Top Law Schools

Dear TLSers,

It has been a number of years since I have been on this website. I went through the whole admissions process five years ago, and ended up receiving admissions and scholarship offers at a number of schools (165/3.9). I attended law school at a tier-one school in the fall of 2010, but left law school prior to completing my first semester, in good standing. This stemmed from a few things, all of a personal and non-school-related nature. My aunt passed away suddenly, my fiancee left me, and I had a lot of stress and anxiety, all at the worst time possible, the fall of my 1L year. I decided to put law school on the back burner, with the support of the dean of students at my law school. I later attended grad school, but due to an unfortunate series of health complications and failures on both my part and my grad university's part, I had to withdraw before receiving my masters.

I have grown a lot in the four years since my first attempt at law school, and have had meaningful (though not extremely impressive, professionally) life experiences during that time. None of that experience was law-related. I am better prepared and much hungrier to succeed than last time. I am not sure, though, how the failure to obtain a degree in my attempts at law school and grad school will affect my admissions cycle. I am currently studying and preparing to re-take the LSAT, and I expect to do at least marginally better than I did last time (my guess is going to be a 168, but who knows). I went through a semester of law school and was unfazed. I kept up with the material well, did fine with cold calling, etc. I would like to know if anyone has any relevant experience. How will law schools look at my post-undergrad career? I don't expect it to help me, but will it at least look neutral to law schools?

How many years has it been since your graduate school experience? Was your masters related to law/business? Did you plan to go back to law school after your masters? I think admissions will question your commitment to law. This can be addressed in your personal statement or an addendum.

Have you held a job for more than a year or two since? I think having solid work experience with the same employer for a 2+ year period would help. I think it is important to demonstrate that you can stick with one program/employer and succeed.

But again you have a 3.9 and since this is a numbers game, I'm sure if you get a 170+ on a new LSAT, schools will have all the proof they need that you can succeed. Not saying it is necessary (cause your stats are good as they are) but I just think you need something "new" that will substantiate your "new" frame of mind.

penncon wrote:Have you held a job for more than a year or two since? I think having solid work experience with the same employer for a 2+ year period would help. I think it is important to demonstrate that you can stick with one program/employer and succeed

This. Ultimately, it will help the Dean of Students gave their blessings to your leave. I wouldn't be so worried about the leave as much as the commitment they will question. Although the various life experiences may provide good information for a personal statement and if you can further tie these into why you want to practice law I would say it is good bonus points.

The top law schools will definitely care about your educational background. You'll have to overcome the presumption that you're not committed to law school and don't have your shit together to handle graduate-level work. Yes, it's stupid, but you'll have to address it. Depending on how much WE you have, you may also be stuck explaining your educational history to employers.

I finished three semesters of grad school with a 3.6 GPA. It was a non-law-related masters program, and my subsequent couple years in education have also been unrelated to law.

I would like to attend Emory or UGA, ideally. I plan on applying at Duke, Virginia, Vanderbilt, etc. (depending on LSAT, of course), but I would be pleased as punch to get into UGA or Emory with significant scholarship consideration.

Aim higher. Retake for another 10 points and blanket the T14, including Cornell (or consider EDing NU). Although your background will be viewed skeptically at a few schools, I think you'll end up with a good deal of money at couple T14s. You could end up with a good shot at a 160k job with manageable debt.