South Texas College of Law, The Annotation (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 6, March, 1986 Page: 1 of 12
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South
Texas
College
of Law
The Annotation
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Houston, Texas
Permit 8451
Volume XIV, No. 6
1303 San Jacinto, Houston, Texas 77002
March, 1986
Bar Results Reveal "Gratifying " Statistics
By Doug Dougherty
Staff Writer
R. Randall Kelso, Professor of
Law at South Texas College of Law,
has recently completed a study cor-
relations academic success at South
Texas with success on the Texas
State Bar. This study was conducted
to see what might be done in order to
raise the percentage of South Texas
students passing the bar the first
time and thus enhance the school's
reputation and make our graduates
more attractive to employers. The
study was also conducted to provide
the placement office with some
numbers that could be utilized by
employers to predict success of
potential employees on the bar exam.
As might be expected, there was a
direct relationship between class
ranking and success on the bar. But
it might be surprising to discover
how sharply the degree of success
drops when a student's ranking ap-
proaches the bottom of the class.
Using as a data base, statistics for
first-time test takes on the July, 1984
and July 1985 Bar Exams, Professor
Kelso summarized the results as
follows:
For students in the top 3/4 of the
class, the bar passage statistics are
quite reasonable. Specifically:
(1) 100% of the students in the top
20% (GPA approximately 80.0
& up), passed the bar on both
the July 1984 and 1985 exams;
(2) For the top 1/3 (GPA approxi-
mately 78.5 & up), 92.6% passed
the July 1984 bar, and 100%
passed the July 1985 bar;
(3) For the top 1/2 (GPA approxi-
mately 76.5 & up), 91.5% passed
the July 1984 bar, and 93.7%
passed the July 1985 bar;
(4) Students with GPA's 75.0-76.5,
passed both the July 1984 &
1985 bars at an 80% rate;
(5) Therefore, focusing only on
students in the top 3/4 of the
class the bar passage rate for Ju-
ly 1984 was 87.7% and for July
1985 was. 89.1%, both only
slightly below state leader
Baylor's 90% rate.
This means, of course, that the
main bar passage rate problem
comes from students who graduate
in the bottom 1/4 of our class. For
these students we have the following
(1) The bottom 7.5% of the student
body (i.e., those students with
GPA averages 72.9 or lower),
passed both the July 1984 and
July 1985 bar at only 8.33% rate
(i.e., only 1 of 12 students each
test passed the bar);
(2) Students with GPA averages
73.0 - 74.9 (i.e., those indi-
viduals in the 7.5% -25% grade
range) passed the July 1984 bar
at a 44.8% rate, and the July
1985 bar at a 44.4% rate;
(3) Taking all students except those
in the bottom 7.5%, our average
bar passage rate for July 1984
would have been 79.5%, and for
1985,80.8%, in both cases 4th in
the state just slightly behind the
University of Texas and SMU.
Commenting on these statistics,
Professor Kelso stated: "For stu-
dents in the top 3/4 of the class, and
for their potential employers, these
numbers showing an average 88%
bar passage rate are quite gratifying.
They indicate that our program of
instruction adequately prepares
students for the bar examination
and the subsequent practice of law.
For those employers who seek our
students in the top 20% of our class,
the fact that 100% of the students
passed both the July 1984 and 1985
bars is an extra plus."
Professor Kelso suggested that
students with GPA of 73 and 74,
and thus an average bar passage rate
of only 44%, should plan their elec-
tive courses to hit subjects tested on
the bar. He also suggested that these
students reduce their outside commit-
ments when preparing for the bar.
The results of this study are not
expected to affect the school's
admission policy. The school will
continue to take on a certain number
of "higher risk" students in appro-
priate cases. But measures are being
taken to "separate the wheat from
the chaff' early. In addition to the
new system instituted this fall requir-
ing the entire first-year curriculum to
be taken in the first 30 hours
Continued on page 10
Photo by Maria Chapa
N. Terry Adams, Editor-in-Chief; South Texas Law Review
INSIDE . . .
Who's Hiring Us? 3
God, I Love the Law! — Engerrand 4
Gravitations: Angola and Oxymora 5
Law Week Calendar 6
The "Real" Bar Review 9
Signing the Roll: Are We the Only Ones? 11
The South Texas Law Review
ANNOUNCES
the
1986-1987 Editorial Board
N. Terry Adams
Editor-in-Chief
James Doss Carothers
Sharon Jevert Hemphill
Vicki Hart Wilmarth
Executive Editors
Robert S. Koelsch
Managing Editor
W. Scott Brown
Nancy Boler
Mary Catherine Clarkson
Alan K. Curry
David P. Kallus
Jane Anne McClaine
Articles Editors
Douglas D. Haloftis
Melodie M. Cason
Note and Comment Editors
Brigid K. Dolan
Lead Articles Editor
Gregory T. Farrell
Research Editor
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Yanger, William L. South Texas College of Law, The Annotation (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 6, March, 1986, newspaper, March 1986; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144437/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.