T20 - losing scholarship - guaranteed job - bottom 10% Forum

[MidWestMoron]

Well - 1L first semester. Grades are in and we received a B,C+ and a C. My school curves to a 3.3 and my gpa is now a 2.46.

To keep my $ I needed to keep a 3.0 so it looks like I am going to lose my scholarship for 2L and 3L year. This accounts for around a 30,000 difference in tuition over the next 2 years. I am a student at WUSTL and luckily have been offered a mid level firm job back in Minnesota upon graduation.

I studied my tail end off all semester and I am so shocked and disappointed that I do not know what to do. My grades have placed me in the bottom 10% and it makes me feel sick.

I am kind of at a standstill in terms of what to do - should I drop out? I do not know what to do and have lost complete motivation to study.

I hate to sound like a complainer but I am just shell shocked.

[MrAnon]

I would be careful on the guaranteed job. Nothing is guaranteed until it happens. They see your grades and you are probably out of there.

[MidWestMoron]

MrAnon - I agree 100%. I do not know what happened. My UG degree is in Finance from a solid school - I feel like I must have really fallen apart on the finals? My savings is covering all my tuition for 1L year so no debt if I do leave.


I am so shocked that I kind of just don't care....

[sunynp]

In the meantime, as long as you are figuring this out, you might as well talk to your professors and see where you went wrong. Studying hard doesn't always translate to grades. You should also figure out i you want to be a lawyer. Without the job offer, I think your future is not good.

What is the story with this job offer? Is it a family thing?

I thought you had a scholarship - not that you were spending savings.

If you have a solid undergrad degree, I would start looking for jobs. You can always say you tried law and found out it wasn't for you. It shouldn't hurt if you get out soon.

[MidWestMoron]

I have a scholarship which makes tuition around 13K p/y.

However, if I fall below a 3.0 I lose half of it.

As for the job - it is a family friend - however,
I feel so deflated now that I do not even want to go to class. After I got my grades I just feel deflated and have no interest.

[crazyblink653]

i would go to your professors and see what went wrong. sometimes it's something simple or small that you didn't realize you were doing. i would definitely keep working hard and, if you didn't last semester, talk to 2Ls and 3Ls who had your professors last year and try to learn what the professors like to see on their exams. it can make a HUGE difference. plus, i haven't done any math but i would bet if you got even straight B+s next semester it should pull you pretty close to a 3.0. just something to think about. try not to lose your motivation though. a bad first semester isn't ideal, but you can recover from it and even swing it in interviews if you have a strong showing in the second semester.

[MrAnon]

I would not get in the business of talking to your professors.

They are in the business of keeping you in the school whether they mean to do it or not, do you think you will come away from talking with them with any other thought besides "yeah if I can only work harder and smarter I'll do better". If everyone who didn't do well dropped out then the professors would be jobless, its in their interest to make you feel better about how you did. Hell, thats why no one fails law school. They give B's to the worst students to make their grades seem somewhat respectable.

Think about what you did, how your semester progressed, and whether this is the right thing for you to continue doing. Only you have the answer, not your professors. think about your relationship with this firm offering the guaranteed job. Chance they will change their mind? Can you avoid showing them a transcript?

[illini22]

Dont drop out, the 3.0 requirement is likely for the year, not for the semester. I honestly didnt do that well my first semester (not as bad as you). For my second semester, I was very dissapointed and studied less (I studied like a crazy person my first semester). I honestly dont know what happened, I think it was because I just didnt give a shit and wasnt as nervous/crazy about exams but my grade improve a lot second semester. I was lucky enough to get a good job out of OCI, so first semester 2L year and just didnt have that much motivation to study (the people at my job told me that i literally needed to fail out to lose my offer). Surprisingly again, my grades sky rocketed to top 1-2% of the class (for the semester).

The idea is dont lose hope, grades can and often fluctuate. If your offer is for after graduation, grades are a bit more inflated for 2L & 3L year and while your ranking will not change a lot (everyone goes up with the inflated grades) at least you will likely be able to at least get your GPA up to a decent 3.0+.

You can also play with taking only non-curved classes during 2L and 3L which usually means higher grades are awarded.

[cinephile]

I would not get in the business of talking to your professors.

They are in the business of keeping you in the school whether they mean to do it or not

That's not necessarily true. One of my professors told us twice during the semester that we should drop out now. And someone actually took his advice. Not that everyone's like that, but some professors will give you advice that's in your best interest.

[romothesavior]

This is fake. We don't have scholly stips, just good standing. Also, we have a numerical system for grading. So this is completely fake.

[Grizz]

[MidWestMoron]

This is fake. We don't have scholly stips, just good standing. Also, we have a numerical system for grading. So this is completely fake.

I am not at WUSTL - I put a school similar to mine to protect my privacy.

[YourCaptain]

This is fake. We don't have scholly stips, just good standing. Also, we have a numerical system for grading. So this is completely fake.

weird wustl/anti-woostl trollin'

[Teoeo]

Edit: I was le wrong

[mi-chan17]

Guys chill out, he obviously goes to GW.

No, I'm pretty sure that our 1Ls don't have grades yet.

[cinephile]

I would've assumed Minnesota, since it's ranked at 20 and he has a job lined up in MN.

[Teoeo]

Guys chill out, he obviously goes to GW.

No, I'm pretty sure that our 1Ls don't have grades yet.

Really? How long till they get em? Jeeze

[NYCbound35]

To keep my $ I needed to keep a 3.0 so it looks like I am going to lose my scholarship for 2L and 3L year. This accounts for around a 30,000 difference in tuition over the next 2 years. I am a student at WUSTL and luckily have been offered a mid level firm job back in Minnesota upon graduation.

.

What T30s put stipulations on their scholarships? I was under the impression that none did.

[romothesavior]

To keep my $ I needed to keep a 3.0 so it looks like I am going to lose my scholarship for 2L and 3L year. This accounts for around a 30,000 difference in tuition over the next 2 years. I am a student at WUSTL and luckily have been offered a mid level firm job back in Minnesota upon graduation.

.

What T30s put stipulations on their scholarships? I was under the impression that none did.

Does Iowa?

[YourCaptain]

i dont know of any t30 that puts stips aside from "good standing" or a 2.0

this is either some bizarre trolling or op is lying about the school. this sounds closer to bls or dozo.

plus, dont you normally lose at the end of the year, not the semester?

[bk1]

i dont know of any t30 that puts stips aside from "good standing" or a 2.0

this is either some bizarre trolling or op is lying about the school. this sounds closer to bls or dozo.

plus, dont you normally lose at the end of the year, not the semester?

GW does. I'd imagine it is possible for a school in the 20-30 range to have a stip closer to 3.0.

[paulinaporizkova]

This is fake. We don't have scholly stips, just good standing. Also, we have a numerical system for grading. So this is completely fake.

oh shiiiiit

[paulinaporizkova]

Guys chill out, he obviously goes to GW.

No, I'm pretty sure that our 1Ls don't have grades yet.

Really? How long till they get em? Jeeze

we don't have grades at Virginia

[paulinaporizkova]

I would've assumed Minnesota, since it's ranked at 20 and he has a job lined up in MN.

2.85 scholly stip there

[Verity]

IU-B has stips.

OP, it probably matters what kind of offer you have, and if it was (explicitly or implicitly) conditional. If its a good paying job, and you'd have to basically fail out to lose the offer, and you actually would like to take the offer, then no matter what you should stick with it and try to improve next semester. Even the raised tuition might be worth it if its a reasonably secure, worthwhile position.

And definitely talk to your professors. This is so that you can raise your GPA next semester. You need to figure out what went wrong, and how to improve. It's generally unlikely that these were grading errors (especially in 3 separate classes), but that might be the case also. Just go to the professor with a genuine attempt to learn how to improve, not to finesse a better grade out of them.

And also think about ways to improve your resume, like volunteering. Of course, not to the extent that it steals significant study time. Also try to get ahead of your reading, and then go to office hours and discuss it with your professors. Talk to them about what they look for on the exam. Work with other students, get their feedback, and exchange opinions. Ask 2Ls and 3Ls for help.

Give it one more semester, and then reevaluate.