Reed College for Law School? How does grading system affect my chances?

mackinaw
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 23:25:38 +0000

This is information from someone who graduated from Reed a few decades ago (I’m old), but in my senior year I applied to two PhD programs (social science) (Princeton and Wisconsin) and four law schools (UC Berkeley-Boalt Hall, Hastings, Stanford, and Chicago). I didn’t know anything about my grades; never saw a transcript until the summer after I graduated. Turned out I had a B+ average.

Plenty good: I was admitted to every one of those programs. I chose to attend Wisconsin for a PhD.

Graduate and law schools know about grade inflation – knew about it even back when it wasn’t as pervasive. This is one reason why they have GRE and LSAT’s – because students vary a lot in the courses they’ve taken, grades they may have earned. It’s also a reason why they ask for letters of recommendation, presumably by professors who know you well. Admission isn’t just a “by the grid” process.