NYU Students Seek Coveted Law School Classes, Will Pay Cash
At least one administrator at New York University School of Law recently has put his foot down about the practice, threatening sanctions. But students reportedly are shamelessly buying and selling seats in coveted law school courses via the Internet, in what some might consider a valuable lesson about business life outside the classroom.
Facing a Sept. 3 deadline to add or drop classes, desperate law degree seekers deluged the school’s Internet forum last week with offers of sweet treats, Starbucks gift certificates, cold hard cash, and even suggestions of sexual favors, in exchange for the right class, according to the New York Post. Wrote one, in a July 21 e-mail: “WANT: Entertainment Law, Will Pay Cash.”
The entrepreneurial approach has developed because the school doesn’t maintain waiting lists for oversubscribed classes, the newspaper explains. So students who strike a deal can effectively put one in the other’s place by dropping a class a few moments before the buyer registers for the now-available seat. Initially, class slots are awarded by lottery.
“People have been buying and selling classes ever since I started,” says Colin George, a May graduate. “There are always jokes about exchanging sexual favors, but I’ve never heard of its actually happening.”
