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i thought that i would only have a realistic shot of receiving scholarships from schools that waived my application fees, so i ONLY APPLIED TO SCHOOLS THAT GAVE ME MERIT BASED FEE WAIVERS. i then started orientation at a school and realized i was way overqualified. i had a mini breakdown and my mom called the school (without being asked!) and told them i needed to leave for personal reasons. the dean contacted me and said that after speaking with my mom, the school wanted to offer me a leave of absence without any marks on my transcript (which, i guess makes sense since i only attended part of orientation). so now i am on a leave of absence from a school i don't want to go to! i need to figure out how to get out of the leave of absence and how to explain this to schools i apply to this cycle.

how will this affect my chances? how can i possibly explain this without the school thinking i am a total loose cannon? please share any thoughts or suggestions that may cross your mind, because i am totally stumped:(

People are going to be mad at you for making two threads that say the same thing. Just a friendly heads up.

You sound awful.

At least you did your research before making a big life-altering investment. No one can fault you for that.

Also how does one realize how overqualified they are for law school during orientation?

I'm not sure how it would affect your chances, but I would plan on applying to a broader range of schools than you would have otherwise.

Good luck!

"you sound awful" ??? seriously? how is that constructive?

overqualified part: during orientation everyone talked about their acceptances/rejections and i realized although i was at one of the lowest ranked schools i'd gotten accepted to, whereas that didnt seem to be the case for anyone else. the fact that i'd gotten scholarships from multiple schools that other people lamented being rejected from, and that people looked at me like i was crazy for attending the school in question rather than the higher ranked schools gave me a clue. note that when i say "overqualified" i mean simply that my lsat and gpa are comfortably beyond the 75th percentile for the school in question, not that i am smarter/more competent/better than any of the other students at that school.

p.s. i applied to law school while i was taking 21 credits in my last semester of college and spent the summer before law school abroad trying to find a job, so i failed to invest the appropriate effort researching the ramifications of rankings. this is no excuse for making an uninformed decision, i know, but all i can do now is try to move forward.

p.p.s. if this wasn't already obvious, i selected the school in question because of the hefty scholarship

sorry also for posting my story twice. i just joined today and am still figuring out the ropes.


CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK GREATLY APPRECIATED:)

What are your numbers (LSAT + UG GPA) and what school (or range based on U.S. News) are you attending?

I'm going with: http://www.danzfamily.com/archives/blog ... e-fire.jpg

lol to the link.

lsat: 169, 169 (i really thought i would crack 170)
gpa: 3.63, lsac gpa: 3.67

my rec letters should be pretty strong.

school rank=39-64. i picked the school based on 1)location location location 2)scholarship money. i didn't even consider attending schools that gave me less than an 80% ride. i am officially a moron.

I'm really not trying to be mean here, but it seems like you're going to law school for all the wrong reasons. You just applied to see how it went, you decided to go in August because you couldn't find a job, and now you've taken a leave of absence from law school because you think you could have done better. I'm just curious how you didn't know this when you put down the seat deposit. Didn't you know the rankings and GPA/LSAT numbers for your school and that you were above the 75th when you were applying? Wouldn't this have tipped you off that other people attending the school would have lower numbers then you?

Again, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but it sounds like you have given this rather huge life decision very little thought.

So assuming this isn't a flame, let's get this straight: You were looking for a large scholarship and a school in the location you hope to live in. That is exactly what you got. What seems to be the issue? You do understand that at higher ranked schools you would be unlikely to receive an 80%+ scholarship and be located where you want to practice, right? Still not sure if you are a flame or moron...

There is no good way out of this. You screwed up awesomely, and now you will suffer for it. Such is life.

I don't know why you failed to look up law school admission strategies before you applied. A quick Google search would have directed you to some great resources, including this website. I guess you didn't think a three year, $150,000 education warranted a few more minutes of research?

You're probably fortunate that the whole law school thing didn't happen for you. You clearly don't have the intellectual capacity to succeed. Better to find out now than halfway through your 1L year.

You have multiple options:

1. Withdraw from the school and apply next cycle.
2. Knock this year out of the park and attempt to transfer.

Also, your situation doesn't seem that terrible.....a full-ride at a tier 1 school in the location you want to practice in? There are worse things in the world....

i knew that i was over the 75th percentile for applying but i didn't realize the significance of rankings. i really do want to be an attorney, but i was going through my first break up (of a five year relationship) at the end of college/summer after college (there were some pretty terrible skype convos during my internship abroad). i made the dumb emotional decision of enrolling because the law school was across the country from my ex , i didnt know how long it would take to find a job, and i wanted to move forward with my life. (i didnt mention all this earlier because it is emo and doesnt directly pertain to my question, but...there it is)

OP created his account an hour ago, is referring to orientation which should've occurred months ago.

This is a flame. Thanks though, we all needed a study break.

By the way lol@mom calling school. How old are you? This is the best flame we've had in awhile...

lsatcrazy wrote:By the way lol@mom calling school. How old are you? This is the best flame we've had in awhile...

Since I just read this thread 30 seconds ago, I feel entitled to castigate everyone who's posted thus far for not bringing this up.

Cut the umbilical chord, OP.

emkay625 wrote:You have multiple options:

1. Withdraw from the school and apply next cycle.
2. Knock this year out of the park and attempt to transfer.

Also, your situation doesn't seem that terrible.....a full-ride at a tier 1 school in the location you want to practice in? There are worse things in the world....

I dunno, those numbers are hefty money at very strong regionals (UT, UCLA, USC, Vandy, GW, Woostle, BC, BU, etc.). I'd take pretty much any one of those with money over wherever OP's at, no question.

Man creative flames are the best: you hear the same 180 4.3 chances at Harvard crap over and over/law school=scam again it is nice to get something new and fresh.

On the off chance this isn't a flame - OP you probably should take some time to evaluate where you are in life and think about what you want. It seems like you haven't entirely figured that out yet. Also, I thought people who had their parents call their UG was really sad; this takes that to a new level.

this was pretty funny. lol @ "im better than everyone around me." newsflash, you are what you are. you may be eligible to go to a much higher ranked school, but you still went to a crappy one. so, i think that actually makes you dumber than everyone else at your school who would've gone to a better school.

but, since this is a flame, i guess it doesnt matter anyway

Grizz wrote:

emkay625 wrote:You have multiple options:

1. Withdraw from the school and apply next cycle.
2. Knock this year out of the park and attempt to transfer.

Also, your situation doesn't seem that terrible.....a full-ride at a tier 1 school in the location you want to practice in? There are worse things in the world....

I dunno, those numbers are hefty money at very strong regionals (UT, UCLA, USC, Vandy, GW, Woostle, BC, BU, etc.). I'd take pretty much any one of those with money over wherever OP's at, no question.

I agree with you whole-heartedly, just trying to point out to OP that his/her situation isn't as bad as it could be.

the funny part is this isn't even a flame. i had just resigned myself to not attending law school and found a job, but everytime i saw an article about law school or heard someone mention lawyers (which is quite often), i felt pains of jealousy and longing and regret. so, i decided to man up and deal with the consequences of my actions. i can see why you people think i'm a moron/flame/etc. and in fact acknowledged my own stupidity in the initial subject line. that being said, i would greatly appreciate constructive responses.


yesss, i know, i need to grow up. my mom wasnt used to seeing me so emotional, as i used to be the level headed one in the family(funny, huh?), so she wanted to get me out of there asap.

[quote]You're probably fortunate that the whole law school thing didn't happen for you. You clearly don't have the intellectual capacity to succeed. Better to find out now than halfway through your 1L year.[/quote]

i don't appreciate your post. according to the law school admissions council, and my professors, and basically everyone who knows me, i DO have an aptitude for law. i made some bad decisions because i was going through a terrible break up and was an emotional wreck (for the first time in my life, and it turns out that my emotions were largely a function of birth control), but that by no means makes me ineligible to be a good lawyer. nasty statements are not productive. didn't your mother ever teach you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

Dude, it's nov 28th, you realized this months after orientation...? Flame