Prior Matriculation Forum

[sperry]

Strongly considering dropping out at this point after 1 year of law school.


Question, is if I return to law school at a later point, am I:



a) Forced to start over with new grades

b) Forced to return as a 2L transfer student

or

c) Allowed a choice

?


Honestly, right now, my grades are poor and I don't really have employment prospects if I stick it out. I'm still young (came to school straight out of undergrad), so it's not out of the question taht I go do something else for 3 to 4 years and decide I want to come back to law school, depending on the legal economy at that time among other things. Being forced to keep my grades would obviously turn me towards going somewhere cheap to finish up. Being forced to start over would turn me towards trying a T14. Both could be appealing, so obviously a choice would be best.


I briefly browsed the LSAC website, and all I could come up with was that if you have matriculated in the past, they make a notation on your application, but not anything more than that. Anyone know the official policy? Anyone know if you're allowed to start over, the better schools won't accept you?

[txadv11]

I don't have many answers for you, however I do know that every application that I have sent in (so far 17) have asked if you have enrolled in a law school before, and if yes, to explain the circumstances.

[glewz]

I think it'll be (b) as a 2L transfer - you are required to disclose whether you attend law school before, and they'll want all the transcripts from there.

-

FYI I heard a few law school reps speak on the issue (T14), and they largely just look at 1st year grades for admission.

On transfer credits, it also varies school to school. For example, I remember someone in T6 (I think Columbia) saying that it's tougher to transfer from one school to another if the curriculum doesn't match up perfectly.

So what you could do is call up/research different schools you're interested in transferring to and figure out whether your transfer credits can take out a full year of schooling. I think you'll widely get a "Yes" answer, because 1L is generally the same/similar across all law schools.

That said, certain schools in T14 might have more stringent requirements for you, given that you are currently not T14. And T14 schools might waive your 1L, but require you to still take the 1L courses you have not satisfied as a 2L.


Plenty of people transfer from lower tier schools all the time, and I can't see your case (working a few years before getting back into law school) to be too far off. Call the school though and ask about their policies.

[concurrent fork]

Strongly considering dropping out at this point after 1 year of law school.

Question, is if I return to law school at a later point, am I:

a) Forced to start over with new grades

b) Forced to return as a 2L transfer student

or

c) Allowed a choice

Probably none of the above.

(1) For a number of reasons, no reputable school is going to let you "re-do" 1L. Even if you were allowed to start over somewhere, it would make little difference because you will almost certainly have to disclose your previous grades for employment/clerkship purposes.

(2) You cannot transfer once you have taken credits as a 2L. If your grades are as poor as you suggest, it was never an option anyway.

I don't mean this to be cruel, just don't want you to plan on an option that likely does not exist.

[sperry]

Strongly considering dropping out at this point after 1 year of law school.

Question, is if I return to law school at a later point, am I:

a) Forced to start over with new grades

b) Forced to return as a 2L transfer student

or

c) Allowed a choice

Probably none of the above.

(1) For a number of reasons, no reputable school is going to let you "re-do" 1L. Even if you were allowed to start over somewhere, it would make little difference because you will almost certainly have to disclose your previous grades for employment/clerkship purposes.

(2) You cannot transfer once you have taken credits as a 2L. If your grades are as poor as you suggest, it was never an option anyway.

I don't mean this to be cruel, just don't want you to plan on an option that likely does not exist.

Fair enough. I mean, I have roughly a 3.2 at a T10 school, so I'm not a total waste of space, just couldn't get any job lined up, and at this point, my career prospects are the same as if I were to graduate from a lesser school at some point in the future, rather than my current school in a year and a half (read: I will be setting up shop on my own, or working at some small shop that just needs an attorney, and could not care less about my law school grades).


Sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth about the whole arbitrary process.

[concurrent fork]

At a T10 you should definitely tough it out at this point. The 3L job search will turn up something - not biglaw, but something. You still have a great name on your resume and a solid alumni network to draw upon.