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Good Morning,

I am planning on applying to the weekend program for:

Seton Hall
Loyola University Chicago
Touro Law
Mitchel Hamline

I was wondering if anyone can provide insight into my situation.
I completed my undergraduate from a smaller unknown college in 2012 with a 3.01 GPA.

Since I graduated I have worked full time. I started the Seton Hall Police Graduate studies program and attended for two semesters before I had to stop because the GI bill did not cov r the tuition and I could no longer afford the 6000 a year out of pocket to complete the program.

I then started MBA program at another school while working a government job that required me to travel 3-4 times a week. The first 3 semesters were good and I had a B average. Unfortunately my work schedule changed and I could not continue attending classes. It was too late to withdraw so I took 3 F’s. After that I stopped attending because of work obligations.

Now I’m in a good place with work and would like to attend law school. Does anyone have any insight into whether or not the law schools will frown on me during the application process for not finishing two graduate programs?

A few points:

• You should attend law school in the geographical region you want to practice in. It does not make sense to apply to schools in Illinois, Minnesota, NJ, and NY.
• Dropping out of two graduate programs in a row - and flunking out of the second one - will look awful. There's no getting around it. But the good news for you is that the schools you mention aren't very selective. So long as you're willing to pay, you'll probably get in. Mitchell Hamline took almost 70% of applicants last year - I have to say the odds are on your side.
• The bad news is that these law schools do not have good employment numbers. What are your goals coming out of law school?

I go to one of the weekend programs you listed.

You say that you're in a good place with work. Do you actually like your job/does it pay well? If not, don't go to law school.

That sounds counter-intuitive, but given the difficulty of the legal market, I have to say that a weekend program (or any law school) is only worth it if you have a job lined up (that may or may not be in law). Most people in my weekend program will be fine because they already have good jobs that they genuinely like, jobs that are decent-paying, and the school is fairly generous with scholarships. They won't be screwed regardless. If you're in a situation where you've bounced out of a few graduate programs and you're still trying to find your footing, investing all this money into law school is NOT a good idea because you'll come out of law school with a career you (still) don't like, without the ability to get a great job (unless you're in the top of your class).

Law schools generally only look at undergrad grades, but certainly your record may be concerning. If you have a decent LSAT, you'll still get in, but I just don't think it'll be worth it unless you like your job/it pays well/it's something that a law degree would be useful in.