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So I've got my full year of 1L grades just in and they're absolutely horrible. 2.64 GPA both semesters, not one A on my transcript. So here's the age-old question: do I drop out?

I'm at a law school that's just inside the top 50. I have a full scholarship to law school and no undergrad debt, so money is only a small factor. I got selected for the moot court team at my school for next year, but I doubt that's gonna mean anything to employers with two Cs in my legal research/writing class.

Help?

ETA: I'm interning for a family court judge this summer in a major city.

With a full scholly I'd be tempted to ride it out. What do you want to do? Family law?

I was hoping to do stuff with victim advocacy for crimes involving juveniles, which is my judge's area. Maybe become a prosecutor. No BigLaw aspirations here lol.
I'm just terrified that it'll be impossible for me to get any sort of crim law work with such a poor academic showing.

Unless you're geographically rigid, that's crazy talk. Pass the bar in the mountain west, get a job as a rural DA, no one will even look at your grades.

Yea, I'd probably stick around. Have you tried talking to your professors about your exam grades? Maybe there's a common error you're making that can be fixed or something like that. In any event, their insight will be valuable.

And like the above poster said, there are plenty of jobs (non big law) that won't care about your grades so long as you can demonstrate competency and are easy to work with. Start networking. Take attorneys who do what you want to do out to lunch and stay connected with them.

Good luck.

Thanks for talking me down from the ledge guys. I talked to professors after last semester and thought I figured out the issue, but it looks like I'll be back in office hours again. I suppose I'll make an appointment with some career advisors too.

There's no way the DA from Making a Murderer did well in law school or went to a good law school, but I could be wrong.

HonestAdvice wrote:There's no way the DA from Making a Murderer did well in law school or went to a good law school, but I could be wrong.

1985 grad from Marquette, which currently is USNWR#105 with 152/3.19 medians

lclc2 wrote:Thanks for talking me down from the ledge guys. I talked to professors after last semester and thought I figured out the issue, but it looks like I'll be back in office hours again. I suppose I'll make an appointment with some career advisors too.

To echo the sentiment....I spent months reading documents submitted to federal court, and I'm surprised some of those attorneys passed a legal writing class AND the bar exam. Heck, I was surprised some of them made it out of high school.

If they became working attorneys....so can you.

You're going to school for free. Ride it out.