172 LSAT, 2.5gpa (Dropped medicine to do law) Forum

[njet]

Hi, I graduated in 2020 from undergrad with a 2.5GPA in Biology. I was pressured by family to go to medical school (otherwise they wouldn't pay for school) & some extenuating circumstances. I had an undiagnosed learning and medical disorder for those 4 years in undergrad, and did poorly (not to mention I was studying a subject i wasn't interested in). I've since gone to therapy and gotten help for my problems, and have been working on myself since.

After some major life changes and hard work, i've decided to take the LSAT and scored in the 98th percentile.The thing is, my GPA is extremely bad, and I know when I apply to law schools, this would greatly detriment me. I want a chance to explain my situation, explain how I finally found my way to pursuing a career I have a genuine interest in.

Is going this route a good idea? Do I stand a chance at getting into any law schools? I've worked hard to be where I am today, undoubtedly after messing up when I was younger, but I feel I have a good reason for that, and have proved myself to be able to study with my LSAT score. Im not sure if law schools would just throw my application away once they see my GPA, or if, with a great rest of my application, I have a shot. I'm desperate for some advice as this is kind of a weird situation. Thanks

[talons2250]

You will probably get into a law school. The question is whether you will get into a law school worth going to. Write a very compelling addendum explaining the situation with your undergraduate degree, apply to the top 100 law schools in the country, and just see what happens. If and when you have multiple schools to choose from, then make the decision of whether going to law school makes sense for you. For example, if the only school you get into has abysmal employment statistics and will leave you with hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with no employment prospects, then obviously don't go to that law school.

You don't say what type of law you want to practice or what kind of job you ultimately want, and those considerations should be top of mind here. There are certain legal jobs where what school you go to matters less, for instance.

[stickershocked]

Ages ago, I was a big splitter like you and managed to get T-14 (not quite so low of GPA but didn't have a compelling reason for it either). I think you have a decent chance at a couple of T-14s with bigger class sizes like NYU or G-town. However, depending on what you want to ultimately do, you may frankly already be at a disadvantage. For instance, if you want to do top-of-the-market litigation work after law school, keep in mind that these types of opportunities can be extremely credential-oriented, which means you'll need to (at a minimum) pull off stellar grades in law school. Some of these types of opportunities will even care about where you went for undergrad and how you did there. Corporate work is much less that way these days, but that work is, generally speaking, extremely grueling. That said though, take this with a grain of salt as coming from someone who's generally pretty jaded on the legal profession.

[creolie1961]

Ages ago, I was a big splitter like you and managed to get T-14 (not quite so low of GPA but didn't have a compelling reason for it either). I think you have a decent chance at a couple of T-14s with bigger class sizes like NYU or G-town. However, depending on what you want to ultimately do, you may frankly already be at a disadvantage. For instance, if you want to do top-of-the-market litigation work after law school, keep in mind that these types of opportunities can be extremely credential-oriented, which means you'll need to (at a minimum) pull off stellar grades in law school. Some of these types of opportunities will even care about where you went for undergrad and how you did there. Corporate work is much less that way these days, but that work is, generally speaking, extremely grueling. That said though, take this with a grain of salt as coming from someone who's generally pretty jaded on the legal profession.

Not sure about Georgetown but I can tell you that a 2.5/172 is really unlikely to get into NYU. This is based on anecdotal data, but based on conversations with a number of NYU students, the most extreme splitting that the school will tolerate is 3.1/3.2 and 175+, and these are people admitted off the waitlist in August. And that was before the recent inflation in LSAT scores: 172 is currently NYU's median, so a 2.5/172 isn't even a true splitter for that school.

[Dolna Ray]

You can try out the redacted GPA option that Wash U has.

Other than that do try out other splitter friendly schools like

ASU
Uni of Iowa
IU Bloomington
George Mason

Apply from T25-100