My chances at a top law school after 3 years drop out and a start over

I just wrote an article that got moved to the admission part so I thought to write another thread dedicated to my chances question.

I was an international student and I have dropped out 3 years ago and failed my whole second semester at school because of financial and family hardship (if you are interested in learning more about it, you can find the thread in the admission section ) so my gpa was under 2.0. I’m want to go back to college and start over. meaning I will go for a full 4 years. Do i have any chance with top law schools if I was able to show my commitment, a gpa over 3.8 and a high LSAT score? what do I need to do to improve my chances? I’m planning on starting by next spring or fall by going to community college then SMU college for engineering degree. Any wisdom and advise from you is appreciated!

Getting into a top-10 law school is unrealistic for you. I’m not trying to be mean; it just makes no sense to give the standard advice in this forum (“study and get a 3.8+ GPA and a 171 LSAT”) when nothing in your background indicates that it is realistic to do that. Engineering in particular is a major that generally does not result in a 3.8 GPA so if your goal is law school, I question your choice of majors.

You can certainly get into a law school. You can certainly work hard in that law school, graduate and work hard and have a very successful career. There are plenty of successful lawyers who did not go to, say, Columbia, Duke or Cornell.

Keep in mind that in the working world, you are paid to get results, not to give excuses. Life is hard, but you can achieve success despite hardships.

Thanks for your opinion! however, I would have do disagree with you on the part where you say I can’t give excuses. When things are not in your own hand you really can’t do anything about it. I was at the top of my class back in my country. here I was basically homeless after I left my uncle house after he was physically abusing me and putting me to work illegally 5 days a week until midnight or later. After I left I couldn’t pay for school ( which costs triple for international students) or get a job legally with no car or a phone. not even my passport! so I’m not making excuses but this is how life was. if you or others were fortunate to pay for school or get a financial aid/ loans, I was not. However I went from being homeless with no way to make money to owning my own small business and supporting a family on my own and now wanting to go back to finish my school. That is what success in real life is. being able to stand back up when life puts you down.

I agree with you that you don’t need a top school to be successful but it would make it easier as I’m concerned. I would like to hear others opinion on my chances!

All college classes that you have taken count for the LSAC GPA, so it maybe mathematically impossible to get to a 3.8.

It is also unlikely that you will receive mostly A’s in an Engineering program, but if you do, you can write an addendum to your LS app to help explain – not make an excuse – what happened in your first year (or two?).

Also, recommend working for a year or two after graduating. Score a 17x on the LSAT and, with a reasonable high GPA, you will get some looks from the T14.

You might also consider the GRE, since a couple of schools will now accept that test.

Good luck.

It was three semesters that I took.

What happened was a long story. This is not an excuse because it was out of my hand. It was a lot of stress and lack of sleep and time to study because I was having to work 5 days a week from 5:00 pm to midnight or 2 am some nights. plus having to go to 3 days of religious classes from 2 to 4 right after school (which I didn’t want to go to and didn’t have the time for). had to do Teakwando classes two days a week (which I hated). Add to that all the stress I had because of the constant drama with with my uncle because of the situation. Add to that not having the ability to go anywhere because I wasn’t allowed to drive since I got there. someone had to take me everywhere. plus Not getting paid for my work because he said I don’t need the money.

Thats just some of the things that were happening. They eventually led to a lot of tension and stress on my side. We had a fight one night and my uncle started kicking and punching me to where I was bruised. I didn’t respond that night but left his house the other day and ended up homeless until I found a friend to stay at. I couldn’t work legally and didn’t have a way to pay for school. eventually had to take two jobs to survive and try to pay for school but I couldn’t pay or keep attending which led to me failing that whole semester. I also was not allowed financial aid because I’m international.

I gave up after that but made a promise to go back one day when I can. the situation was like that for almost two years until I was able to fix it and stand back up on my feet. now I’m married and have a business and planning to go back to school to do what I didn’t have the chance to do back then. I also got in a lot of trouble with immigration because my uncle had my passport and because I couldn’t pay for school. However, now everything is fine and my situation is fixed which is why I want to go back and do what I couldn’t do back then.

Thanks for you opinion and the advice!