I did really badly in college a graduated with a 2.0 GPA. I was a history major political science minor. I have been out of college of about six years now. I have worked in many fields healthcare, IT, and now I have been at a law firm which I love for about two years. I took the LSAT last year and got a 174 on it, which I was happy with. I have recently been thinking about law school but I have scared that since my GPA is so awful they wont even take a second look at me. The attorneys I work for have also stated that they would give me great letters of recommendation to the law school I applied to. I just want to get some honest feedback on if it is worth me applying?and if so what schools would even accept me. I’m not thinking Harvard but, maybe USC Columbia law school.
Thanks
Any feedback would be great
Gonna be tough with that 2.0. The 174 demonstrates that you are really smart, but the 2.0 indicates academic slacker.
I would suggest signing up for some local college grad courses for a year, as a special student and earn A’s. Demonstrate that you CAN do upper level work.
USC Columbia Law School says that grades are not everything in admissions, and that recommendations and other factors (such as your work experience at a law firm) will be considered: “In making admissions decisions, the Committee on Admissions employs a holistic approach, taking into consideration all information available about each candidate. No single factor is conclusive. While undergraduate grades and the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score are important, the Committee’s decision is also influenced by other factors including the strength of the applicant’s undergraduate curriculum, trends in grades, information gained through the applicant’s personal statement, work or life experience, military service, graduate study, residency, contributions to campus or community through service or leadership, the assessment of recommenders, and the applicant’s potential for contribution to a diverse educational environment.”
You always have a shot at being accepted if you apply. If you don’t apply, it is guaranteed you won’t be admitted.
What you have going for you is that six years have gone by since you had those low grades. You have matured. You have grown up and shown discipline working at the law firm two years. You have won over your lawyer employers to where they want to give you a recommendation for law school. You seriously have a good shot at being admitted to a law school, based on your LSAT score and your recommendations and work experience. How many undergrads coming straight from their bachelor’s degree will have law firm work experience and lawyer recommendations? Not many. And not all will have your LSAT score, which counts a lot in law school admissions. So those are your strengths.
As a lawyer myself who just got finished paying off law loans in middle age, and who has had many struggles in a law career since the recession – and watched countless other lawyers struggle, both experienced like me and new out of law school – I have to warn you to think about this decision very carefully. There are other ways to have a legal career besides taking this leap, including going to paralegal school. But it is very empowering to be an actual attorney, and if that has become your dream, then go for it.
You’d probably be USC Columbia’s only applicant with a 174 LSAT, so I’d think that you would have a strong shot at admissions. If you’re #1 in your class there–which you could be, based on your clearly high IQ, you would do just fine getting a good job after law school.
However, getting good grades isn’t 100% about maturity; I got nearly all As in college but was extremely immature; it’s also about study skills and developing your own method to getting all As. It took me a whole year in college to get my own method down, since I had totally goofed off in high school, so I’d also recommend doing a master’s or some kind of coursework (even, say, a Harvard Extension School degree, which you can do remotely) before law school just to figure out how to study.
If I were you, and if you’re focused on school pedigrees like many of us are, I’d also plan on doing a JD and then getting an LLM from a top-tier law school. You’re clearly smart–and smarter than I am–and you should have a blue-chip school by your name, which counts in the pedigree-focused world of big law firms, just so people realize how smart you are.