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So I was in law school not too long ago but withdrew for personal reasons before the end of my first term and have W's for all my first term courses. I want to go back to law school (though not the same school). I'm not too worried about law school admissions as I still have the LSAT score and GPA to get in. I know I'll have to send my previous law school transcript to LSAC.

I guess my question is will these W's from my prior school be reflected on my new law school's transcript? (i.e. will the W's 'transfer')? Or will the new transcript indicate that I had attended law school before somewhere else? I'm not afraid of explaining my situation to future employers in case they can tell from my transcript that I withdrew from law school before going back, but I'm just curious to know how this is handled by schools and how future employers would respond if they knew I was a law school dropout before going back to law school (!). Anyone have a similar experience?

I would just call the new school to find out what the new transcript will show. Likely red flag to employers, IMO.

Agent wrote:I would just call the new school to find out what the new transcript will show. Likely red flag to employers, IMO.

Even with a good reason and with acceptable grades at the new school?

OP here. I guess what I'm worried about is whether my previous withdrawal from law school completely precludes me from any future employment in law assuming I do well enough in my new school, etc etc. If that's the case, I don't want to invest the time or money by attending law school again and just want to make a smart decision.

I withdrew from my first semester of law school for personal reasons and have a full slate of W's for that semester. I went back the following year and have done very well. I've since graduated and am in a federal clerkship, with biglaw lined up for after. Thus, I would not say a semester of W's is fatal. Just be prepared to have a good explanation, and it also obviously helps if you do well in school when you return.

Anonymous User wrote:I withdrew from my first semester of law school for personal reasons and have a full slate of W's for that semester. I went back the following year and have done very well. I've since graduated and am in a federal clerkship, with biglaw lined up for after. Thus, I would not say a semester of W's is fatal. Just be prepared to have a good explanation, and it also obviously helps if you do well in school when you return.

That's encouraging, thank you! Did you go back to your previous law school or did you attend a different school?

Anonymous User wrote:I withdrew from my first semester of law school for personal reasons and have a full slate of W's for that semester. I went back the following year and have done very well. I've since graduated and am in a federal clerkship, with biglaw lined up for after. Thus, I would not say a semester of W's is fatal. Just be prepared to have a good explanation, and it also obviously helps if you do well in school when you return.

I will echo this as someone who had the same experience. Have a good reason, but keep it short so that the focus will be on you as a student now, and not as someone who withdrew. The biggest factors are always going to be grades and personality, so don't worry about the Ws too much.

Agent wrote:I would just call the new school to find out what the new transcript will show. Likely red flag to employers, IMO.

I doubt this. If OP goes back to school, gets good grades, and has a good explanation for withdrawing the first time, why would the employer care?

Of course, this is contingent upon grades being good the second time around...but if they are, I can't see why this would be an issue. Sure, it's not ideal to have to explain something like this, but I think it's a pretty minor obstacle.

Good luck, OP. Starting somewhere new gives you an opportunity to reconstruct the whole narrative, so take advantage of that.

Thank you all, this is very encouraging Obviously if I go back to the same school the W's will show up on my transcript and I'll be forced to explain that to employers. Likewise if I go to a different school and it indicates my prior matriculation at another law school.

But would you guys even bring your prior matriculation up if you went to a different school and there was no indication on your transcript of it?