gregh  2007-06-06 22:37  cmu  grades  Law_School   

I started to get my materials ready for a job fair recently. Most of the law firms requested undergrad transcripts. As a result, I pulled mine up to see what I could do to get it into workable shape. With all grades in for this semester (I still have a 0-unit incomplete and 1 unit of credit/no credit credit yet to arrive) I noticed an interesting contrast. Two semesters away from graduating from undergrad, I hit rock bottom and had my worst semester. Two semesters away from graduating from law school, I had my best semester.

From the fall of 1993 (I took the spring of 1994 -- my originally planned graduating semester -- off to reassess):

Yes, it is true. I failed Management Information Systems. How ironic.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 2007, things were decidedly better.

I've often written that grades aren't all-important to me, though they've obviously been meaningful enough that I have my tracking spreadsheet and stuff. However, I can't deny feeling a certain amount of redemption when I have a good semester. I've had one or two others I considered particularly good in law school. And to be fair, after my time off, I did a little better in my last year of undergrad:

Straight-As this semester sure would have been nice. I haven't had straight-As on a report card since high school. As Maxwell Smart would say: "Missed by that much."

gregh  2007-02-06 23:23  cmu  cyberspace_law  Law_School   

In Cyberspace Law tonight, we discussed Sony v. Universal City Studios, the Betamax case. The Court mentions the testimony of Fred "Mr." Rogers at the trial court, and Prof. Freiwald brought it up, first ensuring that we knew who he was. I knew. Oh, yes. I knew.

"Mr. Rogers" was filmed at WQED in Pittsburgh. WQED was on Fifth Ave., between the dorm and apartment complex I lived in. Meanwhile, Fred Rogers lived in a condo on the opposite side of Carnegie Mellon's campus.

I heard lots of stories about how he often walked across the campus from his condo to WQED, often graciously stopping to talk to students who spoke to him. I was on the lookout myself. I was a big fan growing up, and I especially always wanted a train running from room-to-room, though my mean, uncaring parents never acquiesced.

Alas, not once did I catch him cutting across the Cut. Or strolling down Morewood Avenue past Mudge Hall.