Should I drop out? Forum

[mcmand]

You're going to be fine. You don't need to drop out. You are not the kind of person who needs to drop out of law school. Those first few posts were wayyyy extreme. I hope you come back and read this and realize you don't need to drop out.

[brorepresentation1]

you may want to consider dropping out

[cj_dawhg713]

OH DROP OUT!! if you're not the child of a senator, with a full scholarship to HYS and in the top 5% you will be doomed to a life of cleaning toilets -- TLS Poaster on jerbs and law skool

Seriously OP, do not listen to some of the above posts. You have a manageable debt load from a strong school, and you've shown the ability to get a good 1L summer job. Going forward, try and get your grades up. You will be fine.

[2LRising]

I think the worst part about all of this is that people on here have gotten so confident in their advice that they'd push someone to drop out of law school after reading about three sentences the person has ever written.

[star fox]

Stick it out. Life is not as glorious for law school dropouts as TLS makes it seem.

[thebrownnote]

Jesus, I don't post often, but the advice from "grades??" is so terrible I had to. Don't drop out based on a couple of posters on a forum. Go talk to your career services office about your options. 90k isn't that much debt for your degree, and you're already 30k in. I'd rather have 90k debt and a JD from a T1 school than 30k and just a polisci bachelor's.

And don't listen to his bullshit about political campaigns. The average starting pay is 30k, and it'll take you years to get north of 50k. It's not a bad option straight out of undergrad, but you're already invested in law school. Just figure out which classes are easiest, and spend the next 2 years padding your GPA. If you graduate with a job paying 60k, you'll be in a better position than if you dropped out now.

[mcmand]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

[brorepresentation1]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

^_^

[mcmand]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

^_^

Trolling a guy who may be really distraught and confused, who absolutely should not drop out based on the facts provided, is really actually not that funny.

[rpupkin]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

Agree. The first few posts of this thread are TLS at its worst.

OP: You're at a T30. Folks in the top 10% - 20% are in a decent position to get jobs through their grades. But almost everyone else is going to have to be aggressive and network. Frankly, I don't think it matters much whether your GPA is 2.9 or 3.1 or 3.3. Really excellent grades would help you. And really bad grades would hurt you. But you're not at either extreme, so forget about your grades.

You're an AA URM. You have a nice summer position lined up. If you have a good personality, and if you work hard and make a good impression, you'll be fine.

[Sprout]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

^_^

Trolling a guy who may be really distraught and confused, who absolutely should not drop out based on the facts provided, is really actually not that funny.

Bolded.

OP - you're fine. Think about what you want to do and what is practical moving forward. Sure as shit don't listen to people on here (myself included) trying to put you down or tell you what to do. All you can do is assess what you want and what it costs. You're in a much better boat than many. If you want something you can hustle and make it happen most likely. Plenty of successful lawyers did not have the best grades, but you got to hustle, especially these days.


PS consulting would for sure not be out of the question. There are plenty of other avenues if you don't want to practice. The question imo should only be cost and do a cost / benefit to decide. Gl

[landshoes]

You should definitely not drop out while dropping out has no upside.

Meaning, the time you seriously consider dropping out is immediately before your first tuition payment for 2017-18 becomes non-refundable.

That gives you months to hustle for an SA for next summer. You can bid for OCI and see if firms bite on your transcript. Stuff like that. No real reason to drop out now.

This is like people withdrawing from waitlists early for no reason. You really don't gain much by foreclosing one of your options before you need to foreclose it.

[sparty99]

you may want to consider dropping out

No. Terrible advice for OP.

Agree. The first few posts of this thread are TLS at its worst.

OP: You're at a T30. Folks in the top 10% - 20% are in a decent position to get jobs through their grades. But almost everyone else is going to have to be aggressive and network. Frankly, I don't think it matters much whether your GPA is 2.9 or 3.1 or 3.3. Really excellent grades would help you. And really bad grades would hurt you. But you're not at either extreme, so forget about your grades.

You're an AA URM. You have a nice summer position lined up. If you have a good personality, and if you work hard and make a good impression, you'll be fine.

Exactly. There really is no different then a 2.9, 3.1, or 3.3. Of course, you still must try and get that gpa up no matter what, but the person in the top 40% is just as fucked as the person in the bottom 40%. I don't even put my gpa or class rank on my resume.

[cavalier1138]

Exactly. There really is no different then a 2.9, 3.1, or 3.3. Of course, you still must try and get that gpa up no matter what, but the person in the top 40% is just as fucked as the person in the bottom 40%. I don't even put my gpa or class rank on my resume.

Ok, I don't think anyone was saying that...

[A. Nony Mouse]

Exactly. There really is no different then a 2.9, 3.1, or 3.3. Of course, you still must try and get that gpa up no matter what, but the person in the top 40% is just as fucked as the person in the bottom 40%. I don't even put my gpa or class rank on my resume.

Ok, I don't think anyone was saying that...

I don't think he's wrong, at a lot of schools. Being top 40% isn't going to impress the employers who care about grades, probably even at a T30. At that point you're relying on networking and experience.

[HonestAdvice]

If the analysis turns on OP's ability to find gainful employment, the fact they're black isn't getting adequate attention. If OP has the right personality, no private sector employment is out. To the extent, AA policies exist, the whole point is for the firm to look good. Having a black lawyer alone in a corner does the opposite so fit becomes much more significant. Nobody that hasn't met OP has any idea what their prospects are. This is true to some extent in every instance, but particularly true with black law students because AA exists but isn't distributed equally. It benefits some people a lot, and others less.

[shouganai3268]

Update:

I was able to secure a mid size (100-250 lawyers) SA position in a secondary market. I feel pretty fortunate because I know I could have easily struck out. In the end, networking tremendously helped me get past my subpar GPA.

[Ohiobumpkin]

Update:

I was able to secure a mid size (100-250 lawyers) SA position in a secondary market. I feel pretty fortunate because I know I could have easily struck out. In the end, networking tremendously helped me get past my subpar GPA.

Congrats! Perseverance is a great thing!

[zhenders]

Update:

I was able to secure a mid size (100-250 lawyers) SA position in a secondary market. I feel pretty fortunate because I know I could have easily struck out. In the end, networking tremendously helped me get past my subpar GPA.

Congrats OP!

Work hard the rest of law school, but don't let grades consume your thoughts, and definitely don't allow yourself to view them as any reflection of your future competence as an attorney. You have an SA lined up; focus on doing good work there when the time comes, take the classes that interest you and that will make you better at the stuff you wanna do, and grades literally will never matter again.

Cheers!

[Johann]

congrats man! great job!