Is my daughter making a good choice with Law school apps? Forum

[anthonyr]

My daughter has an interesting situation. After denying admission into a four year university two years ago because of cost issues, she opted out for a community college. Prior to starting her fist year at the CC she had 24 units under her belt from Advanced Placement credit from high school. She is a political science major, has always wanted to go to law school to be a lawyer and did not want to take out loans for her undergraduate studies since she is certain she will be paying off law school debt for a while. I understood her situation at the time, and when her sophomore year came around she had 54 units completed; she was nearly done with her GEs and major prep class so she cross enrolled with a university and took an Upper division class there for a much lesser cost. It was then that a counselor suggested that my D graduate a year early since money is a factor and she would have the necessary units completed to graduate. This motivated her, she got a job and she cross enrolled again for the spring semester, as well as paid for U.D. classes at university via open university. In addition, she took the LSAT exam in Feb and luckily scored a 173. Because she is now officially a student at the university, she is now taking U.D. summer classes at the university.

Here is where my question and concern is: My daughter has not spent an actual year, let alone semester as an actual admitted student at a four year university. She has 18 units of U.D./major classes done, she took the LSAT and is happy with her score, she has contacted professors and supervisors to write LORs for her because she is planning on graduating this coming year, as well as applying for law school. Is this a mistake? My daughter has great scores in my opinion: she has 93 units completed, 173 LSAT, and she currently has a 3.96 GPA. My fear is that Law schools would look down on the fact that she has not actually attended a university for a full year, and perhaps she also has not taken enough U.D. units to suffice the necessary amount law schools expect to be completed upon applying.

My advice to my daughter was to gradate a year early and wait a year to apply, perhaps even retake the LSAT for a higher score. However, she has her mind set, and I am okay with her making her own decisions, I would just feel comfortable if others let me know that her plan is okay.

I appreciate the comments and advice in advance.

[CanadianWolf]

With a 173 LSAT score & over a 3.9 GPA, your daughter will not need to pay law school tuition.

P.S. All law schools care about is that your daughter will have an undergraduate college/university degree before matriculating at a law school.

P.P.S. There may, however, be issues re: calculating her undergraduate GPA by LSDAS (law school data assembly service) since she took a lot of college credits while still in high school. Other posters should be able to address this issue better than I.

[future!jd12]

She will be fine. She should be able to get into Harvard, and get some decent $ at CCN and full rides from Cornell or Northwestern etc,

[Other25BeforeYou]

I would certainly encourage her to take a year or two off to work and get some real world experience and make sure she actually wants to go to law school. If she still wants to go to law school after that (or even if she decides to go without taking time off), law schools likely won't care about where her credits came from with those scores. As the above poster said, she should be looking at full scholarships from some pretty great schools.

[L’Étranger]

My daughter has an interesting situation. After denying admission into a four year university two years ago because of cost issues, she opted out for a community college. Prior to starting her fist year at the CC she had 24 units under her belt from Advanced Placement credit from high school. She is a political science major, has always wanted to go to law school to be a lawyer and did not want to take out loans for her undergraduate studies since she is certain she will be paying off law school debt for a while. I understood her situation at the time, and when her sophomore year came around she had 54 units completed; she was nearly done with her GEs and major prep class so she cross enrolled with a university and took an Upper division class there for a much lesser cost. It was then that a counselor suggested that my D graduate a year early since money is a factor and she would have the necessary units completed to graduate. This motivated her, she got a job and she cross enrolled again for the spring semester, as well as paid for U.D. classes at university via open university. In addition, she took the LSAT exam in Feb and luckily scored a 173. Because she is now officially a student at the university, she is now taking U.D. summer classes at the university.

Here is where my question and concern is: My daughter has not spent an actual year, let alone semester as an actual admitted student at a four year university. She has 18 units of U.D./major classes done, she took the LSAT and is happy with her score, she has contacted professors and supervisors to write LORs for her because she is planning on graduating this coming year, as well as applying for law school. Is this a mistake? My daughter has great scores in my opinion: she has 93 units completed, 173 LSAT, and she currently has a 3.96 GPA. My fear is that Law schools would look down on the fact that she has not actually attended a university for a full year, and perhaps she also has not taken enough U.D. units to suffice the necessary amount law schools expect to be completed upon applying.

My advice to my daughter was to gradate a year early and wait a year to apply, perhaps even retake the LSAT for a higher score. However, she has her mind set, and I am okay with her making her own decisions, I would just feel comfortable if others let me know that her plan is okay.

I appreciate the comments and advice in advance.

Pretty specific question. Ask an admissions officer at a law school that your daughter is interested in.

[CanadianWolf]

Apply & see what her options are. Apply to all law schools ranked in the Top 14 which are of interest to her. That's how admissions officers will let you know.

[lavarman84]

First off, congrats to your daughter on the GPA and LSAT! She sounds like a very driven and intelligent young lady. As long as she has enough credits for a LSDAS GPA, she should be fine. With her GPA and LSAT, she'll be getting significant scholarship money at a lot of the top law schools and will be competitive at HYS.

If she takes the year off, it would help her gain real world experience and if she retakes the LSAT and bumps it up a couple points, it would improve her HYS chances. But if she wants to go, it is her choice to make. Apply broadly in the t14 and she should have plenty of great options!

[071816]

my D???

[anthonyr]

P.P.S. There may, however, be issues re: calculating her undergraduate GPA by LSDAS (law school data assembly service) since she took a lot of college credits while still in high school. Other posters should be able to address this issue better than I.

That is interesting. Do you mean that her Ap credit will have actual letters assigned? As far as I know, her transcript just shows that certain classes are completed because of these credits.

[DebtAverse]

How many graded credits does your daughter have? If she has 60 ungraded (AP, etc.) credits and the rest are from actual classes, LSAC will still be able to calculate a GPA for her. If she has more ungraded credits than that, things will be more complex.

As to what law schools will think of her educational methods, I can speak from experience in saying that unconventional (AP-style) credits and educational choices are not necessarily looked down upon. It is definitely possible to get good offers from top schools with your daughter's excellent numbers and unique secondary education. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

EDIT: To answer your above question, LSAC cannot assign letter grades to the AP credits, which is why it becomes difficult if a student has fewer than 60 graded credits. It seems that without that number of graded credits, LSAC will not automatically calculate a GPA.

[ManoftheHour]

my D???

[anthonyr]

How many graded credits does your daughter have? If she has 60 ungraded (AP, etc.) credits and the rest are from actual classes, LSAC will still be able to calculate a GPA for her. If she has more ungraded credits than that, things will be more complex.

As to what law schools will think of her educational methods, I can speak from experience in saying that unconventional (AP-style) credits and educational choices are not necessarily looked down upon. It is definitely possible to get good offers from top schools with your daughter's excellent numbers and unique secondary education. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

EDIT: To answer your above question, LSAC cannot assign letter grades to the AP credits, which is why it becomes difficult if a student has fewer than 60 graded credits. It seems that without that number of graded credits, LSAC will not automatically calculate a GPA.

This is very clear; thank you. She has only the 24 ungraded AP credits. Total units from CC and the four year university is 69. I was aware of the LSAC calculator, just not how difficult it actually is. I appreciate the help.

[Oskosh]

my D???

Was thinking the same thing haha.

[anthonyr]

my D???

Was thinking the same thing haha.

Changed it just for you guys. Glad I gave you something to giggle over lol

[DebtAverse]

How many graded credits does your daughter have? If she has 60 ungraded (AP, etc.) credits and the rest are from actual classes, LSAC will still be able to calculate a GPA for her. If she has more ungraded credits than that, things will be more complex.

As to what law schools will think of her educational methods, I can speak from experience in saying that unconventional (AP-style) credits and educational choices are not necessarily looked down upon. It is definitely possible to get good offers from top schools with your daughter's excellent numbers and unique secondary education. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

EDIT: To answer your above question, LSAC cannot assign letter grades to the AP credits, which is why it becomes difficult if a student has fewer than 60 graded credits. It seems that without that number of graded credits, LSAC will not automatically calculate a GPA.

This is very clear; thank you. She has only the 24 ungraded AP credits. Total units from CC and the four year university is 69. I was aware of the LSAC calculator, just not how difficult it actually is. I appreciate the help.

Perfect. I think she will have her pick of several excellent options!
Also, keep in mind that framing her academic decisions will be helpful. She should consider finding ways to include some of her rationale in her apps, whether that is by mention in her personal statement or through discussion by a recommender. Has she, by any chance, been working while attending school?

[rinkrat19]

The thread's giving you good advice, but I kinda wanted to (gently) add that your daughter should be doing this research herself, not you. If she's not ready for mom and dad to let go, then she's not ready for professional school. You should not be contacting any law schools about anything; SHE should be. She should be setting up her own LSAC account and researching the steps to apply and figuring out what her LSAC GPA will be. It's great that you will have accurate info (god knows plenty of parents are clueless and can detrimentally influence their kids' law school application decisions), but law school is time to be a grownup.

[anthonyr]

How many graded credits does your daughter have? If she has 60 ungraded (AP, etc.) credits and the rest are from actual classes, LSAC will still be able to calculate a GPA for her. If she has more ungraded credits than that, things will be more complex.

As to what law schools will think of her educational methods, I can speak from experience in saying that unconventional (AP-style) credits and educational choices are not necessarily looked down upon. It is definitely possible to get good offers from top schools with your daughter's excellent numbers and unique secondary education. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

EDIT: To answer your above question, LSAC cannot assign letter grades to the AP credits, which is why it becomes difficult if a student has fewer than 60 graded credits. It seems that without that number of graded credits, LSAC will not automatically calculate a GPA.

This is very clear; thank you. She has only the 24 ungraded AP credits. Total units from CC and the four year university is 69. I was aware of the LSAC calculator, just not how difficult it actually is. I appreciate the help.

Perfect. I think she will have her pick of several excellent options!
Also, keep in mind that framing her academic decisions will be helpful. She should consider finding ways to include some of her rationale in her apps, whether that is by mention in her personal statement or through discussion by a recommender. Has she, by any chance, been working while attending school?

She has been interning at the courthouse on and off when she can fit it in her schedule. She says that she has completed over 600 hours there. She plans on having the supervisor write a letter as well as the head of the District attorneys office because she spent a summer as a student worker there.

[anthonyr]

The thread's giving you good advice, but I kinda wanted to (gently) add that your daughter should be doing this research herself, not you. If she's not ready for mom and dad to let go, then she's not ready for professional school. You should not be contacting any law schools about anything; SHE should be. She should be setting up her own LSAC account and researching the steps to apply and figuring out what her LSAC GPA will be. It's great that you will have accurate info (god knows plenty of parents are clueless and can detrimentally influence their kids' law school application decisions), but law school is time to be a grownup.

I really do appreciate the post. I completely understand where you are coming from. Any information I know is because she has shared them with me. I really am that clueless parent who is always overly concerned. She knows what she is doing, and with the excellent advice I am receiving from this thread, I can only further confirm that she on the right path and mom and dad now need to chill out. Thanks again, you know how to (gently) put a parent in their place;p

[rinkrat19]

The thread's giving you good advice, but I kinda wanted to (gently) add that your daughter should be doing this research herself, not you. If she's not ready for mom and dad to let go, then she's not ready for professional school. You should not be contacting any law schools about anything; SHE should be. She should be setting up her own LSAC account and researching the steps to apply and figuring out what her LSAC GPA will be. It's great that you will have accurate info (god knows plenty of parents are clueless and can detrimentally influence their kids' law school application decisions), but law school is time to be a grownup.

I really do appreciate the post. I completely understand where you are coming from. Any information I know is because she has shared them with me. I really am that clueless parent who is always overly concerned. She knows what she is doing, and with the excellent advice I am receiving from this thread, I can only further confirm that she on the right path and mom and dad now need to chill out. Thanks again, you know how to (gently) put a parent in their place;p

Sounds like you are coming from a good place. Good job, dad.

[071816]

best of luck to your D

[anthonyr]

best of luck to your D

Hahaha..."Do you even go here?"

[071816]

best of luck to your D

Hahaha..."Do you even go here?"

[rnoodles]

AP/IB class grades do not affect your college GPA.

And even if your daughter has less than 60 graded credits (which I doubt), she will be able to apply and LSAC will calculate her current degree institution's GPA but not her cumulative GPA.

In either case she will be fine and should apply. No need in her case to delay it.

[ihenry]

my D???

Was thinking the same thing haha.

Changed it just for you guys. Glad I gave you something to giggle over lol

I saw D and S everywhere on college confidential where parents ask for their kids. Unusual on TLS where people ask for themselves.

[rinkrat19]

my D???

Was thinking the same thing haha.

Changed it just for you guys. Glad I gave you something to giggle over lol

I saw D and S everywhere on college confidential where parents ask for their kids. Unusual on TLS where people ask for themselves.

At least it wasn't DD (dear daughter) like on mommy blogs and the like. barf.