Graduation, Act I
Borris asks in comments:
Any thoughts on this year's commencement speaker - The Honorable Mary M. Schroeder? Also, is the faculty speaker - Anne Joseph O'C*nnell - chosen by the 3L class as a whole or by the graduation committee?
Those questions are as good as any for the seeding of a graduation thread (though I have my fingers crossed for some kind of tell-all graduation exposé from the likes MRP and EW).
3:'s: Congrats. You are now among the most highly educated people on the planet. Scary, huh?
Any thoughts on this year's commencement speaker - The Honorable Mary M. Schroeder? Also, is the faculty speaker - Anne Joseph O'C*nnell - chosen by the 3L class as a whole or by the graduation committee?
Those questions are as good as any for the seeding of a graduation thread (though I have my fingers crossed for some kind of tell-all graduation exposé from the likes MRP and EW).
3:'s: Congrats. You are now among the most highly educated people on the planet. Scary, huh?
Labels: Moving Out
posted by Patrick Bageant at 9:57 AM
22 Comments:
Both speakers were chosen by the committee, although the committee asked for informal input from the 3L class and various organizations in choosing the guest speaker.
Also 3Ls - the weather is supposed to be 76 and sunny so we'll be sweating under those robes, that's for sure.
When do 3Ls get their last grades? They give out some prize to the #1 ranked person at graduation, right? Does that mean that all of our grades are available by then?
I don't see how that would be possible, because it would mean professors who had later exams would have to grade all exams (not just 3Ls, since 2Ls are included on our curve - right?) in one or two days. That just seems impossible.
I agree that it seems impossible, but the fact that they give out that award made me wonder. How do they know who is #1 without figuring out that person's grades, and how can they figure out that person's grades without figuring out the whole curve? Maybe #1 is usually so far ahead of everyone else that they just assume he/she will remain there.
Or maybe it's rigged. By SID.
The Academic Achievement prize is for the top ranked student after 5 semesters. It doesn't count the final semester.
That student could then totally phone it in for the final spring semester and end up with a much lower ranking overall. But, I suspect the students who receive that award are so driven by extreme self-hatred and low self-esteem that they could never conceive of taking it easy for an entire semester.
What does the #1 ranked person get? A certificate? Medal? Multi-volume treatise of his/her choice? Free pass on the California Bar?
You get a very prestigious resume line item.
For example:
www.law.duke.edu/fac/bayern/
http://law-stage.stanford.edu/display/images/dynamic/people_cv/lemley_cv.pdf
www.howardrice.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=people.personDetail&id=9452
Yeah, MRP. I think that's a totally fair generalization to make. People who are well-adjusted don't have ambition or do their best. Those who do must be consumed with self-loathing and have self-esteem problems. There's certainly no other reason to skip "phoning in" a semester of law school. That should make the rest of us feel better. Whoever has the best grades is a TOTAL freak!
Agree with 1:04. Let's not tear down those folks at the top of our class just because they did better than us and we're struggling for self-justification.
Geez 1:04 and 1:49, simmer down. Anyone that knows MRP knows that he is a loveable smart ass and was not serious about those comments. I hope for your sake, you both have just been studying too hard and can't take a joke right now. It would be sad if both of you actually walk through life with no sense of humor.
Theoretically, the Academic Achievement award doesn't have to go to #1 in the class.
Since it is based on grades after 5 semesters, someone who comes in as a transfer (who only has 3 semesters worth of Boalt grades), would be ineligible for the award, but still could still be #1.
Wow, my goal at this point is to not sub-P. Good you, 3L who wonders how the prize is given out. -non-stressed 3L
Is Order of the Coif announced before graduation? Not that I'm in the running for it, I just want to know whether the Boalt graduation will be bringing back memories of undergrad, where the honors kids got special tassels and robes as a reminder to the rest of us non-honors grads that we should have worked harder/been smarter.
I know my rank. It is not close to #1. I was distracting myself from studying by reading about the contents of past graduation ceremonies on the Boalt website when I noticed that the award was given out at the ceremony. This led me to wonder exactly how they determined the winner without calculating this semester's grades. I hope this explanation has not put a dent in how good you feel about being non-competitive. Although your happiness was misguideded if based on my relative competitiveness, I'm sure there are other people that you are less competitive than.
-3L who wonders how the prize is given out
Order of the Coif is not revealed until several months after graduation, when you get a letter in the mail informing you. Then they ask you to send them a check to cover the calligraphy on the certificate they will send you, which you get sometime close to 6 months after graduation.
WTF? You basically pay for your own certificate?
Can you choose NOT to get the certificate but put that on your resume anyway?
4:18
is that really surprising to you? Every other honor- phi beta kappa, etc, you must pay to receive a certificate. otherwise, all the non-coif people would be subsidizing your calligraphy.. how fair would that be?
Coif calligraphy, BHSA funding, or LRAP... hmmm... I think we need another poll.
I just saw a bright orange flier on campus recruiting students to come to the law school graduation to protest. They sign assured that they would not be protesting the graduation itself but will only be encouraging the students to wear orange ribbons.
Chron coverage: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/17/BAOK10OF9L.DTL
I saw two protestors ask Dean Edley when he would be firing John Yoo. His response, "never, never."
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