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I did a search and couldn't find anything about this. After 4 years of mediocre to poor grades in undergrad, how do splitters do once they actually get into law school?

Obviously there is no hard data out there (I would presume) but anecdotally what have you guys seen?

This is relevant to me as well and Im looking forward to reading some anecdotes.

Im guessing its going to be tough to out work my class since the median is 3.8 and the 75th is 3.9

I have not made grades like that since before puberty.

I had a disappointing first semester; the reality shock set in and I realized that what I thought was "hard work" was about 1/2 as intense as it needed to be for me to succeed in law school.

I ended up doing great thereafter, but the adjustment was difficult.

I've seen splitters both fail and succeed. My personal belief is that avoiding failure at least has to do with having changed the bad habits you had in undergrad. After that you're at the mercy of the curve.

I'm a splitter and had no problems. If you're willing to put in the time, you'll be fine, but if undergrad is the hardest you've ever worked, be prepared for a reality check. (A really demanding job between undergrad and law school helped me.) Putting in hours isn't a guarantee of success, but you have to be willing to do what needs to be done on a day-to-day basis to keep up.

I went from bottom of incoming class to top of law school class after 1st semester. There are a decent number of splitter threads out there: some have success and some don't. I suggest looking up "Lazy's guide to 1L" (the thread is something along those lines). You don't necessarily have to kill yourself with stress and work to do well in 1L, you just have to work efficiently.

holdencaulfield wrote:I had a disappointing first semester; the reality shock set in and I realized that what I thought was "hard work" was about 1/2 as intense as it needed to be for me to succeed in law school.

I ended up doing great thereafter, but the adjustment was difficult.

As a fellow splitter, I had an almost identical experience. But I am doing very well now.

Yea +1 to splitters doing well. I wasn't one, but I know people who are who did very, very well first semester. And I know at least one kid on full scholarship who may drop out after a sub-2.5 performance last in the fall. GPA/LSAT stats are rarely perfectly correlative to law school performance. It just clicks for some people who barely got in, and doesn't for people who have great stats.

Splitters are not created equal. You have kids who bungled through with a 2.8 gpa or thereabouts every semester, you have kids who had one HORRIBLE semester and a bunch of ~3.3's, you have kids who had horrible years, took time off, and then rocked a 3.9 in difficult majors for two years.

Randomnumbers wrote:Splitters are not created equal. You have kids who bungled through with a 2.8 gpa or thereabouts every semester, you have kids who had one HORRIBLE semester and a bunch of ~3.3's, you have kids who had horrible years, took time off, and then rocked a 3.9 in difficult majors for two years.

I was the former (the bungling 2.8 throughout... in fact, if anything, I had a strong *downward* trend).
Took five years off to work and subsequently owned 1L.

keg411 wrote:

Randomnumbers wrote:Splitters are not created equal. You have kids who bungled through with a 2.8 gpa or thereabouts every semester, you have kids who had one HORRIBLE semester and a bunch of ~3.3's, you have kids who had horrible years, took time off, and then rocked a 3.9 in difficult majors for two years.

I was the former (the bungling 2.8 throughout... in fact, if anything, I had a strong *downward* trend).
Took five years off to work and subsequently owned 1L.

This. Hell hath no fury like a splitter with serious work experience. I think that is the one group that consistently outperforms.

IrwinM.Fletcher wrote:This. Hell hath no fury like a splitter with serious work experience. I think that is the one group that consistently outperforms.

I'm skeptical that any group actually consistently outperforms.

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