PLEASE help!! Bad freshman year in college....no t14 for me? Forum

[raiyanhadi]

I accumulated a 1.9 gpa for my freshman year of college. I don't want to make any excuses but I have dealt with some depression during my first year. (Can this be possibly put in the addendum for when I apply in three years?)

I have failed the same class twice this year and got a D in another class. I tried to go the pre med route through family influence but realized law school is my real calling. I fully intend on achieving a 4.0 for the next two semesters to raise my horrid first year GPA. My main concern is..have I already ruined my chances at a top 14 law school? (Not HYS obv). I'm already taking LSAT practice tests to get ahead and make sure I get a 170 plus on it.

I would heavily appreciate any responses as I am stressing out over this past freshman year, hoping it did not already kill my chances at a top 14 law school such as NYU or Gtown or even a lower school like Fordham. (I prefer the NYC area.)

[Mike12188]

I accumulated a 1.9 gpa for my freshman year of college. I don't want to make any excuses but I have dealt with some depression during my first year. (Can this be possibly put in the addendum for when I apply in three years?)

I have failed the same class twice this year and got a D in another class. I tried to go the pre med route through family influence but realized law school is my real calling. I fully intend on achieving a 4.0 for the next two semesters to raise my horrid first year GPA. My main concern is..have I already ruined my chances at a top 14 law school? (Not HYS obv). I'm already taking LSAT practice tests to get ahead and make sure I get a 170 plus on it.

I would heavily appreciate any responses as I am stressing out over this past freshman year, hoping it did not already kill my chances at a top 14 law school such as NYU or Gtown or even a lower school like Fordham. (I prefer the NYC area.)

No. You're fine. Don't bother retaking the D's or F's unless you need them for your major. LSAC will just average the grades so you're better off taking an easy A as opposed to the failed class. Worry about your GPA, studying for the LSAT can be done in the few months before you plan on taking it. I had the same Freshman year and an okay 2nd year.

[rad lulz]

What is your current GPA and how many semesters you got left

[Brickster]

Georgetown and Northwestern take sub 3.0 GPA's. Northwestern requires work experience. You need to score a 172 or higher and get your GPA higher. But it sounds like you have 6 semesters so you can still get it above a 3.
Enjoy Lawschoolnumbers.com

[crumpetsandtea]

I accumulated a 1.9 gpa for my freshman year of college. I don't want to make any excuses but I have dealt with some depression during my first year. (Can this be possibly put in the addendum for when I apply in three years?)

I have failed the same class twice this year and got a D in another class. I tried to go the pre med route through family influence but realized law school is my real calling. I fully intend on achieving a 4.0 for the next two semesters to raise my horrid first year GPA. My main concern is..have I already ruined my chances at a top 14 law school? (Not HYS obv). I'm already taking LSAT practice tests to get ahead and make sure I get a 170 plus on it.

I would heavily appreciate any responses as I am stressing out over this past freshman year, hoping it did not already kill my chances at a top 14 law school such as NYU or Gtown or even a lower school like Fordham. (I prefer the NYC area.)

I completely understand where you're coming from - I was dealing with some family issues my freshman year and got straight Ds for a quarter. Unfortunately for me, I flipped out and essentially gave up on myself and fucked up most of my college grades after that, and graduated with a 2.8 GPA.

HOWEVER, surprise surprise! I applied to LS this fall and was accepted into 3 T14 schools. ^_^ All is not lost, friend! There are a few things you can do to put yourself on the right track:

• 1) If you are still in school, absolutely start focusing on lifting your GPA again. Take GPA booster classes. Do not bother repeating classes if you're only going to fail again. LSAC counts every retake (so if you got a D and retake for a B, you have 4 credits of a D AND 4 credits of a B). If you're not going to ace every retaken class, it's not worth your effort. Focus on getting straight A's from here on out. If you can afford it, take a fifth year to get more easy credits to boost your GPA (but absolutely DO NOT do this if this means you have to take on any/more student loans).
  
  2) KILL the LSAT. Study your freaking ass off. Don't be afraid to retake if you don't get the score you need. The higher the better, obviously, but you should really shoot to be PT-ing in the upper 170s. That way, even if you experience a test day drop, you will still be in a good position. If you'd like info on how to prepare, let me know, I've written up a pretty long tip list RE: the LSAT.
  
  3) Get WE after UG to distance yourself from your GPA. Even a year will help a lot. Plus, it will give you a chance to enjoy having a (small) income and working life before law school. Also, you can do what I did and save 90% of your paycheck and then travel for 5-7 weeks before law school
  
  4) Consider schools in the T14 that are not located in NY. NYC is by far the EASIEST market to break into. You don't need ties, really. Splitter friendly schools include NU (with WE), UVa, and GULC - any of those schools could bring you back to NYC.

Are you still a freshman/sophomore right now? If so, consider yourself lucky! You have another 2 years to balance out that 1.9 and improve your GPA. Keep your head in the game and remember that you have NOT ruined your chances, and if you keep working you could certainly find yourself at a T14, or even T6 school.

If you're close to graduation, then plan to kill the LSAT and start preparing your application as early as possible. The faster you send your app in, the better. Start writing your PS/asking for LORs/drafting your GPA Addendum and Why X essays now, if you're applying this fall. It will take a while to get everything together, so you'll be happy that when September rolls around and everyone is freaking out about PS topics, you're already on your final draft. If you'd like to see my cycle as an example of an extreme splitter (2.8/176) then feel free to check it out here: http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/whimsical

Hope this helps! Best of luck

[crumpetsandtea]

On second thought, I'm just going to post my LSAT advice here unsolicited, primarily because you mentioned you're already doing PTs.

STOP DOING PTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are only 64 or so of them to practice with! If you work through a bunch of them without a proper foundation or without trying to improve in between, you are only wasting valuable resources.

My suggestion for taking the LSAT:

1) Buy the Powerscore Bibles & acquire a bunch of PTs, preferably all of them.

2) DO NOT do any PTs. Just work through the Bibles, make sure you understand the tricks and theories behind why certain answers are correct, what you should look for in diff sections, how to diagram LGs, etc etc.

3) Once you've worked through the Bibles, do ONE (1) PT to gauge where you stand. Based on that PT, you should have an idea of what section is your hardest one and what you don't have issues with.

4) Drill, baby, drill! Do practice problems for the section/question types that trouble you. Begin by doing them untimed and shoot for 100% accuracy. Once you have the accuracy down, work on timing them.

5) Once you're done drilling, THEN move on to doing practice tests. The reason why you want to put this off is because you cannot improve without a good foundation for the LSAT: otherwise, you're just burning through PTs that you've paid for without really improving.

6) After every PT, analyze your incorrect answers and the qs that troubled you THOROUGHLY. This should include asking yourself these questions (keep a notebook/log if it helps you...an example of my study log here):

• Why was my answer wrong?
• Why was the right answer correct?
• Did the writers of the LSAT use any 'tricks' to get me to pick the wrong answer?
• Is there any methodology I can use to combat this sort of a trick on this question type in the future?

If you need an example of the above process, I can make one up, I'm just too lazy to type it up right now.

7) Once you are comfortable with PT-ing under testing conditions (early morning if possible, not in your bedroom, 35 min per section with no breaks except for 1 10 minute break between section 3 and 4) THEN you should try to move on to PT with less time. AKA, move from 35 min/section to 30 min per section. Why should you do this? Because inevitably, time passes faster when you're taking the actual test. 35 minutes will feel like a lot less. If you're used to having 30 minutes though, you won't end up running out of time during the actual thing. In fact, you'll probably still have 2-3 minutes to look back over your answers for all of your sections. In a test where nerves can fuck you up badly, this can be a lifesaver. Even having 45 seconds to put your pencil down, take a deep breath, and relax will help you during the test.

ANYWAY...sorry, really long post, I hope that was helpful. Best of luck from one splitter to another <3

[lynch]

just go with the flow and be serious in every each tiny details of your subjects.

[northerniowan]

If you really did deal with depression there is a way to wipe it. You'll have to start fresh next year though. This kid that lived in my dorms freshman and sophomore year was "battling depression" his sophomore year. Somehow he got a doctor to prove it and the registrar had to wipe it clean or something. The rest of us think its bullshit, so get use to taking a lot of shit if you decide to do that. Also its going to ruin your chances of joining the military (going JAG) because you have that depression on your record. But I think starting fresh is worth the year lost.

[The Rover]

If you really did deal with depression there is a way to wipe it. You'll have to start fresh next year though. This kid that lived in my dorms freshman and sophomore year was "battling depression" his sophomore year. Somehow he got a doctor to prove it and the registrar had to wipe it clean or something. The rest of us think its bullshit, so get use to taking a lot of shit if you decide to do that. Also its going to ruin your chances of joining the military (going JAG) because you have that depression on your record. But I think starting fresh is worth the year lost.

No. Even if his university recalculates his grades, LSAC will not. Also if you have a really serious mental condition diagnosis, it could be a red flag for C&F (bar admissions)

[raiyanhadi]

I accumulated a 1.9 gpa for my freshman year of college. I don't want to make any excuses but I have dealt with some depression during my first year. (Can this be possibly put in the addendum for when I apply in three years?)

I have failed the same class twice this year and got a D in another class. I tried to go the pre med route through family influence but realized law school is my real calling. I fully intend on achieving a 4.0 for the next two semesters to raise my horrid first year GPA. My main concern is..have I already ruined my chances at a top 14 law school? (Not HYS obv). I'm already taking LSAT practice tests to get ahead and make sure I get a 170 plus on it.

I would heavily appreciate any responses as I am stressing out over this past freshman year, hoping it did not already kill my chances at a top 14 law school such as NYU or Gtown or even a lower school like Fordham. (I prefer the NYC area.)

I completely understand where you're coming from - I was dealing with some family issues my freshman year and got straight Ds for a quarter. Unfortunately for me, I flipped out and essentially gave up on myself and fucked up most of my college grades after that, and graduated with a 2.8 GPA.

HOWEVER, surprise surprise! I applied to LS this fall and was accepted into 3 T14 schools. ^_^ All is not lost, friend! There are a few things you can do to put yourself on the right track:

• 1) If you are still in school, absolutely start focusing on lifting your GPA again. Take GPA booster classes. Do not bother repeating classes if you're only going to fail again. LSAC counts every retake (so if you got a D and retake for a B, you have 4 credits of a D AND 4 credits of a B). If you're not going to ace every retaken class, it's not worth your effort. Focus on getting straight A's from here on out. If you can afford it, take a fifth year to get more easy credits to boost your GPA (but absolutely DO NOT do this if this means you have to take on any/more student loans).
  
  2) KILL the LSAT. Study your freaking ass off. Don't be afraid to retake if you don't get the score you need. The higher the better, obviously, but you should really shoot to be PT-ing in the upper 170s. That way, even if you experience a test day drop, you will still be in a good position. If you'd like info on how to prepare, let me know, I've written up a pretty long tip list RE: the LSAT.
  
  3) Get WE after UG to distance yourself from your GPA. Even a year will help a lot. Plus, it will give you a chance to enjoy having a (small) income and working life before law school. Also, you can do what I did and save 90% of your paycheck and then travel for 5-7 weeks before law school
  
  4) Consider schools in the T14 that are not located in NY. NYC is by far the EASIEST market to break into. You don't need ties, really. Splitter friendly schools include NU (with WE), UVa, and GULC - any of those schools could bring you back to NYC.

Are you still a freshman/sophomore right now? If so, consider yourself lucky! You have another 2 years to balance out that 1.9 and improve your GPA. Keep your head in the game and remember that you have NOT ruined your chances, and if you keep working you could certainly find yourself at a T14, or even T6 school.

If you're close to graduation, then plan to kill the LSAT and start preparing your application as early as possible. The faster you send your app in, the better. Start writing your PS/asking for LORs/drafting your GPA Addendum and Why X essays now, if you're applying this fall. It will take a while to get everything together, so you'll be happy that when September rolls around and everyone is freaking out about PS topics, you're already on your final draft. If you'd like to see my cycle as an example of an extreme splitter (2.8/176) then feel free to check it out here: http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/whimsical

Hope this helps! Best of luck

Wow..thanks for all the great responses. This really put me to ease. I plan on working my ass off the next three years, I'll be switching to an easier major (Started out with Cell Biology for pre-med purposes which I HATED). How would a major like Human Resources management sound? I attend Rutgers University. I plan on minoring in psych as well. Also my case of depression was mild and I have fully gotten over it at this point so its nothing serious.

I will definitely be looking at UVA, Gtown, NU for sure. But Penn is also another target of mine....is that a splitter friendly school as well?

I really appreciate all the help guys, seriously. This is first time posting here and it's awesome! And thanks for all the extra advice there crumpetsandtea! I will definitely be putting your advice to use.

[Doorkeeper]

If you finish freshman year with a 1.9, and then you get all As for the rest of college, you can raise your GPA to a 3.47. You could raise it even higher if your school gives out A+s and/or you take summer classes. With a 170+, you can definitely get into a T14 with a 3.47.

[shredderrrrrr]

Just wanted to throw in that I wouldn't so easily assume you'll get 4.0s and a 170+. I wish you all the luck though.

[northerniowan]

I take it Human Resources Management is in the Management department of the business school at Rutgers? I'd be careful switching to any business major (even "easier" ones like management and marketing) if you want to help your GPA. You're still going to have to take the core business accounting and finance courses. Also, AACSB accredited business schools typically place tough restrictions on the curve their professors have. For example, professors at my school will get in trouble submitting class grades with anything higher than a C+ average.

Something like geography where professors don't get in trouble if every student has A's would be a good one to switch to. I'm using geography as an example because I have taken numerous geography electives and now wish I majored in that instead of finance.

[moneybagsphd]

On second thought, I'm just going to post my LSAT advice here unsolicited, primarily because you mentioned you're already doing PTs.

STOP DOING PTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are only 64 or so of them to practice with! If you work through a bunch of them without a proper foundation or without trying to improve in between, you are only wasting valuable resources.

My suggestion for taking the LSAT:

1) Buy the Powerscore Bibles & acquire a bunch of PTs, preferably all of them.

2) DO NOT do any PTs. Just work through the Bibles, make sure you understand the tricks and theories behind why certain answers are correct, what you should look for in diff sections, how to diagram LGs, etc etc.

3) Once you've worked through the Bibles, do ONE (1) PT to gauge where you stand. Based on that PT, you should have an idea of what section is your hardest one and what you don't have issues with.

4) Drill, baby, drill! Do practice problems for the section/question types that trouble you. Begin by doing them untimed and shoot for 100% accuracy. Once you have the accuracy down, work on timing them.

5) Once you're done drilling, THEN move on to doing practice tests. The reason why you want to put this off is because you cannot improve without a good foundation for the LSAT: otherwise, you're just burning through PTs that you've paid for without really improving.

6) After every PT, analyze your incorrect answers and the qs that troubled you THOROUGHLY. This should include asking yourself these questions (keep a notebook/log if it helps you...an example of my study log here):

• Why was my answer wrong?
• Why was the right answer correct?
• Did the writers of the LSAT use any 'tricks' to get me to pick the wrong answer?
• Is there any methodology I can use to combat this sort of a trick on this question type in the future?

If you need an example of the above process, I can make one up, I'm just too lazy to type it up right now.

7) Once you are comfortable with PT-ing under testing conditions (early morning if possible, not in your bedroom, 35 min per section with no breaks except for 1 10 minute break between section 3 and 4) THEN you should try to move on to PT with less time. AKA, move from 35 min/section to 30 min per section. Why should you do this? Because inevitably, time passes faster when you're taking the actual test. 35 minutes will feel like a lot less. If you're used to having 30 minutes though, you won't end up running out of time during the actual thing. In fact, you'll probably still have 2-3 minutes to look back over your answers for all of your sections. In a test where nerves can fuck you up badly, this can be a lifesaver. Even having 45 seconds to put your pencil down, take a deep breath, and relax will help you during the test.

ANYWAY...sorry, really long post, I hope that was helpful. Best of luck from one splitter to another <3

Great advice.

[ThreeRivers]

If you finish freshman year with a 1.9, and then you get all As for the rest of college, you can raise your GPA to a 3.47.

Was actually EXACTLY what I did in college... finished with 3.48 after 0.00 GPA my second semester (too long to explain what happened). So yea it is possible, but no one will actually believe you can do it until you start getting some great semesters in (can't really blame them). So just turn it around and you'll be fine... there's no reason to not do well in UG tbh

The only part that sucks, is schools won't care if you've gotten 6 straight semesters of 4.0's... they'll still view you as what your gpa is

[annet]

I take it Human Resources Management is in the Management department of the business school at Rutgers? I'd be careful switching to any business major (even "easier" ones like management and marketing) if you want to help your GPA. You're still going to have to take the core business accounting and finance courses. Also, AACSB accredited business schools typically place tough restrictions on the curve their professors have. For example, professors at my school will get in trouble submitting class grades with anything higher than a C+ average.

Something like geography where professors don't get in trouble if every student has A's would be a good one to switch to. I'm using geography as an example because I have taken numerous geography electives and now wish I majored in that instead of finance.

Geography double-major, checking in Just make sure in whatever major you choose that you pay close attention to the requirements in advance, especially if you're weak in math. In geography, for instance, watch our for geographic statistics, remote sensing, and GIS courses. For business, as others have said, make sure you're comfortable with the number of business math classes you'll be required to take.

My weak point is foreign languages and my other major required 6 semesters. My gpa didn't suffer much, but I also didn't have any really awful semester to make up for.

All of that said, things change so don't major in basket weaving and leave yourself unemployable in case you do want to take some time off between ug and law school and don't want to work in a service/retail job.

[northerniowan]

I take it Human Resources Management is in the Management department of the business school at Rutgers? I'd be careful switching to any business major (even "easier" ones like management and marketing) if you want to help your GPA. You're still going to have to take the core business accounting and finance courses. Also, AACSB accredited business schools typically place tough restrictions on the curve their professors have. For example, professors at my school will get in trouble submitting class grades with anything higher than a C+ average.

Something like geography where professors don't get in trouble if every student has A's would be a good one to switch to. I'm using geography as an example because I have taken numerous geography electives and now wish I majored in that instead of finance.

Geography double-major, checking in Just make sure in whatever major you choose that you pay close attention to the requirements in advance, especially if you're weak in math. In geography, for instance, watch our for geographic statistics, remote sensing, and GIS courses. For business, as others have said, make sure you're comfortable with the number of business math classes you'll be required to take.

My weak point is foreign languages and my other major required 6 semesters. My gpa didn't suffer much, but I also didn't have any really awful semester to make up for.

All of that said, things change so don't major in basket weaving and leave yourself unemployable in case you do want to take some time off between ug and law school and don't want to work in a service/retail job.

Great advice on checking the requirements for a major before assuming its easy:-). It is college after all, not high school. Nothing is really suppose to be a cakewalk where you can get a 4.0 for 6 straight semesters.

[raiyanhadi]

I have actually checked the reqs for the HR management major. It's actually not in the business school at all, it's in arts and sciences. It doesn't seem to be too difficult as the only pre req to get into into the major is Intro to HR in which the professor is apparently really easy...plus you only need 36 credits worth of major related courses for a degree in HR management. I'm pretty good at reading and writing which is what most of these classes deal with...I think I can pull off 4.0s and high 3s the rest of the way if I stay this course and minor in something like psych.

Hell actually, do you think I should just do the opposite and major in psych and minor in HR management? So many decisions...lol godamn.

[northerniowan]

I have actually checked the reqs for the HR management major. It's actually not in the business school at all, it's in arts and sciences. It doesn't seem to be too difficult as the only pre req to get into into the major is Intro to HR in which the professor is apparently really easy...plus you only need 36 credits worth of major related courses for a degree in HR management. I'm pretty good at reading and writing which is what most of these classes deal with...I think I can pull off 4.0s and high 3s the rest of the way if I stay this course and minor in something like psych.

Hell actually, do you think I should just do the opposite and major in psych and minor in HR management? So many decisions...lol godamn.

I've always thought Psych was a joke, but they actually have some pretty involved statistics in the upper level courses I've found out (my girlfriend graduates this year with a psychology degree). Sounds like you've done your research on this HR thing and it doesn't seem too hard. I would say job prospects (if you end up not going to law school) would be better with an HR degree than a psychology degree. To make any money at all in psych you need to go to grad school. I'd do HR and good luck:-)

[bobbyh1919]

Regarding your interest in Penn, on LSN there are only 3 students who got in with a sub 3.4, and they all had LSAT scores of 173 or higher. Doesn't quite rule you out, but you should focus primarily on UVA, NU, and GULC.

[raiyanhadi]

yeah ive decided to major in HR next spring semester (thats when i declare officially) and minor in psych as I am interested in that as well. I made sure to load up on classes with easy professors for almost every class. 4.0 here I come! (With hard work and dedication of course.)

And thanks for the info on Penn...hopefully they're a little nicer when I apply.

[rayiner]

This is where you game the LSAC process. Find a community college that gives A+ grades. Take summer classes. Get A+'s. Profit.

[raiyanhadi]

Well I registered for really easy classes next semester to a point where I feel dumb not taking science courses haha...but better to get a 4.0 in easy classes rather than a 1.9 in tough ones right?

It's really good to know I haven't destroyed my chances already as a freshman. Thanks again.

[echamberlin8]

I'm actually curious if you can write an addendum about your depression as well. I wonder what is considered safe and what is too taboo to talk about in one's application. I ask because I had drug addiction problems in my past, and although I'm over it (has been a year since I last did drugs or drank), the experience is a formative part of who I am and I have no regrets since it made me a stronger person. Frankly, I think I could write a great personal statement about my demons in the past, but I suspect this is probably a no-no, which is a bit unfair, since it is part of who I am and I believe it has made me who I am today, motivated to become a lawyer. I was actually reading The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, and it says, rather tongue-in-cheek, that for the most part you can write about whatever you want in your personal statements, but that law schools don't want to know about your "taste for heroin." In my case, that actually has been true (in my past), but I feel like that is something I should just keep under wraps. Anyways, good luck. Just went on a little bit of a ramble, but your OP made me think of it.