How to feel better about a low final grade

[student10111]

Hello - I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to deal with getting a C as a final mark? I feel very disappointed overall and am having a hard time detaching from it. In your experience it worth it to appeal a grade?

[Hegdis]

I said this recently on another thread, but there's a big difference between not answering the questions in the way the prof wanted versus not getting the underlying concept at all. 

The goal here is that you emerge educated about the area, not that you have a row of B's on a piece of paper. How you feel about a C should factor in whether it was a poorly written exam instead of you simply not understanding the law in that area. A poorly written exam can be reviewed with the prof, maybe a grade appealed if it seems appropriate.

You not getting that area of law is a different context - is this something you're likely to need to know going forward? How can you address that knowledge gap? 

One you're out of school your grades don't matter: whether you know the law does.

[Lilbb19]

Its all good, almost everyone I knew got a D at some point. 

[chaboywb]

Just being unhappy about your grade isn't grounds for appeal, unless the grader made some fundamental error. I'd definitely encourage you to approach the professor and figure out where you went wrong, though. 

That being said, a C is not the end of the world. I had a C+ on my transcript after 1L and got a good number of OCIs. It devastated me at the time but meant less and less over the years, and now has zero impact on my career trajectory.

7 minutes ago, Lilbb19 said:

Its all good, almost everyone I knew got a D at some point. 

Not sure about this, though. I don't know anyone who had a D.

[Hayesy-B]

Yeah, I don’t know about everyone getting a D. I can remember looking at the grade distributions published at the end of every semester, and there were very few grades below the C range. I really don’t think enough were given out for everyone to have gotten one, even over the course of all 3 years. 
 

Not that it really matters at all, beyond possibly not mis-informing students who one would assume already know at least the general distribution of grades in law school. 
 

As for the C, like others have said, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It sucks, but it’s just one grade. Definitely not worth appealing unless you think you deserve something significantly higher even after having discussed the exam with your prof. 

Edited May 24, 2023 by Hayesy-B