lawschoolhelp wrote:dukelawguy144 wrote:Boilernation11 wrote:kalvano wrote:OP, study hard and do well on the LSAT so you can be a lawyer. By default, you'll be a better lawyer than dukelawguy.
very true but i think all of us will be better lawyers than dukelawguy!
ok some of you may be better lawyers but the truth is...you will have to work 100 times harder to even get the remote level of respect I will have with my degree. Sorry, it's just the way it is. Low tier graduates have it much harder in this field. It's possible you will achieve the same thing that a t14 grad will, but the odds are not in your favor
Also OP, yea it's difficult to manage school and work. But I was president of my frat and worked while I was in school, so LS wont think of that as a valid excuse....
Dukelawguy144, people like you make me question duke's reputation. Also, people could say that you will never have the respect of a Harvard, Yale, Upenn, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, and Berkley graduate....Why do you need to put other people down? Some people face adversity when trying to achieve their goal. My boyfriend, struggled a lot with the LSATs for example, got scores in the 150s and then got a 173. He is going to attend Columbia now. But people were saying when he was scoring in the 150's that he no shot at a top14 school. I know its not the same thing as OP, but the point is, you can achieve your goals even if you have some trouble along the way.
Dukelawguy- your posts are negative and unnecessary
TBF, I am pretty sure that guy is not at Duke yet. I don't even know if we let him in or not. Don't judge us all by him. (I have a feeling if he is like his online persona in this thread he is going to be like Tucker Max and HATE it here. We are likely too friendly and nerdy for his tastes. However, I am ready and willing to be proven wrong. He is likely a cool, friendly guy in real life.)
But again TBF, although he is being rather caustic about it he has some legitimate points. OP, you should try your darnedest to highlight that your Major GPA is higher than your overall one, but I would not count on that doing you a lot of good. Law schools tend to care about the LSAC GPA and the LSAC GPA only. There is not going to be a way to completely negate that 2.86-it will hurt you. you just need to construct your applications in a way that takes that into account.
Also, if you end up at a school ranked in the 70s, you do need to be aware of what that means. They are all great schools, I know a lot of fantastic lawyers from schools in that range. But it is harder to find a job outside of the state the school is in coming from those schools. It can be done certainly (some of the lawyers I am thinking about have moved across country with their degrees) but you will likely need to work in the area for a while first.
OP, I think I would advise you not to apply to law school... yet. Go get some work experience. Not only will it make you a stronger candidate and give you something to talk about on your application, it will also likely help with getting a real job once you are done with law school and most importantly distance yourself a little from that GPA. Schools are a lot friendlier to splitters with work experience than splitters without it.
PS - One more thing I have noticed. LSH, I know you were overstating to counteract the other guy, but from what I have seen you are wrong about the respect. In the actual practicing legal world, it seems like the T14 (with maybe the exception of HYS) all get about the same level of respect. In fact, I would lump Texas, Vandy, USC, and UCLA in there too. And going down from there it is not as big a drop off as law students and law school applicants typically think. Where the difference is made is in hiring, not the respect you get for your degree. May seem like I am splitting hairs, but hopefully you understand what I mean.
Also, if you have WE and can land a 171-172+, Northwestern is the goal. ED to make it happen.
