Top Law Schools

So I go to a small private university in South Florida and I have a GPA of 3.95 with 60 credits. But before I started college I took dual enrollment courses during high school and got 12 credits of straight B's. I know this is terrible and I was so foolish in high school and pretty much set my self up to screw up. But I've changed and so did my work ethics and grades and now I do not allow my self to get anything below an A-. My biggest fear is my past sins (those B's during high school). Every day I think about how those B's might hold me back during admissions. My goals are to go to any top 50 law school by Fall of 2014.

I've been eying George Mason Law, William and Mary Law, George Washington Law, University of FL, UNC Law, and Georgia law.

I take my LSATs in June of 2013 (if I am ready otherwise I will take it in October of 2013) and I study in moderation every day
Please give me some advice or let me know if I should be worried.
Thanks a lot!

Well, if you finish up your bachelor's with about 120 credit hours while maintaining your current 3.95, and then add in 12 hours of 3.0 from high school, your overall GPA will still be about 3.86 (your LSDAS-calculated GPA may differ slightly). That would put you above the median GPA at just about any law school, and over the 75th percentile GPA for just about any school outside of the Top 20.

In short, I don't think you're really in a position to have to "recover" from anything as far as your GPA is concerned. It's certainly not worth worrying about daily.

thank you Scott for the reassurance. But do you think that a top 50 law school will consider a no name undergrad university (Nova Southeastern University) even though I end up with a high UGPA from there?

itachiuchiha wrote:thank you Scott for the reassurance. But do you think that a top 50 law school will consider a no name undergrad university (Nova Southeastern University) even though I end up with a high UGPA from there?

A high GPA is a high GPA, particularly when it comes to reporting the numbers of their incoming class. Plus, your "good" grades came while you were really in college, which is a plus. If you took a bunch of underwater basket weaving classes at Nova, some upper crust schools may raise an eyebrow. But, overall, if you get a solid LSAT score (solid will be defined by which schools you want) to go with that GPA, you're golden. Finish undergrad as strong as you possibly can; work your ass off for the best LSAT score possible.