How bad would this look? Forum

[lpgcn17]

I'm currently working on a B.S. in civil engineering at a second tier state school. I've recently decided to attend law school immediately after undergrad. My overall GPA is a 3.5 (my GPA at my current school is a 3.8 ), and I've scored in the low 170's on multiple practice LSATs. I'm looking to bump my overall GPA to a 3.6 and get into a T14-T30 school.

Finishing my engineering degree will take me to May 2012, thanks to the limited schedule of classes and the rigor of the degree. Just out of curiosity, I looked at how my credits would apply to a history degree, and I could graduate by August 2011.

Would it be worth switching majors to get into law school faster? How bad would this switch look to the law school admissions departments?

I realize the safer option is to finish the engineering degree, so at least I have something to fall back on. What would you do?

[270910]

It would look like stepping into a pitch black room. For a while, you would grope around, wondering "why can't I see anything? And what's that noise?"

Eventually, you realize that noise is the word "irrelevant" being whispered over and over in a soothing tone.

Slowly you shut your eyes, lean back, and remember.

[jbarl1]

It doesn't matter. Stick with whatever will give you a higher GPA and let you study for the LSAT.

[DoubleChecks]

this |____________________| bad

[dramaticpaws]

I would think that the CE would help you more after law school if you wanted to do IP and if you couldn't find a law job would provide a good backup plan. This history degree would be easier and you could boost your GPA, but if you don't get a law job, you don't have the safety net of an engineering degree. You might want to see what getting straight A's the rest of the way in history courses would do to your GPA to see if it would even help that much. There are some calculators out there to find your LSDAS GPA.

It may work in your advantage to delay your entrance to law school and ride out more of the bad economy... course it could completely tank by then too.

[blurbz]

I don't know that you'd be able to get to law school any faster since the schools you would want to go to with those numbers don't have spring starts. Graduating in the fall of 2011 or the spring of 2012 is, in terms of law school, the same. The difference might be that some schools might allow you to finish UG in August and then immediately start at the law school, but I think this is fairly unlikely and unwise.

[cardnal124]

Bad idea. First of all, if you want to get into law school early (Fall 2011), you would have a lot of contingencies with summer classes, getting official transcripts, etc. that would make graduating the August prior to law school difficult. Beyond that, if you want to apply early, you will need to take the next LSAT and get the ball rolling, which means you would be stuck with your current GPA or the GPA after this semester, so not much improvement most likely. Getting a degree that isn't just paper is probably worth the extra year in school.

[TommyK]

You expect to go to law school now. Let's play pretend, though - what if after a year or a semester of law school you realized that while you would excel at it, you hate law. It bores you to tears and you miss engineering. Now you have a liberal arts degree, are stuck in a program you hate, and don't see a good way out of the situation.

I like leaving myself as many options as possible. I would stick with the engineering degree, do internships and gain experience - and then go to law school if you're still sure you don't want to attend. I'm a big fan of not painting myself into a corner.