Hey everyone, I’m currently a college freshman at a really good 4 year university. It is out of state from my home in MD, and it is pricey. My mom is a single mother and while her business was doing well a while ago, it’s slowing and I won’t be able to affford to come back here. Thus I am going to be transferring to a school back in Maryland, most likely UMD or Towson, but I’ve considered a community college. I also don’t like where I’m going currently, which in addition because my family has been going through a difficult time, I grew distracted and because of that, my gpa suffered, I know it’s a bad excuse and that I should’ve persevered but it is what it is. Anyway, can I still redeem myself? I will most likely be ending my freshman year with a sub 3.0 gpa, and not many credits because I withdrew from two classes (dumb move I know). How would me going to community college after a 4 year look? The community college is called CCBC and is kind of apart of UMD and Towson, so I’m assuming most credits would transfer. Assuming I bust my a$$ and and also get a good LSAT score, will my first couple years of undergrad be redeemable? Also, I am considering changing majors from economics to history (like I should’ve done earlier because I love history), what will that look like?
Law schools almost certainly won’t care. They want to see your LSAT and GPA. Employers might care and you should be prepared to handle that. I’m not really seeing how any of that makes a difference though. If your university is too expensive then it’s too expensive. There’s nothing you can really do about that (assuming you can’t take out loans or apply for financial aid or work part-time). Especially if you don’t like it either. You just have to make the best of the choices you have.
It’ll be tough to get into the Top 14, but I’ll play it straight to you: the whole spiel about the Top 14 or bust is mostly bullshit. According the lawyers I’ve met, it’s the hands you shake, not the grades you make. You still have to work hard, because the BAR exam won’t care who you know, but your employer will. As for getting into ANY law school, you could totally pull off a Tier II if you have a really good GPA from here on out. Heck, a Top 14 won’t be totally “out there” if your LSAT is good. So I say to keep studying hard in what you enjoy most, and it’ll all work out.
@PFAnimals: By “lawyers I’ve met” I presume you aren’t a lawyer? Because you have no idea what you’re talking about. The generic advice of “network” is worthless. Everyone networks. But it turns out networking doesn’t magically drive demand for lawyer hiring. It also does nothing to help you at firms with strict school/grade cut offs, which is most firms that pay enough to help a new lawyer pay down their debt.
@Demosthenes49 It’s also possible it’s a regional issue. The Good Ole’ Boys get priority down here, trust me. The lawyers who are legacy lawyers or friends thereof are employed a lot more than the scholars who were in the top 1/3 of their class but knew no one. The only exceptions I’ve found have have been indignant defenders offices, which don’t pay very glamorously in their own right.
You could end with a 3.5+ GPA if you really work hard. You should aim for a 170+ LSAT if you want to be competitive for a T-14, which for most people requires a ton of studying and prep. Look up lawschoolumbers.com, they have a database of law school applicants getting accepted into certain schools given their GPA and LSAT scores.
@PFAnimals, you’re certainly correct. A HY degree is worthless in large parts of the South–most lawyers in those places went to the local state school, and they aren’t thrilled about hiring someone from HY and figure that someone from HY will end up in NY, DC or SF anyway. In those circles, there is a lot of reverse snobbery against HY. Further, no matter where you work, once you’ve been practicing for a few years, what matters is how much business you generate, not where you went to school.
A JD degree from a top school will, however, open doors (at the associate and summer associate level) in large law firms in major metro areas, and those pay well, and so a JD degree from a top school can result in a lot of cash in the bank early on, saved from working in large law firms early on in one’s career. Those jobs are harder to get without a JD degree from a top school.
@PFAnimals: Sure, maybe in a small town setting it matters more who you know than where you went to school. Those places tend to be fairly desperate for lawyers anyways. A number of states have enacted lawyer incentive programs to deal with that issue. But those kind of jobs both don’t pay well and are available only to a significant minority of law applicants.