<p>Hey everyone! I'm a Junior at Old Dominion in Norfolk, VA. I have a very big concern on my mind regarding Law school admissions. My GPA is way below even the minimum requirements of law school. I plan on graduating In December of 2014 so I do have a little bit of time to raise it up as much as possible. But is it absolutely impossible to get into a good law school if my GPA was in the high 2's at the time of graduation? I am actively involved on campus and that may be part of the reason why my GPA isn't so good right now.</p>
<p>Are there any schools that don't look at GPA at all? And also when would be a good time for me to start prepping for the LSAT
Any thoughts and recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Q: is it absolutely impossible to get into a good law school if my GPA was in the high 2’s at the time of graduation?
A: no, but you better have an awesome LSAT (well over the 75th percentile for whatever school you’re applying to) and hopefully something better than being “actively involved on campus.” That is absolutely not going to impress law schools. If you can’t get a good GPA while doing extracurriculars, you need to cut back on extracurriculars–or you need to look for a line of work you can do with a lower GPA. You may want to take a few years off and get some work experience before applying to law school, both to see if you still want to be a lawyer and to put some time between you and the GPA. </p>
<p>Q: Are there any schools that don’t look at GPA at all?
A: No.</p>
<p>Q: And also when would be a good time for me to start prepping for the LSAT?
A: Depends on how much you want to improve. In order to figure that out, you may want to take a practice test (public libraries tend to have “10 Real LSATs” or similar books and I think on the LSAT website they have a previously administered test) under test conditions like keeping to the time allotted to each section. If you want to improve 0-5 points, I’d say a month should be good. If you want 5-10 points, maybe 2-3 months? And if you’re hoping for more than that, try 6 months to a year. If you’re not seeing substantial improvement after that, you’ll know you need to do something differently–either how you’re studying, or what career you’ll be going into. And when I give these time frames, I mean really studying–like taking a full practice test weekly, doing practice questions every night in the areas you want to improve on, paying for a course or tutor, etc.</p>
<p>Change this plan. Load up on easy As before you graduate even if it means taking time off to go to a community college. Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, law schools do not care about your college ECs. Frankly, employers don’t either (again despite the rhetoric).</p>
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<p>No.</p>
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<p>Don’t bother until you’re at least in the 3.5 range for GPA. Law school is about LSAT and GPA. You can split with a high LSAT and lower GPA, but “lower” is relative when talking about the schools worth attending. A 3.5 and a solid LSAT could see you through. Much lower and the schools that accept you probably will not be the ones you’d want to attend.</p>