Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[QuentonCassidy]

Any thoughts on when grades are coming out? I know in the past they sent an email with the date in mid-Jan but I haven't gotten that this year. What gives?

[tomwatts]

Unless something unusual is going on, it should be sometime this week (first week of Spring Term). The day has fluctuated a bit; it was Tuesday in 2014 and 2015 and Thursday (1/28/16) last year.

I don't think they sent an email in mid-January last year either. They may have stopped doing that.

[wubwubwub]

Was told by a faculty member that it would be this week sometime.

[nothingtosee]

What's up with the class day ceremony? Are families invited to that?

[Pneumonia]

When did the Hark's english-muffin-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches switch to bagels?

[Pneumonia]

What's up with the class day ceremony? Are families invited to that?

To Class Day, yes. The day after that is Commencement Day, to which we only receive two tickets. But Claas Day isn't ticketed.

[nothingtosee]

What's up with the class day ceremony? Are families invited to that?

To Class Day, yes. The day after that is Commencement Day, to which we only receive two tickets. But Claas Day isn't ticketed.

What is Class Day? Do families usually go? Is it worth them going?

[lawlorbust]

When did the Hark's english-muffin-egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches switch to bagels?

Those bagel things are awesome

[tomwatts]

What's up with the class day ceremony? Are families invited to that?

To Class Day, yes. The day after that is Commencement Day, to which we only receive two tickets. But Claas Day isn't ticketed.

What is Class Day? Do families usually go? Is it worth them going?

It's sort of the beginning of graduation. There are a bunch of speakers, some awards are handed out, etc. I vaguely remember it being skippable if you felt like it, but lots of families do come.

[Nonconsecutive]

What's up with the class day ceremony? Are families invited to that?

To Class Day, yes. The day after that is Commencement Day, to which we only receive two tickets. But Claas Day isn't ticketed.

What is Class Day? Do families usually go? Is it worth them going?

It's sort of the beginning of graduation. There are a bunch of speakers, some awards are handed out, etc. I vaguely remember it being skippable if you felt like it, but lots of families do come.

Thanks for this, I've wondered the same thing for awhile now.

[Cambridge1988]

Anyone have any insight on whether employers (judges and firms) care at all about what courses you take beyond the foundational ones (corporations, con law, admin, etc). Also do most students average 12 credits per a semester, or do many take above the required minimum?

[nothingtosee]

Anyone have an updated guess on cum laude/magna cutoffs?

[QuentonCassidy]

Anyone have any information either from recent winners or educated guesses about how much money Sears prize winners receive? The best info I could find was that it was $10k in '02 (source: http://hlrecord.org/2002/12/hls-announc ... e-winners/) and $11k in '03 (source: http://hlrecord.org/2003/09/sears-prize ... announced/), but I have no idea about any recent info. I imagine it must have gone up somewhat, but anyone have an idea as to how much?

[sanibella]

Not sure... You might want to ask topszn as I heard he was contacted about it after grades came out today.

[wubwubwub]

I hate to be that guy, but can anyone give me a sense of where I stand after my first semester? I got 1 DS/3 H (including LRW)/1 P. I think this is pretty good, but I've read things on here about people getting 3-4 DSs in their first semester. My sense is I'm somewhere between top 10% and 20%, but I can't tell. Sorry about this-I know it's obnoxious to ask about grades, but I don't really want to bring it up with friends/faculty mentors.

[Pneumonia]

I hate to be that guy, but can anyone give me a sense of where I stand after my first semester? I got 1 DS/3 H (including LRW)/1 P. I think this is pretty good, but I've read things on here about people getting 3-4 DSs in their first semester. My sense is I'm somewhere between top 10% and 20%, but I can't tell. Sorry about this-I know it's obnoxious to ask about grades, but I don't really want to bring it up with friends/faculty mentors.

Comfortably top 10%, I'd say.

[tomwatts]

Anyone have any insight on whether employers (judges and firms) care at all about what courses you take beyond the foundational ones (corporations, con law, admin, etc). Also do most students average 12 credits per a semester, or do many take above the required minimum?

Judges care. If you take a bunch of "Shakespeare and the Law" or whatever, you might be weeded out from many clerkships. Biglaw ordinarily doesn't care at all, because they hire you before you start 2L. PI may care to some extent, depending on whether you're going into something that requires subject matter expertise.

As far as the total number of credits, take enough credits to graduate. Other than that, the total credit load doesn't really matter.

Anyone have an updated guess on cum laude/magna cutoffs?

I don't think it varies much (a little, but not much) from year to year, so our discussion earlier in this thread is still good.

I hate to be that guy, but can anyone give me a sense of where I stand after my first semester? I got 1 DS/3 H (including LRW)/1 P. I think this is pretty good, but I've read things on here about people getting 3-4 DSs in their first semester. My sense is I'm somewhere between top 10% and 20%, but I can't tell. Sorry about this-I know it's obnoxious to ask about grades, but I don't really want to bring it up with friends/faculty mentors.

Comfortably top 10%, I'd say.

That's an H average, and an H average is generally a little above the magna (top 10%) cutoff if you maintain it through the end of 3L. A little ways back in this thread, I estimated that 2L/3L grades are slightly higher than 1L grades, on average, so I'd suspect that you're a bit above any top 10% cutoff.

Also, it's probably fine to bring this up with faculty mentors.

[wubwubwub]

Thanks!

[malleus discentium]

Anyone have an updated guess on cum laude/magna cutoffs?

I don't think it varies much (a little, but not much) from year to year, so our discussion earlier in this thread is still good.

Do you remember what pages that was on? I used to have a link TripTrip posted that let us search this thread but I cannot find it

[cantorb]

.

[tomwatts]

Anyone have an updated guess on cum laude/magna cutoffs?

I don't think it varies much (a little, but not much) from year to year, so our discussion earlier in this thread is still good.

Do you remember what pages that was on? I used to have a link TripTrip posted that let us search this thread but I cannot find it

It was here: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2#p8609342

You can search the thread by using the site feature (site:top-law-schools.com) and putting "t=141188" (the topic number) to specify this topic, e.g.,

Code: Select all

site:top-law-schools.com "t=141188" "my curiosity is satisfied"

[eleemosynary2]

To reiterate, because I think it was a new data point and slightly lower than previously thought, 3.93 got magna last year

[georgej]

To reiterate, because I think it was a new data point and slightly lower than previously thought, 3.93 got magna last year

Relatedly, i believe someone posted that they did not get cum laude with a 3.61 last year.

[tomwatts]

Okay, yeah, apparently this happened. So apparently last year the cum laude cutoff was almost exactly 3.62, and the magna cutoff was somewhat under 3.95.

In light of that, I'm sticking with my previous estimate that the cum laude cutoff is generally around 3.6, but I revise my previous estimate to say that the magna cutoff is probably generally slightly over 3.9.

[yschaf]

Hi guys - anyone had Ramseyer in general, or in particular for Japanese Law? He's visiting at UChicago and would like to get more info on teaching style etc.