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First semester I was basically bottom 25%-15%, I even got a warning letter from the dean telling me to seek academic support services. This semester I was able to raise my GPA to median, which I assume means I made top 25%-15%. However, my overall situation is still median. How would you deal with something like this?

Unless you were finishing up chemo fall semester, consider yourself just as median as everyone else.

bulinus wrote:Unless you were finishing up chemo fall semester, consider yourself just as median as everyone else.

Well I did get horrendously ill in late november and had a viral infection for like 7 weeks. But I don't really want to bring that up in an interview because I'd rather not make it sound like I'm making excuses, so my strategy was just to focus instead on what I did to imporve second semester if asked.

IDK if saying you got really sick would seem like an excuse if you state it's only one of several factors. Everyone knows that going into exams feeling refreshed and sharp is as, if not more important, than actually knowing the law. But at the end of the day all that matters is if there interviewers like you. If you get pre-selected then the grade point is mostly moot, and if your GPA is too low you're going to get rejected.

The downside of mentioning you were sick at interviews is it's harder to make the person like you if you're wasting time saying stuff that just gets a "that sucks" reaction. Whenever I got asked about what my parents did at interviews, I got rejected irrespective of grades because I'd have to either lie or say my dad got sick. This predictably created to a damper mood, and I couldn't say, "well, the great thing about it was..." without coming across as a sociopath.

Better than falling or steady grades, not as good as actually having better grades overall. Not sure what you really want to hear here. It doesn't qualify you for places that wouldn't otherwise consider candidates with your gpa.