Top Law Schools

My father was let go from his job in Fall 2008 of my sophomore year. The resulting financial turmoil led to my parents separating. It was necessary for me to work 30 hours per week to support myself, while carrying a full-load of classes. I allowed this financial and emotional upheaval to negatively affect my GPA.

I feel that if I had been able to focus solely on my studies, my academic performance would have been much stronger.



Thanks for any input!

Background: 3.7 GPA my first semester... then downhill from there, to a cumulative 3.44 GPA.

Got a 168 on the LSAT, not a URM, applying resident ED at a T-14. Two years management experience at a non-profit for work experience.

take out third sentence and replace with last sentence and it looks fine.

Any reason why carrying a full class load was a necessity? Also, lots of people work 30 hours per week and maintain good grades.

Seeing your second post, I'd say a GPA addendum doesn't make sense unless all the bad grades happened in that fall 2008 semester.

Full load = faster graduation = fewer loans. Looking back sure - should've just eaten the loans and focused on grades, so I could have a higher GPA. But can't do anything about that now.

I was on Dean's List for my first three semesters, didn't get back onto it once I started working and my parents relationship crashed.

Frankly the schools dont care why you had a lower gpa or whatever. It doesnt matter. I wouldnt include any statement about it. You include a statement if you got kicked out of college for bad grades or something. From a buck-up standpoint, like someone else said, lots of people work 30+ hours and maintain good grades. Furthermore, financial and emotional upheaval is a part of life. You'll have a lot more of it during law school believe me. You'll have to balance it with your studies. Everybody has trouble doing that. Not bright to point out your past struggles with it.