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medical withdrawal from law school
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:45 pm
by puffjd
My son is a 1L at a top tier law school. Due to several family crises he feels unprepared for finals and extremely stressed. He is considering a medical leave. How would his classmates feel about that? How would it affect his career?
Re: medical withdrawal from law school
Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:12 pm
by zomginternets
Not sure why classmate opinion matters.
As to the career, it depends on the particular school's policy regarding medical leave. While I sympathize with your son's situation, I would think that "medical leave" requires him to actually have a personal medical condition that severely hampers his ability to study and participate in law school--not just to have a family crisis.
If he is granted "medical leave", he might get "incompletes" for the semester, and might be able to make up the exam at another time and get his grade changed. Or he might need to retake the course entirely, thereby leaving the I's on his transcript for all to see. Basically, what law firms think of your son will be based on whether his transcript indicates that he didn't take the finals this fall. If so, they will ask him about it, and they will decide whether his reason warrants their sympathy. If not, then nothing to worry about.