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Hello,

I have a few questions that I hope this board could help me with. I have been a lurker on this board for a little while just reading and searching, so I figured this would be a good time to register and ask my questions.

Little back story first, I am 39 years old, I graduated college back in 2007 when I was 28 with a BA in social Science with a history concentration, my gpa is 3.26 my freshman year was not great, but my 3rd semester through 8th was very good, my gpa ranged from 3.2-4.0. My plan at the time was to go to law school I was doing great on practice tests hitting in 160’s I was pretty sure I was capabale of getting the coveted 170.

The problem at the time was to make a long story short I had 2 major accidents in 2008 that left me in really bad shape I still to this day still have permanent damage from those accidents. I have spent the last 10 years on disability, doing-rehab and struggled with depression, but recently for the last year or so I have been feeling a bit better depression is gone for a while my body still hurts, but very manageable and I have been feeling motivated to maybe pick-up where I had left off. Now my questions.

How would law schools view me as someone that has or is still disabled? I have not worked, I don’t know if my professors are still around to write me any recommendation letters all I know is I believe with proper prep I can still hit high 160’s or even maybe the 170.

I am in the Cleveland area I am sure there’s a test masters or powerscore around to do some prep

Any feedback would be appreciated

Do you have any experience (resume or personal statement-worthy) to fill in the 10 years? Whether it is employment, volunteer, or anything? Did you travel, get involved with a local organization, or something? I know it might be a stretch to ask, but just checking.

Your GPA isn't pretty but not disqualifying, assuming you can hit a high 160s/170 LSAT. With 10 years out of undergrad, a letter of recommendation from a professor would likely not be your best bet unless somehow you've maintained contact with one of them and it sounds like you haven't. Applicants long out of undergrad should get LRs from employers/supervisors, etc.

It sounds like you've had some major challenges and you could possibly turn that into a compelling personal statement. At the same time, it could backfire on you and make you look unstable. But done right, everyone loves a good story about overcoming major adversity in life and that could help you stand out.

I think @Twiqbalz has it about right. GPA matters less the further away from college you get. Focus on getting that 170 LSAT, and once you have it, spend a significant amount of time crafting and honing a kickass personal statement. I bet you'll have some takers if you submit a 3.26/170/extenuating circs PS application.

As far as the disability, I think you need to make sure that you're going to be able to (and willing to) be competitive in law school. Although there are alternative testing arrangements for certain types of disabilities, law school is still a directly competitive venture. If your disability would make it difficult (taking into account the testing accommodations) to keep up with your able-bodied classmates, then it's worth spending some time thinking about whether you're sufficiently motivated to work that much harder in order to get decent grades. If you are, awesome! Have fun in law school!

One of my classmates was paraplegic (if I recall correctly), and she did perfectly fine in law school. I'm not sure what her accommodations were... I didn't ask.