Withdrawing from Grad school for Law school? Forum

[YanksAvs20]

I haven't seen this asked before, and this issue has been troubling me, so here goes:

I'm a grad student pursuing an MA (already passed exams) and, for personal reasons (sickness and then death in family, unfortunately), I had to extend an extra semester into summer to work on my thesis. Now, it seems like I won't be able to complete my thesis by the end of summer. I would NOT want to defer admission for an extra semester of grad school to finish my thesis, as the grad degree is basically just a notch on the resume at this point--I just want to pursue a law career. I have a full tuition scholarship to a T-50 school and would not want to lose my scholarship or admission by asking to defer, or anything like that, plus I'd have to start paying on grad school loans. So, would it make sense if I could not finish my thesis in time for the fall to withdraw from grad school and enroll in law school? Is that kind of thing allowed? Would I likely lose scholarship if I did? I certainly want to finish my thesis, and take pride in finishing things and achieving my goals, but it doesn't seem worth it to do an extra semester and have to wait another year to start law school, if I didn't have to. Any ideas?

[lymenheimer]

You could ask your T50 school if the scholarship carries over in a deferral.

[pterodactyls]

What is your MA in (will it make you more employable as a lawyer)? Did you pay for the degree? Seems like it would be a big waste to not finish it.

[YanksAvs20]

What is your MA in (will it make you more employable as a lawyer)? Did you pay for the degree? Seems like it would be a big waste to not finish it.

It's in history, and yes, I have loans, but its only around 20k--with a full scholarship to law school, that doesn't concern me. It does seem like a waste but that's not really my issue; I'm okay with that, it's dead weight loss. I just want to know whether that would be game over for law school in the fall, as far as keeping my scholarship is concerned, or whether I'd be able to make that move unscathed. It would just put my mind at ease if I knew that I could enter law school in the fall with my full scholarship whether or not I completed the thesis.

[pterodactyls]

What is your MA in (will it make you more employable as a lawyer)? Did you pay for the degree? Seems like it would be a big waste to not finish it.

It's in history, and yes, I have loans, but its only around 20k--with a full scholarship to law school, that doesn't concern me. It does seem like a waste but that's not really my issue; I'm okay with that, it's dead weight loss. I just want to know whether that would be game over for law school in the fall, as far as keeping my scholarship is concerned, or whether I'd be able to make that move unscathed. It would just put my mind at ease if I knew that I could enter law school in the fall with my full scholarship whether or not I completed the thesis.

I'm no expert (just a 0L), but from what I've read in other threads it seems unlikely you'd lose your scholarship. May be worth asking in the Spivey thread though:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... start=4950