I really want to goto law school!

<p>A little bit of back story: I had my son when I was young (17), dropped out of school and got my GED and then continued on to community college. </p>

<p>The first year I did so so, but started to decline until I had a 2.0 and almost lost my financial aid. I didn't know what I wanted to goto school for, so I was really unmotivated. I have recently decide that I want to goto law school. I feel like its such a long shot but am still going to try because I want it so badly. </p>

<p>I am taking 3 summer courses right now. All classes that I have taken before but know that if I don't fool around I can get A's in. That will turn an 'F', 'F' and 'C' into A's instead which will make my gpa go up to at least a 3.0 I'm guessing. (Only guessing this way based on the way my gpa changed when I repeated a course with a 'C'.) </p>

<p>Now should I retake all of the classes that I know I can do better in to try and reach a certain gpa before transferring to a university? Will this gpa even matter coming from a CC even though I will be graduating from a university? </p>

<p>Considering the GED and bad gpa at the moment, do I have a shot at all at getting into a T14 school if I get my gpa up and do well on my lsat?</p>

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<p>If your school does grade replacement and the old grade is on your transcript, it will still be calculated into your LSAC gpa. You must send transcripts from every college that you have attended.</p>

<p>How much more time do you have before you complete your degree? If this is just your first year, you have no idea as to what the next 3 years will hold</p>

<p>What in your mind constitute doing well on the LSAT? Have you taken practice of diagnostic test yet? </p>

<p>For a t-14, get your GPA well above 3.5 and your LSAT above 170</p>

<p>Well I took a few terms where I was only doing part time so I am about 2-3 terms away from my associates (depending on how many courses I decide to take each term) </p>

<p>The work isn’t hard for me and I can easily get strictly A’s and some B’s if I was motivated to, but I wasn’t. I want as perfect of a gpa as I can possibly get now. It sounds silly but I have found a new love for school and getting the most I can out of my education. </p>

<p>I have not yet taken the lsat or done any formal practice testing or courses. I have however plate around on the computer with practice questions and got a majority of them right. All of the parts of the lsat are areas that interest me. When do you suggest I take the lsat? </p>

<p>My personal goal for the lsat was for a score between 168 and 172. Is that an okay range? And hoping to graduate with my bachelors with hopefully over, but with nothing less than a 3.7. Do you think I should repeat some courses that I got less than a B in along with my regular courses?</p>

<p>LSAC will add all your grades into its GPA formula whether or not you retake the classes. That means those Fs will count even if you retake for As. With that in mind, your goal should still be to maximize your GPA, even if it means loading up on CC classes after transferring to a university. Your goal is a high GPA. Doesn’t much matter where it’s from. After that, you’ll need a solid LSAT score. Something 168 or better would be great, but that’s easier said than done. I would recommend taking a practice LSAT under real test conditions. If you score 155 or better, 168 is not out of reach. Less than that and you may want to reconsider law school.</p>

<p>I agree that maximizing GPA is priority one. But I disagree about loading up on juco courses AFTER transferring. Instead, maximize the juco courses today and transfer later. (It will just look better.)</p>

<p>The good news is that, while GPA+LSAT are paramount for law school admissions, some in the T14 are a little more lenient with non-traditional students (such Berkeley). Even so, Boalt looks to a high GPA. But you should apply early for consideration.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>To clarify, I’m not saying only do CC courses after you transfer. I’m saying do CC courses now and keep doing them after the transfer. Whatever it takes to get that GPA up.</p>

<p>^^understand, D, but I just disagree with doing juco courses after the OP transfers to a 4-year college.</p>

<p>How come? Law schools won’t care that a student did CC classes while attending somewhere else, and even if they do it won’t be to the tune of the (hopefully minimum) 0.01 increase to GPA the OP can get. Employers won’t know or care where OP went to school. Where’s the downside?</p>

<p>Contrary to popular opinion, I believe that the T14 actually review undergrad colleges and transcripts. (Yes, GPA+LSAT are the end-all, but among the 3.6’s, Ivy grads have a leg up on the tie breakers over directional state u.) Since, the OP is starting in a big GPA hole already, it seems to me that the best way to make the application as strong as possible is to show a 4.0 in the last couple of years, earned solely at the 4 year college.</p>

<p>A small item for sure, but to me it just “looks” better to adcoms. Plus, it obviously sends the message that the OP is capable of doing excellent college work now and is ready for professional school.</p>

<p>Of course, if the OP was aiming for a T30, it would not matter. But the T14 still think of themselves as academics. :D</p>

<p>Sure, for sake of argument lets say “among 3.6’s” an Ivy grad gets a boost. How does that apply here? The whole point is to get OP into that range in the first place. Ivy or not won’t matter if the comparison is 3.6 to 2.6. I doubt it would even matter between 3.6 and 3.5. Maybe there’s some marginal disadvantage to taking CC classes while at the transfer school (I doubt it), but it’s nowhere close to the advantage gained by the higher GPA.</p>

<p>sure, except for a small nit: instead of taking a class at a juco, the OP could easily take that same class at the 4-year (assuming cost was not exorbitant)…same GPA boost, plus a small rigor boost. Win-win.</p>

<p>Of course, that is just my (fact-free) opinion.</p>

<p>I was mostly thinking over the summer, when a CC course or two would fit in well with a part-time job or internship.</p>