Law school ? with 1.5 GPA and 176 on LSAT.? Forum

[romothesavior]

But I will be. It has honestly made me question whether I want to go to law school at all. The only thing pushing me is the fact that law is what I want to do, end of story, and I won't be happy doing anything else. I just have to hope at least one top school cares about something other than US news. My LSAT is not super high, but its above the 75th at Berkeley and Penn.

I would call the law schools before you even apply and explain this sitation. Explain how awesome you did and ask them what to do. I'm sure they'll say "Oh, write an addendum," but perhaps a phone call before hand will get someone to take note and flag it when it comes in. I'm very skeptical that adcomms give addendums more than a passing glance (especially GPA addendums).

[cigrainger]

Unless you're like me, and LSAC hates you and gives you a GPA for some dual enrolment grades, which screws you over entirely and undoes four years of hard work to achieve top honours at a foreign institution. Then that whole deal with foreign grades not mattering as much sucks. Bad.

Huh? what happened?? I've heard a rumor that even if you are a foreign applicant, if you've ever taken college level courses in the states for whatever reason that will count as your GPA, no matter what you got at your degree-granting school. Is that true then?

Yep. It's true. I took 4 dual enrollment classes in high school. One is an F because I dropped it past the deadline. I have First Class Honours from my four-year UK undergrad. My LSAC GPA is a 2.5.

.....I'm so sorry I've heard from my British friends that First Class Honours is incredibly hard to get, that really does suck.... Have you tried talking to (or yelling at) someone at LSAC over the phone? Hopefully schools will give you some leeway... Maybe they don't have to report your GPA when calculating their 25% percentile or whatever? I mean it really doesn't seem fair to give that GPA the same weight as someone whose GPA is a reflection of all 4 undergrad years.

Thanks for the commiseration. I've tried with LSAC, and they just don't care. They tell me that schools will take it into consideration if I write an addendum. But obviously schools answer to USNews, and that's just a fact of life.

I'm basically just going to apply to the schools I'd be happy going to right now, and if I get locked out, I'm going to do something else for a year or two (I really want to do TFA) and figure out if this is what I really want to do if I'm going to be pushed into paying full price a school with lower job prospects than what I really earned. I think it still will be, but I'm pretty disgusted with the whole process right now.

[cigrainger]

But I will be. It has honestly made me question whether I want to go to law school at all. The only thing pushing me is the fact that law is what I want to do, end of story, and I won't be happy doing anything else. I just have to hope at least one top school cares about something other than US news. My LSAT is not super high, but its above the 75th at Berkeley and Penn.

I would call the law schools before you even apply and explain this sitation. Explain how awesome you did and ask them what to do. I'm sure they'll say "Oh, write an addendum," but perhaps a phone call before hand will get someone to take note and flag it when it comes in. I'm very skeptical that adcomms give addendums more than a passing glance (especially GPA addendums).

That's actually exactly what I've done, and yeah they just said 'Oh, write an addendum'. So, we just really have to wait and see I guess. One of Penn's supplementary essays is basically an addendum prompt, so I'll definitely be doing that. I also battled with a BAD case of post-streptococcal inflammation (similar to rheumatic fever) for about six months during first year, and still battled through and got the First. I don't know, I just thought that meant something.

[kazu]

Ugh - LSAC sucks.

Good luck on your cycle - I really mean it! Please keep us updated on what happens, hopefully the law schools will be more understanding........

[autoding]

No way you should be treated like the slacker alcoholics who blew off school for the first two years and get a 2.5.

Hey now, don't shortchange us, it was FOUR GLORIOUS YEARS.