<p>I was just wondering if law schools excuse or look past a low GPA if I had extenuating circumstances (father's passing). I did well my first semester freshman year, he passed the week before my finals and like an idiot I tried taking my finals anyway and did HORRIBLY. Was pretty depressed for a while and since transferring schools to be closer to my family I've gotten my grades up. I had a 2.6 at my previous school and I'm close to a 3.4 at Rutgers. </p>
<p>How would schools look at that? Sorry if I'm confusing.</p>
<p>I'm in the same boat as you. Even started a thread on it:</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/208583-explaning-abysmal-gpa.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/208583-explaning-abysmal-gpa.html</a></p>
<p>It's not confusing at all. After being on this board, I've learned that seems to be a few students in the same situation as us. In the thread I linked to, a few posters mentioned to add an addendum explaining the situation and how your grades have improved. I guess for both of us, a good LSAT score would really help us.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, that's a lot of help. I just wish I could turn back the hands of time and do things a little differently! Oh well, next best thing I can do is ace the LSATs. I'm just so confused because Freshman year in college I wanted Law School and that's it. Then I got into my Economics courses and thought hey why not just try out a career in Finance and completely ditched my Law School dreams, and I really only think the reason I ditched Law School was because my grades fell so tremendously. And I decided that I was a crappy writer.</p>
<p>I just have to figure out if this is something I really want to do :)</p>
<p>One more question... I'm not gonna bother making a new thread about it, but how would being half white-half Panamanian look to admissions? URM status or not quite?</p>
<p>I think you would still count as an URM. On the application, maybe you could put Hispanic or other. My husband is half black and half white and on apps, he often puts "black". So I guess it would ultimately be up to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help. I'm gonna take a practice LSAT tonight and see how I score taking it cold.</p>
<p>And obviously I wouldn't be looking at a T-14 school, but I wonder if I would have a chance of Top 50? I was looking at University of Florida and it seems that if I can score well on the LSATs I might be able to do it. </p>
<p>I would also like to know how many points people usually increase their LSAT score taking a Powerscore course. If I end up getting a 150 cold and the course usually adds about 10 points then it's safe to say I can give up on this dream.</p>
<p>Anecdotally, I've found that a combination of expecting 10-15 points in improvement and using SAT scores to very loosely project can be helpful.</p>
<p>Hello Pokey,</p>
<p>From what I've learned, upon submission of your undergraduate report by the LSAC, the law school to which you're applying will see two GPAs: one for each school in which you were a student, and one aggregating those GPAs. This, I think, was what you were referring to when you wrote about excusing the lower GPA. </p>
<p>Like you, I had a rough time my inaugural semester in college, in Utah. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, and then watched its effects creep into my classwork. It was a real fight defeating it. I will, of course, try to clarify the discrepancy between the work I did in this period (only one semester, but a horrid 1.92 GPA at that) and the work that I've done at Rutgers since, which is so far a 4.0 in the philosophy major. As long as you're being honest, and submit a heartfelt addendum pointing out your situation then, I don't think admissions committees will penalize you significantly for having done work that did not correspond to your potential; and this is where the LSAT really is crucial.</p>
<p>I wouldn't discount your chances in getting into top schools, especially if you do great on the LSAT and have demonstrated breadth and an obvious indifference to the perceived difficulty of your classes in your selection. </p>
<p>T</p>
<p>Well that's good that you picked yourself up quickly. My problem is I had about two years of depression, constant driving home to help my family, and just honestly not giving a crap about school. Since I've been around a 3.8 for the past two semesters and don't really see it going below that for my last year. </p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice everyone's giving out.</p>