Top Law Schools

Hello all,

Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Ojay, I am 26, & I plan on attending law school in the next year or two. However, I need some advice before I begin my journey.

I attended the University Of California Santa Cruz for 4 years for my undergraduate degree in political science & legal studies. I was doing well & completed my general education, however, during my last year, I dropped out. I failed to complete my major requirements & have not received my diploma. Long story short, my parents went through a nasty divorce & things started to fall apart. I didn't see much of a reason to keep going & felt like the fire I had inside me had died. I moved back home & began helping my father with his mortgage payments, & have felt my life spiraling out of control ever since. I've accumulated quite a bit of debt, & can't manage to find a decent job, due to my lack of an undergraduate degree.

Recently, I started dating a very nice woman who has an offer to do financial consulting at KPMG. She's expressed that she believes in me & knows I can accomplish anything. She's, figuratively, reignited my fire. I want to get back to where I was & finish what I started. Ultimately, my goal is to be a Chief Legal Officer at a well established company.

Anyways, I'd just like to hear your opinions. I feel like I can do this, however, I also have an overwhelming sense of fear & doubt. Have I waited too long? Have I dug myself in too deep? Is it still possible for me to be successful? Would law schools frown upon my 4 year gap of obtaining an undergraduate degree? Can I even get into a law school with all of my mistakes?

My lady friend has helped me lay out a plan for the road I need to take. I need to;

1) Complete my undergraduate studies. (In addition to dropping out, I failed a few classes...this is when things got bad & I just stopped attending class. Ideally, I would like to make up these credits at my local community college to reflect on my transcript.)

2) Adequately prepare myself for the LSAT for my desired score. (157-165. Ideally, I would like to attend UC Hastings, as it is close to home.)

3) Apply to law schools.

4) Find appropriate financial aid for law school. (I have had significant trouble paying my student loans I took out for UCSC. I would assume getting another loan would be difficult. Are there scholarships available? Grants? Can I, at 26 years old, still apply for any such grants or scholarships?)

In addition, do I need to get an internship? How would I got about finding a good one? Is it even possible for me to get one at this point?

Sorry for all the questions. I've been reading a lot of the posts on this board, & I envy you all so much. I want to be where you are! My motivation has never been higher! I'm ready to fight for my dream again. Any help or advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to hear my sob story & give me some guidance!

1. The most important predictor of your success in the law school admissions process will be your LSAT score and GPA

2. The search function is your friend.

One step at a time, brother. Work on step one for now. Pad your transcript with cheap, easy classes if you can. What was your GPA when you dropped out?

Figure out the loan situation. If you can't get federal loans, that's going to really limit your options. Speaking of options, don't limit yourself to Hastings. Job prospects out of Hastings are not exactly great. If you want to work in-house for a big company, you usually have to work biglaw first. Getting biglaw out of Hastings is a very tough prospect.

It's hard to say how schools will see your situation, but I doubt it will have as negative of an impact as you fear. Maybe with some digging, you can find some similarly situated people on here. Hint: Google search is far more effective than the forum's search function.

Thanks!

I will definitely take this one step at a time. I know I have a long, hard road ahead of me, but I'm ready. I've been searching around & have found some similar situations to my own. It's refreshing to know I'm not alone.

I believe my GPA was 3.35. I will know exactly once my transcript arrives. I am also shooting for a very high LSAT score, to make up for my shortcomings. I believe I should be able to get some federal funding. I'm looking into good payment plans, so I can bring my credit standing up. Hopefully, they will let me apply for more. I'm going to have to work hard for this.

Hastings is ideal, but of course, I'm open to anywhere really. I'm willing to go anywhere really. I'd rather not leave California, but of course, if necessary, I will. I wasn't aware that it was difficult to get biglaw out of Hastings. I had always heard great thing about that school. By biglaw, do you mean large firms? That's what I would like to aim for...but I don't want to set myself up for failure. My lady friend believes I can get into one of the top 15 law schools. While I believe that it's a possibility, I'd like to be realistic. (Considering my finances, age, & over all situation.)

Thanks for the tips! I'll keep searching the boards to find some more answers. Any other tips or advice you can give me is always appreciated. Thank you very much!

Ojay2763 wrote:Thanks!

I will definitely take this one step at a time. I know I have a long, hard road ahead of me, but I'm ready. I've been searching around & have found some similar situations to my own. It's refreshing to know I'm not alone.

I believe my GPA was 3.35. I will know exactly once my transcript arrives. I am also shooting for a very high LSAT score, to make up for my shortcomings. I believe I should be able to get some federal funding. I'm looking into good payment plans, so I can bring my credit standing up. Hopefully, they will let me apply for more. I'm going to have to work hard for this.

Hastings is ideal, but of course, I'm open to anywhere really. I'm willing to go anywhere really. I'd rather not leave California, but of course, if necessary, I will. I wasn't aware that it was difficult to get biglaw out of Hastings. I had always heard great thing about that school. By biglaw, do you mean large firms? That's what I would like to aim for...but I don't want to set myself up for failure. My lady friend believes I can get into one of the top 15 law schools. While I believe that it's a possibility, I'd like to be realistic. (Considering my finances, age, & over all situation.)

Thanks for the tips! I'll keep searching the boards to find some more answers. Any other tips or advice you can give me is always appreciated. Thank you very much!

I would really shoot for something better than Hastings. In this economy, it's a major financial risk, even with a great scholarship. If you can get that gpa up over 3.5 and score in the 170s, you can get a shot at UCLA and USC, and maybe even Berkeley, though if you're willing to leave CA, there are better options other places for those of us with less than stellar gpa's.

Ojay2763 wrote:Thanks!

I will definitely take this one step at a time. I know I have a long, hard road ahead of me, but I'm ready. I've been searching around & have found some similar situations to my own. It's refreshing to know I'm not alone.

I believe my GPA was 3.35. I will know exactly once my transcript arrives. I am also shooting for a very high LSAT score, to make up for my shortcomings. I believe I should be able to get some federal funding. I'm looking into good payment plans, so I can bring my credit standing up. Hopefully, they will let me apply for more. I'm going to have to work hard for this.

Hastings is ideal, but of course, I'm open to anywhere really. I'm willing to go anywhere really. I'd rather not leave California, but of course, if necessary, I will. I wasn't aware that it was difficult to get biglaw out of Hastings. I had always heard great thing about that school. By biglaw, do you mean large firms? That's what I would like to aim for...but I don't want to set myself up for failure. My lady friend believes I can get into one of the top 15 law schools. While I believe that it's a possibility, I'd like to be realistic. (Considering my finances, age, & over all situation.)

Thanks for the tips! I'll keep searching the boards to find some more answers. Any other tips or advice you can give me is always appreciated. Thank you very much!

About 16% of the class at Hastings got a job with an NLJ 250 firm last year. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNL ... 0721153939

11% of the class of 2011 got a job with a large firm and nearly half found themselves underemployed. --LinkRemoved--

Keep in mind that many of these big firm jobs pay less then the $160k lockstep.

You typically refer to the top 14 schools, not 15. If you get a 170+ on the LSAT, you can definitely get into a T14, which gives you much, much better employment prospects. Check out the guides in the LSAT forum and get cracking! http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=6

Thanks for the responses!

That is surprising information about Hastings! I will take a look at the LSAT Guide Forum & see what I can find.

Ojay2763 wrote:Thanks for the responses!

That is surprising information about Hastings! I will take a look at the LSAT Guide Forum & see what I can find.

yeah, if you're looking for a job in a big firm, Hastings is probably not the place to go. There are only 3 schools where you can count on that type of job, and about 10 others that give you a decent shot.