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I’m a mix of a “B” and “A” student. I make more than most of my friends, but that’s also because I lasted / got lucky in biglaw.
None of the “C” students in my class that I know of are doing well.
Bad grades will close doors. But we eventually end up where we’re meant to be if we work hard.
I was a single mom to an infant and a preschooler. I worked throughout a FT, traditional T25 program. I was dealing with child support hearings, navigating what to do when a kid was sick and couldn't go to daycare, and other problems 20-somethings who had nothing going on their lives except law school dealt with.
I'm not saying it's fair, but I had one C- and was an overall B- student. But I also published twice in two journals while in scool and started an organization that is still active on campus. And yet I've only been at large AM 100 and 150 firms, had a book by my third year with institutional clients, and was able to leverage a decade-long pre law career into the exact area of law I wanted. I've always made my bonus, even the discretionary ones.
Its annoying about the emphasis of grades because we are not all equal. "Bad" law school grades don't necessarily equate to "dumb," to borrow a choice of word some of the other users in this thread say. Some of us had other major things going on in our lives. While some doors closed, I still hustled because I had a family depending on me and failure was not an option. I'm doing fine.
I think that’s a pretty funny observation and there’s definitely truth to it.
My brother in law is a fighter pilot. He’s said that the A students design the missiles, the B students design the planes, and the C students fly them. But .1 percent of C students who join the military thinking they’ll be a fighter pilot end up being one.
Whether you’re talking about professors, judges, or millionaires, those positions are all occupied by a tiny fraction of the people who got those grades. Most people fall into obscurity.
I think it’s more accurate to say the A students who became professors never wanted to practice law in the first place. And the judges always had some inferiority complex (maybe because they couldn’t get A’s) and want to make up with power and prestige what they didn’t get elsewhere.
C students are the most likely to be millionaires because they’re the most likely to put up billboards and embarrass themselves in commercials. Perhaps that makes them the smartest of all because they’re the only ones with a boat and a second home.
Hold up, I heard that most students become depressed anxious billing machines, where’s that fit in here
It is somewhat true, but incomplete, and also less and less accurate as each decade passes.
First, you have to account for grade inflation, going back 3 decades. A+ students = profs, A-/B+ judges. As for millionaires, it can be A+ through B+.
The idea with C = millionaires was that although they were dumb, they were naturally friendly af and knew everyone in the world, and they leaned heavy into that single advantage they had, such that rolodex saved them. But these days, thanks to the Internet and social media, that isn’t the case anymore.
Putting aside USD inflation, it is not hard to be top 1/3 smart AND a good networker, and ultimately become a millionaire.
They were dumb??
Was barely a B student at a top-ranked school. Excellent writer but always did poorly on Multiple choice exams and standardized tests. The Bar certainly proved that to be my strength and weakness.
While I did not land a coveted big law seat like many of my classmates, I have found success elsewhere, particularly in the world of startups (where personalities really are given a chance to shine). Today I sit on a couple of boards and have a surprisingly good Rolodex of non-lawyers and high-achieving professionals in a variety of industries.
This only applies to very elite schools. I was an A student at a merely respectable school and wish I could be a professor but I’d never get hired.
No not even remotely. I went to a 25-50 ranked school and by and large, the A students are doing the best, becoming partners at biglaw and boutique firms, or publicly traded in-house. B students tended to go into the public sector, and mid-law. I can't think of a single c-student who has been just really excelling. Most seem to be doing fine, and hop firms every few years but most appear to still be associates.
This feels like a survivorship bias issue. You hear about the C student who now is a $30m/year PI ace. You don't hear about every other B/C students from his class who are making $50-250k 15 years out at solos, small firms, and government.
I wasn’t a star student. I think I got a D in torts. Well, I never wanted to practice tort law. I did well in tax, contracts, and Constitutional law. But the D killed my GPA. Oh, and being a woman in the 1980s didn’t help, either. Never got a “great” job until I had proven myself as a sole practitioner some years later. After dealing with firm politics (all male partners, toxic politics, out-earning a partner, etc), I struck out on my own - and never looked back. Yes, I have done better than some of my peers in bigger firms. Hard work can overcome the prejudice of law school grades. Keep your eye on the prize.
Rising Star
People actually get C’s in law school?! I drank beer from a thermos most classes and still had a 3.5+ at a T30
No . As an A student, I certainly didn't become a professor. My "barely shows up to class and does only the minimum to scrape by" spouse is now a judge. Neither of us are millionaires (to my great chagrin).
From my experience, the better your grades (at least in law school) the better (more profitable) jobs you got. I think it’s correlated to law school being very much something where hard work pays off. The A students are people who will put in the work and I think law really rewards people who work hard. See biglaw where you don’t have to be particularly intelligent, but you have to be down to work like a dog. Similarly, you can be an absolute genius in law school, but you need to put in tons of work. And I think the smartest kids get bored really quickly and so law school is often a bad place.
So I can see C students becoming the millionaires. People who thought law was boring and killed their creativity, couldn’t put in the effort as a result, but also then took a different route than led to a very profitable business.
Most of the C students I knew (which admittedly is not many coming from a top law school) never really got their footing with a legal job and went into low level consulting or other non-legal jobs. I'm actually a bit sympathetic - $200K down the drain.
I am a C student - it was hard to get my foot in the door right out of school so I had to work harder at networking and getting in through a non trad route. However once I got in, it was totally fine and I ended up in big law anyway.
This is massive cope.
C’s were discretionary at my law school where the curve was around a B+. Averaging a C would be flunking out.
Most law schools curve to a 3.3 to 3.5 now. C students either flunked out or never passed the bar.
Unsure who you were talking to A7, but mine was T25 at the time and rated higher now.
Not in biglaw, for the most part, although characteristics consistent with not being a bookworm are helpful to biz dev and otherwise progressing. Very hard to ever get in the door early in your career without good grades or, if at a very good school, decent ones.
I wish. I was a C student in law school and I’m only making $105k 7 years out. I’m interviewing for a position that pays $175k and it’ll be my highest paying job yet.