<p>I am contemplating taking a semester off from school. I don't have a good reason. I am just pretty burnt out, and my motivation to do well in my classes has just run out. It wouldnt be smart to put myself through another semester and assume anything will be different, if it might potentially lead to some less than ideal grades. So I need to just get through this semester unscathed, and do something else in the fall, then come back and finish school.</p>
<p>I am wondering, how is a random semester off from undergrad viewed when applying to law school. Would I need to have a good reason to have done this? will they look at the transcript and ask "what was this time off about"? I'm not sure how it would look.</p>
<p>As an alternative to that, I'm considering maybe taking just one class so I can, maybe, at least accomplish something during this break. Would there potential disincentives to this course of action? It seems that potentially the one class could even be worse than no class. If I was not enrolled at all, then it, potentially, could be assumed that there was any number of good reasons for it. But if I was actually at school and had opted out of a full course load maybe there'd be more reason to think I was just being lazy or something. </p>
<p>In addition, you have to consider other factors. If you are covered under your parent’s health insurance, you may no longer be covered if you no longer a full time student. This means that your parents to purchase your health benfits through COBRA, which could be very costly.</p>
<p>^ Yep. The health care system in the US is soooo broken.</p>
<p>But OP, I’d imagine that it wouldn’t really affect your law school admissions. Just don’t put “I took a semester off because I was burned out” in your application. Like ThePhilosopher alluded to, have some type of partially-true reason, and stick it in your resume that you submit.</p>
<p>Upon graduation, it probably wouldn’t be obvious to anyone that you had taken time off from school. If you graduate one semester later than the typical four-year route to a degree, your resume would look quite similar to the resumes of many other college graduates. I’m not entirely sure that you would ever really need to explain why it took an extra semester to graduate.</p>
<p>whatever the negative implications of a semester off would be, it would seem like taking one measly part time class would only make that negative picture more clear because it shows you probably didn’t have an illness or some other responsibility to tend to that was keeping you from being at college.</p>
It’s much easier to explain a semester off in an addendum than just taking one class. Whether through an addendum or your resume, you should give a reason, true or not, as to why you took the time off.</p>
<p>Try getting into the Disney College program? I’m not even sure if they do it anymore, but it used to be a 6-month party disguised as an internship. Worst case then is a leave of absence for internship, best is you get credit too.</p>
<p>alright thanks for the advice.
Why, would they be concerned, anyways, if someone took a semester off? what does that really indicate to an admissions committee?</p>
<p>im assuming this idea is basically not advised if one wants to have the best chances at getting into a top school? i remember from applying for undergrad that, in general, you don’t want to have to write an addendum. for law school is an addendum something you want to avoid having to do?</p>
<p>Also, is the reason that i shouldn’t do the one class essentially what i assume? it looks even more lazy then a semester off?</p>
Ideally you should include what you did your semester off in your resume. If it’s not something that you can include in your resume - eg you got hurt and had to go through physical therapy, then write it in an addendum.</p>
<p>I’m sure you can find a halfway-decent reason somewhere in your life to take a semester off.</p>
<p>why is it that the one class would be worse than no classes?</p>
<p>also, to the person who said about disney. i lived in florida till i was like 15. i remember hearing about the disney internships. is it actually a total joke?</p>
<p>No offense, but you come across as just lazy. You are “pretty burnt out”. A lot of people are “pretty burnt out”. That’s not a good reason to take an entire semester off. Also, what exactly are “less than ideal” grades? If you can pull anything better than a C-average, suck it up and deal with it.</p>
<p>Law schools will be able to tell if you had a good reason for taking the semester off. They will be able to tell whether you truly had a bad “sickness” that prevented you from working: if you don’t have the medical records, your addendum on that won’t mean anything.</p>
<p>Okay, so sickness is out of the question. What next? Do something significant in the time you’re taking off. Try writing a national bestseller, for instance. See how easy that will be. A mediocre internship is not a good reason. Many people have internships, ECs, etc. balanced with schoolwork and manage to do fine.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a bad sickness, and don’t do anything special, deciding to just sit around for an entire semester, have fun destroying your chances at a top law school.</p>
<p>Take a semester off in undergrad because you was “burnt out” is not a good thing. Law school will think that if you can’t handle undergrad, what makes you think you can handle law school. Maybe you can spin something postive into it if you do take a semester off. Volunteer!! That way when you write your personal statement you can talk about how you developed as a person and found yourself. Also, if could tie that into a reason why you want to go to law school. You can even try to develop relationships with people that might be able to write recommendation letters for you that will testify how you grew. But if you do take a semester off, your grades better be great when you return.</p>
<p>Is it possible to do a study abroad with light classes? Maybe spend a year traveling and doing volunteer work in those areas to get a fortified personal essay?</p>
<p>The Disney program is a joke on the students. They pay you less than minimum wage because it is supposedly compensated by the housing and facilities. I’ve read that the mingling and experience with Disney professionals is pretty much absent. What you’ll be doing is pretending to be Tiger or wiping up the jambalaya at the faux-New Orleans restaurant while your biggest contact in the program will be the sectional manager who is only a year or two older than you. I’d research more on it if you’re interested, but the Disney program is really excellent for Disney. They get youthful looking workers to brighten the day, the ride seats, the floor…It’s like mexicans but you’re college students. Maybe there’s no difference in the end.</p>
<p>alright, i understand that taking time off just because i am burnt out would not look good. Who wouldn’t know this. Obviously “taking time off because I am burnt out” could not possibly be “a good thing”. But I’m the only one here who would know for sure that that’s what was going on. Are you assuming that I would be using the burnt out part as my excuse for the law schools?
The question is what does the semester off in itself do to an application. Regardless of how good my excuse is, what would a clear and obvious gap in the transcript lead them to think? Obviously there is the potential they might have hesitation with these situations because they know there’s a possibility the person was, in fact, lazy. But how likely is it that they could actually make that conclusion. It seems like you couldn’t assume much because anything is a possibility. Law schools could not know if you’re excuse is legitimate. They might have a feeling I guess. The question is, would simply the possibility, itself, that someone might be lazy, be enough to chuck an application. You could be running a risk, but then wouldn’t even a decent excuse reduce that risk quite a bit?</p>
<p>One of you is saying that this decision should be so looked down on, that even if I could get a 2.0 for the semester it would be better than taking time off. How could that be possible. A semester off should be viewed as poorly as failing?
They would basically have to make a lot of assumptions to decide it was a clear negative. and they would feel confortable enough with those assumptions to say the kid may as well have failed?</p>
<p>What about people that don’t graduate on time. From what I understand there is nothing to worry about if somoene takes an extra semester or even two in to graduate from school. What’s the difference?</p>
<p>It seems like you’re basically saying any single slip up “destroys” your chance at a top law school. This could be possible, but I’m just trying to clarify.
I’ve wondered myself if, when a school is accepting less than 10% of applicants, how could an easy semester abroad or an easy first year at a state school before transferring or any such event not knock you down a notch when you’re compared to somone else with perfect numbers but no such flaw. Is that basically the way it works.</p>
<p>–A semester off is not as bad as bad grades for the semester.
–You’re certainly permitted a “slip up” at even the very premiere law schools.</p>
<p>I have no idea how this would look if you literally sat at home all semester. I can tell you that I feel very certain that if you took an entire year off and went and did something meaningful, it would be a positive, not a negative. Many such things would be less stressful than school.</p>
<p>If you are on your parents’ car insurance policy and you are not a full time student their rates will increase especially if you are a male under the age of 25.</p>