GPA below 2.0/LSAT 163 (extenuating circumstances) Forum

[kmr]

I am in a similar situation. can you email me kymar5151982@yahoo.com, I have a couple of questions

[bagosian]

I am in a similar situation. can you email me kymar5151982@yahoo.com, I have a couple of questions

Feel free to check out my LSN account: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/bagosian

Just to update, the only responses have been 4 rejections: Willamette, Hofstra, Albany, St. Thomas-MN.

[PDaddy]

Is it possible to do any sort of graduate level work to try to bump up your GPA? That > 2.0 will hurt you. Some school will bite, but if they do, there will be -0- money offered, and it will most probably be T3/T4 that may bite.

I second this. The best stratedy might have been to wait on graduating and do two more years of study or at least retake courses in which you did poorly. Turning C's into a B's is always worth the extra effort. But that's over. Other than that, you might want to consider a post bac or graduate program.

[roadkilllaw]

Is it possible to do any sort of graduate level work to try to bump up your GPA? That > 2.0 will hurt you. Some school will bite, but if they do, there will be -0- money offered, and it will most probably be T3/T4 that may bite.

I second this. The best stratedy might have been to wait on graduating and do two more years of study or at least retake courses in which you did poorly. Turning C's into a B's is always worth the extra effort. But that's over. Other than that, you might want to consider a post bac or graduate program.

Again, don't most grad schools have a 3.0 gpa cutoff too?

[bagosian]

Is it possible to do any sort of graduate level work to try to bump up your GPA? That > 2.0 will hurt you. Some school will bite, but if they do, there will be -0- money offered, and it will most probably be T3/T4 that may bite.

I second this. The best stratedy might have been to wait on graduating and do two more years of study or at least retake courses in which you did poorly. Turning C's into a B's is always worth the extra effort. But that's over. Other than that, you might want to consider a post bac or graduate program.

Again, don't most grad schools have a 3.0 gpa cutoff too?

I'm pretty sure the GPA would be a factor here too.

I can understand the low GPA nullifying my chances at receiving money of any sort and I'm prepared to pay full-tuition but it would nice to know whether a reputable school would admit me.

[claytonboy]

try southern university in baton rouge la

[JustBelieve]

Your LSAT will definitely get you in somewhere. If schools had to report an averaged GPA of its students you might be SOL, but for all intents and purposes, your low GPA is hurting them only as much as somebody whose GPA is .01 below their 25%. So long as you have a good reason for it, which you do, and its not the result of complete incompetence, some school will bite.

Absolutely, don't even worry about your GPA, it's not a big deal. You have a very strong LSAT score and that score will get you in somewhere. If it is meant for you to get into law school then you WILL get in and your GPA cannot hinder an acceptance.

I know you will get in because of your LSAT!

Take care!

[JustBelieve]

Is it possible to do any sort of graduate level work to try to bump up your GPA? That > 2.0 will hurt you. Some school will bite, but if they do, there will be -0- money offered, and it will most probably be T3/T4 that may bite.

FYI: You can't get into grad school with a GPA below a 3.0

[SoCalStudent]

My biggest regret was not holding off of graduation in '06 and bring up my 2.97UGPA. Huge difference between that and a 3.1. You're an extreme case since you're under 1.9. With a 163, you may get in somewhere if you have a great PS, work experience, and three outstanding LOR's, but you will have to aim really low (e.g. Texas Southern, Roger Williams, CUNY, Cooley, etc.).

[SoCalStudent]

Is it possible to do any sort of graduate level work to try to bump up your GPA? That > 2.0 will hurt you. Some school will bite, but if they do, there will be -0- money offered, and it will most probably be T3/T4 that may bite.

FYI: You can't get into grad school with a GPA below a 3.0

I did, but only with the "conditional" status for a quarter because I was on the brink. With a sub-2.0, there isn't an accredited grad school (even online) that would accept that low of a GPA. Plus, as I've learned already, grad school doesn't do much with whether you get into law school. Try to add some softs and maybe bring your LSAT to a 170.

[elscorcho]

hey i got into a decent school (top 100) with a 2.45/163. so i definitely think you can get in somewhere. a 163 is a respectable lsat. i read somewhere that schools with very close 25% and 75% lsats will be more likely to admit a student with a bad gpa but an lsat above their 75%. cause they want to raise their lsats or something.

also as far as graduate school goes, some programs may only take your junior and senior year gpa into account. so if you have a good gpa for those years you could still get into some programs.

[SoCalStudent]

if you retook the lsat, and got 170+ your cycle would be SO unpredictable as you'd be one of the most extreme splitters ever. I don't even think I could tell you where to start applying...

Northwestern took a 2.1/171 ED this cycle...anything's possible.

Where did you see this? I checked the TLS stats and didn't see this, or do you get the info from another source?

[lmarie81]

Any updates? I am in a similar situation and am still waiting for a response from several schools as well.

Best of luck!!

[XxSpyKEx]

If I were you, I'd go to Cooley. I think you qualify for a free ride there (solely based on your LSAT) and there's no GPA stipulation (well sort of, the GPA stipulation is that you can't fail out, which might be challenge on its own at Cooley). With your GPA no other law school is going to give you any scholarship money, and paying sticker at a t3/t4 is pretty much financial suicide (particularly ITE). Your odds of finding any paying legal employment leaving Cooley won't be great, but they won't be great leaving a t3/t4 ITE either. At Cooley at least you're not out $150-200K in student debt... Also, I think you can graduate in 2 years there because thy got some goofy trimester set up where you can take 45 credits a year (meaning less debt in terms of COL -- you can probably get out with $20-25K debt total).

[bagosian]

If I were you, I'd go to Cooley. I think you qualify for a free ride there (solely based on your LSAT) and there's no GPA stipulation (well sort of, the GPA stipulation is that you can't fail out, which might be challenge on its own at Cooley). With your GPA no other law school is going to give you any scholarship money, and paying sticker at a t3/t4 is pretty much financial suicide (particularly ITE). Your odds of finding any paying legal employment leaving Cooley won't be great, but they won't be great leaving a t3/t4 ITE either. At Cooley at least you're not out $150-200K in student debt... Also, I think you can graduate in 2 years there because thy got some goofy trimester set up where you can take 45 credits a year (meaning less debt in terms of COL -- you can probably get out with $20-25K debt total).

As it stands I will likely be attending a T3 school with a small scholarship.

I've been extremely disappointed with the way Cooley has handled my application. They sent me multiple letters requesting that I send them a copy of my transcript (because of my low GPA they wanted to evaluate me further). After sending them my transcript they said they would get back to me, and if admitted I would be eligible for full scholarship (based on my 163 LSAT).

They eventually got back to me stating that I would be eligible for the January 2011 term at the earliest because I would be completing graduation requirements in July of this year. I had my faculty send them a letter stating that I would have a transcript posting my degree by August but Cooley didn't feel that was good enough.

I guess I can be one of the few people rejected by Cooley, but admitted to a T3.

[XxSpyKEx]

If I were you, I'd go to Cooley. I think you qualify for a free ride there (solely based on your LSAT) and there's no GPA stipulation (well sort of, the GPA stipulation is that you can't fail out, which might be challenge on its own at Cooley). With your GPA no other law school is going to give you any scholarship money, and paying sticker at a t3/t4 is pretty much financial suicide (particularly ITE). Your odds of finding any paying legal employment leaving Cooley won't be great, but they won't be great leaving a t3/t4 ITE either. At Cooley at least you're not out $150-200K in student debt... Also, I think you can graduate in 2 years there because thy got some goofy trimester set up where you can take 45 credits a year (meaning less debt in terms of COL -- you can probably get out with $20-25K debt total).

As it stands I will likely be attending a T3 school with a small scholarship.

I've been extremely disappointed with the way Cooley has handled my application. They sent me multiple letters requesting that I send them a copy of my transcript (because of my low GPA they wanted to evaluate me further). After sending them my transcript they said they would get back to me, and if admitted I would be eligible for full scholarship (based on my 163 LSAT).

They eventually got back to me stating that I would be eligible for the January 2011 term at the earliest because I would be completing graduation requirements in July of this year. I had my faculty send them a letter stating that I would have a transcript posting my degree by August but Cooley didn't feel that was good enough.

I guess I can be one of the few people rejected by Cooley, but admitted to a T3.

They are probably being dickheads because you’re one of the few people that would be attending their law school for free (amazing and sad because a 2.0/163 isn’t extraordinary).

In all honestly, in your situation it might actually be worth it to wait the extra semester to attend Cooley (i.e. in January), assuming they will accept you now. If they have not already accepted you then demand that they accept you for January 2011 or tell them you aren’t going to attend (because you don’t want to have wait an extra cycle if Cooley jerks you around on this one and for some reason decides to reject you).

Waiting that extra semester to matriculate sounds like it’s going to save you something like a $100K+, so unless you are independently wealthy or have someone covering your tuition that’s not anything to laugh at, particularly when you intend to leave such a low ranked school in either event. Realistically you’re taking a huge gamble attending a t3 ITE in terms of finding any type of paying legal employment leaving either school because it’s a tough economy right now. (When you have NYU 3Ls blogging and making youtube documentaries about how they can’t find ANY legal employment you can tell the economy is bad.) Going to school for free makes sense because, while it doesn’t guarantee you’ll find any legal employment, it does ensure that you won’t have worry about cutting $2K /month payments towards your student loans on a waiter salary.

Also, it’s worth noting that even if you start in January 2011 you can still graduate a semester sooner then you would at the t3 if you take 15 credits a trimester like the limited number of full-time students there do. However, realistically you’ll probably graduate dead on with where you would have with the t3 if you work a summer (as you should).

Good luck.