades for the first semester were, for the most part, distributed all together on one set day.
This time, the emails come out sporadically as the professors finish them. Not knowing when you’re getting to get another dreaded email is completely torturous. I’ve only received one grade so far, but I have friends who already have three.
Despite all of that, God bless Penn for not assigning us class ranks or GPAs. I can’t think of anything more terrifying and intimidating than knowing exactly where you stand in your class. That is, unless you’re ranked first, and trust me, I’m not. On top of that, Penn doesn’t even give us GPAs, just simple letter grades. They say it helps prevent employers from excluding students just because they’re not in the top 15% or 25% or what not, but I don’t think that concept really works.
Most employers who regularly recruit here have figured out the general grading scheme and can easily gauge what grades make you fall within what percentiles. Don’t get me wrong, speculation is still better for us than them knowing for sure. But I can’t help but get jealous when schools like Yale apparently don’t have any sort of grades at all. But then again, it’s Yale.
Either way, whether you get As or Bs or even Cs, it comes down to strategy for OCI. The people at the Career Planning office tell us that everyone can get a job as long you bid smart. If you have mostly Bs don’t put Wachtell down as your first choice, easy as that. I’m gonna hope that they’re right and this bidding smart thing works, but in the meantime, cross your fingers and say a little prayer that my grades come out fast and that they’re not too terrible.
Photo by ajc1
Good luck! I like your point that speculation is actually better than knowing for sure ^_^
ReplyDeleteNever thought of it, but it would be really weird to receive a class rank, especially when the class size isn't all that large. Grades are grades but at least they're not attached to a number. Anyway, hopefully you get the rest of your grades soon!!
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