Complaint Review: Roger Williams School Of Law - Bristol Rhode Island

Law school is meant to be highly competitive, and good grades are supposed to be extremely hard to get. Even at Harvard less than 20% of the students will ever get an A. But I do see a significant problem with curved grading. Prepare for a long-winded analysis: In 2003, the year Jeb and I matriculated, more people applied to law schools than ever before. Naturally, this means that many students who otherwiswe would have been admitted were not, and many students ended up in lesser schools than they otherwise could have attended. This means that the 2006 class at any given law school is pretty much the strongest in the school's history. Thus, the students at the lower tier schools are surrounded by smarter people. This means that a student who may have fared well in, say, the class of 2002, may not do so well in the class of 2006. As a result, decent students are more prone to "curving out" in schools that use a curve. The inverse of this is that, in years of lower application volume, poorer students may do just fine. Thus, your ability to succeed in a curve system is largely dependent on how many applications your school received in a given year, and I see a pretty major flaw in that. I prefer the true grading system, but that too is flawed because it allows for rampant grade inflation, which is a disservice to those students who actually earn the best grades. As we have all seen, there are many people attending law school who are by no means cut out for it. We have lost over 25% of our class since the first semester of 1L. Many of those people, I'm sure, had impeccable LSAT scores and UGPAs. But they just couldn't hack it in law school. Likewise, many people with lesser undergrad credentials find great success in law school. The truth of the matter is that the UGPA and LSAT are fairly poor indicators of potential success in legal education. Naturally, many law students who seemed very promising will fail out. And I would only imagine that this is ever more true in the lower schools. But don't let the failure to make it past 1L dissuade you. Give it another try at a different school if possible, or go for a different degree. On a different note, Kudos to Jeb's brother on picking a decent O'Connor replacement. I can hear all those Right to Life groups drafting their amicus briefs as we speak. Roe v. Wade is certainly doomed. But that's ok, it was a terrible decision to begin with (privacy? Get real. If there is really such a pervasive privacy right embedded in the Constitution, why is smoking pot illegal?). Just remember, overturning Roe doesn't outlaw abortion, it merely gives the states the right to do so. Which means that the only people getting abortions will be the ones who live in or can afford to travel to a state where it is legal. And remember: keep the Ten Commandments out on the lawn, where they are a historical artifact, and out of the courtroom, where they are offensive to the First Amendment. And don't think for a second that we have forgotten about Karl Rove! We're on to your smokescreens! Signed, The Friends of Sharpton

Roger Williams University School of Law is a private NOT-for-profit institution fully approved by the American Bar Association. I'm not a student there, but I do know that their JD program is not a scam or crap. Like many other ABA law schools, they grade on a very strict curve. I'm not a huge fan of curved grading policies either, but they are not schemes devised only to get rid of students. In fact, they seem to be quite common among ABA approved law schools, especially those with less competitive admissions criteria. So, if you want to become a lawyer, you'll either need to deal with it or transfer to a non-curve school. And transferring may be easier said than done. Let's be honest about what really happened to you, though. You didn't have the numbers to get into to a top tier school, and Roger Williams was on the short list of schools that admitted you, so you decided to go for it. Unfortunately, you didn't make it. You curved out, plain and simple. Now, instead of being grateful for even having the opportunity to study law at an ABA approved institution, you are blaming the school (probably one of a few that gave you a shot) for your failures. Am I right? My advice: Stop playing the victim, and get to work. This is your ultimate test. If you want to become a lawyer bad enough, you won't give up now. Instead, you'll find a way to get back into any accredited law school so that you can complete your legal education. You may be able to transfer some of your RWU credits, or you may have to start fresh. Either way, if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way. All you need to do is get admitted somewhere and maintain a 2.0. And in a few years time, you'll be a JD. If you do continue: Make absolutely certain that you are ready for more curved grading. I contacted a couple other schools that you may be able to get admitted to and most seem to curve their grading in some way. I also called RWU to get official information about their grading curve. Here is what I found out. * Roger Williams University (Bristol, RI): For lower level required courses (including civ-pro, legal meth, property, torts, etc), the mean course grade must fall between 2.33 and 2.67. On their scale that is an average between a C+ and B-. For upper division required courses (con law, crim law, evidence, pro rep, etc) the mean grade must fall between 2.50 and 3.00. On their scale that is a C+ (a little above, actually) and a straight B. Students must maintain a 2.0 in order to graduate. * Touro Law Center (Huntington, NY): There is a mandatory curve for first year courses and a recommended one for upper division courses. Visit the website to see how the mandatory Touro curve would play out in a hypothetical class of 60 students. See www.toruolaw.edu and search gpa calculation and grade curves for more information. I could be doing the math wrong, but it looks like up to 75% percent of students end up in the C- to B range. The Touro curve doesn't appear to be an easy one. * Widener Law (Harrisburg, PA): The mean grade for first year required grades must fall between 2.30 and 2.70, with at least 10% of the class receiving D+s or lower. The mean grade for upper level required courses must fall between 2.50 and 2.85. The mean grade for upper level elective courses must fall between 2.50 and 3.10. Finally, the mean grade for upper level seminar courses must fall between 2.50 and 3.40. * Seton Hall (Newark, NJ): This school is better than most on the list, but it does have a pretty tough mandatory grade curve for first year courses. Apparently, about one half of the class will receive grades in C to B- range. And, 5-15% must receive Ds and Fs. It also appears that upper level courses and electives have recommended curves or less stringent mandatory curves. I called and visited the websites of a handful of other schools. It's amazing how many registrars had no idea what the grading curve is at their school. Most knew that their school had a curve, but didn't know what the actual range was. Others didn't even know if they had one or not. In any case, here is some other miscellaneous curve information that I picked up today: University of California Davis: 20% of students get As, 60% get Bs, and 20% get Cs and below. Villanova Law School (Villanova, PA): Only a recommended curve. Most course averages appear to be in the B range. Loyola University (Chicago, IL): B+ for 10-20% of students ~ B for 20-30% ~ B- for 10-25% ~ C+ for 10-25% ~ C for 5-20% University of South Carolina: For first-year courses, the mean grade in all classes shall fall within the range of 2.7- 3.0 Interesting notes about Roger Williams University: According to their website the JD Class of 2004 achieved a 90% pass rate on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts July 2004 bar exam, while simultaneously earning the school's highest score to date on the Rhode Island bar exam. This sets an impressive new record for graduates of the School of Law. www.law.rwu.edu. ~ Not bad for a law school that has only been around for the better part of a decade. In addition, their undergraduate institution was incorporated in 1956. Since then, the university (as a whole, not the law school) has made it to the top tier of the U.S. News college rankings. See www.usnews.com and search the Northern Comprehensive Colleges division. In a fairly short time, RWU has made a pretty good name for itself. I see no reason why the law school won't be doing the same. Finally, if Roger Williams really did steal student loan money from you or mislead you regarding scholarship funds, stop the name calling and file respectful complaints with the school's institutional and programmatic accreditors. You can find out how to do so by visiting the New England Association of Schools and Colleges website (www.neasc.org), and the American Bar Association website (www.abanet.org). Good luck.